General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Ski Into Love (嘘，国王在冬眠)

Ski Into Love (嘘，国王在冬眠, literally "Hush, the King Is Hibernating") is a 2025 Chinese television series that combines romance with competitive snowboarding, telling the story of a cartoonist who rebuilds her career at a ski resort and the retired professional snowboarder who coaches her. It was produced by Youku and Perfect World Pictures, directed by Li Qingrong, and stars Esther Yu (虞书欣) as Wei Zhi and Lin Yi (林一) as Shan Chong.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	嘘，国王在冬眠 (Xū, Guó Wáng Zài Dōngmián), also rendered "Shh, the King Is Hibernating"²
Source	Adapted from the web novel of the same name by Qing Mei (青浼)¹
Run	23 episodes of about 45 minutes; Youku from March 11, 2025, Netflix from March 12, 2025; finale March 22, 2025¹^•³^•⁴
Leads	Esther Yu as cartoonist Wei Zhi; Lin Yi as coach Shan Chong, a former professional snowboarder⁵
Filming	February 23 to June 20, 2024, at ski resorts in Jilin and Xinjiang plus Xiamen²
Ratings	IMDb 7.1/10 (about 750 user ratings); Viki 9.3/10 from 19,809 users⁶^•⁷

Spoilers

Premise

Cartoonist Wei Zhi is caught in a scandal over alleged plagiarism of her work, and her company confiscates her pen name and the copyrights to her creations. Depressed, she sees a snowboarding video, is moved by the riders' fearlessness, and decides to restart her career with skiing as her new theme. She travels to Beishan Snow Resort to gather material and meets coach Shan Chong.⁵^•¹

Shan Chong was once a professional snowboarder, but an injury and his sister's disability led his parents to press him into retirement, and he now works as a coach. Watching Wei Zhi's stubborn refusal to give up on the career she loves, he decides to return to training himself. Over the series, Wei Zhi regains her reputation and copyrights, Shan Chong returns to competition and wins a gold medal, and the two end up together.¹

The production framed the story around the theme of "craftsmanship of ice and snow" (冰雪匠心), an inspirational account of young people who recover their strength after setbacks and pursue their dreams.¹

Cast and production team

Esther Yu plays the sunny, childlike heroine Wei Zhi, and Lin Yi plays the reserved Shan Chong. The supporting cast includes Fei Qiming as Lao Yan, Zeng Keni as Jiang Nanfeng, Xia Haoran as Dai Duo, Wang Runze as Jiang Yiming, Xu Shiyue as Wu Manman, and Zeng Youzhen.¹^•⁵

Director Li Qingrong previously directed the drama ひそかな恋模様は、曇りのち晴れ, and the screenplay is credited to He Fang, Luo Xuan, and Gu Han.⁸^•⁹ Producer Liu Ning, whose earlier credit was the ice-sports drama Skate into Love-adjacent production 冰糖炖雪梨, said he chose the novel for the scarcity of its subject: the series was presented as China's first ski-themed modern romance drama.¹⁰

Filming and skiing authenticity

The crew filmed on location over roughly four months, moving through eight cities: the Beidahu and Songhua Lake resorts in Jilin, the Urumqi Silk Road International Ski Resort and the Jikepulin International Ski Resort with the Hemu Scenic Area in Altay, Xinjiang, and Xiamen.²^•¹¹ Shooting in deep winter brought practical difficulties: actors performed skiing moves at minus 20 degrees Celsius, with hair freezing and cold-induced tears during takes of four to five hours.¹⁰

Professional input. The production hired serving international competition judges and national-team snowboarders as technical advisors, and every actor with skiing scenes joined a month before shooting with a personal coach and at least two hours of daily practice.¹⁰^•¹¹ Professional skiing footage makes up more than 40 percent of the series, and each episode ends with a manga-style after-credits segment explaining a skiing term.¹¹ Olympic short-track speed skating champion Wu Dajing appeared as himself, telling Shan Chong about his own years as an unknown athlete; the sports administration's review noted this as a deliberate bridge between the fictional story and real athletic experience.¹²

Reception and tourism effect

Before broadcast, reservations on Youku exceeded 6 million.¹⁰ After release, the series drew divergent scores across platforms: 7.1/10 on IMDb from about 750 users, and 9.3/10 on Viki from 19,809 users.⁶^•⁷ Viewers quoted in the Chinese tourism press described it as "very burning and very warm" (很燃很暖).¹¹

The series visibly boosted its filming locations. Beidahu Ski Resort ran tie-in check-in activities on site, and at Jikepulin, which sits beside the Tuva village of Hemu at a maximum elevation of 2,848 meters with a maximum vertical drop of 1,466 meters, the resort reported that the drama's popularity drew visitors to its 4,930-meter cable car and the "Yunxiao Peak" viewpoint.¹¹ Ski equipment sales and resort visits rose during the run, which the producer described as a two-way promotion between the drama and winter-sports tourism.¹⁰

International release

Netflix carried the series globally with English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese subtitles from March 12, 2025, one day after the Youku premiere.³^•¹³ Rakuten Viki streamed it with subtitles in English, Chinese, Czech, and 13 other languages.⁷ A Japanese release under the title 王様は、まだ冬眠中。 was scheduled for January 15, 2027 on streaming platforms, with DVD box sets following on January 15 and February 3, 2027.⁸

References

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 › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles My to So

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

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