A recently aired television drama In the Name of the People has gained swift popularity. This drama, which consists of 50 episodes, topped the TV ratings soon after it was aired. On ratings website Douban, the drama even received a 9 out of 10 score.
In fact, this drama is adapted from a fictional novel. The original author was Zhou Meisen, who is considered a pioneer of Chinese political fiction. Now the Vice Chairperson of the Writers’ Association of Jiangsu, Zhou belongs to the “post-1950s” generation in the mainland and has had a complicated life.
After graduating from high school, Zhou worked as a miner, the editor of literature magazine, a business person, and even a senior government official. His rich experience gave him an abundance of material to work with. He has published fictions including Absolute Power, The Best Interest and The Indictment of the State, which depict the contemporary Chinese political scene and have been adapted to television dramas.
In fact, In the Name of the People has a very special origin. In 2014, the top officials of the People’s Supreme Prosecutor’s Office asked Zhou to create a piece on anti-corruption. Those officials not only offered a topic to the writer, but also provided various assistance so that he could write more conveniently. For example, Zhou was allowed to visit the prison and meet with former officials from all levels who had been convicted of corruption.
After two years, the novel and the plot of television drama were simultaneously created, with the filming took place soon after that. In January this year, In the Name of the People was finally published, with its namesake TV drama being aired in March on the Hunan Satellite Cable Channel. As expected, the drama attracted a huge number of loyal fans and sparked heated discussions. The publishing company of the novel even had to work overnight to get the book reprinted in order to respond to the demand from all over the nation.
The story of In the Name of the People revolves around Hou Liangping, who is a prosecutor in the Chinese People’s Supreme Prosecution Office.
While he is investigating a corruption case, he discovers complex corruption activity in 'H' Province (in the TV drama, the imaginary province was given the name Handong). The story follows the investigation carried out by Hou and his former schoolmate Chen Hai, who is the Director of the Handong Prosecution Office’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, as well as Chen’s fellow investigators.
The thrilling investigation process and the power struggle depicted not only make this novel a bureaucratic or anti-corruption novel, but one that is truly political.
As for the novel, the author writes in a plain style, making it easy to read. The storyline is strong, with numerous plot twists and cliff hangers. Most importantly, Zhou does not demonize the corrupted officials in an ordinary fashion, but displays the life and career trajectory of them through depicting their characters, motives and their backgrounds, ultimately revealing a kind of inevitability to their situations.
On TV, the director Li Lo adopted a filming method similar to those of American drama series, and adeptly controls the tempo and strength of the drama, which has truly struck a chord with viewers.
Both the drama and the novel are very popular, because the author abandoned the ordinary style of grandeur and lecturing. His combination of dramatic story and social reality reveals to overseas readers the political operations and power struggles in Mainland China, providing an exceptional “education” for everyone.
