China's 40-Episode Jiaofeng Tops Ratings, Draws 50 Million Views on Taiwan Spy Plot
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 15
China's 40-Episode Jiaofeng Tops Ratings, Draws 50 Million Views on Taiwan Spy Plot
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 15
Summary
Within a week of its 6 September premiere, Jiaofeng topped CCTV’s daily prime-time drama ratings five times and passed 50 million online views across platforms, making it a breakout hit in China.
The 40-episode series, co-produced with the Ministry of State Security, dramatizes two decades of China-Taiwan espionage from the mid-1990s and says it drew on 27 declassified case files and interviews with retired officers.
Analysts say the show does more than entertain: it casts Chinese state security officers as heroes, frames Taiwan intelligence as the adversary, and helps Beijing build a patriotic historical narrative around cross-strait tensions.
That message appears to have limited traction in Taiwan, where discussion has been scant and younger viewers interviewed said they saw it as propaganda; a recent poll found only 7.4% of respondents viewed the Chinese Communist Party favorably.