National treasures come to life on TV show

Yu described the episodes as similar to docudramas, with elements such as dialogue that are fictionalized while the storylines are based on historical information. "These cultural relics are like aged people. They have so much to tell us."

Sometimes, comedy is also employed.

When Wang Kai plays Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in a section about a porcelain vase commonly called the "mother of porcelains", he has a dream in which he is roundly rebuked for his taste by artists and his father. The taunts sound like those used recently by Chinese netizens.