On 26 September, it was reported that a series of “livestream-esque” short-form video clips released by the Xiamen police, formally Xiamen Municipal Public Security Bureau to promote legal literacy had gone viral. A spoof of livestream social commerce, the clips introduce crimes and their punishments instead of merchandise, making them quickly go up in ranking among platforms.
The series contains 3 short video clips in the format of livestream sales. A police officer in uniform performs the role of the livestream host with 3 more “hype men” backing him up. The host introduces three types of common offences including drunk driving, theft and drug addiction. Where normal sales livestreamers would bring out the big guns – big discounts, the officer would instead announce the range of sentences, from 6 months in custody for drunk driving to a life sentence for stealing priceless antiques.
The three videos amassed 8 million views alone across platforms, and nearly 200 million views if counting reposted versions from media outlets. On Douyin, topics related to the videos topped the local Xiamen lists and landed at number 6 on the national Hot List for Entertainment. Being reposted by state-owned media outlets, the videos also gained over 100,000 likes, reposts and bookmarks each. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the topic “Knowledge entered my head in a weird way” (#知识又一次以奇怪的方式进入了脑袋#) ranked number 35 on the Hot Search list with 10.77 million views.
Netizens are impressed with the police-held “livestream”-style clips and praise it for the light-hearted but illustrative descriptions that are easy to remember. Others jokingly say “I’m afraid to order” from these streams. In fact, police departments/public security bureaus across the country are innovating with their legal literacy, from microdrama to mini “true crime” docs. There are also similar moves such as local police collaborating with tea chains to release “Jing Cha” tea and the Shanghai Bar Association co-creating legal literacy videos with the legal-themed otome game Tears of Themis. It is always welcome to see educational content in viral forms, helping to disseminate knowledge and popularise legal awareness.
