China’s answer to ‘House of Cards’ takes the country by storm. Spoiler alert: The president isn’t corrupt

Cash was everywhere, in neat stacks stashed in a false wall, a fridge, a wardrobe, a mattress. As the Chinese anti-corruption investigator ransacked the luxury mansion, its owner — a corrupt Communist Party official — knelt and begged for leniency, tears running down his face.

The scene unfolds in the second episode of “In the Name of the People,” a Chinese hit TV drama which, since its debut in late March, has racked up more than 10 billion views online, according to its official page on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter — more than seven views for each Chinese citizen.

The cash scene, like many in the show, appears to be ripped straight from the headlines — President Xi Jinping, since his ascent to China’s top post in 2012, has pursued an iron-fisted anti-corruption crackdown, punishing or investigating an estimated 1.2 million government officials ranging from high-ranking “tigers” to lowly “flies.”

Chinese Web users have called the show, with its inside-politics premise, a homegrown answer to the hit U.S. drama “House of Cards,” which was hugely popular in China. Yet while the American version viciously satirizes U.S. political culture, the Chinese show — a 55-episode spectacle, based on a novel of the same name — is an explicit projection of Chinese state power, underscoring the country’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda apparatus.

“This show’s purpose is very obvious — it’s to let common folk know that the state and party have the ability to self-correct,” said Ding Xueliang, a sociologist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who studies Chinese politics.

It shows that China “is still a top-down society,” he continued, “where the government can freely control ordinary people, and the degree of freedom for ordinary people is extremely low.”

The show was co-produced by a branch of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the country’s top prosecutor, and approved by its media watchdog, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

The watchdog formally banned the discussion of corruption on TV in 2004, claiming that it could “potentially mislead audiences” about Communist Party leadership. Since then, broadcasters have stuck to more politically correct fare, including shows about family ethics, Qing and Tang Dynasty-era court intrigue, and heroic Chinese armies battling Japanese forces during World War II. Many Chinese viewers turned to pirated Western dramas for more compelling fare.

So for Chinese TV fans, “In the Name of the People,” with its high production value and darker themes, came as a welcome surprise. The story centers on a power struggle among Communist Party officials in the fictional city of Jingzhou. Its protagonist, the head of the procuratorate’s anti-corruption department, investigates a string of corrupt officials who are involved in shady real estate deals.

For many fans, the most surprising scenes ring the most true. A local official tries to thwart a top justice; ordinary people protest a corrupt deal between the government and a corporation, leading to violence; a local judge is caught in bed with a prostitute, arranged for him by a favor-seeking businesswoman. The villain is a deputy state-level party official, perhaps marking the first time that a mainland Chinese TV show has made an official the bad guy.

The show’s official page did not explain its assessment that the show racked up 10 billion views, yet the actual figure — if accounting for each episode watched — could be even higher. Two online platforms with streaming rights for the show, iQiyi and Youku, have reported garnering 6.75 billion and 8.04 billion views, respectively.

Zhou Meisen, a famed political novelist who wrote the book and the show’s script, said that he was shocked at the censors’ relatively light touch. The media watchdog “was rather kind this time,” he told the Beijing Daily newspaper, adding that it “approved the script with very few changes after reviewing it four times, whereas I expected it would be a thousand.”

Yet the show isn’t exactly a beacon of progressive politics. It casts an uncritical eye on the anti-corruption campaign, just as Xi — already considered China’s most powerful leader since Mao Tse-tung — seeks to further consolidate power before the 19th party congress, a major political conclave this fall.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on May 15, 2017.

(Thomas Peter / AFP/Getty Images)

In 2014, Xi said in a speech that television and film productions should “serve the people” and “promote positive energy,” political shorthand for toeing the party line. Political analysts widely believe that Xi has used the crackdown to shore up power while eliminating political rivals, such as the deposed former security czar Zhou Yongkang. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection — a powerful governing body and the campaign’s driving force — is led by Wang Qishan, one of Xi’s closest allies.

Generally, China’s media watchdog “will call on China’s television industry to produce a series of ‘main theme’ television programs to premiere before significant political events,” said Wan Yuchen, an analyst at the China Market Research Group.

The term “main theme,” she said, refers to films and television shows whose themes dovetail with the recent government policies — and this year’s main theme is the grand accomplishments of Xi’s administration and his anti-corruption campaign. More anti-corruption-themed dramas are forthcoming, she added.

The media watchdog has “recommended” 31 dramas in advance of the 19th party congress, according to its official website. “In the Name of the People” topped the list. Among the others, about 20 celebrated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and four concerned the upcoming 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule.

The program’s success wasn’t merely a result of savvy marketing and high production values. Some city governments and universities have required officials and students to watch the show, then review it in 1,500 words or less.

Watching the show “was part of my Communist Party history module’s homework,” said Li Shenmu, 21, a student at Guangdong University of Technology. “I suppose I can still gain something from watching this show — hopefully it will help me get a better start at the beginning of my career.”

The show has provoked heated debates online, with critics arguing that it’s a work of propaganda without much substance. Sun Erxi, 27, a Shanghai-based consultant, was frustrated that the show only celebrated the triumphs of Xi’s campaign, without exploring less savory truths about China’s political system.

“People have become politically blind, and most of them don’t realize that free speech and transparency are still tightly controlled,” he said.

Others were true believers. “I was deeply touched and blown away by the outstanding acting and the story line’s intrigue,” said a 27-year-old white-collar worker in Beijing who refused to give his name, as the party discourages unapproved interviews with foreign journalists. “I believe this show is a political enlightenment — education for the people.”

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Zhang is a researcher in The Times’ Beijing bureau.