WHEN screenwriter Zhang Yingji was wandering on a Beijing street one winter night, she came across workers leaving a luxury retail store after their shift. Having taken off their tailored uniform and high heels, the sales clerks wore down jackets and casual shoes and walked into a stream of pedestrians on their way to a subway station. Zhang once believed such an occupation — working in an environment where pricey products are sold — could provide a decent life, but at that moment she realized that those people were also struggling in a big city like many others. The scene was etched in her mind, giving Zhang, who has worked on script-writing for nearly a decade, inspiration to create Wang Manni, a major role in the recent TV series “Nothing But Thirty.” Now running on Shanghai-based Dragon TV and streaming site Tencent Video, the 43-episode drama that examines the challenges and confusion faced by women in their 30s, has made a big splash online, striking a chord with many viewers in China. The show inspires viewers, especially women, to live according to their own desires instead of giving in to societal pressure, comments say. The show takes on cliche expectations that women should have families of their own and get recognized in careers in their 30s. Hashtags about the drama, from discussions about the main characters to the idea of marriage, have consistently made the trending list on Sina Weibo. Actress Jiang Shuying plays Wang, a luxury retail store’s top saleswoman who leaves a small town to chase her dreams in a metropolis, in the new series. The production features two other protagonists, a strong-minded housewife, played by actress Tong Yao, and an irresolute Shanghai native struggling with her insipid marriage, portrayed by Mao Xiaotong. “The characters are sort of like mirrors that reflect modern women’s issues, ranging from marriage to parenting and gender equality,” Zhang says. “I made it clear at the start that I would write three roles to represent women who are unmarried, married with children and married but yet to be mothers.” Under the stress of city life, many well-educated Chinese women are now choosing to quit their jobs for a period of time, staying at home as full-time mothers to take care of children until they reach school age, which became another inspiration for Zhang. Tong’s character, Gu Jia, embodies such a trend. Graduated from Shanghai International Studies University, Gu is the decision-maker behind the success of her husband, who rises from a nerdy programmer to head a fireworks company. When the company encounters a financial crisis, Gu helps her husband find a new client by trying to penetrate a social circle studded with billionaire wives. Zhang says Zhong Xiaoqin, portrayed by actress Mao, is perhaps the character closest to the lives of ordinary women. A Shanghai native married to a man with a stable career, the role leads a simple yet insipid life, where lounging on the sofa watching dramas on her tablet is her favorite form of entertainment. As time goes by, the couple get bored in their relationship — they have few topics to share and would rather look at their phones during dinner. “I am glad that audiences noticed most of the details I included in the series to create an atmosphere,” says Zhang, adding that she usually watches her dramas twice to get feedback from real-time audience comments during screenings. A literature-major from the Communication University of China, Zhang recalls she started to conceive the story of this show in late 2017, when her daughter, then over 12 months old, helped her understand more about being a mother. Aside from seeking inspiration from her own life for work, Zhang says a key method to making scripts more audience-friendly is by interviewing others. “I have interviewed four or five luxury retail sales clerks. The job enables them to meet people from different backgrounds who have interesting stories,” says Zhang. “I was given a lot of sales tips, which helped me to add reality to my script. For instance, sales clerks rarely drink water at work, as they worry that going to the toilet may ruin a chance to meet an important client.” For director Zhang Xiaobo, who has cooperated with the scriptwriter previously for TV shows, reality is important to draw audiences to a city-set series. “Most of my previous TV dramas unfold through male perspectives. I feel a challenge to helm ‘Nothing But Thirty,’ which has helped me to explore the feminism theme for the first time in my work,” says the director, a veteran behind hits like “Novoland: Eagle Flag” and “To Be A Better Man.” Also streamed on YouTube and Viki, as well as several television channels in North America and Malaysia, the drama is popular among overseas Chinese. “Through the drama we are aiming to tell people that the average life span is longer nowadays, and 30 is still a young age for someone to take off,” Zhang Yingji says. (China Daily) | 