China’s booming short drama industry is facing stricter oversight after reports emerged that Hongguo Short Drama, the country’s largest short drama platform, will ban three major themes and place tighter restrictions on 13 categories of content.

According to Sina, the new measures aim to regulate content creation and distribution while promoting a healthier industry environment. The three themes reportedly banned outright include:

  • Superstition and occult-related content
  • Sensitive folk religion themes
  • Stories involving human trafficking, kidnapping scams, and criminal syndicates in northern Myanmar

In addition, 13 categories of content will face stricter review. These include supernatural abilities, excessively violent revenge plots, dangerous filming props, content that insults human dignity, invasions of privacy, organized crime storylines, wealthy family feuds involving murder-for-hire plots, and excessive displays of wealth. The regulations are also expected to affect popular “CEO dramas,” which often feature forced relationships, drugging incidents, unrealistic power dynamics, and wealthy protagonists who appear capable of controlling entire industries.

Family-themed dramas will face limitations on storylines involving psychological manipulation, extramarital affairs, glorification of mistresses, domestic violence, miscarriages, and exaggerated conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law.

Historical dramas will be prohibited from distorting historical facts, while productions featuring child actors will not be allowed to include plots involving child trafficking, abandonment, or using children to coerce parents. Restrictions on scenes depicting smoking, excessive drinking, profanity, and graphic violence are also expected to be strengthened.

The move follows a broader campaign launched on June 1 by China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), which aims to eliminate vulgar, harmful, and copyright-infringing content, as well as narratives promoting materialism, problematic marriage values, and feudal thinking.

According to data released by Hongguo Short Drama, the platform had removed 369 live-action short dramas and more than 12,000 comedy productions that violated its content guidelines as of April 2026.

The crackdown comes despite the industry’s explosive growth. Data Eye reported that China’s short drama market reached 90 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) in 2025, up 78% from the previous year, while total views during the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday reached 8.7 billion.

While regulators say the measures are designed to improve content quality, many industry observers believe the new rules could significantly impact production, as a large number of short drama scripts rely on themes that now fall under stricter scrutiny.

Sources: TP