Drama 'Silent Glory' Highlights Chinese Spies
Rising Emphasis on Taiwan-Related History in China
As China’s largest holiday, the National Day holiday (October 1-8), approaches, a TV drama focusing on real-life Chinese spies who infiltrated Taiwan around 1950 has been released, drawing significant attention.
According to China Central Television (CCTV) on October 7, the espionage drama 'Silent Glory' began airing on September 30. This production is the first to shed light on the covert front-line struggle against Taiwan before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The story revolves around spies such as Wu Shi, Zhu Feng, Chen Baochang, and Nie Xi, who secretly entered Taiwan from China and operated there. The series was produced under the guidance of the Ministry of State Security, China’s counterintelligence agency, and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, which oversees Taiwan-related affairs.
Spies like Wu Shi, who rose to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff in Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, provided highly classified military intelligence to mainland China, assisting the People’s Liberation Army. However, all of them were eventually captured by the Taiwanese authorities after being betrayed. In June 1950, the four were executed in Taiwan. This incident is known in China as the 'Secret Agent No. 1 Incident' or the 'Wu Shi Incident,' with 'Secret Agent No. 1' being Wu Shi’s codename.
Through its promotional materials, CCTV emphasized that Wu Shi, while enduring various forms of torture and being forced to confess in prison, wrote the phrase 'Taiwan Must Return' ('Taiwan Bigui', 台灣必歸) in blood. Chengdu Daily pointed out that the Chinese government had not previously placed much emphasis on espionage activities in Taiwan, but has recently begun to highlight this aspect of history. Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) analyzed that the drama glorifies Communist spies and strongly conveys the message of 'promoting unification' with Taiwan.
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