In the Name of the People (TV series)

In the Name of the People is a 2017 Chinese television 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 in a present-day fictional Chinese city. It has drawn large audiences in China, where its release coincides with General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership'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 highest agency responsible for both investigation and prosecution in the People's Republic of China. 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.

The program's stars include Lu Yi as detective Hou Liangping, Xu Yajun as his antagonist Qi Tongwei, and Zhang Fengyi as Sha Ruijin, the provincial Party Committee Secretary. 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, 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. The series depicts fictional communist party disciplinary investigators seeking to bring corrupt senior cadre to justice.

Cast

 * Lu Yi as Hou Liangping
 * Zhang Fengyi as Sha Ruijin
 * Wu Gang as Li Dakang
 * Xu Yajun (许亚军) as Qi Tongwei
 * Zhang Zhijian (张志坚) as Gao Yuliang
 * Ke Lan (柯蓝) as Lu Yike
 * Bai Zhidi (白志迪) as Chen Yanshi
 * Li Guangfu (李光复) as Zheng Xipo
 * Hu Jing (胡静) as Gao Xiaoqin
 * Ding Haifeng (丁海峰) as Zhao Donglai
 * Zhang Xilin (张晞临) as Cai Chenggong
 * Li Jianyi (李建义) as Ji Changming
 * Huang Junpeng (黄俊鹏) as Chen Hai
 * Han Benben (阚犇犇) as Zheng Shengli
 * Tang Wan (唐菀) as Lin Huahua
 * Yue Xiuqing (岳秀清) as Ouyang Jing
 * Ji Shuai (纪帅) as Zhou Zheng
 * Xu Wenguang as Ding Yizhen
 * Xu Guangyu (徐光宇) as Cheng Du
 * Li Wei (李威) as Sun Liancheng
 * Zhang Kaili (张凯丽) as Wu Huifen
 * Li Xinyue (李昕岳) as Zhang Baobao
 * Huang Pinyuan (黄品沅) as Yi Xuexi
 * Hao Guang (郝光) as Qin Siyuan
 * Zhao Ziqi (赵子琪) as Zhong Xiao'ai
 * Hou Yong as Zhao Dehan
 * Gao Yalin (高亚麟) as Liu Xinjian

Reception
In the Name of the People was an instant success in terms of viewership. 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 Communist Party's newspaper.

However, some dissidents, such as cartoonist Rebel Pepper, 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 commented.