China's television authorities deny that it will ban dramatic TV series that depict extramarital affairs during prime time.

The Chinese newspaper, Mirror, reported last week that family dramas showing people having extramarital affairs would be kicked off prime time television because of fears the shows would negatively affect Chinese youth and their view of adult relationships.

"We have not heard of such a thing," a woman at the public relations office for the State Administration of Film, Radio and Television, said in a phone interview on Monday.

According to the newspaper report, SARFT will limit family dramas and place controls on their content. A number of television series contain plots in which a third party breaks up a marriage, including the popular drama A Chinese Style Divorce. These storylines are incompatible with the general environment for constructing a harmonious society, said the newspaper report in providing SARFT's rationale for the move.

The newspaper also said SARFT will put limits on costume dramas that are spoofs of historic events or fictional comedies, such as the popular sitcom My Own Swordsman.

Wang Weiping, deputy director of the television drama department of SARFT reported earlier that the administration plans to promote more mainstream television dramas and limit fictional costume farces.

At that time he did not say what the limits on costume dramas might be.

China produced 12,447 episodes of television dramas, and 42 percent were historical costume dramas.

In June the number of costume series that SARFT approved to begin production had dropped to 4.5 percent of all series approved by the administration.

Source: Xinhua