{ "id": "epqn4dka7c", "slug": "the-bad-kids", "title": "The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia", "label": "East Asian drama series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "label": "Titles symbols to Co", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落) is a 2020 12-episode iQiyi Mist Theater crime suspense web series directed by Xin Shuang, adapted from Zi Jin Chen's novel 坏小孩, starring Qin Hao and Wang Jingchun; it scored 9.2 on Douban and won Busan's Best Creative Award.", "snippet": "The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落) is a 2020 12-episode iQiyi Mist Theater crime suspense web series directed by Xin Shuang, adapted from Zi Jin Chen's novel 坏小孩, starring Qin Hao and Wang Jingchun; it scored 9.2 on Douban and won Busan's Best Creative Award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "markdown": "# The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落)\n\n**The Bad Kids** (隐秘的角落, *Yin Mi De Jiao Luo*) is a 2020 Chinese crime suspense web series of 12 episodes, produced by iQiyi and Wannian Pictures, directed by Xin Shuang, and adapted from the mystery novelist Zi Jin Chen's (紫金陈) novel *The Bad Kid* (坏小孩). It premiered on June 16, 2020 as the second title in iQiyi's \"Mist Theater\" (迷雾剧场) suspense strand and ran until June 25, 2020.[1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476) • [2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0618/c1012-31751905.html) It became the most discussed Chinese drama of 2020, reaching a peak Douban score of 9.2 from more than 800,000 raters, and was the only Chinese series on *Variety* magazine's 2020 list of the best international TV shows.[3](https://www.iqiyi.com/common/20201026/fa6283e283eef6b8.html) • [4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 隐秘的角落 (*Yin Mi De Jiao Luo*); English title The Bad Kids[5](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Bad_Kids) |\n| Source | Adapted from Zi Jin Chen's mystery novel *The Bad Kid* (坏小孩), author of *Burning Ice* (无证之罪)[6](https://www.iq.com/album/the-bad-kids-2020-19rrhl1l3l?lang=en_us) |\n| Broadcast | 12 episodes, iQiyi Mist Theater, June 16 to June 25, 2020; episode lengths vary from about 30 minutes to over an hour[1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476) |\n| Lead cast | Qin Hao as Zhang Dongsheng; Wang Jingchun; Rong Zishan, Shi Pengyuan, and Wang Shengdi as the three children; Zhang Songwen and Liu Lin in supporting roles[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0618/c1012-31751905.html) |\n| Reception | Peak Douban score 9.2 with over 800,000 raters; 216 trending searches during broadcast; Weibo topic read 3.95 billion times[3](https://www.iqiyi.com/common/20201026/fa6283e283eef6b8.html) • [7](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0630/c1012-31764604.html) |\n| Awards | First Chinese drama to win the Asian Content Awards \"Best Creative Award\" at the Busan International Film Festival (2020); first Chinese short series to win the mini-series \"Silver Bird Award\" at the Seoul International Drama Awards (2021)[8](https://www.iqiyi.com/kszt/news20230313.html) |\n| International recognition | The only Chinese series on *Variety*'s 2020 \"Best International TV Shows\" list; licensed to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and other markets[4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html) • [8](https://www.iqiyi.com/kszt/news20230313.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise\n\nThe story begins when three children from a small coastal city, Zhu Chaoyang (荣梓杉), [Yan Liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/yan-liang) (史彭元), and Pu Pu (王圣迪), visit the scenic Liufeng Mountain during summer vacation and accidentally record a murder on a camera: Zhang [Dongsheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/dongsheng) (秦昊), a substitute math teacher at the Youth Palace, pushes his father-in-law and mother-in-law off a cliff.[9](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0623/c40606-31756017.html) • [1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476) The children's knowledge of the crime draws them into a dangerous bargain with the killer, and the series unfolds as a chain of entanglements among the children and the adults around them.[1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476) The opening scene, in which Zhang Dongsheng invites his in-laws to pose for a photograph and then pushes them off the cliff, generated the widely circulated internet meme \"一起爬山吗\" (\"Shall we go hiking together?\").[10](https://www.artforum.com.cn/film/12891) • [4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html)\n\n## Production and development\n\nThe project grew out of *Burning Ice* (无证之罪), the 2017 iQiyi adaptation of another Zi Jin Chen novel made with Wannian Pictures. After that series aired, iQiyi bought the adaptation rights to two more Zi Jin Chen novels, *The Bad Kid* and *[The Long Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-long-night)* (长夜难明, later filmed as *The Longest Day* / 沉默的真相), and planning for *The Bad Kids* began in 2017, taking nearly two years to complete.[11](https://k.sina.cn/article_3840084769_e4e30b2101900u8om.html) • [12](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8034572) Han Sanpin served as executive producer, with Dai Ying and He Junyi as chief producers, and Xin Shuang, previously known as a music director, directing his first drama.[2](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0618/c1012-31751905.html)\n\nThe production was unusually expensive for the genre. iQiyi gave it the highest per-episode production cost of any 2019 suspense drama as a flagship project, and the total budget was reported as double that of *Burning Ice*; the script went through more than a year of adjustment and shooting took 77 days.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4589199.html) • [4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html) The screenwriting team divided the work so that Joe Cacaci, a script supervisor who had worked on *House of Cards*, helped define the genre and set each episode's theme and story beats; Pan Yiran served as lead writer responsible for structure and characterization; Hu Kun refined character detail; and Sun Haoyang completed the first outline of the adaptation.[11](https://k.sina.cn/article_3840084769_e4e30b2101900u8om.html) • [14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4612342_qq.html) The team adopted fixed conventions for each episode: an independent theme, an opening prologue, and a closing hook, with prologues varying in form from flashbacks to cartoons to surveillance footage.[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4612342_qq.html) Each of the 12 episodes carries its own subtitle, such as \"暑假\" (Summer Vacation), \"少年宫\" (Youth Palace), \"妈妈\" (Mother), and \"日记\" (Diary), and each has its own ending theme song.[15](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2020-06-23/90623.pdf)\n\n## Adaptation from the novel\n\nThe series departs substantially from its source. In the novel, the three children are genuinely \"bad kids\" in a harsh, mutually predatory story; the drama removed most of the children's malice, changed their characterization, and gave the ending a legal, morally ordered resolution in which good and evil each receive their due.[16](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0627/c1012-31760194.html) • [14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4612342_qq.html) Critics noted that a dark subtext survives beneath the bright surface narrative, and the ambiguous final episodes, in which many key plot points are left unstated, fueled extensive audience debate over whether the story's \"fairy tale\" or its \"truth\" is the real ending.[16](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0627/c1012-31760194.html) • [4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html) Director Xin Shuang described the drama and the novel as two independent works, rebuilt from the novel's framework rather than a replication of it.[17](https://export.shobserver.com/baijiahao/html/262533.html) One specific change attributed to the script supervisor Joe Cacaci was the character [Wang Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/wang-li) in episode 8, who does not exist in the novel; the drama also made Zhang Dongsheng's first murder an impulsive act rather than the year-long plan of the novel.[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4612342_qq.html) The critic Yang Chen observed that the adaptation removed the novel's detective character Yan Liang and transferred his name to one of the \"bad kids,\" and that the children's evil was considerably diluted, a result of both censorship constraints and the production team's own choices.[10](https://www.artforum.com.cn/film/12891)\n\n## Reception\n\nWithin ten days of its June 16, 2020 premiere, the series set viewership and discussion records for a mainland Chinese drama, with its finale on June 25.[1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476) Commentators called it the first suspense work since *[Day and Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/day-and-night)* (白夜追凶, 2017) to break out of its genre audience through word of mouth, and it topped Cover News and Huaxi Daily's 2020 year-end ranking of Chinese dramas as \"drama of the year.\"[18](https://tech.sina.cn/2020-06-21/detail-iircuyvi9632460.d.html?wm=3049_0015) • [19](https://www.thecover.cn/news/6561837) It also won [Drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/drama-film-and-television) of the Year at the 2020 iQiyi All-Star Carnival and Best Television Series (iQiyi) at the 7th Hengdian Film and TV Festival of China (Wenrong Awards).[5](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Bad_Kids) Some Douban reviewers criticized the plot for excessive coincidence and for a \"whitewashing\" adaptation, with about 70 percent of raters approving of the story specifically.[20](https://www.yicai.com/news/100681098.html)\n\nIn August 2020, two screenwriters, identified as Mr. Wang and Ms. Yang, sued over writing credit, claiming they had signed a screenwriter contract with Wannian Pictures on November 19, 2018 to write 8 episodes of outlines and scripts for the 12-episode series, and had completed that work plus story outlines and character biographies.[21](https://ishare.ifeng.com/c/s/7z5kqOawsrB)\n\n## Stage and international adaptations\n\nThe story spread across formats quickly. Seven days after the drama premiered, on June 23, 2020, the stage rights to the novel *The Bad Kid* were licensed to Gulosi Theatre (鼓楼西戏剧), whose stage play *The Bad Kid* opened in Beijing three years later.[22](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=605367) • [23](https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/874385.html) A stage musical adaptation has run in multiple rounds in Shanghai, most recently its seventh round in July 2024 at the People's Grand Stage.[24](https://post.smzdm.com/p/ae6nq9dk/)\n\nOverseas, iQiyi licensed a Japanese film remake, *GOLD BOY* (黄金少年), directed by Kaneko Shusuke, known for the *[Death Note](https://www.edgepedia.org/death-note-2006-film)* films, with actor Masaki Okada in the lead; the film moved the setting from the Chinese border town of the drama to Okinawa and was released in Japanese theaters in March 2024, scoring 4.0 out of 5 on the review site Filmarks.[8](https://www.iqiyi.com/kszt/news20230313.html) • [25](https://www.livejapan.cn/static/content/SY/TT/2024-05-20/1242068446650342158.html) The drama itself was distributed to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Australia, and Japan scheduled its broadcast the year after release.[8](https://www.iqiyi.com/kszt/news20230313.html) • [1](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476)\n\n## Legacy in Chinese suspense drama\n\n*The Bad Kids* is treated in Chinese industry commentary as a benchmark for the short-format suspense series that platforms developed after 2017, when *Day and Night* and *Burning Ice* established the 12-episode model.[4](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html) Through 2021, commentators noted that no subsequent suspense web drama matched its combination of ratings and discussion, despite a wave of imitators across iQiyi, Youku, and [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video).[26](https://szb.northnews.cn/bfxb/resfile/2021-11-08/15/bfxb2021110815.pdf) Its success also raised the profile of its source author: Zi Jin Chen's \"social school\" mystery trilogy supplied both *The Bad Kids* and *The Longest Day*, and the two series together defined the genre's 2020 peak.[27](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9477325)\n\n## References\n\n1. [《隐秘的角落》研究 (KCI journal article on the series)](https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksclc/archive/articlePdf?artiId=ART002898476)\n2. [《隐秘的角落》开播 秦昊王景春张颂文组演技阵容, 人民网](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0618/c1012-31751905.html)\n3. [爱奇艺《隐秘的角落》突围亚洲剧集 获釜山电影节亚洲内容大奖\"最佳创意奖\", iQiyi](https://www.iqiyi.com/common/20201026/fa6283e283eef6b8.html)\n4. [《隐秘的角落》入围全球最佳剧集 国产悬疑剧的春天来了吗？, 第一财经](https://www.yicai.com/news/100890750.html)\n5. [The Bad Kids, DramaWiki](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Bad_Kids)\n6. [The Bad Kids (2020), iQIYI](https://www.iq.com/album/the-bad-kids-2020-19rrhl1l3l?lang=en_us)\n7. [\"黑马\"入场，国产网剧迎高光时刻, 人民网](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0630/c1012-31764604.html)\n8. [爱奇艺授权日本翻拍《隐秘的角落》日版电影《坏小孩》, iQiyi](https://www.iqiyi.com/kszt/news20230313.html)\n9. [豆瓣9分，《隐秘的角落》或许是今年最高分的国产网剧, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0623/c40606-31756017.html)\n10. [杨宸谈《隐秘的角落》, Artforum China](https://www.artforum.com.cn/film/12891)\n11. [打破\"隐学\"，有关《隐秘的角落》的误读与它的出圈丨专访, 新浪新闻](https://k.sina.cn/article_3840084769_e4e30b2101900u8om.html)\n12. [《隐秘的角落》热播，\"坏小孩\"踩对了风口？, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8034572)\n13. [《隐秘的角落》救不了悬疑短剧, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4589199.html)\n14. [〖专访〗《隐秘的角落》编剧潘依然, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/4612342_qq.html)\n15. [夏天的风成里又, 文汇报](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2020-06-23/90623.pdf)\n16. [今年排名第一的国产网剧，最终选择相信童话还是真相？, 人民网](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0627/c1012-31760194.html)\n17. [专访丨导演辛爽：\"隐秘的角落\"最终会有阳光照进来, 上观新闻](https://export.shobserver.com/baijiahao/html/262533.html)\n18. [国产悬疑剧进化论, 界面新闻 via 新浪](https://tech.sina.cn/2020-06-21/detail-iircuyvi9632460.d.html?wm=3049_0015)\n19. [名人堂丨2020名人堂年度\"剧王\"就是它——《隐秘的角落》！, 封面新闻](https://www.thecover.cn/news/6561837)\n20. [都知道《隐秘的角落》火了，它到底怎么火的？, 第一财经](https://www.yicai.com/news/100681098.html)\n21. [《隐秘的角落》被起诉侵权，导演辛爽领衔编剧团队回应, 凤凰网](https://ishare.ifeng.com/c/s/7z5kqOawsrB)\n22. [《隐秘的角落》首播7天后，舞台剧版权售出, 解放日报](https://www.jfdaily.com/wx/detail.do?id=605367)\n23. [从《坏小孩》到《人世间》，爆款影视剧改编话剧成趋势, 证券时报](https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/874385.html)\n24. [音乐剧《隐秘的角落》停演两年多，这周在剧场短暂\"复活\", 什么值得买](https://post.smzdm.com/p/ae6nq9dk/)\n25. [金子修介、白金：日本翻拍《隐秘的角落》，中国IP何以出海？, LIVE JAPAN](https://www.livejapan.cn/static/content/SY/TT/2024-05-20/1242068446650342158.html)\n26. [2021年悬疑剧市场观察, 北方新报](https://szb.northnews.cn/bfxb/resfile/2021-11-08/15/bfxb2021110815.pdf)\n27. [《沉默的真相》超越《隐秘的角落》了吗？｜数据研究院, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9477325)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles symbols to Co*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Bad Kids (隐秘的角落)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-bad-kids. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Bad Kids is a 2020 12-episode iQiyi Mist Theater crime suspense web series directed by Xin Shuang, adapted from Zi Jin Chen's novel 坏小孩, starring Qin Hao and Wang Jingchun; it scored 9.2 on Douban and won Busan's Best Creative Award." }