TV series on corrupt China officials get all agog

BEIJING — A week before a key meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has mounted a massive propaganda blitz against graft with the airing of a new series that dishes the dirt on disgraced officials.

The new eight-part series, titled “Always On The Road,” takes viewers behind the scenes of some of China’s most high-profile corruption cases. The first episode was aired on Monday, and it proved to be a hit among Chinese viewers.

“People everywhere are talking about ‘Always On The Road,’” the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s much-feared discipline watchdog, said in a statement. It produced the series with state broadcaster CCTV.

The primetime series will run through Oct 25, coinciding with the ruling party’s sixth plenum which starts next Monday.

Two documents on strengthening party discipline will be discussed and approved at the meeting, reported Bloomberg.

“The series makes publicity preparations for the sixth plenum,” said Professor Zhu Lijia, a public affairs professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance in Beijing.

“It aims to show that corruption is a deep-seated socioeconomic and political problem and calls for an enduring battle,” he told Bloomberg.

Law professor Yang Weidong at the Chinese Academy of Governance, a school for training senior officials, said the TV series holds lessons for party cadres.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a sweeping war on deep-seated corruption since assuming power almost four years ago, vowing to go after powerful “tigers” as well as lowly “flies.”

Last year alone, 336,000 party officials were reprimanded or punished for graft, reported news website Sixth Tone.