intellectuals post-Mao Zedong and pre-Tiananmen Square and the freedoms that appeared around 1988. Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China in Oxford University has suggested the series was perhaps the most influential TV series of all time given how it introduced critical views of China to such a large audience. Gifford said that the film did not openly criticize the Communist Party of China: instead it contained "not-so-subtle" attacks on Chinese imperial traditions that therefore would also criticize the contemporary political system. Conservatives in Mainland China attacked the film. After the events of Tiananmen Square Massacre, some staff members of River Elegy were arrested and others fled Mainland China. Two of the main writers who escaped to the United States became evangelical Christians. Reactions and debates River Elegy (Heshang) aroused immediate debates and great controversy among intellectual circles, the Party’s top leadership, and even the overseas Chinese community after its first broadcast in June 1988. On 11 June 1988, Chinese Central Television (CCTV) started airing the six-part documentary series, and soon after, the People’s Daily published the scripts of the film. After the first show, Heshang stirred up fierce debates among university students and intellectuals. Many journals and universities organized several seminars including the “Heshang Month” in Wuhan and the “Heshang week” in Tianjin to discuss the series and its content, which was called the “Heshang Phenomenon” (Heshang xianxiang). In the beginning, debates mainly focused on the cultural significance of the film, and most audience comments were very positive. Many viewers regarded Heshang as the “beginning of a new Chinese TV culture” that was innovative in its artistic expression and cultural analysis. Since 1978, intellectuals had discussed and debated about the influence of Chinese culture and traditions on the future development of the country. Such debate, however, was limited to the scholarly sphere. Some audiences thus praised Heshang for its attempt to introduce the scholarly discussion about the impact of Chinese traditional culture to the public. More importantly, they considered the film the first Chinese documentary that dared to criticize the “backwardness” of Chinese traditional culture and social problems at the time. Official attention Political controversy about Heshang arose and attracted attention from the Party’s top leadership when a university president phoned Hu Qili, a pro-reform officer who was a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and the Central Secretariat, and warned him that