General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Breeze by the Sea (不如海边吹吹风)

Breeze by the Sea (不如海邊吹吹風) is a 2024 Taiwanese romantic comedy-drama series directed and written by Peter Ho (何潤東), starring Chen Bolin, Puff Kuo, and Charles Lin, and set and filmed entirely on the island of Kinmen. It is a Taiwan–South Korea co-production between Central Motion Picture Corporation, DaChuanDaLi Digital Video, and CJ ENM HK, adapted from the Korean series Top Star Yoo-Baek (頂級巨星柳白, 2018).¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	不如海邊吹吹風; English title Breeze by the Sea⁴
Director and writer	Peter Ho (何潤東), with screenwriters Jie Yang (揭陽), Lin Qi-le, and Liu Zhong-wei¹^•⁵
Production	Taiwan–Korea co-production: Central Motion Picture Corporation and DaChuanDaLi with CJ ENM HK; described as the first Chinese-language series co-produced by Taiwanese and Korean industry leaders²
Source material	Adapted from the Korean original IP Top Star Yoo-Baik (2018); the production cited CJ ENM's island trilogy of Top Star Yoo-Baik, Hometown of Cha-Cha-Cha, and Our Blues as inspiration²^•³
Episodes and premiere	18 episodes; premiered December 14, 2024 on Chunghwa Telecom MOD and Hami Video and on the AXN channel, with four episodes released in the first week⁶^•⁷
Setting	Filmed throughout Kinmen, featuring its southern Fujian-style houses, western-style buildings, sorghum fields, and beaches²
Reception	Within 14 days of its mid-December 2024 release it was Hami Video's top-rated drama and ranked first on AXN, Hami Video's Taiwanese drama chart, and Rakuten Viki⁸^•⁹

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The story follows Bai Yin-mo (白引默), played by Chen Bolin, the biggest star of the Sirius talent agency, whose image collapses after a string of scandals, including a fabricated drunk-driving report and a punch thrown at a provocateur during an interview. His manager arranges for him to film a reality show in Kinmen to repair his reputation, sending him to the outlying island to lie low.¹⁰^•¹¹

There he meets Li Hai-nuo (李海諾), played by Puff Kuo (郭雪芙), the manager of the guesthouse called "Haibian Chuifeng" (海邊吹風, "Breeze by the Sea"), who lives with her grandmother and hopes to revive the struggling business. The two begin as adversaries and gradually develop feelings for each other while healing old wounds.¹⁰^•¹² A love triangle forms with Chen Da-wu (陳大浯), an island doctor played by Charles Lin (林柏叡) who treats both people and animals.¹¹

The supporting cast is drawn from Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, including Fann Wong (范文芳), Hong Huifang (洪慧芳), Cecilia Choi (蔡思韵), Tou Tsung-hua (庹宗華), Cheng Chia-yu (鄭家榆), Ma Nien-Hsien (馬念先), and Ellen Wu (吳子霏).⁴^•⁶ Hong Huifang plays the grandmother Lyu Shu-man, and one widely reported scene in which she drops a pot of congee was singled out for praise at a December 2024 press event.¹

Production

The series originated in a partnership between Taiwan's Central Motion Picture Corporation and DaChuanDaLi Digital Video and CJ ENM HK, the regional arm of the Korean studio CJ ENM. Producer and screenwriter Jie Yang chose Top Star Yoo-Baik, which aired in 2018, after weighing licensing complexity and cost.²^•³ Producer Yang Hong-zhi said the project took nearly four years from planning to completion, at one point nearly dying because of the pandemic, a change of Kinmen mayor, and actor scheduling conflicts.¹³

An opening ceremony was held in Kinmen in late October 2023, attended by the cast and Kinmen County government officials, and the shoot lasted about two and a half months, with post-production under way by April 2024.²^•¹⁴ The Kinmen County government supported the production with subsidies for food, lodging, and transport and administrative assistance, viewing the series as a way to market the island's tourism internationally.¹⁵

For Peter Ho, an actor-turned-director who won the 53rd Golden Bell Award for Drama Series Directing for his first series Memories of the Wall (翻墙的记忆) in 2018, this was his second directing project, and he incorporated his own experiences into the script.¹⁶^•¹

Release and reception

The series premiered on December 14, 2024, airing Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Chunghwa Telecom MOD and the Hami Video streaming service, which held exclusive online rights, and on the AXN cable channel, with two episodes each on Saturday and Sunday in the opening week.⁶^•¹⁵ It was also listed on Netflix in Taiwan.¹²

Distribution reached well beyond Taiwan. Chunghwa Telecom's press release said the series was available in more than 170 countries across the Americas, Europe, Oceania, India, and the Middle East, while Kinmen County reporting put the reach at more than 180 countries through the Rakuten Viki and Viu platforms.⁶^•¹⁵ After its premiere it became a "triple crown" winner, topping the AXN channel, the Hami Video Taiwanese drama chart, and Rakuten Viki simultaneously, and it was Hami Video's top-rated drama within 14 days of release according to data from KC Global Media's Taiwan office.⁹^•⁸

The Kinmen tourism office followed the premiere with drama-themed itineraries, photo spots, and tour packages built around filming locations such as the intertidal flats, Xinhu Fishing Harbor, and the Xue Yongnan Brothers' western-style house.¹⁵^•¹⁷

Style and themes

The series is built as a healing (療癒) romantic comedy with a relaxed pace. Its plot uses the life problems of people living on a small island to explore emotional entanglements and everyday joys and bitterness, and its visuals combine Kinmen's southern Fujian-style houses and western-style buildings with sorghum fields and beaches, accompanied by nostalgic Mandarin pop songs and home-style cooking.⁵^•² Reviewers noted that at 18 episodes it was long for a prestige Taiwanese drama of its period, and that some island residents beyond the central romance received less development than their backstories could support.⁵

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026