''In the Name of the People'' () is a 2017
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
TV drama series based on the web novel of the same name by
Zhou Meisen. Its plot revolves around a prosecutor's efforts to unearth
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
in a present-day fictional Chinese city. It has drawn large audiences in China, where its release coincides with
General Secretary
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
's
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
's
anti-corruption campaign. It is the first broadcast political drama featuring high-level government corruption in China since 2004. The production received significant government funding from the
Supreme People's Procuratorate
The Supreme People's Procuratorate () is the highest national agency responsible for legal prosecution and investigation in the People's Republic of China. Conceived initially in 1949 as the Supreme People's Prosecutor's Office, the agency was r ...
, the highest agency responsible for both investigation and prosecution in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
The intervention from censors was much lighter due to the support of the authorities. The series is considered by some western observers as the Chinese version of ''
House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an Expression (language), expression that dates back to ...
''.
The program's stars include
Lu Yi as detective Hou Liangping, Xu Yajun as his antagonist Qi Tongwei, and
Zhang Fengyi
Zhang Fengyi (born 1 September 1956) is a Chinese actor best known for his role as "Duan Xiaolou" in ''Farewell My Concubine (film), Farewell My Concubine'' (1993), Jing Ke in ''The Emperor and the Assassin'' (1998), and Cao Cao in ''Red Cliff ( ...
as Sha Ruijin, the provincial
Party Committee Secretary
A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...
.
The series is based on a book by author
Zhou Meisen, and was adapted for television by Zhou and his wife Sun Xinyue.
[ It was primarily filmed in ]Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
, the capital of Jiangsu province.
Synopsis
''In'' ''the Name of the People'' chronicles the internal power struggle of the Chinese Communist Party in the fictional city of Jingzhou, Handong province, featuring stories about Chinese politics that are often talked about but never seen on mainstream television.
Cast
* Lu Yi as Hou Liangping
* Zhang Fengyi
Zhang Fengyi (born 1 September 1956) is a Chinese actor best known for his role as "Duan Xiaolou" in ''Farewell My Concubine (film), Farewell My Concubine'' (1993), Jing Ke in ''The Emperor and the Assassin'' (1998), and Cao Cao in ''Red Cliff ( ...
as Sha Ruijin
* Wu Gang
Wu Gang (), formerly romanized as Wu Kang and also known as Wu Zhi in some sources,Eberhard, Wolfram. ''Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought''pp. 76 ff Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 2013. Accessed 12 Novem ...
as Li Dakang
* Xu Yajun
Xu or XU may refer to:
People and characters
* Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English
* ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people
* ǃXu ( ...
() as Qi Tongwei
* Zhang Zhijian
Zhang Zhijian (born May 1934) is a general ('' shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
Biography
Zhang was born in 1934 in Wenxi, Shanxi. He joined the PLA in 1951. In 1992 he became the Deputy Commander of the Beijing M ...
() as Gao Yuliang
* Ke Lan () as Lu Yike
* Bai Zhidi
BAI or Bai may refer to:
BAI
Organizations
*BAI Communications, telecommunications infrastructure company
*BAI (organization), professional organization for financial services in the United States
*Badminton Association of India, India's gove ...
() as Chen Yanshi
* Li Guangfu
Li, li, or LI may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Landscape Institute, a British professional body for landscape architects
* Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia, US, that teaches "political tec ...
() as Zheng Xipo
* Hu Jing
HU or Hu may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Hu Sanniang, a fictional character in the ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature
* Tian Hu, one of the antagonists in the ''Water Margin''
* Hollywood Unde ...
() as Gao Xiaoqin
* Ding Haifeng
Ding Haifeng (; born 17 July 1991) is a Chinese footballer who currently plays for Hebei China Fortune in the Chinese Super League.
Club career
Ding Haifeng started his football career playing Beijing Guoan's youth academy in 2006. He was then ...
() as Zhao Donglai
* Zhang Xilin Zhang may refer to:
Chinese culture, etc.
* Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname
** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname
* Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu
* Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan
* ''Zha ...
() as Cai Chenggong
* Li Jianyi () as Ji Changming
* Huang Junpeng () as Chen Hai
* Han Benben () as Zheng Shengli
* Tang Wan () as Lin Huahua
* Yue Xiuqing () as Ouyang Jing
* Ji Shuai
Ji or JI may refer to:
Names and titles
* Ji (surname), the pinyin romanization of a number of distinct Chinese surnames
* Ji (Korean name), a Korean surname and element in given names (including lists of people with the name)
* -ji, an honorif ...
() as Zhou Zheng
* Xu Wenguang as Ding Yizhen
* Xu Guangyu () as Cheng Du
* Li Wei () as Sun Liancheng
* Zhang Kaili () as Wu Huifen
* Li Xinyue () as Zhang Baobao
* Huang Pinyuan () as Yi Xuexi
* Hao Guang () as Qin Siyuan
* Zhao Ziqi () as Zhong Xiao'ai
* Hou Yong as Zhao Dehan
* Gao Yalin () as Liu Xinjian
Reception
It is noted for its ensemble cast of skilled veteran actors as well as its high quality despite China's strict censorship system. The drama also surpassed 7% in ratings, breaking the single day ratings record for a Chinese drama. The series also received the praise from ''People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'', which is known as the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
However, some dissidents, such as cartoonist Rebel Pepper
Wang Liming (; born 1973), also known as Remon Wang, better known under the pseudonym Rebel Pepper (, ''lit.'' "Abnormal Chili pepper"), is a Chinese political cartoonist in exile in the United States. Wang left China out of fears for his safety re ...
, treated the series as a way for the authorities to manipulate and fool the public. The core of the series is that anti-graft efforts could only be conducted by a strong government rather than democratic elections or a free press, as ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''commented. Essentially, the series is not a success of creativity, but a success of the "permits to create", according to a widely spread opinion on Internet by Du Junfei, a professor in mass communication of Nanjing University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...
. 人民的名义 , 不是创作的成功,而是创作许可令的成功
Ratings
Awards and nominations
References
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External links
In the Name of the Peopleat
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
2017 Chinese television series debuts
2017 Chinese television series endings
Chinese drama television series
Chinese period television series
Political drama television series
Television shows based on Chinese novels
Television shows set in Beijing
Television shows filmed in Jiangsu
Television shows filmed in Beijing
Mandarin-language television shows
Hunan Television dramas
Television series by EE-Media