Great Expectations: Twin Dragons was a mini webdrama series that was intended to be a spinoff to Chen Sicheng’s Great Expectations, which starred himself, Tong Liya, Yuan Hong, and Amber Kuo, and aired in 2018 on Hunan TV.
(Twin Dragons was shot in Spring 2017 over a two week period – after Nirvana In Fire 2 wrapped up, for those who are curious.)
Below is a bit of some background and context, but if you just want the links, scroll down!
Originally intended to be a franchise, Chen Sicheng had written three scripts – the first two were used for his drama, and the third was intended to be a sequel, one that would star Liu Haoran and Chen Hao, who is also signed to CSC’s company, to the world. Twin Dragons was thus created to introduce their characters. However, due to low ratings for Great Expectations (and various other reasons – CSC is apparently trying to create his own little mentoring tree of film directors), it’s likely that this idea is scrapped now.
The webdrama takes place shortly after the May Fourth movement in 1919 (Republican era), which you can read more about here, but it was essentially an anti-imperialist movement protesting against Japan and European powers. While the original movement started in Beijing and Shanghai, this specific story takes place in Tianjin.
Some additional background info: it’s not stated clearly here, but Haoran’s character Huo Zhenxiao is the son of two mob bosses – his mother is the daughter of a powerful family in Tianjin, and his father is one of the primary characters in the main Great Expectations drama, and is based in Shanghai.
Huo Zhenxiao and his mother left Shanghai when he was just a baby (because she was furious her husband had brought home a concubine). However, Huo Zhenxiao appears to be more idealistic than either of his parents, as he’s enrolled in military school and actively participates in the student protests, something his mother disapproves of.
Warning: It was a particularly chaotic and violent period – so be forewarned that it contains violence, attempted sexual assault, and more.
You can find download links for the subbed vids here – thank you to @XiaoPingJing on Twitter for uploading!