(Yicai Global) Feb. 20 -- A unit of Japan's national public broadcaster has bought the streaming rights to its first Chinese television show, a crime drama series made by video platform iQiyi.

NHK Enterprises' BS12 channel started airing Burning Ice in the primetime 7 p.m. slot each Friday, following distribution of the series on Netflix outside of China's mainland and over-the-top platform Hmvod in Hong Kong, Beijing-based iQiyi said in a statement today. NHK, or Nippon Hoso Kyokai, is the largest broadcaster in Japan.

"The maturity of the Japanese TV market in terms of both the quality and quantity of the country's self-developed crime dramas is exceptionally high, which makes iQiyi's successful distribution of Burning Ice to Japan an even greater achievement," said Vice President Chen Xiao. 

Burning Ice is adapted from Zijin Chen's novel the Untouched Crime and involves a criminal gang of radicalized college graduates. The series started airing in China in 2017.

Japanese channels have previously broadcasted iQiyi's wildly popular costume drama, the Story of Yanxi Palace. Japanese viewers will soon be able to watch its titles such as With You, Summer's Desire, and Tang Dynasty Tour, the statement added. 

Editor: Emmi Laine