'Cute but cruel': the crime drama hailed a Chinese TV milestone

Hidden Corner has rapidly become one of the country's most discussed and watched shows

In the hit Chinese web series, Hidden Corner, a children's song presages the show's most violent moments.

Under the blue, blue skies, in the silver river is a small white boat," three young children sing tremulously, looking into a camera propped up on the mountainside where they have just hiked on a clear summer day. In the background, a man is taking a photo of his elderly in-laws posed against bright green foliage. He adjusts their legs and hands, pauses and then pushes them off the cliff.