Before Dawn

Set in 1948 Shanghai during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, 'Before Dawn' follows the intense cat-and-mouse game between the Kuomintang (KMT) secret police and the underground Communist Party of China (CPC) operatives. The story centers on Liu Xinjie, a high-ranking KMT intelligence officer who is secretly a deep-cover mole for the CPC. As the KMT grows increasingly paranoid about leaks within their ranks, Liu must navigate a treacherous web of surveillance, interrogation, and betrayal to protect his identity while facilitating the success of the revolution. The series is renowned for its high-stakes tension and psychological depth, focusing on the internal conflict of characters forced to choose between personal loyalties and political ideologies. As the KMT's '023' operation aims to root out the mole, Liu Xinjie finds himself under constant scrutiny by his colleagues, leading to a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers and narrow escapes that define the series' reputation as a masterpiece of the espionage thriller genre.