Always on the Move
南来北往
A 39-episode iQIYI and CCTV-8 period drama that follows two generations of railway police on China's trains, from a steam engine in 1978 to the high-speed era.
Save- Premiere
- Feb 6, 2024
- Episodes
- 39
- Where to watch
- iQIYI
- Also known as
- South to north
About the drama
Most workplace dramas follow a career. Always on the Move (南来北往, Nan Lai Bei Wang, "from the south, to the north") follows a carriage. It opens in 1978 on a steam train running between Ningyang (宁阳) and Ha City (哈城) and stays on the rails for roughly four decades, through diesel and electric locomotives to high-speed trains.
It premiered on February 6, 2024, on iQIYI and CCTV-8 together, and runs 39 episodes. The director is Zheng Xiaolong (郑晓龙), whose credits include Yearnings (渴望) and Empresses in the Palace (甄嬛传); the screenwriter is Gao Mantang (高满堂). The show is a large ensemble: passengers, railway staff and the families in the railway compound, all moving around a pair of police officers.
There are cases, from pickpockets to trafficking, but China Railway's official account wrote that the crime plots are the surface and the warmth of a home on wheels is the point.
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Wang Xin (汪新, played by Bai Jingting, 白敬亭) is a young train policeman patrolling a crowded steam train. He mistakes an older railway officer, Ma Kui (马魁, Ding Yongdai, 丁勇岱), for a fugitive. The mix-up starts a master-and-apprentice bond: the two dislike each other's methods, argue constantly and slowly come to rely on each other.
Ma Kui's daughter Ma Yan (马燕, Jin Chen, 金晨), a state-store clerk, and the railway workers of the compound widen the picture. The series follows them through the decades, with Wang Xin and Ma Kui carrying the main thread: catching thieves, patrolling the line and protecting passengers.
The drama is set in northeast China, on the run between Ningyang and Ha City, starting in 1978, the year China began its reform and opening-up policy. It is adapted from the novel San Ke Shu (三棵树, "three trees") by Xian Zhangping (鲜章平).
According to People's CPPCC Net (人民政协网), the first broadcast passed 3% in TV ratings and the Weibo topic page passed 2.3 billion reads. iQIYI senior vice president Yang Bei (杨蓓) told Beijing News that the show peaked above 4% on CCTV-8 and above 9,950 on iQIYI's heat index. She added that its core viewers were 25 to 30 years old, with a high share of women, despite the 1970s setting.
Jiemian wrote at launch that the show's Northeast realist feel resembled iQIYI's earlier hit A Lifelong Journey (人世间).
Cast and crew
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