[Current Mainland Chinese Web Drama 2016] Dr. Qin Medical Examiner 法医秦明

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Title: Dr. Qin Medical Examiner

Chinese title: 法医秦明

Genre: Modern, Mystery/Suspense

Episodes: 20

Broadcast Date: October 13, 2016 on Sohu

Director: Xu Ang 徐昂

Original writing (novel): Di Shi Yi Geng Shou Zhi (第十一根手指) by Qin Ming 秦明

Official weibo

 

CAST

Zhang Ruoyun as Qin Ming

Jiao Jun Yan as Da Bao

Li Xian as Lin Tao

 

TRAILERS

 

 

EPISODES: Sohu

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Ending Theme song MV for Medical Examiner Dr. Qin released! 

Title: 不灭 (Immortal)

Lyrics composed and sung by Zhang Ruoyun

Watch here: http://tv.sohu.com/20161009/n469757706.shtml

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Promotional posters counting down till the airing on 10.13:

 

Also, press conference will be held on Oct 13 @ 1400 hours.

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3rd trailer (2min42sec in length) for the drama:

And another countdown promotional poster

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Last 2 countdown promotional posters

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edit: correction, the source I got for the VIP episodes had a glitch in them, thus why the episodes seemed longer than they should have been.

@lizzieyen The first 2 episodes are on youtube

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The youtube account above has updated to episode 4.

Also, I just realized that the novel (The Eleventh Finger) by Qin Ming from which this drama is adapted from has been translated to English and released late September 2016, under the title of Murder in Dragon City.

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credits to tags on photo:

layout of Qin Ming's home:

what it actually looks like in the drama

 

Sohu is cracking down on piracy of this drama (as noted on the drama's official weibo), so please don't ask for where you can find the episodes. I'm in the USA and I can watch the episodes on Sohu just fine. Regular viewers can watch 2 epis/wk every Thursday. VIP members currently have access to the first 6 episodes.

The camaraderie between Qin Ming, Da Bao and Lin Tao is just wonderful. The drama differs a bit from the novel from which it is based on i.e. in the Eleventh Finger, Qin Ming is already married, other things like re-occurring characters (from previous novels). Also there have been criticism against the author by fans because Zhang Ruoyun looks too handsome/cool for the character (physique-wise) of Qin Ming. My two cents--that's why the drama changed the story a bit, especially since they are using the 3rd or 4th book in the series. Even the other drama version of the Qin Ming series that is currently filming, the actor looks no where like what the novel Qin Ming is.

By end of episode 6, the drama has already gone through 3 cases and in the midst of the 4th case, with the plot thickening.

P.S. The three leads are using their own voices--not dubbed by another person.

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congrats to the drama...over a 5 day period, over 50million playbacks/views!

 

layout of examiner's office/workplace and what it looks on film:

and credits as tagged in photos:

some more differences b/w the novel and drama:

In the novel, there is a "Bao", but he is male; in the drama, this character had left due to his not being able to withstand Qin Ming's quirky behavior and "Da Bao" (female) is sent as a replacement. As for the first case, novel-wise, the skulls of the couple were found, but in the sewers, and not in the fridge of the couple's home like in the drama. Also, there was no mention of the wife having been pregnant, whereas in the drama she was in the early months of pregnancy...

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credit as tagged in photos

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the drama broke 300million views!

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the drama reached 400 and 500 million viewers

and from the drama's weibo

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drama reached over 600million views

 

Actor Cheng Hao Feng in episodes 13-14

 

miscellaneous

[sugarplum892]

what days do the episodes come out?

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12 hours ago, sugarplum892 said:

what days do the episodes come out?

 

episodes (2/wk) come out on Thurs. VIP are up to episode 14 this week, whereas regular viewers are only up to episode 10.

[40somethingahjumma]

Ah... more crime shows... (I have really missed them) and judging from the first episode this one seems to have modelled itself after Bones. Pity no one's subbing it because it looks like a lot of fun. Really enjoyed the first episode despite my limited vocab related to anatomy and physiognomy. It's nice to see another C-drama with another unconventional female lead.

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This article is in Chinese, but from what I can tell it explains why this particular drama is different from other C-dramas of its kind (the ones that supposedly focuses on a profession i.e. lawyers, doctors...): http://yule.sohu.com/20161114/n473140188.shtml

[40somethingahjumma]

This is turning out to be quite an excellent drama and it's a nice change that the individual crimes get solved pretty quickly. The first murder mystery was pretty grotesque and the crime scene was certainly not for the faint-hearted but it sucked me in nonetheless;. I note too that Qin Ming has his own ongoing storyline too which rather reminds me of the first couple of seasons of Sherlock. I'm up to Ep. 9.

I'm loving the banter between the 3 leads and I especially enjoy the pushback from the female lead. It's great to see a female lead with a specific skill set, knows her job and is very good at it. As a whole, all three characters demonstrate a high level of professionalism and it's a nice surprise that the show doesn't rely on stupidity or emotionalism to further the plot. Da Bao cleans up nice too.

This show really should have a much wider audience. It's nicely written and there's good chemistry between the actors.

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from China Film Insider:

Chinese Publishers Turn to TV as Book Profits Spiral

By Xueqing Li|January 11th, 2017|Featured Stories, News

Instead of selling the rights to their novels, publishers in China are launching their own production teams to adapt work for the screen.

There isn’t a case that the genius mind of heartthrob forensic expert Qin Ming cannot crack. The character has won his web series — Medical Examiner Dr. Qin — 1.5 billion views since its premiere in October 2016, making it one of the highest-performing dramas on Netflix-like platform Sohu TV, its exclusive broadcaster.

More striking than Qin’s Holmesian knack for solving cases is that, unlike most of its competition, Dr. Qin is not the work of a seasoned web TV production company. Instead, it is the fruit of a new generation of TV producers in China: book publishers. The show, which just completed its opening season, is the first venture by Beijing Bojitianjuan Film and TV Co. Ltd., a production company set up by CS-Booky, one of the country’s largest literary publishers.

This trend comes at a time when, according to a report by entertainment industry monitor Entertainment Capital, the cost of producing books in China — from the price of materials to editor salaries — is rising. Yet profits continue to narrow, as furious competition among online vendors drives down book prices. “There is a limit to the growth of book sales,” Bojitianjuan’s vice president, Guo Linyuan, said. “Developing film and television has given us a new means of making a profit.”

Of course, collaboration between the worlds of the page and the screen is nothing new to China. A number of the country’s most popular TV series are based on novels, an adaptation phenomenon that has gained particular traction in the genre of online literature.

In most cases, those who bear the rights to a literary work — be it the publishing house or the individual author — will sell off those rights to a production company. In developing its own production team, CS-Booky has eliminated the middleman, giving it more autonomy over the screen-adaptation process.

Filling a gap in the market — those with a thirst for forensic drama could previously only choose among foreign imports like CSI and Criminal Minds — the success of Dr. Qin suggests that CS-Booky was right to choose it as the first adaptation of its new drama production venture. Its performance has already surpassed the Bojitianjuan team’s expectations, said Guo, laying the foundation for a second season set to begin filming in April. The production company also has two feature films — a romance and a travel memoir — scheduled to enter production this year. Guo said that the success of Dr. Qin has also piqued the interest of new investors, though she could not specify figures or companies, as negotiations are ongoing.

CS-Booky is not alone in making the jump from page to screen. Fellow private publishing goliath Beijing Motie Book Co. Ltd. set up a film and TV production company in 2013 and released its first film in 2016. Motie’s prospects for business success received a significant boost when, in early 2016, the Heyi Group — owner of two of China’s leading video-streaming sites, Youku and Tudou — became its second-largest shareholder. Among state-owned publishing houses, Yilin Press joined hands with best-selling novelist Rao Xueman in 2013 to establish its very own film and TV production company.

Yet the sheer amount of content that publishing houses like CS-Booky have to play with is meaningless unless they can find suitable distribution channels. The production company’s decision to stick closely to the original text meant that Dr. Qin — replete with gruesome autopsies and other gore — would have faced a tough time making it to television sets in China. In one of the series’ opening scenes, detectives discover what appears to be a fried chicken claw in a barrel of cooking oil. It turns out to be the charred hand of a woman whose body had been hacked to pieces along with her husband. The gore was one of the reasons Bojitianjuan opted to release the show as a web series. “We were more likely to get it approved by the authorities this way than by producing it as a TV drama,” Guo explained. “After all, there are children watching television.”

But in 2016, it was announced that stringent industry guidelines issued by a subsidiary of the country’s media censors were to apply to all dramas, be they broadcast on television or online. Whether those regulations — which forbid explicit violence, alongside themes like homosexuality and superstitious ritual — will affect Dr. Qin remains to be seen.

To navigate the often-treacherous waters of film and TV production, vice president of Peking University’s Institute of Cultural Studies Chen Shaofeng believes that “You’re better off collaborating with a TV and film production company that has experience.” Chen, who is lukewarm about the trend of publishers pivoting to TV and film production, said that the only real advantage of a publishing house-turned-production company is the close relationships forged with authors and, as a result, the competitive rates at which production rights can be secured.

But with increasing intimacy between authors and production crews comes the prospect that authors will begin to pen novels with screen adaptability in mind. Geshuyi is a novelist whose publisher — Shanghai Haolin Culture Communication Co. Ltd. — has collaborated on TV and film projects based on the work of sci-fi author Cai Jun. Haolin offers advice to prospective writers regarding the suitability of their work for TV adaptation, though such suitability is not a deciding factor when signing new authors, said Geshuyi, who writes exclusively under a pen name and is thus unwilling to disclose his real name.

Geshuyi said he knows of many writers who have permanently transitioned into screenwriting, though he is not concerned about the effect of such a migration on the long-term health of Chinese literature, as there are enough novelists who would find the idea of adapting their work for the screen unpalatable. “Not every writer can be a screenwriter, ready to revise their work upon requirement,” he said.

Geshuyi himself has his heart set on developing his romance novel The Sleeping Girl into a film or drama series. Having already won approval for screen adaptation from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the project now hinges on Geshuyi’s ability to secure investment and build a production team. The novelist’s views on publishing houses moonlighting as producers suggest that he won’t be seeking a publisher for the task: “The profession of publishers is publishing, and the profession of film and TV producers is film and TV production,” he said.

“If it is the case that the publishing house is a subsidiary set up by a TV and film production company, then there’s the possibility that it will work,” Geshuyi said. “But the problem for now is that neither China’s publishing houses nor TV and film production companies are particularly accomplished, in my opinion.”

— A version of this article originally appeared on Sixth Tone.

 

From China Daily:

Behind the success of 'Medical Examiner Dr. Qin'

By Zhang Xingjian | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2016-12-14 09:26

 

The cast of Medical Examiner Dr. Qin attend a celebration ceremony in Beijing on December 10.[Photo by Zhang Xingjian/chinadaily.com.cn]

 

This year has witnessed the boom of the Chinese network drama, a new kind of television series only available from online platforms. From the Go Princess Go at the start of 2016 to the latest hit Medical Examiner Dr. Qin (known to fans as simply Dr. Qin), several network dramas have amassed followers nationwide.

The professional drama Dr. Qin has already been viewed more than 1.2 billion times on Sohu TV alone, according to ratings released by Sohu TV on December 10 at a celebration in Beijing.

Since its debut on October 13, Dr. Qin has gone viral, thanks to its bold plots, tense story atmosphere and good-looking performers.

The drama tells short stories based on the daily work of an investigative team including medical examiner Qin Ming, his assistant Li Dabao and police officer Lin Tao. With their thoroughness, persistence and bravery, they manage to solve seemingly impossible criminal cases.

Creative view mode

As a rule, traditional Chinese TV dramas release one or two episodes each day. and the concept of a "season" is not widely accepted by domestic viewers. However, Dr. Qin chooses to upload two episodes each Thursday with Season One only just finished, drawing on the model of western counterparts.

"The audience ratings and reactions to a certain network drama are of significance to the entire production team. We have to grip the attention of the audience for the follow-ups," Dr. Qin scriptwriter Yang Zhe said.

"The drama is adapted from the literary book The Eleventh Finger. We cannot deny the amazing content of the original works. However, reading books and watching TV dramas are totally two different things. Sometimes, we can change some plots to cater to the needs of TV audiences. And this is the amazing point of the network drama," Yang said.

For such a good drama, some viewers just cannot wait to watch the next episode. In order to satisfy those viewers, Sohu TV has set up a golden member system which allows them to watch the stories in advance.

For example, golden members could watch the new Dr. Qin season from December 1, while everyone else will have to wait until December 15 to see the grand finale.

"The member payment system will be the mainstream in the future. Decades ago, it was impossible for Chinese people to pay for TV series, but many people are willing to pay for something they like and the privileged service they obtain," Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang said.

 

Bullet screen, or "Danmu" in Chinese, allows viewers to type comments that zoom across the screen like bullets. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

 

With the help of bullet screen, many TV views can also communicate with others in an efficient and funny manner. Bullet screen, or "Danmu" in Chinese, allows viewers to type comments that zoom across the screen like bullets. It has gained momentum in Chinese social interactions among young people.

"I cannot image watching a TV without the bullet screen, otherwise it would be that boring. And I probably wouldn't watch it until the ending part," Xi Xiaoxin, a Dr. Qin fan, suggested.

Li Xian, who plays a policeman in Dr. Qin is also a fan of the bullet screen.

"I often interact with other viewers through the bullet screen. And I truly long to see others' reactions to the role and to myself, both positive and negative," he said.

Poster of the network Medical Examiner Dr. Qin [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

 

Pioneering Professional Drama 

Dr. Qin is a pioneer of its genre. In comparison with the popularity of family, youth and spy dramas, the professional drama has long been ignored by Chinese TV producers.

The forensic doctor is a mysterious job in the eyes of most people. Delving into their hardships and professional working attitudes was the initial reason for producing the drama, according to Guo Linyuan, major producer of Dr. Qi.

"We have been praised for the variety of lifelike props utilized in the drama, as we sincerely want to present the real criminal scenes and working conditions of medical examiners to the viewers," Guo added.

"Some of the scenes in the drama really get me sick. But I have to say that they really do a great job in the processing of drama details," one netizen said.

Leading actor Zhang Ruoyun said the role of forensic doctor was a big challenge.

"Compared with other roles, it is a brand new field for me. I have done full preparations with the help of the book writer and forensic doctorS. And I truly thank them for their guidance in shaping me like a real forensic doctor in the drama," he said.

Dr. Qin inspires in-house content search

After the huge success of Dr. Qin so far, Sohu TV has decided to continue the legendary story, green-lighting a second and third season.

Meanwhile, Sohu TV CEO Zhang Chaoyang holds the view that Dr. Qin is a good start for active explorations of in-house productions.

"We will focus more on TV material and content in the future. When good contents meet an innovative producing team, excellent network dramas just come," Zhang said.

"In comparison with traditional TV series, dramas produced by video websites are more market-led and audience-oriented. Much attention is paid to the input-output ratio. On the basis of controlling relative manufacturing costs, a superior screenwriter plus amazing storylines will determine the destiny of a network drama," Zhang added.

 

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Looks like Dramafever bought the license to Dr. Qin Medical Examiner! Will start on Dramafever April 5th! Trailers from dramafever below:

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