This will be one of the big C-dramas of 2025, a top billed male lead wuxia swashbuckler titled Fu Shan Hai (Go to the Mountains and Seas). The drama stars Cheng Yi and Gulinazha adapted from a popular novel and seems to be the wuxia version of xianxia story Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus in the protagonist goes into the novel/game concept. The drama wrapped filming recently and iQiyi released an official filming teaser showing costumes, scenes being filmed with wires, and glimpses of the whole cast but most of the attention is on male lead Cheng Yi. I’m still unable to get excited to watch anything he’s in but he is quite popular and his dramas have consistently done well.
Filming Special for To the Mountain and the Seas (Fu Shan Hai):
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CY's forte is costume drama. He looks great in wig and robes and he is amazing on wires.
I think it would be interesting to watch Gulinazha acting opposite a stronger emotive actor like Cheng Yi. Hope some of his dramatic skills will rub off on her.
I like Guli’s looks and her acting doesn’t irritate me, so I hope she can surprise us with something good.
We seems to be looking at completely different sets of data, no way his dramas are "consistently done well".
Only the costume drama I think. Love and redemption, immortal samsara, lotus casebooks were all quite good success
Draw the line also did very good and South wind knows although it were filmed 4 years did acceptable.
@Yuhyi Do you see YZ fans bragging about Immortal Samsara? They would have bragged about it if it had really done well. Same goes for Lotus Casebook.
@Misha I didn’t really know about his modern drama, I guess it’s pretty buzzy too. But I don’t think draw the line had good review, well it’s political drama anyways
@Lilith
Well I’m judging by how often I see it on chinese and international social media. Most people seems to have good review for it and it seems buzzy
@Yuhyi That's marketing at work. A drama cannot be considered a success if it doesn't make profit despite all the buzz surrounding it.
Lilith, you see to be getting your information from unreliable sourses😂
Just looking at your words, I already know you're a fan.
@Lilith, I am his mini fan...dont ask me why..I dont know why...I dont even like Yang Yang and many other popular idols. But Cheng Yi...he touch me with his journey.
Of course..I am a huge fan of Xiao Zhan... he too had a tough journey.
@HL I don't think CY's journey is tough at all, mind enlightening me? I first saw him through Noble Aspirations, a drama produced by his agency H&R Century Pictures. He was given plenty of screen time as second male lead, so much so that the novel fans complained about it. Next time I heard of CY, he was the male lead of Love & Redemption, another drama produced by H&R. And this time round, he totally changed his previous manly image to frail and innocent (though it look more like stupid to me). He's constantly being pushed by his agency and he has relatives who's the executives of H&R.
@Lilith, I watched a interview with him that talks about how he travel with nothing to City to be a actor.. He did not get good roles at all...he had to work as background crew for years earning money to live in the city..very badly paid but at least he got to know people slowly. He luck come later when he got a good role in Noble Aspiration..
It helps he is diligently practising sword fighting moves, keeping fit and agile so he can look good in period dramas. One director mentioned to look good and at ease for wiring, fighting scenes. Artists really need to work hard to keep fit. And it is not just regular gyms and running workouts.
Lou Yunxi is a dancer so he has a good foundation... Cheng Yi does not have the same foundation so he has to work doubly hard. I can see Cheng Yi is a hardworking artist...
His journey is not hard like others..but I still like his story.
@HL I highly doubt he travelled with nothing to the city when his relatives are the executives of his agency. Besides, this type of stories are aplenty among other actors and actresses.
@HL
If he was diligently practicing, his BTS shots wouldn't be what they are, where he is physically being manoeuvred around by assistants because he can't do it properly by himself. It's a well known joke in cent, always surprises me when people on this side gush.
And he didn't have a difficult beginning because he had major connections. It's just a sob story.
If you want real difficult beginnings, check out Hu Ge. Now that is tragedy and difficulty.
@Lilith, you are definitely correct to say that...many artiste share the same beginnings.
All his costume dramas did well, they are not breaking the charts (not like any drama did these few years) but they reached what they should have reached.
@Lilith Can't say a thing about others, but Mysterious Case of Lotus Book is definitely a success, both commercially AND critically.
I will never understand how Chen Yi is a successful idol actor. I mean, he is good enough and I can understand why he's successful overall. But idol actor? He doesn't fit the oh-so-pretty look at all.
Same here..I love costume dramas so yes of course I always end up checking his dramas but in anything I try he always looks same to me. Always same mimics and the way he carry himself.I dont get the fans in this manner..
Appearance-wise he's very average but his team have found the costumes/looks that works for him and uses it constantly. Essentially, he comes across to me as another Ju Jing Yi that moves from one set to another but he maybe doesn't get much criticism because he can at least act and is open to spitting blood and looking pained.
There are somethings that one cannot explain... like the reasons why I do enjoy a number of Cheng Yi's dramas... I find his looks comfortable viewing, just abit skinny. I have seen his journey from nothing to something, this guy is focus on developing his craft...
I am looking forward to this drama...
Why do you talk like it's shocking and unbelievable to like Cheng Yi and enjoy his dramas? He's a very good actor and has had a number of successful dramas so it's understandable that he's very popular right now. Just look at the number of fans that went to his offline event today.
hmm ‘successful’ is not really the word that would best describes CY dramas. I think the best adjective that would describe most of it would be ‘mediocre’ to ‘just of those’. coz let’s all be honest here CY that debuted more than a decade ago doesn’t really have any ‘noticeable’ breakthrough in his career versus other actors of his previous 85-born age group like LXY, CX and RJL and even with his new claimed age group of 90-born, he’s still being left behind. He also changed his demeanor from his previous ‘greasy macho dude with side flick hairstyle’ to ‘a soft delicate peach boy’ with face of a 39-yr old ahjussi (to be honest this is the most bothering about CY that’s why I always get goosebumps whenever I see him)
The trailer of his latest drama has nothing new to offer, it is still the same low-budget production from his agency so the customs and the background were obviously either looking cheap or were borrowed from other previous dramas or both.
Even YZ yeeted fast out from Hanrui after the embarrassment bec of Samsara.
I am not against liking some of his drama but to be very honest...I dont think his acting is very good, he does not project his voice very well thus I need subs to help me understand what he is saying. But he is good at what he does well...he is great in costume dramas...similar to Luo Yunxi. There is something graceful about them...
But looks wise..I not often draw to skinny and very fair guys thus it was surprise me when I do like Chengyi.
No criticism to him...just my personal taste.
@Bane You're embarassing yourself here...no 'noticeable' breakthrough in his career? Are you for real or have you been living under a rock all this time? 'Love and Redemption' was his breakthrough role and it was a huge hit in 2020. 'Immortal Samsara' which I didn't even liked btw was successful and lastly 'Mysterious Lotus Casebook' was Summer 23' biggest hit (Douban ratings: 8.5)
Only haters or jealous people would say otherwise. 'Fu Shan Hai' is a double platform S++ project (iQiyi&Tencent) and Cheng Yi has been signed as the sole main lead. Meaning he's the 'pillar' of the project (literally the main draw)
It took Liu Xueyi years to achieve such level of success and popularity. 'In Blossom' was really the drama that propelled him to next level with him carrying the show with his name alone (it was a small hit and even with that he still need to prove himself to consolidate this status- his currently airing drama is a major test)
Ren Jialun's biggest hit was 'One and Only' but he also has a string of flops or underwhelming works under his belt. More successful than Cheng Yi? Hardly.
Chen Xiao's biggest hit is 'Dream of Splendor' and sorry to burst your bubble but Liu Yifei is the one carrying the show.
@ panda eyes so is Cheng Yi the number 1 right now in c-ent? No, right?! Does CY got the best project in c-ent? No, again, right?! 😫🤣😫🤣
‘Breakthrough’ also mean ‘ leap forward’ not side step like what CY career is rn 🤣 he is still in the same Hanrui square🤣
I also enjoy quite a few of his dramas. Tbh, I prefer him to Luo Yunxi in xianxia or costume dramas and Luo Yunxi is definitely skinnier lol. My fav drama of his got to be Lotus Casebook.
Mine too. I really enjoyed Lotus casebook.
Successful? In which fantasy land? At best, his dramas are mediocre.
His next drama is again, an internal Huarui drama. If he actually were as successful as his fans would like to present him, and as much as he presents himself, he would have long graduated to more quality productions. He is licking for sure but he is rejected.
Of course there is one thing where he is top and that is water. He keeps getting caught using massive amounts of bots. Nobody can rival him in cent in that. Somebody should have told him that doesn't work, not really.
Not a fan of Cheng Yi but I enjoyed pretty much all his costume dramas
@Bane I don't know why I can't reply directly so I will put it here. You yourself say he debuted more than 10 years ago but he got his first lead roles just in 2019-2020s. It's because he has no backing. He started from the lowest of the low. He has mentioned he would go hang around filming locations to see if he can get any small roles or odd behind the scenes jobs. None of his families are related to H&R otherwise he would have started with H&R from his debute which he didn't. He joined HR in 2018 and when he played in National aspirations he was under another agency. Atleast check your facts first🤦🏻♀️
And no matter what you say, his next drama is one of the biggest projects of next year.
And about his fashion choices.. the trending styles were different back then. You think people look and wear the same as they did ten years ago? Instead of just looking at some photoshoots from 10 years ago and deciding about his whole personality you could just watch some videos from back then and you'll realise his personality is the same.
And again no matter how much you lie about him here, it won't change the situation in china and how popular he is.
“biggest drama next year” in which standard? Hanrui standard?
“popular” in which standard? in which age-group? 🤣
CY already changed his age group 2 or 3 times already because he can’t breakthrough, right?
After CY failed to catch up with 85-age group like LXY, CX, RJL he changed his age group to 90-born hoping that he can come up as ‘top’ but until now CY is still very far far behind. Tbh I would not be surprise if CY will change his age group to 95-born or to even pretend to be Benjamin Button in his toddler age just so he can breakthrough. But sadly it seems CY will just be the same while his delusional fans will just get sued by everyone in c-ent for attacking everyone that is better in career trajectory or better looking than CY (which is most of c-ent for real)
He’s been in the industry for more than ten years yet his line delivery & pronunciation still failing to meet even the bare minimum.
CY even after doing the same stunts & on-wire choreos for the same theme custom drama, he still fail to execute his stunts well without the help of stunt men in green suit just so CY can do those ‘posing’. LXY agility and grace doing his stunts on wire is not only because he has a good professional dancing background but because he keeps strengthening his foundation unlike CY that rely mostly on stunt men in green suit.
If CYis really that ‘hardworking’ and ‘serious’ about his craft then viewers will see and hear improvements but he’s still the same mediocre looking and performing dude but just older.
Lastly, it’s just so funny how fans are so adamant on bragging nothing of importance. also pls improve your reading comprehension, I am not talking about his ‘fashion style’ but how CY changed his entire personality 360 degree that made everyone uncomfortable whenever he do those delicate fragile sweet boy aegyo antics. Even the mental image is giving me chills and making me nauseous rn
I don't understand, are you trying to look stupid??😂😂
Are you comparing Cheng Yi to LXY or RJL or CX??🤣🤣 Can you show me anybody with more terrible line delivery and longer list of flop dramas than RJL?😂 LXY?
You better go look at the number of fans who went to Cheng Yi's event yesterday.. They're enough to fit an studuim. For your information for the past year they're holding Cheng Yi's offline events only in outdoor spaces to be able to handle all the fans. Yesterday's event was even held on a farm😂 and you say he didn't have any break through yet or he's not popular. What a joke🤣
Also one of the big dramas of next year was even mentioned by Koala in this very page eventhough she herself hates Cheng Yi too. At least read the article first before commenting on it. It's even on the first line😂😂
And OMG, you have so much faith in ChengYi. You expect him to fly and spin in the air without any help😍😂
Commenters her seem to enjoy bringing porpular chinese actors down, CY has definitely has successful projects through the years, Noble aspirations, Draw the line , love and redemption and MLC . People can buhaha for all I care, but when we call actors who have done well recently, he will be mentioned. N what image changed are they talking about, he looked the same from previous years or are they getting confused of the roles he plays, where he is the guy who is sick and always about to die.
I don’t know why people hate him here so much or think he’s unpopular. He’s not my favorite but I enjoy watching his dramas. His action stuff is fantastic.
Ditto! Pretty much every c-actor under 40 gets ripped to shreds here, but Cheng Yi does seem to get more hate than most.
Go watch his past events and interviews videos if you don't know his image has changed. There's a reason his fandom bans his fans from searching his past videos when it's common for fans to do some "digital archaeology" when they start liking a celebrity.
Telling the facts and exposing paid marketing is different from making up rumours for "bringing popular Chinese actors down".
This looks like a lot of fun! I'm always impressed by the behind-the-scenes reveals of the staging and wirework (including choreography and direction) involved in bringing these fantasy-esque stories to live. And Cheng Yi is very good with the wirework. I can't imagine looking so comfortable with moving and acting while being dangled.
It really take alot of good muscle control and flexibility to me able to make it looks almost effortless.
@HL @pettyautumn
Loool instead of drinking fan KOOL aid, check out his real behind the scenes videos that his fans try and report for deletion whenever they can.
"Effortless". I will laugh myself sick. Ah I love coming here because it's so interesting to watch fans be so gullible because you like someone so it suits you. Sorry girls, he is well known in China that he is not in fact, that good at wirework.
@Lol...to each its own. I drink my wine, you drink your beer... I dont care what you drink.
@HL, your response cracks me up. LOL.
@HL
Yes, typical fan delusion.
Drink less alcohol, you will lose fewer brain cells, it's already critical.
@Lol... 🥂🥂🥂 you nag too much...
@Lol...I do find people who resort to personal attacks disgraceful and it leaves such a bad taste in the mouth.. focus on Cheng Yi...dont attack me personally as I would not do so.
If you abundant braincells is used for such actions...you are better killing some and be a better person. Accumulate good karma.... Amen.
I don't get it with all the Cheng Yi hate here? To me he's not a bad actor, in fact he's quite good emoting all his characters so far. Most of his drama did decently well and a couple are hits too, so he's not a one hit wonder like some other actors.
Because his fans and possibly water army are lying through their teeth about his dramas doing well when they are not. At least other one hit wonders are real actual hits.
Don't all c-actors and c-actresses did that once or twice in their whole career? Like you wonder why this drama or actors is so famous but when you check it out, they're all mediocre so you just know its bought. So why singularly point him out?
Lol those who water their dramas have been pointed out many times already, even on this site. I'm pointing him out here because this article is about him. But let's not don't drag other actresses and actors down just to save CY.