CCTV drama Silent Honour marks rare salute to Communist Party spies in Taiwan

Patriotic films in mainland China have long celebrated undercover agents of the Communist Party, their operations portrayed as pivotal to securing victory in the 1940s civil war against the Kuomintang and the founding of the People’s Republic.

Less known are the clandestine activities carried out by these agents in Taiwan, where their efforts met with a harsh fate. Covert operations there were systematically crushed by the KMT, resulting in the capture and execution of many operatives.

But Beijing appears to be shifting on this position with state broadcaster CCTV’s latest TV series, Silent Honour. It is the first dramatic work to chronicle and commemorate the party’s espionage activities in Taiwan that started in the final months of the civil war, with the defeated KMT retreating to the island in June 1949.

The show premiered on September 30, marked as Martyrs’ Day in mainland China, the eve of National Day on October 1. By the weekend, more than half of the 39-episode TV drama had been aired.