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."

The drug-making hub in Lufeng was affected by poverty for a long time, and the region was also infamous for producing counterfeit currency.

"The locals wanted to get out of poverty ... but police officers had to break up their entire network of relationships," says Fu. "Those complex ties form the most touching parts of the series."

It took more than two years for the police to prepare for the strike on Boshe, but the production team of the drama needed even longer to hone the script.

Although the first draft of the story was ready shortly after the raids happened, it was revised many times until iQiyi took over the project in 2017.

Speaking about how the authorities helped the makers of the series, Dai Ying, the producer, says: "Fortunately, we were allowed to see documents of the case and interviewed many police officers who participated in the campaign."

As for the realism in the portrayal of the story, Dai says the main goal of the crew was to bring the real essence of the story to the screen by inviting around 1,500 police officers and SWAT members to join the shoot, with their helicopters, armored cars and other equipment.

In the opening scene of the pilot episode, Li Fei, a narcotics agent, who is played by young-generation idol Huang Jingyu, leads a team to capture a drug dealer in a village in a fictional city in Guangdong.

However, he only ends up exposing the tip of the iceberg, as his raid sets off a long battle against the gang, which is protected by patriarchs of the local community.

Li Fei's role may be a fictional one, but he represents many brave behind-the-scene officers in the campaign.

Speaking about how the raids unfolded in 2013, a police officer who participated in the campaign says: "The drug dealers were very vigilant about not allowing any strangers onto their turf. So, when we drove into the village, we were immediately followed and then chased by locals. My colleague even got hurt.

"And when we broke into a gang member's home, we found many explosives there."

Chinese narcotics agents typically remain anonymous for their own safety.

And the officer who took part in the raids says that he has only been to his daughter's junior high school twice to pick her up.

"Sometimes I feel bitter as my wife cannot even post any of my pictures on her social network," he says. "But I have a job to do."

One feature of the series is its fast pace and the multiple storylines that are intertwined in the drama, but Dai says that this was not done deliberately to make the story more complicated.

"This was the reality," she says.

"A successful campaign needs close cooperation between different departments. There is no one hero handling all the problems in cases like these. We have a group of heroes."

Real-life stories of narcotics agents have been reaching our screens more often in recent years, and some of them enjoyed huge success like Operation Mekong in 2016.

That film was adapted from a 2011 case when two Chinese merchant ships were attacked and destroyed by a drug gang in the Golden Triangle, which prompted a cross-border hunt for the murderers.

Speaking about The Thunder and Operation Mekong, Chen Yuxin, who is the screenwriter for both, says: "The difficulty is how to blend the real case and fictional parts together.

"People want the details, but we also need to look at the bigger picture."

As for how the series can help focus more attention on the problem, Shen Yue, an officer from the Ministry of Public Security, who is in charge of cross-border cooperation fighting drug-related crimes, says: "We are urged to take a stronger international responsibility when it comes to fighting crime and cutting off its origins."

And the Thunder operation is just one part of the comprehensive action taken to tackle the problem.

Contact the writer at wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn

That film was adapted from a 2011 case when two Chinese merchant ships were attacked and destroyed by a drug gang in the Golden Triangle, which prompted a cross-border hunt for the murderers.

Speaking about The Thunder and Operation Mekong, Chen Yuxin, who is the screenwriter for both, says: "The difficulty is how to blend the real case and fictional parts together.

"People want the details, but we also need to look at the bigger picture."

As for how the series can help focus more attention on the problem, Shen Yue, an officer from the Ministry of Public Security, who is in charge of cross-border cooperation fighting drug-related crimes, says: "We are urged to take a stronger international responsibility when it comes to fighting crime and cutting off its origins."

And the Thunder operation is just one part of the comprehensive action taken to tackle the problem.

Contact the writer at wangkaihao@chinadaily.com.cn