The Journey of Chong Zi

I am trying to do my best

I really try to keep up with The Journey of Chongzi, but gosh, I just EFFIN hate the pouting, imbecile, annoying sweetie-cutie FL trope. I AM SO FED UP WITH HER. I really would like to watch it because of the other actors and the beautiful costumes, but gosh. Also, the most disgusting and lazy CGI ever. I am sorry, but not even Wang Zhuocheng is going to save the day. What is with all these stupid, ignorant and childish female leads recently? Who in their right mind would think that grown ass men would fall for young girls who behave as mentally challenged, LITERALLY ALL THE TIME.

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Don't waste your time - Listening to dubbing is annoying and acting was bad by the entire cast.

The Journey of Chong Zi - is a historical fantasy drama that is not my genre. I am watching because nothing interesting has been released this month from CDrama land.

The plot is so stupid and repetitive. Chong Zi was killed by her master Luo Yin Fan; why did he bother to resurrect her into another life and name it Wen Zi? Brought her back to the heavenly realm, then renamed her Chong Zi again. It was ridiculous. When he brought her back to the heavenly realm, there was no appearance in the huge age gap between them.

The onscreen chemistry between Yang Chao Yue and Jeremy Tsui was awkward and bad. What's up with the dubbing? Listening to it was annoying, and Yang Chao Yue's acting was so bad. She is a one-dimensional actress. After 22 episodes, I was hoping for something more exciting and better plot, but it was the same old thing.

I am dropping this drama and giving it a 4.0 rating. The production quality was not good either, and everyone was so white. Tencent does not know how to produce good quality production drama.

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Worst ever drama in my life

First of all story, i think I should kill the director 🖕 in the first half many characters are infatuated with fl, in the second they want to kill her .fl has the worst impression 🤮🤮of all roles in this drama. Ml is not good either he killed her, forced her into the marriage. Fl is dumb, blindly believes in ml, they say she is smart, but i think she is dumber than a pig. It's released with the starry love, the comparison is like a dragon 🐉 and a worm 🪱. Waste of time. At many points i really wanted to kill the fl. I watched this because of its popularity, but not worth it. Animation is quite good but not equal to the starry love. Dressings are not quite good either. Music is fine story has many loopholes when combined it becomes a black hole that devours your mentality. You may become mentally ill 🤯 really frustrating. I wanted to smash my phone into smitherns many times.

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I didnt like the ending

Overall I liked but I didnt actually like the ending this is like my third drama that does not have a satisfactory ending I never thought the ending would be like this I have to say I expected more from this drama I liked the actors the storyline was not bad I wanted the female lead to be a bad person for once but no! u have to make this that way
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I DO RECOMMEND IF U HAVE TIME TO WASTE

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Speechless

Dear ScreenWriter and Team,

I won’t take too long to express my thoughts on this drama.

1. Im not sure what you were thinking when you wrote the script in terms of story, characters, etc.
2. I greatly appreciate every small detail, even though im not in this field, i do work in the entertainment industry, often dealing with dramas, movies, etc.

In my opinion, the story and characters are too cheesy for a historical drama.

There are actually a lot of comments, but i dont want to waste time. I hope that before you create another drama, you pay more attention to the storyline and the characters for the actors. It would be more beneficial, especially for a historical drama that should be good. At least we dont need it to be 100% perfect, just do the work with heart, aiming for at least 98%.

I fast forwarded through every episode and skipped straight to the next one.

Appreciation to the actors and the entire team involved you guys are amazing for taking this on and working through to the end. Its just the main points that made the storyline very unsatisfying.

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I have not read the book

My understanding is that this book is very good. I tried to read it online but could not find a free translation.

My issue with this drama is all in its story and plot. I can’t find fault with the acting because everyone was playing incredibly one dimensional characters

In the wake of newer trends in dramas featuring intelligent and nuanced characters, including supporting characters and villains, the people in this show were collectively irrational and irresponsible doing and saying things often with little or no regard for others at all and humans were just this group of people who in my opinion should have revolted against the powers that be. But that could not happen because they seemed mindless and just kind of there.

No one seemed to learn from their actions and everyone believed in the absolute worse or best in others. There was no gray. And that is extremely hard to watch and left me not caring what happened to the characters because they were so unrelatable.

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I watched this some time ago and just decided to write a little review about it: some parts of the plot were a little rushed or confusing to me, and that ending? What both of them died stabbing each other, the classic 'they both died loving each other' and then the reincarnation. Like I'm not that kind of watcher. I enjoy the slightly more grounded ending, not the 'plunge you into sadness then say they somehow reincarnated for some random reason'. The storyline is alright, and the emotions portrayed are alright too. Overall, it's a solid 6.5 for me. (Ignore my rating for music, unless it's really good I just put a two for everything)

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Forbidden romance between Master & student

Never really understand why sometimes love between master & student is like forbidden things in the heaven realm. Is it to avoid everyone want to master because of want to fall in love or having relationship with their master...? Or just obstruct the cultivation....? Maybe we must learn Buddhism to understand this...

This drama OK for all the wrong thing I think. Haha... The good thing are the scenery or background & the music, this maybe one of the most pretty Xian Xia I've watch. For the story itself, hmmm... Enough to make me hang till the end, but not so good either. I stop caring for the story from the middle, but still curious enough to watch how everything revealed in the end.

Really like how FallingSlowly88 wrote: "Lets make 15+ episodes of misunderstandings. Lets also make every man obsessed with the main character. Lets also WITHHOLD moments of confession and understandings for the sake of derailing / padding out the story because 'it's not the time'. Lets also not have a single good female for the main character to look up to, or a male who isn't in love with her. The list goes on..."

Haha... Yeah.... This drama have everything messed up. The whole world put the blame on a little girl that have evil aura, all the man that close to her fall in love with her or at least want to protect her, all the female get jealous because of it & want to kill her & to make things more messed up.... The only friend she has & trust, in the end also using her for her own reason.... Sigh.... What a lonely world for this little girl... Haha...

Overall if you want to check this drama I'm not gonna say you can't, but in my opinion kinda such waste of time. Better check other drama that have better story to tell....

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Boring & Cliche Storyline but good acting

I’M SO SORRY BUT I HAD TO DROP IT AT EPISODE 30. It’s just too boring and full of clichés… I was honestly exhausted trying to keep watching it, only pushing through because I really like the cast — and yes, the casting was actually so good. BUT the storyline? Ugh, just meh 🤓 I seriously couldn’t keep going. The cast selection was amazing, no doubt, but whyyyy was the story so bad? There’s no real build-up, no ups and downs, and even the so-called “plot twist” wasn’t a twist at all — I already saw it coming from the start. It’s just such a huge disappointment!

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VIEWERS CHALLENGED TO RETHINK & REFEEL THEIR ATTITUDE TO SCAPEGOATING

Below is my evaluation of themes & techniques found at a closer observation in the C-drama “The Journey of Chong Zi.”

TEST ON AUDIENCE
The main theme is the condemnation of scapegoating of an innocent girl who grows into a femme fatale by force of her environment’s warped perception of who she potentially is.

There are countless works on this subject-matter. Here, however, the authors manage to… split the audience. The tool is the creation of a beautiful heroine endowed with weaknesses & provoking viewers to utilise these. Just like the candidates for the sect have to jump from rock to rock to reach the shore or fall into the abyss, we also pass or fail a test of humanity.

Viewers who have had similar life experience and/or empathy, relate to Chong Zi, treating her shortcomings as a secondary matter. Having experienced or envisioned fight for survival & loneliness among the crowd, you are prone to understand her quirks are either scars or self-defence responses. Her appetite is the reflex to years of hunger. The habit of tugging at clothes is despair to keep someone engaged. Even the fact that she is not eager to learn is related to thwarted hopes for any investment in herself to start paying off. She has not quit the survival mode, her PTSD. Her persistence in honesty is proof of a strong will. She even avoids white lies & thus deserves a better love than Luo Yin Fan’s, who keeps her misinformed. Her resilience at the difficult age of puberty is simply astounding.

Viewers who fail to see these psychological mechanisms see a troubled & troublesome individual, with underdeveloped social skills & unsteady emotionality. Some will stop at this. Some will find her defencelessness as an opportunity to project their atavistic deficiencies (easy target). Earnestly, do they not resemble Sima Miao Yuan, Ting Xue, Min Yun Zhong or the baozi thief lyncher?

FLATNESS VS ROUNDNESS + VACILLATION
For disambiguation: a flat character is one who remains unchanged; a round character evolves. Main characters tend to be round, but it is not a prerequisite. Flatness is not inferiority: it can denote a timely selection of the right path. Flat ones serve as points of reference, but can be fully-fledged too.

Most characters entrench themselves in obsessions, incl. Luo Yin Fan. He undergoes improvements as the master of the reincarnated Chong Zi, responding to her desire to start eating well, granting her more freedom. However, he clings to insincerity. The first & only radical change happens in the last episode, as he decides to revoke his overprotection & sacrifice himself. Worth noting is the way he accumulates thoughts before a short utterance & how decisive his protective movements are. Zhuo Hao & Qin Ke soon pick up this feature.

The most solid personality is Qin Ke’s. He seeks to appease every conflict; if mediation has no effect, he takes the blame on himself. He exudes doubtless pureness, unlike the volatile Mu Yu or the mercurial Zhuo Hao. Qin Ke’s exaggerated modesty might partly result from Deng Wei’s awareness of viewers’ reception of an earlier drama, “Miss the Dragon,” where his vivid rendering of a supporting role outshone the whole cast: here, he seems to be restricting himself, leaving room for Xu Zheng Xi’s character to bloom. Thus a modest, self-restrained character emerges, serving others & refraining from being served. His reincarnation in the extra episode might be a tribute to his pillar-like consistency.

The roundest characters are Wan Jie & Zhuo Hao. Life forces them into attitudes foreign to their natures. Also Dragon King, Leng Wan Li & Yin Shui Xian are round. Wang Yue turns out to be exceptionally responsive for a villain.

Chong Zi goes beyond the flat-round paradigm. A frantic pendulum, lost between the opposite forces, trying to adopt but rejecting. This vacillation accelerates to disorientation & exasperation. It deliberately gives us a taste of pain such friction must cause.

POTENCY OF MORAL CONCESSION
Moral concession is commendable, its improper use is destructive. Observing Luo Yin Fan’s adamant protection of Chong Zi with an inherent demon element, our heart feels right, but our logic cries for caution.

Instances of misdirected or excessive concession abound. The authors display special tenderness towards Demons’ world, except Wang Yue’s attendant.

Demon agents among Immortals, Yan Zhen Zhu & Mu Yu, repetitively seek to expose Chong Zi to the contact with the demonic objects, murder an innocent person to frame the heroine & force her environment to break the last bond with her. Yet she keeps treating them with trust.

Immortal Min Yun Zhong crowns his lifetime of hypocrisy with a heroic death. Yu Du’s blind loyalty calls for punishment – instead, he survives to usher next generations into the new order.

Being or becoming a mortal is viewed as more meritorious & enhancing chances of survival. When Chong Zi & her master meet the notorious village bully, they talk generously to him, show support. Ting Xue is allowed to survive. Sima Miao Yuan gets violently mutilated in a way C-drama generals do. She is granted a possibility to execute herself & earns Qin Ke’s compassion.

Goodness or neutrality do not pay off – we witness the tragedy of the benevolent Zhuo Yun Zhi, the ‘converted’ Wan Jie, the withdrawn Dragon King & his spouse. Unmerited concession is granted to men’s possessiveness in courting: Luo Yin Fan, Mu Yu & the early Zhuo Hao.

In this unfair world, Chong Zi is equipped late (upon her desperate request) with rudimentary knowledge & a blunt weapon, victim to her inborn disposition, difficult childhood, overprotection, abuse, her inconsistency & inaptitude to learn.

TESTING THE DOOM’S LIMITS
Both main characters recklessly flirt with doom. Luo Yin Fan naively leaves his beloved one in prison & even lets her experience twice the same ordeal with hooks. He gives the reincarnated apprentice the same name. He welcomes the unknown red snake. He does nothing to trace agents.

Chong Zi shifts between the opposite camps, believing each time to be accepted. She disregards signs, e.g. Wang Yue’s repeated assertions of being a good man. She discards orders & friendly advice by Luo Yin Fan, Wan Jie & Zhuo Hao. She forgets to check on Hong Dou, then on Qin Ke. She takes oaths too lightly: ‘pinky swear’ with Qin Ke, assertions to stay home, even public declaration to fight on the Demon side. Wang Yue’s incredible leniency lets her break this promise & elope from the altar; no punishment comes from other Demons.

VARIOUS WAYS TO MATURITY
Two sets of modes of adolescence can be detected. Chong Zi gains hard lesson as an orphan, then takes a step back under an overpotective master. Reincarnated & introduced into a decent Wen family, she grows more ladylike, but the ‘demon scent’ makes her reach the same quicksand as an earlier uncouth findling.

As an opposite, Zhuo Hao sets off at a great advantage. He disrespects his father & will not share his aunt’s considerate disposition. Little does he realise how hurtful his behaviour must be to Chong Zi, for whom human wilfulness used to be daily bane. His maturity comes with unrequited love, loss of his father & the vicissitudes of the universe indifferent to his splendid self.

The 9th princess Sima Miao Yuan is prepossessed with the snobbish assertion of her alleged experience & moral qualifications – but proves locked in a state of conceited puerility so intense as to pose danger to herself & others.

As an opposite, the prince Qin Ke evades his parents’ support, relying on his own development. When Sima Miao Yuan’s parents lose power, he provides solace. Though not enjoying her presence, he acts brotherly & discreetly.

THE ESSENCE OF HOME
An interior is an important home-making factor. Chong Zi’s first home ever is exquisitely furnished, with bright woodwork, sunlight, comfy bed & rich library. There is no kitchen, but the resolute girl turns an incense burner into a stove to prepare a koi fish.

The Demon home is surprisingly liveable, with elevated aesthetics & functionality, flowers, figurines & fancy bed. This reflects the oddly welcoming nature of this realm: even intruders are treated like guests, given kind directions.

An ambivalent interaction between Chong Zi & her kidnapper ‘uncle’ turns the arid, crushing Land of Tribulation into home.

OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN… & MORE
This inherent flaw of C-dramas is also here. A crowd of suitors serves as proof of the heroine’s value. But also of her master, chosen among such valiant rivals.

Women are also targets: the allegedly upright sect leaders make use of Gong Ke Ran as a living bait (her uncle among them), like hunters do to female birds.

Chong Zi keeps hearing 3rd-person remarks from the Immortals, meant to question her capability of thinking, feeling, deciding for herself. Though at times they seem to accept her cleverness, charm & sharp tongue, it is a patronising attitude. Let us add the suitors’ careless language: ‘silly girl,’ ‘ugly girl.’

GLITCHES & FLAWS
- Mortals scarcely shown. The motive of a promising mortal sect Fusheng drops.
- Disregard for countrymen. Two negative comparisons by main characters.
- Forgotten demon creatures (cat, snake) or objects (Kunlun incense, fruit lantern).
- Convention taken for granted. Viewers expected to know that C-drama Immortals are generally hypocrites. That postpones their understanding of the discrepancy between the sect rules (no violence, even revenge) & their behaviour (scheming, human sacrifice, judging a priori, no intention evaluation, little use of Yu Du’s predicting capabilities).
- Selecting a young actor for the ‘uncle’ (Gao Han should urgently be cast in a major protagonist role soon).

APPEAL
The world is not likely to shake off its obsession with questionable beauty standards soon. Believing that Asian cultures attach importance to the ‘face’ as an ultimate value, please keep C-drama free from the unnecessary plastic surgery and tweakments.

Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.

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Definitely should have listened to the comments and not watch

This is honestly my worst watch ever since i started watching chinese dramas cuz what the actor f*ck is this. I watched this despite the low reviews cuz normally the reviews of a drama may be bad but i end up liking it but this was definitely not the case. I hated a lot of things about this.

1st- absolutely hated the makeup cuz why is it five time lighter than their neck like if ur going to make their makeup lighter than their actually skin shade atleast blend it to their neck cuz why they look dead on the face with how pale it is. I also didn't like that they use eyeliner on the guys cuz it just didn't look right with the rest of the make up. Chongzi's demon make is the worst of all i honestly think that she looked like a clown with it.

2nd- I this entire series was about chongzi but actually did not like her cuz she was low-key so freaking stupid at times like aren't u meant to be smart. I felt bad for her at times like when they accused her of shit she didn't but in the end she proved them correct when the said that fate was going to make her evil which it did cuz why the hell did u want to destroy the immortal realm when u know that the mortals would be affected like weren't you the one that was saying that u will protect them and all that when u literally cuz the most harm to them cuz u were dumb enough to continue to let the demons manipulate u even when u knew they were. Like my blood pressure and anxiety level rise everytime her master tell her to not do something cuz its dangerous but she disobeys him cuz she's curious or miss hin like just listen cuz that's precisely why u are always in trouble or always at the scene of the time which gives the immortal something to blame u for cuz u just won't listen. Like another stupid thing she did was literally become a matyr for the sword like wan jie even when he specifically told her to not become like him and what did she do she did the opposite of that all in the name of getting revenge on yinfan for shit that he didn't do basically blaming him like how they blamed her when she was never in the wrong like I thought u would've learned something from living 2 lives but I guess not cuz even when u remember ur first life u still walked the same path that got u killed.

3rd- why did everyone that she favoured died like wtf was that about like everyone that i liked died for her or because of her she caused the most harm to those around her without even realising it

The fact that they also had a freaking good cast but they wasted it on this dumb ass plot like who ever directed this I hope both sides of ur pillow are warm.


All in all I absolutely do not recommend this to anyone not even my enemies cuz this was ass and a complete waste of my 3 freaking days and sleepless nights.

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