Wrong Turn: Northeast China’s Underworld in 1998

[Urban Underworld] [Ensemble Cast] [Underworld Crime Lord]

In 1998, Gao Zhengbei, a young man from Northeast China, heads south to find work with three fellow villagers who have criminal records. Their boss has withheld a year’s wages. To stand up for his brother, Gao Zhengnan “kidnaps” the boss’s child without laying a finger on him, forcing the man to pay up by “teaching him a lesson.” Rather than seek revenge, Shan Dabin respects his courage and restraint. Gao Zhengbei glimpses the underworld’s fundamental truth: “The jianghu lives in people’s hearts.” He resolves to form a gang of his own.

When Gao Zhengnan returns to Northeast China for New Year, he finds his second aunt bullied by loan sharks, his childhood friend pimping, and an elder collecting scrap to fund his son’s extravagant lifestyle. The stories of north and south unfold in parallel.

In the south, a carefully planned raid on a mahjong parlor is taking shape!

In the north, a homecoming is about to plunge into an even more brutal struggle for survival.

Some want to make money on their feet, some are forced to live on their knees, and others teach their opponents what the rules mean in the harshest way possible.

This isn’t the rise of a crime lord. It’s the life of a criminal!