General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Winner Is King (烽火流金)

Winner Is King (烽火流金, Feng Huo Liu Jin) is an unaired Chinese historical drama adapted from the novel Sha Po Lang (杀破狼) by the author Priest, starring Tan Jianci (檀健次) as the general Gu Yun and Chen Zheyuan (陈哲远) as the fourth prince Chang Geng. Produced for Tencent Video by Tencent Penguin Pictures, Ciwen Media, Yi De Culture, and Weike Pictures, the 40-episode series finished filming in late 2020 and obtained a distribution license in 2021, but it has been shelved since China's regulators moved against the danmei-adaptation (耽改) genre in 2021 and 2022.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	杀破狼 (Sha Po Lang), renamed 烽火流金 in May 2021¹
Source	Novel Sha Po Lang by Priest, published on Jinjiang¹
Lead cast	Tan Jianci as Gu Yun, Chen Zheyuan as Chang Geng, with Li Hongyi, Sun Anke, Dong Yanlei, Song Jiyang, and Yu Cheng'en¹
Format	40 episodes of 45 minutes; historical legend genre; Tencent Video¹
Filming	2 July to 13 November 2020¹
Distribution license	(沪)剧审字(2021)第008号, issued in the April–June 2021 round¹
Status	Unaired; Ciwen Media told investors the broadcast schedule was "in communication"³

Spoilers

Story and setting

The drama is set in the fictional Great Liang dynasty, a world in which daily life runs on steam-powered machines fueled by a substance called Violetstream Gold (紫流金), giving the story a steampunk character unusual for Chinese period drama.⁴^•¹ The production added mecha, giant kites (巨鸢), and heavy iron elements drawn from the novel.¹

The plot follows Chang Geng, a boy living in the small border town Yanhui, who is attacked by wolves during an outing and saved by a man called Shen Shiliu, whom he takes as his foster father. When the Heavenly Wolf tribe invades, Chang Geng learns that he is in fact the fourth prince of the Kingdom of Northern Xuan and that Shen Shiliu is Gu Yun, commander of the Xuan Tie army. Gu Yun defeats the invaders and escorts Chang Geng to the capital.⁵ The fuller synopsis continues through the death of the emperor, the accession of the insecure new ruler Li Feng, court intrigue involving the ambitious Prince Wei, Chang Geng's years of training with the Linyuan Pavilion, and his eventual accession to the throne, fulfilling his vow of peace and prosperity for the people.⁶ The core relationship is between Gu Yun, the Marquis of An Ding, and Chang Geng, the fourth prince left among the common people, who grow together and realize their ambitions.²

Production

Casting was announced on 2 July 2020 through the production's official Weibo, with Tan Jianci as Gu Yun, Chen Zheyuan as Chang Geng, Li Hongyi as Shen Yi, and Sun Anke as Chen Qingxu. Filming ran from 2 July to 13 November 2020, at Xiangshan Film City and Hengdian World Studios.¹^•⁵ Zhou Yuanzhou directed, A Mu wrote the screenplay, and the producers were Qi Shuai, Ma Zhongjun, and Han Hao.²

The series was one of two danmei-adaptation dramas Ciwen Media custom-produced for streaming platforms, the other being the modern drama Yu Wo Tong Xing for iQiyi.⁷

Censorship and the road to broadcast

The drama's release history tracks China's regulatory campaign against the danmei genre, adaptations of boys' love novels that had produced hits such as The Untamed. In May 2021 the title was changed from Sha Po Lang to Feng Huo Liu Jin, combining the novel's elements of the beacon-fire ticket (烽火票) and Violetstream Gold.¹ According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, the first cut preserved the novel's well-known scenes and added no female romantic lead, but censors judged its content too explicit; to pass review the production deleted five episodes, reducing the series from 45 to 40 episodes, and obtained the distribution license at the end of May 2021. Douban briefly listed a June premiere that never happened.⁸

In 2022, the national radio and television work conference announced a campaign to halt idol-development web variety shows and danmei-adaptation web dramas outright. As a result, the drama remained unaired as of early 2024.¹

Financial weight of the shelved series. Ciwen Media's 2021 semi-annual report listed the project with a carrying balance of 163,174,394.72 yuan as of 30 June 2021, inventory aged under one year, with the distribution license already obtained.⁹ In June 2024, an investor asked whether the license had expired on 21 May 2024; the company replied that the license carries no printed expiry date and, per industry policy and association guidance, remained valid, adding that although the drama was a platform custom production, Ciwen would continue to support the platform in arranging its release.¹⁰ Later the same year, the company told investors on the Shenzhen-listed firm's interactive platform that the broadcast schedule was "in communication" and directed the public to its official channels.³

Release rumors and international interest

Because the series was completed but never scheduled, rumors of release circulate regularly. In April 2024, Japanese-language reporting described clips surfacing on a cloud storage service and speculation on Chinese social media that the drama might follow the surprise-release pattern of The Spirealm (致命游戏), which iQiyi had briefly streamed in full that February before removing it within about two hours. The same report noted that the two leads broke out commercially only after this drama was made, making it a sought-after early work regardless of the danmei question.¹¹ In 2025, Douban and Maoyan briefly showed a planned "2025 Thailand premiere," which Chinese entertainment coverage itself flagged as unverified.¹² A 2026 report in Tokyo Bunka Shimbun described negotiations by a consortium of Japanese broadcasters and streamers to acquire several shelved Chinese danmei dramas, including Winner Is King, for release under a Japan-led licensing framework from late 2026.¹³ None of these reports has been confirmed by the production companies, and database listings continue to show the premiere date as to be announced.⁵

A related series, Yan Hui Zhen (雁回镇), an extension of the same story, is also listed as upcoming without a date.⁵

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 Sp to Z

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

Notice something wrong?