Season 2 of House of Cards, which debuted simultaneously in China and its home country, is creating waves in the form of discussions about US politics, among other things. The Chinese streaming platform Sohu.com, which claims to have garnered 9 million viewers for the show, is racketing up its promotional campaign.

But compared with domestic or South Korean soap operas, this melodrama of American-style deceit and dense plotting is perceived as a niche product on the high-end of viewership, thus bringing in an audience of quality rather than quantity.

(Full disclosure: I was invited by Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu, to participate in the Feb 18 press conference as a special guest offering my interpretation on the show.)

The popularity of House of Cards in China is rooted in the Chinese penchant for backroom political maneuvering. Palace drama has long been a favorite for both couch potatoes and conspiracy theorists.

Sure, The West Wing has some of that, too, but the Aaron Sorkin drama was too gentlemanly whereas this Kevin Spacey series dovetails perfectly with China's own Zhenhuan, a lengthy costume drama and one of the highest-rated and acclaimed shows in recent years, which was later edited down to six episodes for HBO.

As a matter of fact, it has been nicknamed "America's Zhenhuan" by some TV pundits.

For good or bad, it has been serving as a kind of primer for US politics - at least in the minds of a significant share of the Chinese audience. Herein lies another secret for its success on this side of the Pacific.

People across the ideological spectrum are able to find something to support their own beliefs: Those who hate the United States can have a field day, saying democracy, American style, is a sham fraught with wheeling and dealing no less dirty than China's feudal system; those who love the US will counter that the limited power of every politician, no matter how high his or her position, works well in preventing the evil side of human nature from totally corrupting the system.

If you flip the coin, however, it can also be argued that the show busts preconceptions for all those whose rigid views of the US are mostly derived from abstract theories. The game in Washington DC is far from the idealist's paradise of everybody working for the people. But the biggest revelation could be: The US government does not function as a single brain when dealing with a variety of issues. Even when the voice is unified, what is presented to the world is often the shifting results of wheeling and dealing among several political forces.

Season 2 holds special allure because the plot deals with China. When the US president, the secretary of state and other politicians float their proposals for China policy, we see the decision-making process as a deliberation of pros and cons and the trading of various interests, rather than a single person plucking the light bulb of a great idea from his head. This could be taken for granted by Americans, but here it could be startling and revealing.

The learning curve seems to be going both ways. China, as a narrative element of newsworthiness, is also no longer one big enterprise of mystery. There are different interests competing for favors and projects. (Spoiler: The person who claims to represent the Chinese government turns out to be one with his own agenda, possibly a sign of US television showmen's growing knowledge of the complexity of Chinese politics.)

For those who rely solely on highly dramatized accounts, such as House of Cards, for political insight, the perception and understanding indisputably will be warped. Still, it will be less ludicrous than basing every opinion of a vast and complex political structure on some outdated doctrine.

查看譯文

同時在中國和美國首映的第二季《紙牌屋》引發了大家對美國政治的紛紛議論。

比起國內或者韓國肥皂劇，這部陰暗腹黑的美劇被稱專門為高端觀眾群體定制，因此吸引了高端的受眾群，重質不重量。

《紙牌屋》之所以在中國大熱，根源在于符合中國人樂于窺探政治內幕的心理。宮廷劇一直是電視迷和陰謀論者的至愛。

當然，《白宮群英》也有一些類似劇情，但是艾倫·索金創作的劇太有紳士派頭了，而凱文·斯派西出演的這部系列劇和中國的古裝劇《甄嬛傳》十分吻合，《甄嬛傳》是近幾年在中國最受歡迎的電視劇之一，被剪輯成6集迷你劇在美國主流媒體HBO播出。

事實上，有些電視權威人士還稱《紙牌屋》為“美國版甄嬛傳”。

無論是好是壞，《紙牌屋》被認為是美國政治的縮影，至少大部分中國觀眾是這樣認為的。而該劇在太平洋西岸取得如此的成功還有另一個秘密。

無論持有哪種意識形態的人們都能夠找到論據：那些討厭美國的人會比較痛快，認為所謂的美式民主是一個用來耍手段的謊言，與中國的封建制度不相上下。那些愛美國的人則認為，無論政客的官職大小，靠著他們僅有的權力能夠阻止人性中的黑暗面腐蝕整個系統。

然而，從另一個角度，你也可以認為這部劇為那些僅通過抽象理論了解美國的人洗腦了，洗掉了他們對美國的刻板印象。白宮政治與為人民服務的理想天堂相差甚遠，但可能最大的啟示是：美國政府在應對各類事件時，并不是單靠某個人。即便意見一致，呈現給眾人的往往是幾大政治勢力不擇手段后，搖擺不定的結果。

《紙牌屋2》因有中國元素而更具吸引力。當美國總統、國務卿和其他政客在實行他們的對華政策時，我們可以看到一個決策是經過正反兩面的深思熟慮以及各種利益交換之后生成的，而不是某個人拍腦袋拍出來的。美國人也許認為這樣的決策流程理所當然，但在國內這也許令人驚訝并有啟迪作用。

學習曲線似乎往兩方面走。作為有新聞價值的敘事元素，中國已不再神秘。不同的利益方在爭奪支援和項目。

對于那些僅僅通過《紙牌屋》這樣被高度戲劇化的電視劇來了解政治的人，他們的感知與理解毫無疑問會被扭曲。不過，這比起用過時的教條主義來鉆研復雜的政治體系好多了。