Magnolia Awards Revealed! Witness “Blossoms” in the City of Youth!

On the evening of June 28, the 29th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards Ceremony was held at the Lingang Performing Arts Center. Dazzling stars from the TV industry gathered in this “city of youth”, celebrating global TV art exchange, and feeling the resonance of cultural vitality and urban development. During the ceremony, the highly anticipated Magnolia Awards were unveiled. The TV series BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI, which carries the imprints of Shanghai and the times, swept five awards, including Best TV Series. Other outstanding works that combine artistic standards and audience acclaim, such as THE FORERUNNER, THE LONG SEASON, ALWAYS ON THE MOVE, IMPERFECT VICTIM, and RIPE TOWN, were also recognized by the jury panel and won the coveted Magnolia trophy.

Reflecting on the “challenging yet joyful” judging process, Yan Jiangang, Jury President of the Magnolia Awards for TV series, said: “This year’s Magnolia Awards showed a ‘hundred flowers blooming’. I saw the industry’s increasing vitality. It also shows that the nourishment of our era can foster more outstanding works. I believe the future of Chinese TV dramas will be even more prosperous.”

TV Shows Go Global, Culture Goes Mainstream

In recent years, Chinese TV programs have transitioned from “TV Shows Going Global” to “Culture Going Mainstream” with excellent domestic TV content creating a cultural wave worldwide, navigating towards new horizons. To encourage and promote outstanding Chinese audiovisual works to “go global”, the Magnolia Awards this year honored such remarkable works. The animation YAO-CHINESE FOLKTALES, the documentary ROAD TO CARBON NEUTRALITY, and the TV series THREE-BODY were awarded the 29th Shanghai TV Festival International Communication Award.

For actors, bringing their works abroad to share Chinese culture and helping the world better understand China is both a duty and an honor. The Chinese TV series A DREAM OF SPLENDOR, which sparked discussions at home and abroad, successfully showcased Chinese intangible cultural heritage on the global stage, astonishing audiences with its cultural beauty. This success is hinged to the stellar performances of its two leading actors. Thus, Liu Yifei and Chen Xiao were honored as “Overseas Promotion Ambassador for Chinese TV Programs” at this year’s Magnolia Awards.

From Zhao Pan’er in A DREAM OF SPLENDOR to Xu Hongdou in MEET YOURSELF, and to Huang Yimei in the hit drama FULL BLOOM, Liu Yifei expressed her love for each role and the cultural and feminine strength they convey: “As an actor, I am always driven by the passion to explore characters, and I hope more outstanding Chinese TV works will reach the world.” Chen Xiao used his character name “Gu Qianfan” from A DREAM OF SPLENDOR to metaphorically describe the “thousand sails going to sea” of domestic TV: “The wind is strong, and the sails are full.”

As an important symbol of Chinese cultural influence, the export of domestic TV is continuously presenting new surprises. The Shanghai TV Festival will actively promote the international dissemination of Chinese stories and the mutual exchange of civilizations, allowing more Chinese stories to shine alongside global excellence in Shanghai.

All in Full Blossom

The phenomenal TV series BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI has sparked waves of enthusiasm from TV screens and the internet to offline locations like Huanghe Road since its broadcast earlier this year, setting new viewership records and boosting cultural tourism. Under the spotlight, BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI swept five awards, including Best TV Series, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction, making the famous line from the show, “Celebrate often, and you will succeed”, a reality.

From THE FIRST HALF OF MY LIFE to BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI, Qin Wen, who won the Magnolia Award for Best Screenplay twice, always delivers the most heartfelt stories of Shanghai. Her acceptance speech revealed the creative secrets behind BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI: "We faced many dead ends during the adaptation process, but it was Director Wong Kar Wai’s talent and experience that led us to breakthroughs.”

Tu Nan, the Best Art Direction winner, humorously remarked that this award should be shared by everyone, as it involved the most extensive art team he had ever worked with: “We collected not just props, but the lives of Shanghainese. Every corner of the show reflects this layered sense of time, allowing viewers to feel the deep historical essence of Shanghai.”

This year’s awards ceremony was full of creative ideas, with iconic scenes from winning shows artistically recreated live. Best Director winner Xin Shuang, during his acceptance speech, spontaneously sang the closing song from THE LONG SEASON, instantly bringing the audience back to the tear-jerking final scene of “Look ahead, don’t look back.”

Nine years after winning her first Best Actress award, Zhou Xun took home the trophy again for IMPERFECT VICTIM. She also received a surprise gift: a stress ball identical to the one her character Lin Kan used in the show. Zhou Xun laughed and explained that “playing with a stress ball” is actually her personal habit, a detail she incorporated into her character to make her more realistic: “That stress ball is an external expression of Lin Kan’s mental state and my way of relieving stress in real life. No one is born strong, but we all grow stronger over time.”

The Jury Prize went to the TV series THE FORERUNNER, which was praised for its successful portrayal of a spirited, resolute young Mao Zedong, vividly depicting the revolutionary leader’s questing spirit and charisma.

The documentary A ROAD TO PROSPERITY and the popular theory program CHINESE PRACTICE WITH CHINESE WISDOM received the Shanghai TV Festival Special Award. The former achieved significant breakthroughs in content creation and presentation, adding more diverse intellectual, academic, journalistic, and aesthetic values beyond ordinary documentaries. The latter vividly presented the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture through rich and diverse methods, highlighting the unique vitality of Chinese wisdom. These works focus on the great spirit of the era, writing vivid annotations for contemporary development.

Stay True to the Original Aspiration and Sincerity

As the awards were handed out, the 29th Shanghai TV Festival concluded successfully. Although the five-day event was short, it still allowed domestic and foreign TV professionals to glimpse the promising future of China’s audiovisual industry. Yan Jiangang, relieved from his duties as Jury President, earnestly stated: “This industry is renewing everywhere. I hope Chinese TV professionals always stay true to their original creative aspirations and sincerity.”

Big winner BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI team showed a united humility. Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau stated that the greatest significance of the show to him was “another opportunity to learn”: “Cinematography is a process of continuous innovation and experimentation. Learning never ends; every day is a new beginning.” Best Actor winner Hu Ge thanked the entire team, including Director Wong Kar Wai, and his family, saying: “Actors are the luckiest in the whole crew. Without you, I wouldn’t have this honor.” At the awards ceremony, he also saw an old item he contributed to the crew – a scarf knitted from his late mother’s yarn, which was used as a prop in the show. Through this scarf, he recalled his mother’s encouragement to join the BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI project and the production team’s thoughtfulness and sincerity, moving many in the audience with his behind-the-scenes stories.

Whether they win or not, “creating for the people, singing for the times” remains the unwavering goal of every Chinese TV professional. We look forward to seeing more outstanding, influential and internationally successful masterpieces bloom on the Magnolia Awards stage next year!

The awards ceremony concluded with the theme song of the Shanghai TV Festival, “Song and Smile”.

The 29th STVF is hosted by the National Radio and Television Administration, China Media Group, and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and organized by Shanghai Municipal Administration of Radio and Television and Shanghai Media Group, with co-organization by the Administration Committee of Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and special support from Shanghai Lingang Special Area Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd.