Year-ender: Top 10 cultural events from 2025

7. Wartime films and TV dramas gain attention

Marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, several wartime-themed Chinese films and TV dramas drew wide attention.

Films such as Dead to Rights and Gezhi Town, along with the spy drama Silent Honor, explored lesser-known historical narratives, highlighting ordinary people's resilience, sacrifice, and faith during turbulent times.

Dead to Rights, China's fourth highest-grossing film this year, highlights the extraordinary efforts of ordinary people to expose Japan's atrocities during the Nanjing Massacre. 

Gezhi Town, starring pop idol Xiao Zhan, tells the story of an ordinary family's resistance to the invasion in a mountainous town in Hubei province. 

The spy drama Silent Honor also achieved strong ratings and widespread acclaim. As the first major TV series to focus on covert intelligence operations across the Taiwan front during the founding of New China in 1949–50, it sheds light on a rarely depicted chapter of history marked by turbulence, sacrifice, and faith.