Chasing the World

This film (drama)Also known as闯天下，is aMainland ChinaProducerbeauty live，At2013Released in year 。The dialogue language isMandarin Chinese，Current Douban rating0.0(For reference only)。

The series follows the story of the Zhao family, who pursue their dreams as performers and establish their own acrobatic troupe. It showcases the unwavering spirit, perseverance, and character charm of acrobatic artists. In their journey, Zhao Canghai, in a bid to prove himself, sets out with a small bronze gong and eventually creates his own Amazing Kids troupe; Yan Qingshan honors his master's legacy, enduring hardships and risks, ultimately preserving the Huaxia troupe founded by his master. In the end, for the greater good of the nation, they protect the logistics unit of the Eighth Route Army and the wounded at a battlefield hospital, even at the cost of destroying the acrobatic troupe that embodies the hard work and dreams of artists, staging a desperate performance to draw the Japanese enemy, marking the transition of Wu Qiao artists from self-preservation to sacrificing for the survival of their nation. The entire drama revolves around the turbulent and complex destinies of artists, telling the stories of a large group of Wu Qiao acrobatic artists, with their unique jianghu lives and various characters of different fates creating a panoramic image of the old jianghu artist community, recreating the historical scenes of "venturing into the jianghu." In Wu Qiao, there is a flourishing September temple fair for acrobatics that has lasted for five hundred years, renowned nationwide and even globally. Every year during this fair, acrobatic troupes from across the country, as well as some foreign groups, gather to showcase their talent and compete for the prestigious Golden Lion Award. This year's September fair saw the Zhao family, a lineage of acrobats, winning the Golden Lion Award for the Changle troupe, leading to numerous lucrative performance contracts. However, these contracts all hinge on the Zhao family's award-winning program. Troupe leader He Zixiong is deeply troubled by this, as the collaboration with Zhao Tianfu has long expired and he plans to leave the Changle troupe to start his own. Just then, the warlord Hou Dujun sends his assistant Tang Titou to request the Changle troupe for performances, forcing all the Zhao family members to participate, thus delaying their departure. He Zixiong's wife Bai Mudan and his nephew Gui Nanhao, eager to keep the Zhao family’s skills, secretly conspire with Tang Titou to offer the Zhao family’s leading female performer Xiao Zixia to the warlord. They aim to undermine the Zhao family's ability to stand alone by taking away their central performer. As Xiao Zixia is tricked into the warlord's inner chamber, Zhao Tianfu's son, Zhao Canghai, bravely storms in, injuring Hou Dujun and snatching his gun, rescuing Xiao Zixia. In a fit of rage, Hou Dujun orders He Zixiong to be killed, but Bai Mudan sacrifices herself to save him. Under the threat of pursuit from Hou Dujun's men, the Zhao family escapes to Nanyang to sell their performances and finally establishes their own troupe—the Huaxia troupe. With Hou Dujun's downfall, the now-famous Huaxia troupe returns glory to Tianjin, only to clash with their old troupe leader He Zixiong over theaters and prestige. He Zixiong makes several attempts to push Zhao Tianfu out of Tianjin, but Gui Nanhao secretly resorts to sabotage, learning the ancestral technique "Remote Transfer," changing the bullets in Yan Qingshan's gun, resulting in Yan injuring Zhao Tianfu during their performance of the magical act "Teeth Catching Bullets." On his deathbed, Zhao Tianfu hands the troupe over to Yan Qingshan. Faced with his father's mistrust and the killer of his father, Yan Qingshan, Zhao Canghai, in anger, departs from the Huaxia troupe with only the Zhao family's ancestral small bronze gong, venturing into the jianghu alone. In another September fair, the Huaxia troupe, the Changle troupe, and Zhao Canghai's newly formed Amazing Kids troupe compete fiercely for the Golden Lion Award. On the eve of the competition, due to a disturbance caused by his maternal uncle, the Big Flower Shoe, Zhao Canghai accidentally injures his senior Yan Qingshan. In a show of chivalry, Zhao Canghai forgoes his chance to win the award, stepping in for Yan Qingshan to earn the award for the Huaxia troupe. Yan Qingshan and Zhao Canghai, each seeking revenge for their father's deaths, come to Tianjin with their respective troupes, performing while investigating their enemy. He Zixiong, fearing that the past will be exposed, conspires with Gui Nanhao to trap the Huaxia and Amazing Kids troupes. Zhao Canghai encounters an underground party member, Luo Jian, with whom he had a connection in Nanyang. Facing danger, he cleverly uses his magic act to save Luo Jian. Though this deceives the spies, it does not escape Gui Nanhao's notice, who reports to the military police. With the help of Yan Qingshan and Xiao Zixia, Zhao Canghai evades capture by the military police and flees to Japan. Meanwhile, He Zixiong seizes the opportunity to absorb the Amazing Kids troupe. In Japan, Zhao Canghai takes on a Japanese apprentice and teaches him the highly practical Cangzhou Liuhe Knife technique. Yan Qingshan and Xiao Zixia are captured for helping Zhao Canghai, and He Zixiong, aiming to eliminate the Huaxia troupe, pressures Xiao Zixia, imprisoned, to marry the warlord Huang Shizhang as a concubine. To save Yan Qingshan and preserve the Huaxia troupe, Xiao Zixia decides to sacrifice herself and agrees to Huang Shizhang. Yan Qingshan rescues Xiao Zixia, leading the Huaxia troupe to hide in the remote Zhangbei region. In Japan, Zhao Canghai learns of his junior sister's impending marriage to a warlord and, anxious to avoid Huang Shizhang, takes a route through Hong Kong and Guangzhou back home where he encounters difficulty with the escaped Qin Xiaoshou and his daughter. Zhao Canghai comes to their rescue. Upon learning that Xiao Zixia has been saved, the Huaxia troupe goes missing, forcing Zhao Canghai to perform in Guangzhou alongside Qin Yingying. Qin Yingying falls for Zhao Canghai, while Zhao Canghai loves Xiao Zixia. To facilitate Qin Yingying's relationship with Zhao Canghai, Qin Xiaoshou tricks Zhao Canghai into drinking a drugged wine, hoping to hasten their romance. At the final moment, realizing Zhao Canghai does not love her, Qin Yingying pushes him away. With Huang Shizhang defeated, the Huaxia troupe returns to Wu Qiao, and Zhao Canghai comes back to find Xiao Zixia. However, Xiao Zixia has a childhood betrothal to Yan Qingshan and finds herself torn between genuine feelings and old customs. Carrying the suspicion of having killed his master, Yan Qingshan wishes to pass the Huaxia troupe to Zhao Canghai, who is re-establishing the Amazing Kids troupe, in order to focus solely on seeking revenge against his master's murderer; however, Zhao Canghai refuses. He Zixiong, seeking to cover up his crime, schemes again with Tang Titou to bring the Huaxia and Amazing Kids troupes to the military camp under the pretense of laboring military affairs, planning to kill Zhao Canghai and Qin Xiaoshou, who knows the truth. Yan Qingshan, at a critical moment, saves Zhao Canghai and Qin Xiaoshou under the guise of performance. Zhao Canghai finally agrees to merge the troupes. When He Zixiong’s plan fails, he incites Liu San to set fire to the theater. To compensate for the theater's losses, the Huaxia troupe is forced to merge into the Changle troupe to pay off debts. Another year's September fair arrives. Zhao Canghai has no choice but to face Yan Qingshan, representing the Changle troupe, in a duel. Confronted by the formidable Changle troupe, Zhao Canghai again loses the chance to win the award. Knowing that she has no hope of being with Zhao Canghai, Qin Yingying, resisting marriage to a foreign arms dealer, attempts a "loving plunge" during a high-altitude act, jumping from a height in a suicide attempt but is saved by Zhao Canghai. Moved by Qin Yingying's infatuation, Zhao Canghai takes her, injured, across the ocean to perform abroad. The September 18 Incident occurs. Zhao Canghai feels the humiliation suffered by the Chinese and returns home, visiting the front lines of the Anti-Japanese War at the Great Wall, witnessing his former Japanese apprentice Nishimura Masao using the Liuhe knife technique to kill Chinese soldiers, while his former friend Kono has become a spy, gathering intelligence at the front lines with the troupe. Zhao Canghai is denounced by He Zixiong and nearly loses his life. After the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War, Zhao Canghai finally takes over the Huaxia troupe from Yan Qingshan to inherit his father's legacy, but within the larger backdrop of national destiny, the fate of the Huaxia troupe also fluctuates. Due to Zhao Canghai's actions during the Great Wall defense, he attracts disturbances from the Japanese in Tianjin, causing him to lead the merged Huaxia troupe to perform in Shanghai. In Shanghai, Zhao Canghai and the Shanghai Qingbang boss Huang Yuezai engage in several battles, and he also competes with the Japanese Nishimura Circus, which comes to Shanghai for "spiritual cultural warfare." After Zhao Canghai wins, he is charged with anti-Japanese crimes and imprisoned. After many twists and turns, Yan Qingshan finally captures Liu San, who knows the truth behind the theater fire, but is shot dead by the lurking Gui Nanhao. The search for his master's murderer again leads to confusion. Zhao Canghai is eventually freed after various rescues but is sentenced to a year of performance prohibition. During the July 7 Incident, Zhao Canghai's "apprentice" Nishimura Masao enters Wu Qiao, inviting Zhao Canghai multiple times to act as the maintenance president to win hearts, but Zhao Canghai refuses. Kono Masaru, who has joined the Japanese spy agency, arrives in Wu Qiao to promote the Japanese "Kingdom of Earthly Joy" and hopes to revive the September fair that was halted due to war. The Wu Qiao artists, seeing through their scheme, actively oppose it. At the critical moment, Zhao Canghai and others uncover the Japanese plan and set fire to the ancient Wu Qiao September acrobatic temple fair that had flourished for five hundred years—a source of pride for the Wu Qiao people. With the plans of Kono and Nishimura in ruins, they angrily imprison a large number of artists, forcing them to repair fortifications and planning to send them to Japan as laborers. Zhao Canghai and Qin Xiaoshou work together using the "Remote Transfer" skill to disable the Japanese machine guns, and the artists kill the Japanese and escape the stronghold. Selfish throughout his life, Qin Xiaoshou sacrifices himself to cover the others, unable to escape, ultimately dying heroically. Before his death, he reveals the truth behind Zhao Tianfu’s demise to Zhao Canghai and Yan Qingshan. The Huaxia troupe eventually reaches the Eighth Route Army base. To protect a battlefield hospital's evacuation, Zhao Canghai decides to sacrifice the acrobatic troupe that embodies the hard work and dreams of generations of artists. To draw the Japanese, Zhao Canghai rings the ancestral gong, and facing the encroaching enemy, the Huaxia troupe performs a stunning life-or-death act for the Japanese. This marks the transformation of Wu Qiao artists from pursuing personal survival to self-sacrifice for the survival of their nation. Kono and Nishimura apprehend Zhao Canghai and others, mocking and forcing them to perform the magical act "Teeth Catching Bullets." Zhao Canghai and Yan Qingshan turn the tables, using "Remote Transfer" during the performance to turn fake bullets into real ones, killing Kono. Faced with the Japanese's atrocities, at the crucial moment, He Zixiong finally repents, sacrificing himself to protect Zhao Canghai, redeeming his life's wrongs through his death. Luo Jian leads a troop to rescue Zhao Canghai and the Huaxia troupe. In the chaos, Zhao Canghai personally kills his "apprentice" Nishimura and the culprit Gui Nanhao who caused Zhao Tianfu’s death. The drama is a legendary tale of the personal and collective struggles of Wu Qiao acrobatic artists, a history of the joys and sorrows of their fates, and a grassroots epic that promotes the spirit of the Yan and Zhao people.