China’s Scripted Homicides Become a Popular Pastime

Last year, the number of scripted murder enterprises registered in China totaled about 6,500, a more than 60 percent increase from the prior year, according to state-run media, amping up competition.

The decoration of the rooms and quality of the hosts can distinguish one club from another. But each club really lives and dies by the quality of their scripts. Bai Lu, a club owner in Beijing, said, “Investment into props and offline features is not as high as our investment in scripts.”

Club owners buy scripts from a variety of places, from industry exhibitions to websites like Xiaoheitan, an online mall that connects script distributors and club owners. Some scripts can be as long as 40 pages.

A “retail” script that can be sold to any number of clubs can cost about $80, said Wang Yihan, 28, who owns four script homicide clubs in Shanghai and also writes and distributes the mysteries. A “city-limited script,” which can only be sold to a handful of clubs in the same city, can sell for about $300, she said.

An exclusive script, she said, for only one club, can cost as much as about $900.

“Great scripts are extremely rare,” Ms. Wang said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/16/world/asia/china-murder-script.html