Crime dramas arrest attention of audiences nationwide

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Though China has seen more high-quality films and TV dramas about the rule of law that received thumbs-ups from audiences in recent years, Guo Jianhua, a deputy to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, said, "There still aren't enough such works."

She shared her ideas while attending the first session of the 14th NPC in Beijing last month, and called for the establishment of a long-term system of creation, filming and promotion between creators and judicial professionals.

"It's also necessary to improve the regulations and policies related to the culture of the rule of law to make the creative environment in this regard more dynamic," she added.

After witnessing the success of the TV dramas, many judicial authorities across the country have started studying ways to innovate the production of works to better educate people about the value of the rule of law and advance law-based governance.

For example, the Intermediate People's Court in Jining, Shandong province, said that to further guide the audience to learn the laws and understand the judicial procedures behind such works, it is better for judges to interact with netizens or answer their questions on social platforms in accordance with the legal knowledge featured in ongoing TV series or films.

Geng, secretary-general of the Police Literature and Arts Association of China, told Legal Weekly that it is essential for movie and drama producers to work with legal experts or the judicial authorities to prevent mistakes.

"Inviting legal professionals or judicial departments to help create or review scripts, or collecting their ideas and suggestions during the creative process will guarantee and improve the quality of the work," the paper quoted Geng as saying.

He added that scripts concerning the rule of law are a special theme requiring a professional approach to build the core of the stories and make audiences feel that what they are watching is close to their lives.

Leng Song, a research fellow from the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, supported such cooperation between film producers, screenwriters and legal professionals. He suggested that they include related issues, such as telecom fraud that targets seniors, to create more short TV dramas to help explain a number of social problems more efficiently and in a way that will be easier for people to accept.