I Know Who You Are

Name: I Know Who You Are
Genre: Historical drama, Spy
Released: 2026-06-19
Duration: 142 min

A security officer spends decades watching a schoolteacher he believes is a dormant Kuomintang agent.

Spoilers includedLast reviewed: 2026-08-08

Verified facts

Runtime: 2h 22m
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Released: 2026
Origin: China

PlotGeeks explainer signals

PlotLayeredDecades of political change alter a surveillance rivalry that outlives its original mission.EndingNeeds contextFeng's confession and the families' union resolve the rivalry rather than a final espionage operation.RecapUseful recapUse the abandoned assignment, long watch, confession, and Olympic scene as anchors.SourcesImportant contextThe film adapts Zhang Ce's novella; its historical span helps explain the obsolete mission.

What do these labels mean?

Why read this explainer

Follow Feng's continuing loyalty separately from Yan's abandoned assignment. Xiao's decades of suspicion help explain how the neighbors remain bound to a purpose that has disappeared.

PlotGeeks note

The neighbors grow old inside an assignment whose purpose disappears before they acknowledge it. Feng's confession follows his discovery that the organization has forgotten him.

Timeline

Major events

Feng stays behind
An intelligence assignment requires him to maintain a teacher's identity.
Xiao moves nearby
Suspicion becomes permanent surveillance inside the same neighborhood.
Yan no longer needs his agent
Their reunion exposes the disappearance of Feng's original purpose.
The families become relatives
Confession and marriage change the old rivals' relationship.

Story in 60 Seconds

The short version

In 1949, intelligence officer Feng Jingbo is ordered to remain in Beijing under cover as a schoolteacher. Public-security officer Xiao Dali suspects him and moves into his neighborhood to watch him. Their contest persists as governments, institutions, and family circumstances change around them. Feng waits for an organization that no longer needs him, while Xiao builds much of his life around proving the identity he believes he already knows. The men's children grow up together, giving the neighbors connections that neither surveillance nor their old ideological loyalties can fully explain.

Spoiler sectionEnding ExplainedShow ending detailsHide ending details

Feng meets his former superior Yan and discovers that the man barely remembers him. Recognizing how obsolete his mission has become, he confesses to Xiao. Their children marry, joining the families. The final scene shows the old rivals watching the 2008 Olympics and disputing their great-grandson's name, turning their lifelong argument toward a future they now share.

Original context

Why it matters

An argument changes its subject

The naming dispute retains the men's stubbornness while placing it inside a shared family. Their habits survive even as the institutions that originally divided them lose authority over their lives.

Key turning points

The handler has moved on

Yan's failure to remember Feng exposes the unequal duration of their commitments. A mission that organizes the agent's life has become an irrelevant episode to his superior.

Character links

Who connects to whom

Feng Jingboundercover agent and watchful neighbor who become familyXiao Dali

Feng Jingboagent and former superior who has forgotten his missionYan Diankun

Feng Kangmeichildren whose romance joins the rival householdsXiao Xinwei

Character motivations

Xiao makes suspicion a vocation

Xiao's certainty gives him a reason to stay close to Feng. Living alongside his suspect creates obligations and familiarity that the official purpose of surveillance cannot encompass.