War on drugs hits screens

A new online drama series is focusing attention on a scourge that is afflicting the entire world, Wang Kaihao reports.

The Thunder, a new drama series on Chinese online streaming media platform iQiyi, may remind audiences of Breaking Bad - an American TV series about a kingpin of the drug trade.

But in the case of the Chinese series, it is based on real events.

The 48-episode series was piloted on iQiyi on Tuesday and aims to unveil the human angle behind the news reports.

The gang, which was led by several influential clans in local communities, also had many sales channels overseas.

Boshe, a village with 14,000 residents in Lufeng, Guangdong, was then dubbed "China's No 1 Drugmaking Village".

Speaking about the series, Fu Dongyu, the director, says: "We have had so many stories on our screens which reflect police efforts to fight drugs. However, I was looking for one answer: How could something like this happen? How could so many people make drugs in one place for such a long time? Did they even once feel ashamed of what they were doing?

"I wanted to enter their inner world," the director says.

"A good crime thriller needs more than action scenes. So, besides the heroes and the villains, we want viewers to remember the vividly-portrayed images."