Downton Abbey goes to Communist China.

The Communist party as we know is founded on the concept of - class warfare. The British drama Downton Abbey is therefore ideally suited for exposing this very issue. In recent years the diet in China has been for Americans serials and Korean soap operas. But now there is a hunger for all things British, and class is a good place to start. The Earl of Grantham epitomises the pinnacle of this, with his retinue of servants - they represent the downtrodden proletariat. Its the dialectical relationship between these two worlds that captures the imagination of the Chinese viewer. Another reason they are so popular is the English accent that they are interested in. They have sub-titles, it would not be the same if they were speaking Chinese. So good old class ridden Blighty is exporting itself out of recession with these iconic programmes, including not surprisingly - Upstairs Downstairs.