Lei Jiayin’s new C-drama The Litchi Road gets new character posters, premiere date

The upcoming comedy historical drama The Litchi Road (长安的荔枝) has a slew of new character posters out this week, joining those we got last year, along with an official premiere date – June 7th, 2025.

Finally, as this one has been in the works since November, 2021 when its first concept poster was released.

The 35-episode C-drama is a CCTV and Tencent Video exclusive so, outside China, you should see The Litchi Road dropping on WeTV some time on Saturday, June 7th.

There’s also a new The Litchi Road trailer out, which gives you a great idea of all the trials and tribulations poor protagonist Li Shande (played by Lei Jiayin) has to go through in an effort to carry out the Emperor’s impossible demand.

And yep, I’m all in for this one as, not only does it have an amazing cast of veteran Chinese actors, but the premise is unique and I’m dying to see how Li Shande is able to do what the Emperor requires. (I’m presuming he can. Otherwise, why make a C-drama out of it, eh?)

The Litchi Road cast

The cast for the historical drama is amazing too, as it features the wonderful Lei Jiayin (superb in The Heart of Genius and The Longest Day in Chang’an) in the main role alongside Yue Yunpeng, who has been concentrating on movies, so hasn’t had a main role in a C-drama since Deep Well Canteen in 2016.

I’m so happy to see him back in a main drama role with some meat.

The supporting cast also features some of my favorite Chinese actors, including Nashi (Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force), Vivienne Tien (Rising Lady), Lu Liang (The Longest Day in Chang’an), Gong Lei (The Long River), Feng Jiayi (Being a Hero), Lu Fangsheng (The Rise of Ning), Zhu Meijun (Into the Heat), and Cai Lu (The Last Goodbye to Mama).

The Litchi Road production details

The C-drama is adapted from Ma Boyong‘s novel ‘Lychees in Chang’an‘ (长安的荔枝).

Several other dramas have also been adapted from the prolific Ma Boyong’s books, including Secret of Three Kingdoms, the Mystery of Antiques series, The Longest Day in Chang’an, The Wind Blows from Longxi and Under the Microscope.

So, if you enjoyed any of those, you will probably love The Litchi Road.

It is directed by Cao Du (The Legend of Heroes) and Gao Xiang (Hunter). The original author also consulted, which hopefully means it will be faithful to the original novel.

And, by the way, don’t get the upcoming 35-episode drama confused with the film of the same name. That is also based on the Ma Boyong book, stars Da Peng, and drops in July in movie theaters in China.

The Litchi Road plot

There is also an extensive synopsis of the Chinese drama’s plot and, yep, like I said, this one is truly unique:

During the Tang Dynasty, Li Shande (played by Lei Jiayin) is deceived by his colleagues and transformed from a supervisor into a “lychee envoy.”

Forced to accept a near-impossible mission—to transport fresh lychees from Lingnan to Chang’an in time for the Imperial Consort’s birthday celebration—he faces a daunting challenge: lychees “lose their color in one day, their fragrance in two, and their flavor in three,” and Lingnan is over 5,000 li away from Chang’an, with treacherous mountains and rivers in between.

To secure a stable future for his daughter Li Xiuer, Li reluctantly sets off for Lingnan. Meanwhile, Zheng Ping’an (played by Yue Yunpeng), who is tasked by the Left Chancellor to gather evidence of the Right Chancellor’s corruption, has already arrived in Lingnan.

The brothers-in-law, each burdened with their own critical mission, unexpectedly cross paths in this unfamiliar land.

Along the way, they encounter a colorful cast of characters, including Amitā (played by Nashi), head of the foreign merchants’ guild; Yun Qing (played by Vivienne Tien), proprietor of the Konglang Workshop; the foreign merchant Su Liang (played by Lü Liang); and the local girl A Tong (played by Zhou Meijun).

However, they also face relentless obstruction from Lingnan Governor He Youguang (played by Feng Jiayi) and his secretary Zhao Xinmin (played by Gong Lei).

With their intertwined missions escalating in difficulty, how will they break free from this deadlock and find a glimmer of hope?

Along with a celebratory visual (below), Tencent has also just announced it has had more than 3 million reservations for The Litchi Road already, which leads me to think this one is going to be a huge hit! Fingers crossed.

Now, lLook out for The Litchi Road dropping on Tencent/WeTV on June 7th as, you will see from the trailer below, this one looks absolutely fabulous!