Sandstorm

Plot Core: Crimes and Punishments Covered by Sandstorms

Duan Yihong plays Chen Jianghe, a grassroots police officer who is urgently reassigned to his small town due to a body-burning case from eight years ago. The reopening of the case reveals multiple lies involving fraudsters, false witnesses, and avengers, shrouding the entire town like a sandstorm. Chen Jianghe teams up with city detective Luo Yingwei (played by Zhang Jianing) to investigate clues related to "abnormal body burning temperatures," discovering a close connection to corruption in the heating engineering project from years prior, which implicates current leadership. The series uses metaphors like "sand burying evidence" and "truth as fragmented as sand grains" to heighten suspense.

Character Depth: The Justice Struggle Between New and Old Detectives

Duan Yihong takes on the challenge of portraying a detective with a "swapped fate," transforming from the oppressive cop in The Burning Sun to a "relentless pursuer" of justice. His line, "The roots of evil run deeper than the poplar trees," showcases his character's complexity.
Zhang Jianing breaks away from her gentle image to portray a skilled female detective, driving the investigation forward through "trace evidence analysis" and "psychological profiling," including discovering unburnt fragments of a work badge at the body-burning scene.
Yang Xinming makes a special appearance as a corrupt official, masking evil behind a "kindly elder" facade, and his "mentor-student showdown" with Duan Yihong is highly anticipated.

Production Highlights and Genre Breakthroughs

Production Style: Gao Qunshu employs a "grainy visual style" to recreate the stark atmosphere of the Northwest desert, exemplified by the opening long shot of a "sandstorm engulfing a police car."
Depth of Screenwriting: Zhao Dongling (screenwriter of Ordinary Greatness) reflects grassroots governance challenges through the "corruption chain of the heating project," illustrating how villagers protesting inadequate heating are suppressed.
Social Critique: The case is inspired by the 2016 "Northwest Small Town Engineering Scandal," exposing the symbiotic relationship between local power and criminal forces.

Broadcast and Market Strategy

Broadcast Rules: Youku VIP members will receive daily updates starting March 31, with SVIP members able to unlock episodes early. The series finale will be released on April 3 at 12:00 PM.
Trailer Data: The first trailer featuring "close-ups of body-burning furnace remains" garnered 230 million views on Weibo, with the topic #SandstormTruth# trending in the top three.

(This article is compiled from Youku's press conference information and interviews with the producers; specific details are subject to the actual broadcast version.)

Note:

The imagery of "sandstorms" references meteorological records from the "Black Wind Incident" in Shanshan County, Xinjiang, enhancing the metaphor of the natural environment in relation to crime.
The "trace evidence" subplot involving Luo Yingwei incorporates award-winning techniques from the 2023 "Criminal Science and Technology Competition," such as hair isotope tracking technology.