Hong Kong television drama

Hong Kong television drama (Chinese: 香港電視劇) refers to televised dramatic programming produced mainly by the territory's two free-to-air TV networks of Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and Asia Television (ATV) until its license expired. Locally produced television dramas have helped contribute to a unique cultural identity among the Hong Kong population and serve as a cultural resource for the Cantonese Chinese speaking community worldwide.

Local broadcast television in Hong Kong was first produced in 1957 with the launch of Rediffusion Television, making it the first territory in Greater China and colony of the British Empire to be served by local TV. TVB was later founded in 1967 to become the territory's first free-to-air television network. With a massive influx of refugees from Mainland China coming into a rapidly industrializing Hong Kong during the 1960s and 1970s, the television medium became a prominent force in shaping local identity and formed a cultural resource. The development of early television dramas in the 1970s and early 1980s proved to be enormously successful, with viewership of the ending for primetime serials sometimes creating ratings as high as 70%. Television dramas tended to stray away from Chinese traditionalism, with themes relating more to those of industrialized societies, such as personal survival over collective good, reflecting Hong Kong's global position as a modernizing Asian Tiger economy.

By the 1980s, television dramas had become a cultural icon of Hong Kong throughout East and Southeast Asia, with the territory becoming a center for television and film production. Furthermore, the success of the Hong Kong television industry later served as a major influence for television in mainland China and other industrializing Asian nations, most notably Taiwan and South Korea.

Hong Kong television dramas, along with cinema, have fostered an identity for the Cantonese speakers separate to those of Standard Mandarin. As a result, Cantonese has been able to maintain a prominent standing relative to other non-Mandarin Chinese dialects.

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