Xia dao lu ping

A methodical detective, Lu Ping, forms an uneasy alliance with a roguish but honorable thief when clues point toward a covert Japanese agent operating within their city. The film follows their uneasy cooperation as each brings different skills to the case, police procedure rubbing against streetwise improvisation. Tension comes from clashing methods and competing moral codes rather than outright melodrama, and the plot moves through stakeouts, interrogations, and narrow escapes. The story keeps its cards close about the spy's deeper motives, focusing instead on the evolving relationship between the investigator and the thief as they piece together a complex conspiracy without spoiling the outcome.

Released in 1989, the film was directed by Shen Yaoting and credits creators Gu Zemin and Senhui Meng, with He Lin, Wang Zhihua and Lin Dong among the leads.

Concrete box office figures aren't widely reported. The movie appears to have had a limited release focused on domestic Chinese markets, and it did not reach broad international commercial prominence.

Though not a mainstream classic outside its region, Xia dao lu ping has a small but steady presence among fans of late 1980s Chinese crime thrillers. Viewers interested in period genre filmmaking sometimes cite its odd-couple pairing and punchy set pieces, and the leads are remembered by genre aficionados for their contrasting portrayals.

Critical coverage from the time is sparse, but the film returns again and again to themes of trust, loyalty, and the blurry line between law and outlaw. It balances procedural detail with moral ambiguity, asking whether pragmatic cooperation can override personal codes. The movie is more interested in character friction and ethical choices than in grand political statements, which gives it a focused, if modest, dramatic thrust.