Overseasidol.com — On July 28, CCTV-8 launches the highly anticipated crime drama “Sword Rose”, based on 37 real-life child trafficking cases cracked by China’s Ministry of Public Security between 2018 and 2023.
The series features top stars like Dilraba Dilmurat, who cut her signature long hair for the role, and Jin Shijia, who gained 15 kg to portray his character.
The entire cast appears without makeup, adding to the raw realism of the show.
Anticipation is sky-high, with over 1.88 million users reserving the series on Tencent Video.
It has also received endorsements from major outlets like Xinhua News and CCTV News.
The opening scene sets a chilling tone. A mother turns around for five seconds to press an elevator button and her baby disappears from the stroller.
This scenario is based on the real-life “elevator baby abduction case” in which traffickers used signal jammers to disable surveillance cameras.
Other intense arcs include “The Ancestral Hall Corpse Case,” where criminal gangs collude with village clans to hide a murder by sealing the body inside a wall.
The villagers violently resist the police, shouting “Blood ties are above the law,” exposing the clash between traditional loyalty and modern justice.
In another arc, the show unveils a dark international trafficking ring luring underage girls with fake job offers.
One of the drama’s most heart-wrenching lines comes from a rescued girl who declares, “My name isn’t Zhaodi, I’m Mingzhu,”.
