Lu Yi,the actor who plays the main protagonist in TV series "In the Name of People." (Photo/ Poster of the TV series)
A television series based on a novel about China's anti-corruption drive has gone viral on Chinese social media and won widespread acclaim.
The actor who plays the main protagonist, Lu Yi, now has 25 million followers on Weibo, a Twitter-like service, and received 33,500 "likes" for a message he sent promoting the show's premiere on March 28.
"In the Name of People," a 55-episode show that debuted on Hunan Satellite TV, focuses on the work of the Communist Party of China (CPC) disciplinary investigators whose job is to bring down corrupt officials, whether they are tigers or flies (senior or junior leaders).
The plot follows a senior official hiding his illegal gains with a bed made of banknotes worth 230 million yuan (33.4 million U.S. dollars), and is similar to an actual corruption case, though the real life amount, taken by a former vice-mayor, was 644 million yuan.
The CPC's resolve to fight corruption and build clean government is being mirrored in the arts.
A netizen called Mizi left a message at the People's Daily's official account at WeChat saying the drama was the most exciting in years.
"The play also has a warning effect, showing the determination to hunt down all corrupt figures," Mizi wrote.
On Weibo, a netizen called Dengyige wrote "the phenomenal play is a kind of reflection that our nation is making steady progress, and public opinion supports the CPC's resolution to eradicate graft."
The 120 million yuan production cost was bankrolled by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Top TV and film watchdogs usually take months to approve material on corruption, but the show was approved just 10 days after submission to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, according to Zhou Meisen, writer of the original book.
After the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China stepped up anti-corruption work. The crackdown has gained popular support after netting corrupt officials and creating a better political atmosphere across the country.
The sweeping fight against corruption has gained "crushing momentum," according to the top leadership late last year.
China's court system concluded 45,000 graft cases implicating 63,000 people in 2016, with 35 former officials at the provincial and ministerial level or above, and 240 at the prefectural level convicted, according to the work report of the Supreme People's Court on March 12.
