Award-winning TV series gets second commission
Acclaimed epic drama “Like a Flowing River,” a tribute to the achievements of China’s reform and opening-up, will have a sequel.
Shanghai Media Group has recently commissioned shooting for the sequel, which gathers the original cast of actors Wang Kai, Yang Shuo and Dong Zijian.
When the series was aired on Dragon TV last year, it was hailed by varied generations of people for its impressive depiction of youth, love and family life of those years.
The series also received a rating of 8.8 out of 10 on China’s film and TV review website Douban, the highest score for a homegrown TV series in 2018.
At this year’s 25th Shanghai TV Festival, the drama garnered five Magnolia Awards, including Best Chinese TV series, Best Director and Best Screenplay. In August, the Shanghai-produced series also won a Spiritual Civilization Construction Five-One Project Award in Beijing.
The sequel will be set to the backdrop from 1980s to 90s when tremendous economic and social changes were taking place in the country, owing to the reform and opening-up. Shooting will be completed in March next year.
According to Wang Jianjun, chairman of Shanghai Media Group, they have been attaching much importance creating a realistic production. The sequel will portray the extraordinary achievements of China’s reform and opening-up.
Producer Hou Hongliang, whose credits include “Nirvana in Fire” and the “Battle of Changsha,” said that the story in the sequel will be centered on the new economic opportunities and challenges domestic enterprises and individuals faced in the 1990s. Ordinary people’s lives will be closely connected with the impact of the economic reform.
They also plan to make the third installment of the series to demonstrate the emotions and never-yielding spirit of Chinese people over the past decades.
Wang Kai will keep playing the lead male role in the sequel “Like a Flowing River.”
