Is there still room for chivalrous heroism in our lives? Can Jianghu, the mythical realm of Chinese knights, exist in our modern world? Shao Pan believes so, and argues this in his feature film debut Nangong Cheng.

Cheng works in a steel factory and is dying; he has a poisoned wound that has been festering for far too long. His fate seems sealed. Then a stranger enters his life, who himself suffers from a mysterious ailment, for which Cheng – as a member of a secret sect of martial artists and healers – seems to know the cure.

This is a story about revenge, reconciliation and mercy, about facing the past and fighting the eternal forces of corruption. In doing so, the film raises one of the most fundamental questions of our time: is it still possible to live according to principles when the world around us seems to have succumbed to the corrosive appeal of transactional relativism?

The answer Shao gives in his stunning debut is clear: how else could we live?