China's television authorities have denied that it will ban the prime-time broadcast of TV drama series that depict extramarital affairs.

The Chinese newspaper, Mirror, reported last week that family dramas showing people getting involved in extramarital affairs would be kicked off prime-time TV because of fears that such shows would negatively affect the Chinese youth and their views of adult relationships.

"We have not heard of such a thing," a staff member at the public relations office for the State Administration of Film, Radio and Television (SARFT), 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. The report suggests that SARFT's rationale for the move was that such storylines are incompatible with the environment needed to construct a harmonious society.

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.

But he did not specify 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.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2006)