Floating Life: A Tea Shop Across Four Eras

What is confirmed

Floating Life appears on iQIYI's 2027 slate as a costume fantasy romance starring Chen Zheyuan and Wang Churan. The platform's synopsis describes a tea shop whose owner serves customers across several historical periods, including the Republican era, the Northern Song, the Tang dynasty and the Warring States period. Each cup of tea reveals a story of love, loss and regret.

Why the premise is unusual

Most Chinese fantasy romances follow one couple through one world. This one is structured as an anthology tied together by a single location and a single supernatural device. That gives the production freedom to change costumes, eras and tone between arcs, and it gives the leads a chance to play different versions of themselves.

The risk

Anthology structures can feel like a series of disconnected short films. The show will need a strong through-line, probably the tea shop owner's own unresolved story, to make the separate eras matter. If the frame story is weak, the romance will have no accumulated weight.

The cast

Chen Zheyuan and Wang Churan are both established in costume romance, and pairing them suggests iQIYI is aiming at the same audience that made Ashes of Love and Eternal Love successful. The difference here is the anthology format, which asks the audience to invest in several shorter relationships rather than one long one.

Status

Announced for 2027, no date. iQIYI has not published an episode count or a trailer. We will update this page when it does.