Staff members of Huanyu Entertainment Co pose for a picture while wearing traditional clothing at the 2021 CIFTIS. [Photo/Huanyu Entertainment Co]

Huanyu Entertainment Co, a film and television producer based in Dongyang, Zhejiang province, is an eye-catching first-time exhibitor at the ongoing 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) held in Beijing.

Many of the company's productions, such as Story of Yanxi Palace, The Legend of Haolan, Untouchable Lovers, and Legend of Lu Zhen, are costume dramas that were wildly popular on multiple Chinese streaming sites and were even translated into a dozen foreign languages and broadcast abroad, according to Zang Nan, public relations director of Huanyu Entertainment Co.

Since its founding in 2012, the company has produced nearly 60 TV series which have reached more than a billion overseas audiences.

For example, The Legend of Haolan, which made its overseas debut last year, was the first-ever Chinese TV series to occupy Japanese national broadcaster NHK's weekend prime time slot. It also garnered the highest ratings on Fox's Chinese Channel for a period of time.

Court Lady, a new release this year in the forms of a TV series and an original novel, has received acclaim in various countries. The first episode of the TV series was watched more than 1.17 million times on YouTube.

"Perhaps in most people's minds, Chinese costume dramas are relatively better received in Asian countries. As a matter of fact, they also receive huge attention in Europe and North America," Zang said, citing the overseas success of Story of Yanxi Palace, which was the most Googled TV show of 2018 and was ranked by the famous US entertainment magazine Variety among The Best International TV Series of 2018.

Owing to its outstanding production quality, Huanyu Entertainment Co has managed to partner with numerous mainstream foreign media outlets and streaming sites such as Fox, HBO, ViKi, and Netflix to market its products.