White-K Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘The Lychee Road,’ starring Da Peng, Bai Ke, Sabrina Zhuang and Terrance Lau

July 27, 2025

by Carla Hay

Da Peng in “The Lychee Road” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

Directed by Da Peng

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place during the Tang Dynasty (sometime during the 750s decade) in China, the dramatic film “The Lychee Road” (based on the 2022 novel “Lychees of Chang’an”) features an-all Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A mid-level Bureau of Imperial Gardens inspector experiences various dangerous and frustrating obstacles after being tasked with delivering numerous fresh lychees from Lingnan to Chang’an (about 1,553 miles between the two cities) to the emperor for the emperor’s birthday, before the lychees become spoiled in about three days.

Culture Audience: “The Lychee Road” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in suspenseful dramas that are set in ancient times but have themes that are still relevant to today.

Sabrina Zhuang and Bai Ke in “The Lychee Road” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

“The Lychee Road” is a bittersweet drama that’s partly a race-against-time adventure and partly a piercing observation of corrupt bureaucracy. Da Peng gives a tour-de-force performance as a government inspector tasked with a difficult lychee delivery. Although some of the action scenes are far-fetched, “The Lychee Road” has many other scenarios that are entirely believable and well-acted. The movie also makes good use of comedic moments.

Written and directed by Da Peng, “The Lychee Road” is based on Ma Boyong’s 2022 novel “Lychees of Chang’an.” Shen Yuyue and Dai Siao are also credit as scriptwriters for “The Lychee Road.” (There’s also a 2025 Chinese limited drama TV series called “Litchi Road” that is based on the same book.) The movie takes place during the Tang Dynasty (sometime during the 750s decade) in China, with the story centered on travel to and from the capital city of Chang’an and the city of Lingnan, which are about 1,553 miles (or 2,500 kilometers) apart from each other.

“The Lychee Road” begins by showing a conspiracy plan being set in motion. A eunuch named Yu Chao’en (played by Chang Yuan), who is based on the real politician of the same name and is called Eunuch Yu in the movie, has been given orders to find a government employee who can be a scapegoat for an “impossible mission.” The employee has to deliver several fresh lychees (fruit that resembles red berries on the outside) to the emperor in time for the emperor’s birthday celebration on June 1. Failure to do so could be punishable by being exiled or worse.

The problem is that fresh lychees spoil after about three days, and the emperor specifically wants the lychees to come from Lingnan, which is 1,553 miles away from the emperor’s home base of Chang’an. Eunuch Yu knows that travel by horse and by ship would not be enough time to complete this mission, which is why he’s looking for a lower-level person who will get the blame when the mission is expected to fail. Eunuch Yu is seen meeting with a government director named Biao Biao (played by Yi Yunhe), who gleefully tells him that he knows the perfect person who can be set up for this doomed mission.

The targeted person is Li Shande (played by Da Peng), a middle-aged inspector who works in the Bureau of Imperial Gardens. In a voiceover narration, Shande is shown giving a brief summary of hs adult life: After graduating from college with a degree in mathematics, Shande joined the Bureau of Imperial Gardens at age 24.

Shande has been stuck in the ninth rank (the equivalent of middle management) for several years. He’s underpaid, overworked, and frequently bullied by his supervisors. Shande’s personal life is much happier: He has a very good marriage to his loyal wife Zheng Yuting (played by Yang Mi), and they are devoted parents to their adorable daughter Li Xiu’er, who is about 6 or 7 years old.

Shande is assigned the task and is told that he will get a job promotion to be the official lychee envoy if he completes this mission of delivering lychees to the emperor by June 1. (in real life, Emperor Xuanzong was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty during the period of time that this story takes place.) In addition to a higher salary, the job of lychee envoy would also give perks and prestige to Shande and his family. Shande signs a contract to make this delivery by the deadline.

However, Shande finds out later that he’s been conned: The contract that he signed said that the lychees would be preserved, not fresh. When he gets the contract after he’s signed it, he finds out that a tiny, hard-to-detect sticker with the word “fresh” was placed over the word “preserved” after he signed the contract. This altered contract makes it look Shande has agreed to deliver fresh lychees to the emperor by June 1.

Shande angrily confronts Biao Biao about this contract fraud. Biao Biao says that it’s too late for Shande to back out of the contract. Shande is despondent and in a panic because he knows this mission could ruin his life and the lives of his family members. On the day that Shande leaves for Lingnan, the June 1 deadline is 117 days away. He has this period of time to figure out how to deliver fresh lychees from Lingnan to Chang’an.

Before he leaves for the trip to Lingnan, Shande gets an unexpected visit from Du Shaoling (played by Zhang Ruoyun), the assistant military officer of the Right Guard Command. Shande confides in Shaoling about this big problem. Shaoling advises Shande to find a scapegoat if things go wrong. Shaoling also says that Shande could still possibly leverage the experience into being promoted to lychee envoy. Shande is given a Five Prefectures Pass to make his travels easier.

A skeptical and wary Shande travels by himself to Lingnan, in search of the perfect lychees. He encounters many challenges, including bad weather, wild animals, getting lost, and not knowing where to find lychees that would be suitable for the emperor. When he reaches Lingnan, he gets a hostile reaction from Lingnan’s governor He Qiguang (played by Lam Suet), who has some of his thugs rough up Shande because Qiguang doesn’t believe that Shande in on this mission for the emperor. However, Lingnan’s chief secretary Zhao Xinmin (played by Sunny Sun) intercedes and confirms that Shande’s mission is legitimate.

During Shande’s short visit with the governor, he sees an enslaved young man named Lin Yinu (played by Terrance Lau) being viciously whipped because Yinu has been accused of trying to make a partridge look like a peacock. After witnessing this cruelty, Shande has a private conversation with Yinu and tells Yinu that slavery is illegal in Chang’an. Shande promises that when Shande completes this mission, he will come back to get Yinu and take him to Chang’an, where Yinu can live as a free man.

Yinu, who has some speaking disabilities, ends up running away from his enslavers and following Shande around at an outdoor marketplace and other places where Shande goes. At first Shande is annoyed and thinks Yinu is being a pest. However, Yinu ends up becoming a very helpful assistant and later a trusted ally to Shande.

Just by chance, Shande meets a wealthy heir named Su Liang (played by Bai Ke, also known as White-K), who hears about this mission. Liang is up front in telling Shande that Liang’s father gives preference to Liang’s older brother Su Yan (played Wei Xiang) because their father doesn’t think Liang is a good-enough business. Liang wants to prove to their father that that he can do something successful in business. And so, Liang offers Shande the use of his merchant ship and crew to transport the lychees, with Liang covering all the expenses because Liang says he wants Shande to put in a good word for Liang with the emperor.

In exchange for this generous use of the ship and crew, Shande gives his Five Prefectures Pass to Liang, even though it’s illegal to give this pass to anyone else. Liang also tells Shande that the best lychees in Lingnan are at an orchard owned by a woman named Tong (played by Sabrina Zhuang), who inherited the property from her deceased parents. Tong is very outspoken and mistrustful of “city people.” However, Shande gains her trust, and she agrees to help him.

The rest of “The Lychee Road” shows how mathematician Shande uses some of his probability skills in testing various ways to get the lychees from Lingnan to Chang’an. Along the way, Shande encounters principal chancellor Yang Guozhong (played by Andy Lau), based on the real Yang Guozhong, who want Shande to fail in this mission. Shande also runs into a lot of bureaucractic complications when he has to get several approvals from various government ministry departments.

“The Lychee Road” has certain ideas for Shande’s problem that have more logic than other ideas. Several bureaucrats and other people in power don’t want Shande to succeed because they know that if he succeeds, he will look smarter than they are, and they will be exposed as mediocre or incompetent hacks. Shande’s physical abilities and psychological stamina are put to the ultimate tests.

Shaoling appears from time to time, mostly to give advice to Shande. He tells Shande that the three most important things that he learned as an official are (1) Going with the flow; (2) Sharing the benefits; and (3) Lifting each other up. However, Shande finds out that no amount of diplomacy or sycophancy can get a corrupt enemy to change if that enemy is rotten to the core.

With mostly solid direction and a well-paced screenplay, “The Lychee Road” has some memorable adrenaline-charged action sequences and moments of levity. Shande learns the value of teamwork with people of different backgrounds. The friendship that develops between Shande and Liang is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Shande becomes like a father figure to Yinu. Shande also earns the respect of Tong.

Although all the cast members in “The Lychee Road” show talent in their roles, Da’s performance as Shande is the heart and soul of the movie. Shande goes through every possible emotion in “The Lychee Road,” which takes viewers on this wild and engrossing journey with Shande. The most underdeveloped character is Shande’s spouse Yuting, who is a stereotypical “worried wife of the hero” for most of her screen time.

The movie’s gorgeous cinematography is stunning, while the visual effects and production design are also above-average. And although there’s plenty of high-octane action and life-threatening things that happen in the story, “The Lychee Road” has some of its greatest impact in the quieter scenes, where guilt and emotional devastation are harder to recover from than physical wounds and injuries.

CMC Pictures released “The Lychee Road” in select U.S. cinemas on July 25, 2025. The movie was released in China on July 18, 2025.

Review: ‘Johnny Keep Walking!,’ starring Dong Chengpeng, White-K and Zhuang Dafei

January 27, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Johnny Keep Walking!”

Directed by Dong Runnian

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in China, mostly in 2017, the comedy film “Johnny Keep Walking!” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Due to an identity mixup, a factory worker for a large corporation accidentally gets promoted into an executive manager position, while the staff relations manager who made this mistake tries to cover it up.

Culture Audience: “Johnny Keep Walking!” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching workplace satires that try to do too much with a flimsy and thin plot.

Zhuang Dafei, Dong Chengpeng and White-K in “Johnny Keep Walking!” (Photo courtesy of Tiger Pictures Entertainment)

“Johnny Keep Walking!” starts off looking like a screwball satire of how corporate managers have such little regard for employees, they treat employees as interchangeable and disposable. But then, the movie bizarrely turns into a somewhat preachy comedy lecture about how corporate workers can find gratitude and happiness on the job if they find a way to charm their irresponsible or callous managers. The intended sharp parody of corporate incompetence is weakened by too much sentimental corniness, especially near the end of the movie. It’s overstuffed with too many unnecessary characters. It’s a one-joke film stretched to irritating limits.

Directed by Dong Runnian (who co-wrote the “Johnny Keep Walking!” screemplay with with Luojia Ying), “Johnny Keep Walking!” begins in 1998. A China-based corporation called Zonghe Group (which makes equipment parts, such as bolts and studs) is having its annual gala, which includes a talent show for employees. One of the company’s main production facilities is the Zonghe Standard Component Factory, which is in a different city from Zonghe’s corporate headquarters. The movie doesn’t mention the names of the cities where the factory and corporate headquarters are located.

At this company gala in 1998, a factory employee named Hu Jianlin (played by as Chengpeng Dong also known as Da Peng) is shown swinging from a wire, as if he’s some kind of comedic acrobat. The performance is well-received, until it ends disastrously when Jianlin crashes to the ground. Viewers soon find out that despite this mishap, Jianlin loves to perform at the company gala’s talent show every year. He has a happy-go-lucky personality that can sometimes be considered clownish. Zonghe Group is led by a typical ruthless mogul named Chairman Hu (played by Ouyang Fenqiang), who cares more about profits than people.

The movie then fast-forwards to 2017. Jianlin, a bachelor with no children, is still working in an assembly-line job at Zonghe Standard Component Factory. His title is senior fitter. He is looking forward to performing as a singer at the annual company gala. In order to do so, he has to put in an application every year. Not everyone will be chosen to perform, but Jianlin has been chosen every year, so he’s not worried. Performing at the company gala has become a tradition for him that he expects to continue.

One day, Jianlin gets some shocking news: He’s been promoted to become a mid-level manager at Zonghe’s corporate headquarters, even though he has no managerial experience and no business education. This promotion means that he will have to leave all of his factory co-worker friends behind, but Jianlin is excited and curious about this new job opportunity. His co-worker friends at the factory seem to be happy for him, but they are confused over why Jianlin was given this promotion, since he previously showed no interest in being a corporate manager.

Meanwhile, someone who is not happy about this promotion is middle-aged Zhuang Zhengzhi (played by Wang Xun), a supply manager at Zonghe Standard Component Factory. Zhengzhi had applied for this promotion not just because he wants an elevated title and a higher income but also because he wants to move to the city where Zonghe is headquartered so his children can go to a better school. Zhengzhi is enraged that an unqualified Jianlin got the promotion instead

There’s a big reason why Zhengzhi was expecting this job promotion: Zhengzhi did unethical things for a middle man named Hou Chengsi (played by Yang Lei), who promised that in return for these illegal business practices, Zhengzhi would get the job promotion. When Zhenghzi tries to call Chengsi, he is dismayed to find out that Chengsi can’t be reached on his phone. Zhenghzi interprets Chengsi’s sudden inaccessibility as Chengsi deliberately avoiding him. However, later, Zhengzhi gets a strange phone call from Zonghe headquarters where someone asks him to sing over the phone as an audition.

At Zonghe’s corporate headquarters, an awestruck Jianlin is given an office tour. He is amazed that corporate managers have their own spa and don’t do as much work as he thought. During his first few days on the job, Jianlin meets several executives. They include director of human resoures Thomas (played by Mu Da), deputy director of human resources Peter (played by Sun Yizhou, also known as Sean Sun; deputy director of human resources Jeffrey; and deputy head of staff relations/company culture Ma Jie (played by White-K, also known as Bai Ke), who goes by the name Magic.

Magic has a one-on-one meeting with Jianlin and tells him that Jianlin’s income in his new job can be up to ¥360,000 a year, which is more than $50,000 in U.S. dollars. Jianlin has never made that much income before, and he doesn’t quite believe it. He asks Magic if he can record a video on Jianlin’s phone of Magic stating this salary for Jianlin, so he can have it has evidence. It’s one of many examples that the movie has to show how Jianlin is ignorant about corporate customs.

Magic also tells Jianlin that because Zonghe is an international company, all of the executives must choose an English-language first name to make it easier to communicate with English-speaking business collegaues. After some back-and-forth dialogue, they decide that Jianlin’s English-language name will be John, nicknamed Johnny.

Shortly after this meetng, Magic finds out he had made a huge mistake: He mixed up Jianlin’s talent show application with Zhengzhi’s promotion application. He decides to himself that he can cover up this mistake, as long as he prevents Jianlin/John from doing anything important. Most of the movie is a series of repetitive and wacky predicaments of Magic trying to keep his mistake a secret while Jianlin/John naïvely works his way up Zonghe’s corporate ladder and Zhengzhi plots his revenge.

All of that would be enough for one movie, but “Johnny Keep Walking!” crams in suplots about corporate downsizing and exploitation of temporary workers. Zonghe has about 60,000 employees and plans to lay off a great deal of them. Most of the employees who are let go are lower-level workers, while the high-ranking executives not only get to keep their own jobs, they often get bonuses or raises. When the layoffs start to happen, the remaining employees become unsettled and paranoid that they will be the next to lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, Jianlin/John gets to know a cynical Zonghe employee named Pan Yiran, also known as Penny (played by Zhuang Dafei, also known as Sabrina Zhuang), who works as some type of administrative assistant. She is part of the company’s outsourced group of workers who are considered temporary workers. Penny has been working for Zonghe for the past six years.

Penny has been promised a permanent job at Zonghe, but this permanent job hasn’t happened for her yet. She has become very bitter and impatient about this unfulfilled promise. Like many temporary workers, Penny can’t afford to quit. But she’s disgruntled and is rude to her supervisor, so she often gets reprimanded for her attitude.

“Johnny Keep Walking!” has a brisk, madcap tone to it for most of the movie, but then everything starts turning into hokey mush toward the end of the film. The subplot about the scheming of Zhengzhi and Chengsi is a muddled and far-fetched mess. The annual Zonghe talent show is another subplot that is an awkward part of the story. “Johnny Keep Walking!” fares best when it focuses on lampooning how high-ranking corporate executives are frequently insincere, out-of-touch, and ill-equipped to do their jobs, but all the subplots become distractions and flaws for the movie.

Unfortunately, with too many characters and jumbled subplots, “Johnny Keep Walking!” trips over its own ambition. It’s not a completely terrible film, and some parts succeed in being amusing. The cast members do adequate jobs in their performances. But the movie’s tonal shift at the end is ridiculously hokey. Instead of consistently poking fun at corporate culture, “Johnny Keep Walking” ends up praising corporate culture with a simple-minded conclusion.

Tiger Pictures Entertainment released “Johnny Keep Walking!” in select U.S. cinemas on January 18, 2024. The movie was released in China on December 30, 2023.