‘The Knockout’ Is the Hottest Chinese Drama of 2023 (So Far…)

Since crime drama The Knockout (狂飙, Kuangbiao) began streaming on January 14, it has quickly become one of the most talked about shows online. It currently boasts an impressive 9/10 score on the Chinese review platform Douban, the highest rating yet for a show or movie this year on the site.


The drama is so popular that it reportedly crashed the streaming platform iQiyi on its ninth day of broadcasting. The show just wrapped up its 39-episode run on February 1.

The Knockout is about a 20-year-long power struggle between An Xin (played by Zhang Yi), a front-line policeman, and Gao Qiqiang (Zhang Songwen), the leader of a major criminal enterprise in the fictional city of Jinghai.


The two men first meet in 2000 when An, a young police officer, interrogates Gao, a hard-working, orphaned fishmonger, for some petty crimes.


promotional poster for the knockout chinese drama

The promotional poster for The Knockout. Image via Twitter


Over the next two decades, Gao falls deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld in a misguided effort to support his younger siblings, eventually becoming a mafia boss himself.


Bribery, murder-for-hire, and meth dealing are all crimes that Gao eventually becomes involved in — but An’s investigation is never far behind his heels.


best chinese drama the knockout

Gao and his gang. Image via Weibo


Interestingly, The Knockout’s popularity has boosted sales of Sun Tzu’s 5th-century BCE work The Art of War, simply because the military treatise makes a few cameos in the drama.


First appearing in episode four, when An recommends it to Gao, The Art of War becomes a guide of sorts for Gao as he works his way up the criminal ladder. Throughout the drama, Gao reads from, quotes, and attributes his success to the book.


Gao Qiqiang reading Sun Tze's The Art of War in Chinese drama The Knockout

Gao reading Sun Tze’s The Art of War. Image via Weibo


Since The Knockout began streaming, The Art of War has risen to 12th on China’s major online book retailer Dangdang’s bestseller list. Additionally, some versions of the book have reportedly sold out online.


Though the resurgence of The Art of War is evidence of this drama’s popularity, it is not the reason why The Knockout has reached such heights.


Overall, viewers love the depth of the characters and the genuine nature of their relationships. Many also attribute the show’s magic to Zhang Songwen’s heartfelt performance, and his character’s evident humanity, despite his crimes.

A reviewer wrote for the Chinese magazine Sanlian Lifeweek, “What is special about The Knockout is that it spends a lot of time showing how an ordinary person [like Gao] becomes a criminal… It does not simply treat Gao’s depravity as a personal choice, but also points to deeper problems [within society].”


Another shared on Douban, “[The show is] suspenseful, sensational, detailed, bold, and interspersed with humor. We watch An Xin change from a tough and vivacious young policeman to a gray-haired and lethargic office worker. And we witness Gao Qiqiang moving step-by-step from an oppressed fishmonger to a mobster, essentially stepping into the abyss.”


However, one show cannot satisfy every audience member, and some netizens have taken issue with The Knockout’s adherence to government-approved themes like patriotism and heroism.


“As soon as I see anti-gang themes, I feel physically disgusted… It’s just a routine approved by the government where they celebrate heroism and patriotism… stop filming such useless things, and stop wasting these excellent actors,” criticized one Douban user.


Cover image via Weibo

Report: Baidu to Launch ChatGPT-like AI Chatbot

ChatGPT, an open-source AI chatbot developed by American company OpenAI, has been the talk of the tech world since its launch last November. Interested folks, ranging from technophiles to casual web users taking a break from Pornhub, have been experimenting with the new AI program, using it to write essays, solve math problems, or even to banter with.


However, many netizens from China were excluded from the party. Like many overseas platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia — you name it), ChatGPT is inaccessible from behind China’s infamous ‘Great Firewall.’ Even with a VPN, China-based users still need a foreign phone number to register an account.


However, it seems Chinese netizens will soon be able to get in on the action: Bloomberg has reported that Baidu, China’s top search engine, is going to launch its own version of ChatGPT as soon as this March.


According to Bloomberg, the name of the Chinese chatbot hasn’t been decided yet, but it will be able to offer users conversational-style answers just like ChatGPT. A Baidu representative declined to comment to Bloomberg.


Chinese magazine Caijing also spoke with several sources at Baidu who claimed that the project is highly confidential and cannot be discussed with the public yet.


Baidu, ChatGPT, AI

Baidu displaying its AI-generated artworks at the 2022 World AI Conference in Shanghai. Image via VCG


However, sources did reveal to Caijing that Baidu aims to integrate the finished chatbot with its search engine. However, the project is not Baidu’s primary focus at the moment, and there is still a long way to go to achieve a level similar to ChatGPT.


Baidu, often considered the Chinese version of Google, has spent billions of dollars on its AI development since the launch of its AI model ERNIE(文心) in 2019. The AI artworks generated by ERNIE 2.0 made the news last year and spurred discussions about the impact of AI art on the creative field.


Cover image via VCG

We Ranked the 6 Best-performing Films Released Over Chinese New Year

Chinese box offices had a sluggish year in 2022, but that stagnation is looking like less of an issue with the calendar change. From January 21 to January 27 — the week of the Chinese New Year holiday — domestic box offices raked in almost 1 billion USD, thanks to hits like Full River Red and The Wandering Earth 2.


Curious about which films performed best? We’ve ranked six of this CNY’s new releases — from animated films to period dramas — by revenue over the week-long holiday.

1. Full River Red (满江红) — 465 Million USD

Celebrated director Zhang Yimou made Full River Red, a dark period comedy that tops the list with an impressive haul of 465 million USD over eight days.


Set in the 12th-century Southern Song Dynasty, the movie revolves around an investigation of the murder of a rival Jin Dynasty envoy.


The film’s whodunit is spiced up with biting wordplay, shocking twists, and an overall sense of conspiracy — think Knives Out (2019) if it were set in ancient, imperial China.

2. The Wandering Earth 2 (流浪地球2) — 378 Million USD

The much-anticipated prequel to the 2019 blockbuster of the same name, The Wandering Earth 2 is a heartening sci-fi extravaganza about saving humankind from a catastrophe.


In this futuristic film series, the Sun is becoming a red giant that will eventually swallow the Earth. To prevent this apocalyptic scenario, the United Earth Government (a transformed UN) decides to build giant engines across the planet to thrust it into space toward a new solar system.


Of course, salvation is rife with obstacles, including untimely breakdowns of technology, sentient computers, and terrorist groups hellbent on pursuing digital immortality.


Starring actors Andy Lau and Wu Jing, The Wandering Earth 2 is flashy, panoramic, and — according to movie reviewer Simon Abrams — “just the right mix of silly and somber.”

3. Boonie Bears: Guardian Code (熊出没 ᐧ 伴我熊芯) — 136 Million USD

Boonie Bears: Guardian Code is the ninth installment of the children’s animated film series featuring two bear siblings, Briar and Bramble. In the latest release, they lost their mother in a fire. Years after the tragedy, the bears get involved with a robot research institute and rogue kidnappers, an adventure that unexpectedly leads them back to their mother.


It goes without saying that Guardian Code’s 136 million USD in revenue is evidence of the franchise’s continuing popularity with Chinese kids.

4. Hidden Blade (无名) — 86.2 Million USD

Tony Leung and Wang Yibo star in Hidden Blade, a World War II espionage film that is part of Polybona Films’ ‘Chinese Victory Trilogy,’ which includes Chinese Doctors and The Battle at Lake Changjin. The latter is China’s highest-grossing film of all time.


Set after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hidden Blade follows underground Communist Party of China agents as they gather intelligence to undermine Wang Jingwei’s Japanese puppet government.

5. Deep Sea (深海) — 66.3 Million USD

The dreamy, moving animated film Deep Sea, which director Tian Xiaopeng describes as “science fiction suspense,” is about a young girl who falls into the sea, inadvertently entering a fantasy world.


The highlight of Deep Sea is its beautiful animations: the film’s psychedelic visuals are based on the colors and movement of traditional Chinese ink painting. It reportedly took a team of 1,478 animators seven years to create the visual effects.

6. Five Hundred Miles (交换人生) — 44.4 Million USD

Five Hundred Miles sold 300 million RMB (44.4 million USD) worth of tickets over the Chinese New Year holiday. The comedy film is a take on the body swap concept, perhaps most notably explored in the 2003 fantasy-comedy Freaky Friday.


In Five Hundred Miles, a budding romance between protagonists Zhong Da and Jin Hao is shaken up when Zhong and a young man named Lu Xiaogu (who has a crush on Jin) accidentally swap bodies — as do their life experiences and family members.


By many accounts a warm and humorous tale, Five Hundred Miles lives up to its tagline: “Good laughs never tire you out. Family is the most precious [thing]” (好笑不累，家最珍贵).


Cover image via IMDb

10 New Music Releases to Get Your Blood Pumping on a Cold Winter Day

New Music is a monthly RADII column that looks at fresh Chinese music spanning hip hop to folk to modern experimental, and everything in between. This month, we introduce you to new offerings from Nocturnes, Golden Cat Pagoda, The Pump, and more!


No two ways about it: February can be wicked cold, depending on where on the globe you are based. Now, with Chinese New Year in the rearview mirror, we’ve taken the time to round up 10 hot new music releases to warm your soul while the northern hemisphere collectively waits for spring!

1. Lonely Leary (孤独的利里) — The Last Quartet (最后的四重奏)

Beijing post-punk outfit Lonely Leary has become one of China’s most enduring acts over the past couple of years, tapping into the existential unrest of today’s youth with lyrical resonance and potent, jagged musicality.


That aptitude takes on a different shade with the release of a live set from their recent unplugged tour, where the band invited musicians like Da Wen (Lighthouse Stranger / The Diders) and Li Zichao (Dirty Fingers / Sleeping Dogs) to join. Evoking and paying tribute to the rustic and morally ambiguous worlds created by Sergio Leone and the past few years of uncertainty — it’s a beautifully realized performance.


2. Golden Cat Pagoda (金猫塔) — Mí Mí (弥弥)

One-man atmospheric black metal project Golden Cat Pagoda, based out of Shanghai, dives headfirst into the abyss in his latest, Mí Mí (弥弥), released with Pest Productions. The release explores the outer fringes of the genre with manic glee and fearless experimentation.


There’s a lot of fun in the fantastical, twisted folklore-heavy world crafted by the musician — from “fast black metal passages to hypnotic atmospherics led by traditional Chinese drumming,” a transgressive fever dream that never dips too far into the macabre and instead valiantly welcomes all.


3. Chinese Football — Win & Lose

Wuhan emo torchbearers Chinese Football close out their game-themed trilogy with their strongest, most cohesive and sprawling album yet — Win & Lose. Ambitious in both its melodic subversion of Chinese pop and its embrace of emo rock’s instrumental playfulness, the band takes the best parts of the country’s budding indie pop scene and injects genuine pathos within its twinkle.


It is hard-wired to elicit an emotional reaction from its listeners, which in another band’s hands might come off as shameless. But in the instrumentally swift and deft hands of Chinese Football, it earns its poignant power chorus every time.


Win & Lose is an early contender for 2023’s album of the year.


4. Nocturnes (曳取) — Labyrinth

Indietronic outfit Nocturnes, known for their simmering cool-hued yet emotionally rife sound, returned in January with their latest offering, Labyrinth. The album sees the band at their most cohesive and compelling. Some of this could be due to the addition of drummer Yutong, who balances out the act’s more ethereal elements with something more kinetic.


At the same time, the band seems more comfortable exploring new territory — from the spry hip hop-inflicted verses in ‘饥饿的人 (Hungry Man)’ to the glitch-filled breakdown in ‘November Salvation’ — all the while keeping their signature touch intact as singer Weidu navigates themes of confusion, alienation, and more.


5. The Pump — 众人为你起舞

Hangzhou’s The Pump lays it all out there on their mammoth debut, 众人为你起舞. While elements of new wave, synth-pop, alt-rock, psych-pop, and even ’90s-era Chinese rock all skirt around the edges of the band’s sound, the LP has a narrative thrust to it that’s not often seen in the indie scene these days.


Rustic, sincere and crafted with grave conviction and a bittersweet yearning, it’s art rock with an undercurrent of Mandopop twisted in on itself, echoing everyone from The Gar, New Pants, and Low Wormwood while building its own identity.


6. Li Daiguo (李带菓) — Pilgrimage to the Realm of Deep Baby Sleep

Avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and one of the experimental scene’s most prolific and accomplished characters for over a decade, Li Daiguo embraces his softer new-age sensibilities (as well as his new role as a father) in the tranquil and utterly beautiful Pilgrimage to the Realm of Deep Baby Sleep.


With the piano (both modern and plucked) as his weapon for choice, as well as a collection of singing bowls that resonate throughout, Li once again showcases his ability to weave tradition and avant-garde sounds into something dreamlike — both familiar and boundless, making it a transporting experience that you’ll be wanting to visit again and again.


7. Howie Lee — Event, Fact and Those which are emphasized

One of China’s most cutting-edge electronic producers, Howie Lee, is back, leaning into a gentler neoclassical mode on his latest wonder Event, Fact and Those which are emphasized.


Compared to the artist’s previous work, which was chock full of mythology-rich, dystopian-frenzied, and sino-futurist soundscapes, his new album offers a degree of decompression, allowing its traditional, albeit deconstructed elements to guide listeners into its wayward tapestry, with its electronic parts weaving in and out in playful resurgence.


It may not have the narrative or conceptual thrust of his previous work, but there is no denying the sonic majesty of the visionary producer.


8. Oops! (物普适) — Oops! We Fall Asleep Again

Oops! has officially joined the ranks of female-driven electronica projects surfacing in the humid city of Chengdu (a la The Hormones, Fake Gentle). The three-piece outfit is fresh off the release of their debut — Oops! We Fall Asleep Again — with Modern Sky.


Centered on how girls tackle the deluge of problems in their lives and how they find a bit of light and happiness along the way, the album is a humid swirl of techno, synth wave, trip-hop, and bubbly ’90s R&B.


There’s something alluring and propulsive about the way the trio transitions from one groove to another, keeping the mood sultry and colorful, though not without its off-kilter twists here and there.


9. Various Artists — Shanghai Dreams (上海梦)

Shanghai-based promoters Scandal have a long history of giving women proper representation in the music scene with their club parties, and now they’ve gotten around to releasing their second compilation.


Titled Shanghai Dreams, the album features eight original tracks by female producers in China, including LimboLimbs, Rainsoft, Gouachi, BreezyC, Huiziy, Cocoonics, and EmpressCC!


With each song offering a ‘lighter, more alluring and deceiving’ take on the Chinese Dream, it’s a stimulating, ear-opening experience that sheds light on how much of the electronic scene in recent years has been propelled forward by women.


10. 21 Grams — ‘Modesty (你无法取悦所有人)’

Shanghai post-rock torchbearers 21 Grams are one of the scene’s most highly regarded and respected acts — despite not being a household name like Wang Wen and Zhaoze.


Having been performing for nearly two decades, the band is as old school as they come, bringing a mature and intrepid spirit.


The four-piece act has been steadily putting out new material, including their latest track, ‘Modesty.’ Evocative and sincere, the 12-minute song unfolds like a heartwarming story passed down over many generations.



Cover image designed by Haedi Yue

The Best Kind of Fat: Frankie Gaw Writes About Taiwanese American Food

I did not expect to be bawling my eyes out reading a cookbook. A product designer turned food writer and photographer, Frankie Gaw published his debut cookbook, First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home, in October 2022. It is a cookbook with a lot of heart, celebrating immigrant heritage and identity.


Gaw grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is now based in Seattle. His family immigrated from Taiwan in the 1980s. He wrote:


“I grew up culturally American but was never white enough to feel like I belonged. Yet within my own culture, I was so Americanized that my Taiwanese roots never completely felt like my own.”


It set the cultural authenticity threshold very high. This threshold for authenticity prevents immigrants or Third Culture Kid from feeling at home no matter where they are.


Gaw’s cooking philosophy and vulnerability provide a new path to belonging for those who struggle to find an identity off-the-rack. Forget the labels. Gaw stands right in the middle of the identity Venn diagram and embraces the intersection as the destination.

His efforts started with, simply, cooking more. Then came the food blog called Little Fat Boy, which led to more photography. As Gaw explores his writing and photographic style, the blog has amassed a following and won Saveur’s 2019 Blog of the Year.


He’s not afraid to mix and match, with dishes like stir-fried rice cakes with bolognese and Cincinnati chili with hand-pulled noodles. His recipes are welcome celebrations of all aspects of his first-generation immigrant identity.


“I just want it to feel like you’re eating in my grandma’s kitchen and getting the best kind of fat with 10-year-old plump me,” Gaw wrote on his blog.


In food media, Gaw saw beautiful spreads presented with Euro-centric aesthetics, whereas Asian food was often photographed and written up by non-Asian creators. This superficial presentation made the food appear foreign, even to Gaw, who straddles both cultures. He tells RADII:


“It became a motivation for me. I have the skill set to take photos like that, but I’ve never seen the homestyle, grandma food [that] Asian American immigrants see in their homes expressed in a way that’s celebrated in food media.”


Gaw adapted popular food media photography styles with an Asian motif. It’s not about ‘elevating’ Asian food, because that would be working from the assumption that Asian food somehow began lower on the totem pole.


“I want [the photographs] to stand out from what other food photographers were doing,” he says, referencing ’70s and ’80s Chinese cookbooks such as Fu Pei-mei’s. Gaw is determined to pay homage to his heritage with bold colors and classic styling.


Frankie Gaw, little fat boy, first generation frankie gaw


In an opening essay for a chapter on small eats (小吃, xiaochi), Gaw recounts a circuitous conversation with his grandmother, who had Alzheimer’s.


The circuitous conversation is familiar to anyone whose loved ones endured the same cognitive decline. Gaw’s grandmother seemed to be time traveling and mistaking him for other family members. By the end of the story, Frankie and his grandmother finally connect and say, “I love you,” and I vowed to call my mother immediately.


Many of Gaw’s fondest childhood memories are associated with food or watching his family cook. Food served as a consistent love language, like words of affirmation and acts of service rolled into a bao.


Homestyle recipes are often freestyled, and Gaw himself describes his grandmothers’ cooking style as “cooking by feel.” But what if I don’t have a ‘feel’ for food? “Taste as you go!” Gaw encourages.


On his Instagram, Gaw shared a dumpling recipe where he used a hack passed down from his grandmother: Microwaving the stuffing to taste test without risking a botched batch or even a stomachache.

The book also features a belated coming-out letter to his father, who passed away eight years ago. This loss became the project’s catalyst and prompted Gaw to ask himself some hard questions about his life, a definition of success, heritage, and identity. “It threw me for a loop, this overwhelming life change and grief. It makes you ask, ‘Does it really matter?’ about a lot in your life. The loss helped me grow.”


He described the cookbook writing process as cathartic, “I had to write this book just for myself.” And since its launch, he’s connected with the broader Asian diaspora community and felt even more comfortable being himself.


Gaw’s First Generation serves as an inspiration for everyone in the diaspora community or anyone who has ever felt like they’re the odd one out. It’s proof that the center of your Venn diagram is where you belong.


All images via Little Fat Boy

Traditional Chinese Medicine Center Opens in Brooklyn and It’s Cool AF

Looking like the steamy setting of a Wong Kar-wai film, The Red Pavilion (红馆) in Brooklyn, New York, was engulfed in smoke and flooded with sultry mood lighting on the night of its soft opening for family and friends on January 20, 2023.


The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) center cum performance and events space, which is going for “a playful Asian pulp noir aesthetic,” opened to the hypnotic riffs of a live jazz band and a gravity-defying show by a pair of aerial artists.


The Red Pavilion opening night jazz band

the red pavilion soft opening guests

the red pavilion soft opening aerial artists


The ringmistresses of this racy circus are chef Zoey Gong, who happily flits among the crowd, handing out hors d’oeuvres of her own making, and Shien Lee, famed for founding cabaret club Dances of Vice.


Together, the TCM food therapist and self-dubbed ‘fantasy architect,’ who respectively hail from Shanghai and Taiwan, spent 16 months working on The Red Pavilion, a one-of-a-kind emporium that certainly cannot be accused of plagiarism — we challenge you to point out a similar predecessor.


“While other TCM centers offer treatments and a zen clinical space, The Red Pavilion is colorful, kitschy, fun, and event-focused,” beams Gong. It will be a TCM tea house by day and a vintage Hong Kong club by night.”


“You can think of The Red Pavilion as a combination of a TCM center, a Chinese restaurant, and a cabaret nightclub.”


The Red Pavilion carves out new niches in both the TCM and nightlife industries. After all, how many clubs serve complimentary broth or tea just before closing at 3 or 4 AM? All the better for patrons to rest and recover from a late night of partying — if this isn’t a reflection of the Chinese punk health movement, we don’t know what is.


Shien Lee, cabaret queen and co-founder of The Red Pavilion

Shien Lee, cabaret queen and co-founder of The Red Pavilion


Zoey Gong serving a TCM dish of matsutake skewers

Zoey Gong serving a TCM dish of matsutake skewers


A TCM-laced libration at The Red Pavilion

A TCM-laced libration at The Red Pavilion



One of Gong’s main motives for founding The Red Pavilion is to spread the gospel of TCM food healing, which has not achieved the same sort of visibility as acupuncture, massage, and qigong in the West.


“Other TCM centers in the States rarely include TCM food therapy because it is not taught here,” she says. “The Red Pavilion will heavily focus on food therapy: people can learn about [TCM foods], taste it, and bring it home. We offer pick up or delivery for things like herbal bone broths, congee, and desserts.”


The Red Pavilion Brooklyn stylish guests

Stylish guests at The Red Pavilion’s private opening party


The Red Pavilion Bushwick Brooklyn nightclub

Not your usual TCM center, The Red Pavilion is complete with a bar and a DJ booth


Hong Kong tea parlor meets Shanghai jazz club

Hong Kong tea parlor meets Shanghai jazz club


Parked in Bushwick, an industrial and ethnically diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn, The Red Pavilion shares the same ZIP code as techno nightclubs, concrete factories, and many Asian businesses. As members of Asian communities are wont to do, some of Gong and Lee’s neighbors were quick to give them a warm welcome.


“We got some antique decorations from a 15-year-old store in Manhattan, and its Asian owners, who are ready to retire this year, told us that their warehouse is really close by The Red Pavilion, [and] actually stopped by,” smiles Gong.


“There are plenty of Asian restaurants very close by, such as Tong, Dock Asian Eatery, and The Monkey King. However, there is definitely a lack of wellness and art spaces dedicated to AAPI cultures.”


In this sense, The Red Pavilion will nicely fill a niche in the market — it is the first creative center of its kind to provide representation to AAPI artists and the broader BIPOC community via events that are equal parts educational and entertaining. The venue’s robust roundup of events ranges from a ‘Perfume Garden’-themed Valentine’s Day dinner to ‘Cha Cha Yum Cha’ brunches every Sunday — youth-led occasions that are likely to appeal to other youth.

A labor of love, The Red Pavilion posed a steep learning curve for its founders, who also poured their personal savings into the project for lack of external investors. The best way to support the pair is by patronizing their new venture, of course. Browse their upcoming events and make your bookings!


Follow @theredpavilionbk on Instagram to stay up to date on its happenings.


All images courtesy of The Red Pavilion