The Bad Kids

The Bad Kids, internationally known as The Hidden Corner (隐秘的角落), is a 2020 Chinese suspense drama adapted from novelist Zi Jinchen’s book Bad Kids. Its 12-episode run was directed by Xin Shuang and released on iQIYI in June 2020 as part of the platform’s Light On crime-drama slate. The series moves the novel’s story into Ningzhou, a fictional southern coastal city whose bright family outings, schoolyards, and apartment blocks contrast sharply with its violence. Qin Hao plays Zhang Dongsheng, a mathematics teacher whose marriage has collapsed. In the opening episode, Zhang takes his parents-in-law on a hike to a mountain viewpoint, where he pushes them to their deaths after they pressure him to divorce their daughter, Xu Jing. Three children—Zhu Chaoyang, Yan Liang, and Pupu—accidentally record the crime while using a camera at the site. The recording gives them leverage over Zhang, but it also makes them targets as he tries to recover the evidence. Zhu Chaoyang, played by Rong Zishan, is an academically gifted but isolated boy living with his divorced mother. His father has formed another family, intensifying Zhu’s resentment and loneliness. Shi Pengyuan plays Yan Liang, Zhu’s childhood friend, while Wang Shengdi plays Pupu, a girl seeking money to help her seriously ill younger brother. Their attempt to use the video to solve Pupu’s problem draws all three children into Zhang’s increasingly desperate efforts to conceal the murder. The drama became one of the most discussed Chinese streaming series of 2020, praised especially for Qin Hao’s restrained portrayal of Zhang. Rather than presenting him as an openly theatrical villain, the series shows a man who can appear courteous, patient, and protective while repeatedly committing brutal acts. Zhang’s relationship with Zhu Chaoyang becomes central: both are intelligent, lonely, and accustomed to hiding their feelings, yet their connection is shaped by manipulation and fear. The Bad Kids also uses recurring details to build tension, including children’s songs, mathematics lessons, family photographs, and the image of a small white boat. The song “Little White Boat” became closely associated with the series after its unsettling use in key scenes. Its title refers not simply to the children’s ages, but to the show’s refusal to treat childhood innocence as uncomplicated. By the finale, the boundaries between victim, witness, accomplice, and survivor have become deliberately uncertain.