The Lychee Road
长安的荔枝
China, 2025, colour, 2.35:1, 120 mins.
Director: Da Peng 大鹏 [Dong Chengpeng 董成鹏].
Rating: 8/10.
Satirist/film-maker Da Peng’s first costume movie as director is his best yet, blending straightfaced humour and involving drama in Tang dynasty China.
STORY
Chang’an city, central China, Tang dynasty, Tianbao era, AD 755. Li Shande (Da Peng) is an inspector in the Bureau of Imperial Gardens, a part of the Tang dynasty’s huge bureaucracy. He had always dreamed of imperial service in the capital Chang’an but, though brilliant at mathematics, has never gained high office in a dynasty more interested in art and culture. However, after 18 years of hard work and grovelling, he has finally succeeded in buying a house on the edge of the city for himself, his wife Zheng Yuting (Yang Mi) and young daughter Putao (Yang Huanyu) after borrowing 200 guan from a money-lending temple at an extortionate rate. On the recommendation of his slimy superior Liu Daqiang (Wang Xun), Li Shande is assigned by Yu Chao’en (Chang Yuan), a scheming imperial eunuch, to undertake the impossible mission of delivering 10 jin (5 kilos) of preserved lychees from Lingnan, an area 5,000 li (2,500 kilometres) away, to Chang’an by 1 Jun. Li Shande says he’s not up to the task; but Liu Daqiang says he’ll be able to pay off his house loan with the rewards from being an imperial envoy. Only after Li Shande has signed the contract does he discover that the word “preserved” 煎 peels off the document to reveal the word “fresh” 鲜 – making the assignment completely impossible as lychees go bad three days after harvesting. Nevertheless, a close friend in the imperial guard, Du Shaoling (Zhang Ruoyun), persuades him to at least visit Lingnan, as the fresh lychees are almost certainly a gift from Emperor Xuanzong to his consort Yang Guifei on her birthday. And anyway, he adds, by 2 Jun he may be dead. On 4 Feb, with 117 days to go, Li Shande sets off by horse and a month later arrives in Lingnan, an exotic area in southern China where the locals speak Cantonese and eat strange food. The fat, corrupt governor, He Qiguang (Lin Xue), thinks he’s joking; but the governor’s secretary, Zhao Xinmin (Sun Yang), helps him out with a free pass and a dog-like slave, Lin Banu (Liu Junqian). Li Shande is then appoached by a wealthy merchant, Su Liang (Bai Ke), who wants to buy the pass for business reasons. Reckoning he’s a dead man anyway, Li Shande agrees, in exchange for the cost of his house loan and living perks. However, still determined to see how far he can go in accomplishing his lychee mission, Li Shande visits a large orchard in Baiqiao, Gaozhou, in Guangdong province, run by a young woman, Tong (Zhuang Dafei), 23. He wins her confidence and then her help in a scheme financed by Su Liang that he believes may actually stand a chance of succeeding. Later, when he’s at his lowest point, he receives a surprise offer of help from high up in the imperial bureaucracy – chancellor Yang Guozhong (Liu Dehua), who has his own reasons for getting involved.
REVIEW
Mainland satirist/film-maker Dong Chengpeng 董成鹏, 43, aka Da Peng 大鹏, has come a long way in the past decade – from being an online presenter who finally wrote, directed and played in his own feature film, superhero parody Jianbing Man 煎饼侠 (2015), to this, The Lychee Road 长安的荔枝, his sixth and most ambitious directing outing yet. As well as acting in numerous other films – in which he’s generally proved a box-office draw (e.g. Johnny Keep Walking! 年会不能停！, 2023) – Da Peng has notably taken chances with his own projects, following the runaway hit Jianbing Man (RMB1.16 billion) with a much more personal and character-driven look at celebrity culture in City of Rock 缝纫机乐队 (2017), and then following that with the kind-of-documentary The Reunions 吉祥如意 (2020). Lychee, his first costume comedy and best directorial outing since City of Rock, took a nice but not spectacular RMB691 million, on a rough par with earlier projects like City of Rock and Post Truth #保你平安 (2022).
Da Peng’s background is in sketch comedy, a format that he notably broke way from in City of Rock and tried to in Post Truth. Lychee is his most successful attempt yet, helped by the fact that for the first time his screenplay is based on a novel (of the same Chinese name and known in English as The Litchi Road, see left). First published in 2021 and in book form the following year, it’s by Inner Mongolian-born writer/blogger Ma Boyong 马伯庸, 44, and was also adapted into a 35-part drama series, broadcast on TV and released online, with actors Lei Jiayin 雷佳音 and Yue Yunpeng 岳云鹏, as well as a stage play that premiered in Shanghai before touring the country. Both of these other versions appeared in summer 2025, around the time of the release of Lychee.
Da Peng’s usual co-writer, Su Biao 苏彪 – who’s recently become a director with the smart rom-com Honey Money Phony ‘骗骗’喜欢你 (2024) – is here replaced by Shen Yuyue 沈雨悦 and Dai Si’ao 戴斯奥. Both women worked on hit Ma Hua FunAge 开心麻花 comedies Never Say Die 羞羞的铁拳 (2017) and Moon Man 独行月球 (2022); credited as script advisor is Zhang Chiyu 张吃鱼 (“Fish-Eater Zhang”), co-writer/co-director of Never Say Die and lead writer/director of Moon Man. All of this raises the suspicion that the film may originally have been a Ma Hua FunAge project. Whatever the case, Da Peng the actor gets a chance, as he has in movies directed by others, to create a fully-drawn, sympathetic character – both comic and dramatic – with emotional dividends in the final stretch.
The main character of Li Shande is a good fit for Da Peng: first seen arriving in China’s then-capital, Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an), as a bright-eyed young man from the provinces who’d always dreamed of working in the Tang dynasty’s giant bureaucracy. The film then flashes forward to 18 years later when he’s a middle-aged, anonymous cog in the Bureau of Imperial Gardens, worn down by years of over-work and grovelling, of being put upon by his oily boss (comedian Wang Xun 王迅, perfect), and of being slapped around at home by his wife (Yang Mi 杨幂, subtle in a small role). Li Shande is a wizard at mathematics; but the Tang dynasty is more interested in arts and culture, so his career has gone nowhere. However, the ever-optimistic Li Shande is seen by his scheming superiors as the perfect fall-guy for one of the emperor’s out-there requests – fresh lychees for his consort’s birthday, to be brought from Lingnan, down south. The only problem is that Lingnan is 2,500 kilometres away and freshly-picked lychees go bad after three days.
The film basically revolves around how the never-say-die Li Shande tries to solve the problem with a mathematician’s mind. But this simple plot is richly kitted out with characters he meets en route, powerplays within the Tang court, and the longer arc of his personal journey – away from his naive dream of imperial service to a simpler life with his wife and daughter away from the capital. A big part of his journey is taken up by his wary friendship with an eccentric but wealthy merchant, nicely played by comedian Bai Ke 白客 (with whom Da Peng was paired in the big-business satire Johnny Keep Walking!) in his subtlest role to date.
As usual, the film is full of Da Peng’s comedian pals in smaller roles, including Chang Yuan 常远 as an epicene court eunuch, Wei Xiang 魏翔 briefly near the end, and Hong Kong’s Lin Xue 林雪 [Lam Suet] as a corrupt governor in the Cantonese-speaking south. More could have been made of the role of the young, no-nonsense lychee-grower whom Li Shande gets to help him, especially as actress-singer Zhuang Dafei 庄达菲 (so good in Johnny Keep Walking! and as the lead in light comedy Be My Friend 我才不要和你做朋友呢, 2024) imbues her so much character and pathos. Dominating much of the second half, in a strong performance, is Hong Kong’s Liu Dehua 刘德华 [Andy Lau], as the imperial chancellor who offers the embattled Li Shande his help.
Confidently directed by Da Peng, the film has a sumptuous, big-budget look and an air of authenticity, with the credits packed with special advisors and the art direction (Wang Jing 王竞, City of Rock), costumes (Chen Dian 陈电, Decoded, 2024) and styling (Li Zhou 李宙, ditto) oozing detail and realism. The only let-down is the score by Zhai Jinyan 翟锦彦, which is supportive but thematically unmemorable – a common fault in Mainland cinema. On a broad level, Lychee is a satire on imperial and personal ambition when taken to surreal levels; its strength is that it is also surprisingly involving in the final (serious) stretch on an emotional level, capitalising on Da Peng’s ability to do straight drama as well as his trademark straightfaced humour.
The exact year is which the story is set is only mentioned at the end, for dramatic reasons. The film started shooting in early Nov 2024, mostly around Guangdong province in southern China (where the action is largely set). Its budget has been estimated at around RMB250 million-300 million.
CREDITS
Presented by Guangdong Aim Media Pictures (CN), Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Cultural Media (CN), Beijing Cheer Entertainment (CN), Shanghai Ruyi Film Production (CN), Shanghai The City Film (CN), Shanghai CMC Pictures (CN), Huaxia Film Distribution (CN), Dongyang Xingyong Culture & Media (CN), Ningbo Cheer Far East Culture Media (CN), Shanghai Benxiaohai Media (CN), Huayi Brothers Pictures (CN). Produced by Shanghai Aim Media (CN).
Script: Shen Yuyue, Dai Si’ao, Da Peng [Dong Chengpeng]. Script advice: Zhang Chiyu. Novel: Ma Boyong. Photography: Wang Boxue. Editing: Tu Yiran, Huang Zeng Hongchen. Music: Zhai Jinyan. Art direction: Wang Jing. Costumes: Chen Dian. Styling: Li Zhou. Sound: Wang Gang, Liu Xiaosha. Action: Wu Gang. Horses: Su Rong. Visual effects: Qiao Le, Ye Zi. Executive direction: Gu Haiping.
Cast: Da Peng [Dong Chengpeng] (Li Shande), Bai Ke (Su Liang), Zhuang Dafei (Tong), Liu Junqian (Lin Banu/Chun Nu/Stupid Slave), Liu Dehua [Andy Lau] (Yang Guozhong, imperial chancellor), Yang Mi (Zheng Yuting, Li Shande’s wife), Chang Yuan (Yu Chao’en/Eunuch Yu), Wei Xiang (Su Yuan, Su Liang’s elder brother), Wang Xun (Liu Daqiang, Bureau of Imperial Gardens head), Sun Yang (Zhao Xinmin, He Qiguang’s chief secretary), Lin Xue [Lam Suet] (He Qiguang, Lingnan governor), Song Xiaobao (fortune-teller), Fu Hang (Xiaobai), Zhang Ruoyun (Du Shaoling), Yang Huanyu (Putao, Li Shande’s young daughter).
Release: China, 18 Jul 2025.