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British-American journalist writing about C-drama and K-drama

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10 Blood River stills of Gong Jun, Chang Hua Sen, Peng Xiao Ran and more drop

Michelle Topham October 22, 2025
Gong Jun as Su Mu in Blood River still
Gong Jun as Su Mu Yu aka “Kui”

The ongoing Chinese wuxia drama Blood River premiered the first of its 38 episodes on October 20th, and it’s already a huge hit in China, grabbing 9,500 on YOUKU’s heat index so far.

In response to fan’s obsession with the Gong Jun-led thriller, YOUKU has just released a set of 10 stills from the drama — two of each of five of the main actors — Gong Jun, Peng Xiao Ran, Chang Hua Sen, Yang Yu Tong and Zhang Shi An.

Blood River Gong Jun as Su Mu still
Gong Jun

All 10 Blood River stills show off each character perfectly.

Gong Jun the mysterious Su Mu Yu or “Kui”, a masked Peng Xia Ran as Rabbit – one of the Zodiac fighters, Chang Hua Sen as Mu Yu’s “brother” and an equally savage assassin, Yang Yu Tong as master physician Bai He Huai, and Zhang Shi An as Tang Lian Yue – a fighter whose skills shouldn’t be underestimated.

The stills arrived with a message from YOUKU about the moral fiber of the five characters featured in them:

When the Dark River surges, they fight for their lives and prove their hearts with swords. In the world of Dark River, young people never lack the courage to move forward.

As of today, there are 8 episodes of Blood River already out on YOUKU, with two more dropping tomorrow.

Peng Xiao Ran in Blood River still
Peng Xiao Ran as Mu Yu Mo aka “Rabbit”

And can I just say, if you loved the donghua, as someone who has watched that three times already, I recommend you give the live action drama a go as well.

It has the same dark, foreboding atmosphere, follows the exact same plot and is nicely paced, is just about perfectly cast and features some spectacular wire work and fights.

As a massive fan of the donghua (I have watched it three times), if you are as obsessed with that world as I am, Blood River will float all your boats.

Enjoy the pretty stills then, eh?

RELATED: Why did Gong Jun buy a house in Chengdu and not purchase in Beijing instead?

Peng Xiao Ran still from Blood River
Peng Xiao Ran
Chang Hua Sen in Blood River still
Chang Hua Sen as Su Chang He
Chang Hua Sen in Blood River still
Chang Hua Sen
Yang Yu Tong in Blood River still
Yang Yu Tong as Bai He Huai
Yang Yu Tong in Blood River still
Yang Yu Tong
Zhang shi an in Blood River
Zhang Shi An as Tang Lian Yue
Zhang Shi An in Blood River still
Zhang Shi An

About the Author

Michelle Topham

Michelle Topham

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British-American journalist currently residing in Vienna, Austria and obsessed beyond measure with C-dramas, a subject I have been writing about for more than two decades. How many C-dramas have I watched? Many many hundreds. How many are still in my backlog? Hundreds more.

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Tags: Blood River Chang Hua Sen Gong Jun Peng Xiao Ran Wuxia Yang Yu Tong YOUKU Zhang Shi An

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What is Michelle Topham?

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A blog dedicated to Chinese dramas founded by Michelle Topham -- a British-American journalist who spent almost two decades living in Asia, and wrote about Chinese series for most of that time. That's me!

Come on, if I'm this obsessed with C-dramas, you need to be as well.

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