EN
This paper attempt to define and classify contemporary television series produced in China (chin. dianshiju); (eng. Chinese drama) in terms of its genre, ori-gin, audience, structure, function and meaning, placing the phenomenon in a broader theoretical, cultural and historical context. The major textual study subject and exem-plification are reduced to melodrama, domestic drama, family drama, history drama, idol drama—representing the main types of dianshiju in the 21st century.