Chinese TV series with anti-graft themes have recently returned to the spotlight, touching upon more sensitive corruption cases as the Communist Party of China (CPC) continues discipline efforts started by the Party's 18th National Congress in late 2012.
Produced under the auspices of the film and television center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, an anti-corruption themed TV series called In the Name of the People will be the first production to portray a government official above the provincial or ministerial level as a villain, a social media account run by the Beijing Youth Daily reported Saturday.
The creation of such a TV series "shows the Party's confidence in its political system, including the anti-corruption system," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Committee, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that it reveals the Party's resolution to propel the advance of anti-corruption efforts by depicting corruption involving top-level national officials.
TV series about corruption have largely faded into the background since China's media watchdog required lowering the proportion of such shows in 2004.
In 2015, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) discussed TV series addressing corruption-related themes with the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
"We've got a mission to produce at least one or two films as well as two or three TV series [on the theme of anti-corruption] each year," Li Jingsheng, director of the TV series administration bureau of SAPPRFT, was quoted as saying in the report.
In spite of marked achievements in the anti-corruption drive, artistic creativity addressing corruption has been rare in recent years, Yin Hong, vice dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
In the Name of the People is reportedly being filmed with a budget of 120 million yuan ($18.46 million).
The CCDI invited noted Chinese scriptwriter Lu Tianming to a maximum security prison housing China's highest-profile prisoners to research a script for the series in August last year.