Title: New Beijing: Smoke and Clouds of the Past

Producers: Zheng Jun, Duan Weiming, Li Ning’er, and Li Zhuyuan

Directors: Ding Yangguo, Shen Yi

Starring: Li Sheng, Li Man, Lee Seung-hyun, Gao Ziqi, Kan Qingzi, Qin Han

First broadcast date: March 18, 2014

Broadcast platforms: Shanghai TV Drama Channel, Yunnan TV

Plot Summary:

The drama centers on three families living in Beijing: the Yao Siyuan family, symbolizing the well-to-do, pillar‑of‑society class; the Zeng Wenpu family, representing the intellectual elite; and the Niu Sidao family, embodying corruption. Amid the tumult of a great historical era, these three households witness China’s transition from feudalism to democracy. Some are swept away by the tides of history, while others rise with the times, cultivating their character and aspirations. As circumstances shift and landscapes change, only upon looking back do they come to realize that the nearly forty‑year “Beijing Dream” was but fleeting like passing clouds and transient smoke—what truly endures in their hearts is the timeless human love that remains constant through the ages.
Family and love, home and country—these are the central threads of this series, woven into a grand, sweeping epic that unfolds alongside a roller-coaster‑like narrative. Viewers witness how the characters grow and learn to live together, how they experience love and hate, debate and forgive, endure pain and savor joy, and how certain habits and ways of thinking take shape. Above all, in a world where “man plans, but God decides,” we see how they adjust themselves to adapt to their surroundings. With the scope of an epic, this series becomes the very show you simply can’t look away from.