Red Rose 红蔷薇 is an upcoming republican drama starring Yang Zishan (Battle of Memories) as a naive noble lady who later joins the Communists, and Chen Xiao (Nothing Gold Can Stay) as her comrade and love interest. The theme song by Jane Zhang can be found here.

During the Wuhan coup of 1927, Xia Yuzhu’s (Yang Zishan) sister sacrifices herself to save a key member of the Communists (Tan Kai), leaving behind a younger sister and a trusted maid. Xia Yuzhu joins the Communists while maid Gu Shuangju (Mao Linlin) is recruited by the Kuomintang – the friends-turned-enemies only meet several years later when Xia Yuzhu is sent to work in the Kuomintang as an undercover spy.

Xiao Junhao (Chen Xiao) is a skilled triple agent working for the Communists, yet pretends to be a good-for-nothing rich boy. His older sister Xiao Chengbi (Liu Min) is a high-ranking Kuomintang official, so I’m expecting some engaging family drama and tense stand-offs once the cat’s out of the bag.

Director Jin Ye formerly worked as editor and assistant director under Zheng Xiaolong (Legend of Zhen Huan, Red Sorghum, Legend of Mi Yue), and Red Rose is his second solo directorial project. Main screenwriters Zhou Meng and Wang Yingfei (The Final Mission) worked under the supervision of the more experienced Zhao Dongling, whose credits include Once Upon A Time in Tsingtao and Red Sorghum.

The 48 episode drama premieres on December 16th as a daily drama on Jiangsu TV.