TVB, Pearl, and Jade… any Gen Z readers familiar with these names? These are all station/channel names of the long-standing Hong Kong television broadcasting company Television Broadcasts Limited. Since it was formed in 1967, TVB has been producing and broadcasting TV series that have garnered decade-long viewers, having put out a myriad of entrancing dramas with gripping plots and low-to-top‑level performances.

During the peak of its time, TVB‑produced series were seen as high‑quality dramas. People gathered around the household that had the biggest television in the neighborhood just to get updated on the latest episode or whichever show they were hooked on. Fast-forward to today, and TVB still stands strong as cultural symbol. Together with Cantonese pop songs, TVB brought to mainland China a trend of speaking in this dialect. Most know how to speak basic Cantonese thanks to its influence. In fact, there are even quotes and lines from many of the more popular TVB shows that are now so classic that they’ve become memes and nostalgic chants.

But after the 2010s, after the rise of Korean and Japanese dramas, TVB has been in global decline. That being said, it has found love in another neighboring country of China: Vietnam.

After TVB opened an official Vietnamese YouTube channel in 2017, the station has become increasingly popular among Vietnamese audiences. Complete with Vietnamese dubs, these revitalized TVB series are so influential that a single episode alone can attract around 40 k views on YouTube. One of the most popular among them is Heart of Greed (Đường Tâm Phong Bạo), whose first season originally aired in 2007 and whose later seasons still gained a warm welcome around 2017, for the fiftieth anniversary of TVB.

Chinese period dramas are also hugely popular in Vietnam. For decades, Chinese series, including historical and romantic titles, have circulated locally because of cultural proximity and shared storytelling traditions, which continue to attract audiences on various platforms. Alongside music and drama, these shared cultural moments create extra conversations and a sweet cultural tie between Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland, and Vietnam.

Cover image via YouTube.