tary of the China Writers Association, encouraged Zhou to change
the story into “one with greater gravity.” “The reality is that so many
higher-level officials have been arrested in recent years. How can you
touch on the subject so lightly?” Zhai asked the writer.
Zhai’s words came as a real confidence boost to Zhou Meisen. He
eventually made a deputy state-level official the series’ biggest “wire-
pulling tiger.”
After the series was finished, what surprised Zhou and other pro-
ducers most was the exceptional tolerance of the censorship body.
Zhou originally thought the huge project would take an extraor-
dinary amount of time and effort to get past the SAPPRFT. He also
braced himself for probably five episodes being deleted and more than
1,000 points being earmarked for revision.
However, approval of In the Name of the People took just 10 days.
Only a few dozen parts were to be changed. Sensitive scenes such as a
protest that happens in a clothing factory and workers suffering burns
in a warehouse fire all passed censorship.
“Compared to their predecessors, the [censors] seem to come from
a different universe,” Zhou joked.
Not only that, the authorities gave very positive reviews. “Ground-
breaking and soul-stirring,” censors of the Supreme People’s Procura-
torate described the programme, the programme’s director Li Lu told
ChinaReport.
Mao Yu, director of the Television Series Administration Bureau
under SAPPRFT, said in the annual conference of the Chinese Tele-
vision Directors Association in January that, “We [the SAPPRFT]
are deeply moved by such a realistic programme [In the Name of the
People]. We greatly admire its makers’ shrewd understanding of Chi-
nese society and the insightful answers they give to major problems
of our time.”
“Although the series realistically reveals the phenomenon of ram-
pant corruption, it still programmes the audience how light conquers
darkness. In the programme people can feel the power of justice, the
warmth of human nature and never-fading hope,” Mao said.
To bring “positive energy” is a crucial principle. Fan Ziwen told
ChinaReport that television series with an anti-graft theme are a dou-
ble-edged sword – if handled well, they can demonstrate the Party’s
determination in fighting corruption; if not, they would to some de-
gree hurt the image of the ruling members.
After it aired, the programme instantly became a hit and was widely
acclaimed by the public. The novel of the same title went immediately
out of stock on the first day of broadcast. 460,000 copies were sold
in a week.
One critic commented that the depth of the programme’s depic-
tion of society and exploration of human nature has far exceeded pre-
vious anti-graft dramas. It involves all walks of life, from lower-level
officials to highest-ranking leaders, from merchants to intellectuals,
from social elites to disadvantaged groups.
Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Government Integrity and
Anti-Corruption Research Centre of Peking University, told the Xin-
hua news agency that the popularity of In the Name of the People shows
people’s eagerness to know what really happens in the process of anti-
corruption, which is usually unclear to the public due to the niche
nature of its work and the specialisation of the professionals involved.
“People’s passion for the anti-graft drama, essentially speaking, re-
veals how deeply they care about social justice as well as their own
development, and how much they hope to understand how the Party
and government work,” Zhuang said.A scene from In the Name of the People