Synopsis
On the windswept loess plateau of Shaanxi, two rival families endure half a century of upheaval from the fall of the Qing dynasty to the birth of New China. A 77-episode epic of land, honor, and revolution. Douban 8.8.
Overview
White Deer Plain (Chinese: 白鹿原) is a 2017 Chinese historical drama television series directed by Liu Jin, based on the Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning novel by Chen Zhongshi. Starring Zhang Jiayi, He Bing, and Qin Hailu, this 77-episode epic chronicles the intertwined fates of the Bai and Lu families across five decades of upheaval on China's central plains.
The series premiered on April 16, 2017, after years of production challenges. Its Douban rating peaked at 9.2 before settling at 8.8 — a remarkable achievement for a 77-episode drama. It is widely regarded as one of the finest Chinese historical television series of the past decade.
Plot Summary
At the dawn of the 20th century, two powerful families share the ancient White Deer Plain in Shaanxi province. Bai Jiaxuan (Zhang Jiayi), patriarch of the Bai family, is a man of unshakable moral principles rooted in Confucian tradition. Lu Zilin (He Bing), patriarch of the Lu family, is shrewd, opportunistic, and endlessly calculating. Between them lies a rivalry that will span generations.
As China lurches from the fall of the Qing dynasty through warlordism, the Japanese invasion, and civil war, the two families are swept up in forces far larger than themselves. Bai Jiaxuan clings stubbornly to the old ways, while Lu Zilin adapts to every new regime. Their children take divergent paths — some joining the Communist revolution, others succumbing to the temptations of power.
Xiancao (Qin Hailu), Bai Jiaxuan's wife, embodies the resilience of the traditional Chinese woman. Heiwa, a tenant farmer's son, rises to lead the peasant movement. Through famine, war, and revolution, White Deer Plain endures — changed forever, yet achingly the same.
Cast
| Actor | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Zhang Jiayi | Bai Jiaxuan | Patriarch of the Bai family, principled traditionalist |
| He Bing | Lu Zilin | Patriarch of the Lu family, shrewd pragmatist |
| Qin Hailu | Xiancao | Bai Jiaxuan's wife, a resilient traditional woman |
| Liu Peiqi | Mr. Zhu | The sage of White Deer Plain |
| Li Hongtao | Heiwa | Tenant farmer turned revolutionary |
Behind the Scenes
The adaptation of Chen Zhongshi's masterpiece took over a decade. The production team built an entire replica village on location in Shaanxi at a cost of hundreds of millions of yuan, recreating the loess plateau world of the novel with painstaking fidelity.
Director Liu Jin crafted a visually austere, emotionally rich epic that honors the literary weight of the source material. At 77 episodes, the series had the space to develop its vast cast of characters and explore the moral complexities that made the novel one of the greatest works of modern Chinese literature.
Cultural Significance
Chen Zhongshi's White Deer Plain is often called China's One Hundred Years of Solitude — a multi-generational saga that captures the soul of a nation in transition. The television adaptation preserves the novel's unflinching examination of human nature under pressure: the collision between tradition and modernity, idealism and survival, honor and expediency.
References
- Douban: https://movie.douban.com/subject/26322644/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Deer_Plain_(TV_series)
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6859462/
Stills & Gallery
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