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 "slug": "side-story-of-fox-volant",
 "title": "Side Story of Fox Volant (飞狐外传)",
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 "excerpt": "Side Story of Fox Volant (飞狐外传) is a 2022 Chinese wuxia drama adapted from Jin Yong's novel, directed by Lian Yiming, starring Qin Junjie as Hu Fei; 40 episodes on Tencent Video from August 31, 2022, Douban 7.1.",
 "snippet": "Side Story of Fox Volant (飞狐外传) is a 2022 Chinese wuxia drama adapted from Jin Yong's novel, directed by Lian Yiming, starring Qin Junjie as Hu Fei; 40 episodes on Tencent Video from August 31, 2022, Douban 7.1.",
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 "markdown": "# Side Story of Fox Volant (飞狐外传)\n\n**Side Story of Fox Volant** (飞狐外传) is a 2022 Chinese wuxia (Chinese martial-arts fiction genre; article's whole framing depends on it) television series adapted from [Jin Yong](https://www.edgepedia.org/jin-yong)'s novel of the same name, directed by Lian Yiming and starring Qin Junjie, Liang Jie, and [Xing Fei](https://www.edgepedia.org/xing-fei). Set in the Qianlong era of the [Qing dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/qing-dynasty), it follows the young swordsman Hu Fei as he enters the jianghu (martial-arts world of wanderers, sects, and honor; Hu Fei enters it) to avenge his father and grows from a reckless teenager into a hero who serves the country and its people.<sup>[1](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7224405363340410884)</sup> The series ran for 40 episodes on Tencent Video from August 31 to October 22, 2022.<sup>[2](https://tvinfo.fandom.com/zh/wiki/%E9%A3%9B%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E5%82%B3_%282022%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29?variant=zh-cn)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Source | Novel *Feihu Wai Zhuan* by Jin Yong (Louis Cha); a prequel to *Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain* (雪山飞狐)<sup>[1](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7224405363340410884)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://ent.sina.cn/tv/tv/2017-05-11/detail-ifyfeius7812713.d.html)</sup> |\n| Director and writers | Lian Yiming (chief director), with Cao Hua and Chen Xiaolei; chief screenwriters Tang Jiayu and Qiu Huaiyang<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> |\n| Lead cast | Qin Junjie as Hu Fei / Hu Yidao, Liang Jie as Yuan Ziyi, Xing Fei as Cheng Lingsu, Lin Shen as Miao Renfeng, Peter Ho as Tian Guinong<sup>[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/side-story-of-fox-volant)</sup> |\n| Run | 40 episodes, Tencent Video, August 31 to October 22, 2022<sup>[2](https://tvinfo.fandom.com/zh/wiki/%E9%A3%9B%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E5%82%B3_%282022%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29?variant=zh-cn)</sup> |\n| Reception | Douban 7.1 as of April 28, 2023, later 7.2/10 from 9,713 raters (June 2025); Rakuten Viki 9.3 from about 5,900 users<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/38787c-side-story-of-fox-volant?locale=zh)</sup> |\n| Production companies | Tencent Penguin Pictures, Jiabo Time, and Rongcheng Pictures; filmed at Hengdian<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise\n\nThe story opens in the Qianlong era. Hu Yidao, the \"Hero of Liaodong,\" and Miao Renfeng, known as the \"Golden-faced Buddha,\" agree to a duel on a snowy mountain. After five days and five nights without a winner, Hu Yidao dies from an unusual poison administered through treachery. His wife takes her own life, entrusting the infant Hu Fei to the inn worker Ping Gui before dying. Ping Gui, who owed the couple his life, hides the child at Shang Family Fort and watches Miao Renfeng's movements, hoping Hu Fei will one day avenge his parents.<sup>[1](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7224405363340410884)</sup>\n\nAs an adult, Hu Fei enters the jianghu to pursue his father's killers. During his quest he encounters the warlord he believes wronged him and falls for the warlord's daughter, Yuan Ziyi, and he joins a mission to find a cure that can restore the sight of a man struck blind. Searching for the medicine, he meets Cheng Lingsu, the young apprentice of the Poison Hand Medicine King, and begins to suspect that his father's death did not happen the way he believed.<sup>[7](https://thetvdb.com/series/424115-)</sup> In the drama's resolution of the love triangle, Hu Fei loves Yuan Ziyi, who chooses to enter a Buddhist order, while Cheng Lingsu receives only his fraternal affection.<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup>\n\n## Production and development\n\nA television adaptation was announced in May 2017 at a Huahai Pictures strategy event, with Zhang Jizhong, a veteran producer of Jin Yong adaptations, as chief producer; the Sina report described the novel as Jin Yong's sixth wuxia work and a prequel to *Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain* telling the growth of its protagonist Hu Fei.<sup>[3](https://ent.sina.cn/tv/tv/2017-05-11/detail-ifyfeius7812713.d.html)</sup> On September 20, 2017, a round of actor auditions was held at Zhejiang Media College, with nearly 200 large and small roles openly recruited there.<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup>\n\nThe finished series was produced by Tencent Penguin Pictures, Jiabo Time, and Rongcheng Pictures, filmed at Hengdian, with Cao Hua as action director.<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> Cao Hua also served as action director on the web film version of *Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain* and worked on films including *A Writer's Odyssey*, *Hero*, and *House of Flying Daggers*.<sup>[8](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19762599)</sup>\n\n## Adaptation context\n\nThe two Feihu novels occupy an unusual place in Jin Yong's screen history. For more than a decade before this series, no standalone drama adaptation of either book had been produced, and earlier screen versions had always merged the two novels into a single story under the *Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain* title, including the 2007 mainland series directed by Wong Jing and starring Nie Yuan, which scored 6.3 on Douban with fewer than 6,000 raters.<sup>[8](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19762599)</sup> Earlier screen adaptations listed for the Feihu series include the 1980 Hong Kong film *Feihu Wai Zhuan*, the 1984 film *New Tales of the Flying Fox*, the 1985 TVB series, the 1993 film *[The Sword of Many Loves](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sword-of-many-loves)*, the 1999 TVB series, and the 2007 mainland series.<sup>[9](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/2158539.shtml)</sup>\n\nThe 2022 series broke from that pattern by adapting *Feihu Wai Zhuan* on its own, though one review noted it still attempted to fold in elements of *Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain*.<sup>[10](https://tsight.io/articles/8396157)</sup>\n\n## Reception\n\n**Early reviews were favorable on craft.** After the first ten episodes, the GuDuo industry review wrote that the series seemed likely to reverse the reputation that every new Jin Yong adaptation was a failure, praising the crisp fight choreography, the absence of flashy effects, and the well-built jianghu atmosphere; it also credited the tight pacing of the first four episodes, which move quickly from the Hu-Miao duel into famous set pieces such as the rain fight at Shang Family Fort and the iron-hall fire.<sup>[8](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19762599)</sup> The same review noted criticism of the lead casting, with some viewers arguing Lin Shen and Peter Ho should have swapped the roles of Miao Renfeng and Tian Guinong, while praising the supporting veterans Liu Xuehua as Madame Shang, Ray Lui as Ma Xingkong, and Hei Zi as the villain Feng Tiannan.<sup>[8](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19762599)</sup>\n\n**Commercial performance was modest.** On its debut day the series registered a GuDu heat index of 51.1, ranking 15th on the web-drama heat chart, rising to 7th the next day and holding around that position.<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> A later New Weekly commentary observed that the series reached its finale without making much of a splash in public discussion, and noted the closing credit line \"special thanks to Mr. Zhang Jizhong,\" which readers took as a nod to the producer's long association with Jin Yong adaptations.<sup>[11](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20188147)</sup> Douban scores settled at 7.1 by April 2023 and 7.2 from 9,713 raters by mid-2025, and by June 2025 the series' Weibo topic had reached 530 million reads with 1.84 million discussions.<sup>[4](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)</sup> On Rakuten Viki, where the series streams with subtitles in English and other languages, users rated it 9.3.<sup>[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/38787c-side-story-of-fox-volant?locale=zh)</sup>\n\n## Distribution\n\nBeyond [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video) and the overseas platforms WeTV, iQIYI International, and Rakuten Viki, the series aired on StarHub TV in Singapore from December 2, 2022, on Chunghwa TV in South Korea from December 9, 2022, on TVB Jade in Hong Kong from January 9 to February 17, 2023 in a 30-episode Cantonese-dubbed cut, on Elda in Taiwan from June 2, 2023, and on Indosiar in Indonesia from February 26, 2024 with Indonesian dubbing.<sup>[2](https://tvinfo.fandom.com/zh/wiki/%E9%A3%9B%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E5%82%B3_%282022%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29?variant=zh-cn)</sup> In the United States it streams free with ads on Rakuten Viki and can be purchased on Amazon Video.<sup>[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/side-story-of-fox-volant)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [飞狐外传, 快懂百科](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7224405363340410884)\n2. [飛狐外傳 (2022年電視劇), Tvinfo Wiki](https://tvinfo.fandom.com/zh/wiki/%E9%A3%9B%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E5%82%B3_%282022%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29?variant=zh-cn)\n3. [金庸经典《飞狐外传》将拍剧版 张纪中任总制片人, 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.cn/tv/tv/2017-05-11/detail-ifyfeius7812713.d.html)\n4. [飞狐外传（2022年连奕名执导的古装武侠剧）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0/56038735?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n5. [Side Story of Fox Volant, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/side-story-of-fox-volant)\n6. [飞狐外传, Rakuten Viki](https://www.viki.com/tv/38787c-side-story-of-fox-volant?locale=zh)\n7. [飞狐外传, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/424115-)\n8. [武侠剧复兴难，《飞狐外传》尽力了 | 初评, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19762599)\n9. [飞狐外传幕后花絮, 1905电影网](https://m.1905.com/m/film/feature/2158539.shtml)\n10. [2022版《飞狐外传》：一场平庸的致敬，还是一次大胆的亵渎？, TrueSight](https://tsight.io/articles/8396157)\n11. [仙侠剧凉了之后，观众给他排队道歉, 新周刊 via 澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20188147)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Chinese wuxia and martial-arts serials*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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 "credit": "\"Side Story of Fox Volant (飞狐外传)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/side-story-of-fox-volant. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.",
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 "speakable": "Side Story of Fox Volant is a 2022 Chinese wuxia drama adapted from Jin Yong's novel, directed by Lian Yiming, starring Qin Junjie as Hu Fei; 40 episodes on Tencent Video from August 31, 2022, Douban 7.1."
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