Chinese media, advertising, and urban life.

Infusion of green tea and ice?

When Zhang Yuan was busted by the Beijing Police for doing drugs, it was captured by the Beijing TV program, Law Enforcement in Progress (法治进行时).

The program was aired only once, but it found a considerable online audience. Chinese media quickly found anonymous sources who speculated on the extent of Zhang's drug use and whether he had snuck drug references past the watchful eyes of SARFT censors - the green tea leaves in Green Tea (绿茶) can be used to filter meth; Zhang supposedly changed the name of Xu Jinglei's character in I Love You (我爱你) to Xiao Ju (小菊, "little chrysanthemum") because that was the drug he took every day during filming.

The entertainment weekly BQ addressed all of this sensationalism last week in interviews with three knowledgeable individuals: Xu Tao, the producer of Law Enforcement in Progress, Yang Jinsong, a former entertainment journalist and current publicity supervisor for Poly-Huayi Media, and Shi Yuchen, a Beijing-based lawyer.

Xu Tao: Zhang Yuan deserves respect, too

Like Xie Dong's drug incident in June, 2007, the earliest report on Zhang Yuan's involvement with drugs was performed by Beijing TV's Law Enforcement in Progress program. Host and producer Xu Tao agreed to an interview with this magazine, during which he revealed that equality and respect are the two most fundamental principles of his program.

BQ: After Law Enforcement in Progress reported on Zhang Yuan's alleged drug use, we could not help but wonder this occurred once again in the entertainment world. Why was Law Enforcement in Progress the quickest to respond?
Xu Tao: Many people wonder why our program has so many of these opportunities. It's not because we're incredibly smart or that we have genius reporters. These scoops come out of tireless action. That is enough.