Not sure if Chen Mo's parents are divorced in the book. I read the last few chapters/extra chapters machine translated…
yes, you are right about that friendship with QJY's dad, he has certain experience in dealings with patriarchal ways of life. Lets hope this friendship will help Chen Mo's dad to turn around on his authoritative ways, he can't continue to live in his own parallel universe
I'm sooo invested in this drama. Can people who read the novel spoil me, will Chen Mo's parents divorce? Idk how long I can stand her egocentric father... although just 8 eps left, that character invokes harsh slaps...
I've never thought I'd like a drama with such a heavy "youth genre" in it, but the dialogues are spotless, the story simply flows and keeps me engaged all the time. All the actors are delivering their roles, incredible. It deserves higher rating
hahaha as someone in a similar boat, I commend both of our patience. I do think the businesses won't be an issue…
lets' hope you are right. Any plotline - not necessarily business - is welcome at this point, I've reached my limits of bearing with useless and illogical misunderstandings and overacting
I've endured 10 messy, often illogical (even dumb, the scriptwriter seems not to age well, the plotline and dialogues are far below Yunxi Palace) episodes, only out of curiousity: will their businesses continue to compete or cooperate once the Third is married into Chai's family? I am proud of my patience but still have some prejudice towards the script.
I almost don't know what to say after finishing GOTD. This drama accompanied me on holiday travels across the…
You're lucky to have travelled from Europe to China and returned to Australia (where my son lives currently and loves it a lot, so I suppose, I'll be "forced" to visit your country once he settles there for sure). Travelling, people learn a great deal, grow up, make new friends, in a way, Xu Qi'an "travelled" to fictional Dafeng and made a name for himself there. I don't know whether I am "a perfect person to answer your question" or not, but imho, we should stick to the fact Dafeng emulates many traits of Chinese history and culture. The death penalty is abhorred in most Western-culture states, including Australia (where it was abolished in 1985) but it is also due to the fact terrible mass-murders don't happen in our states any more and probably it is the reason why it still exists in 27 federal US states (although it is applied only in 15 of them). Death penalty doesn't exist in any EU country and it is abolished in almost all 47 countries of the Council of Europe (the last country, Kazakhstan, abolished the death penalty in 2021), with the exception of Belarus and Russian Federation (in the latter, it has not been applied in the last 25 ys), the first was only a candidate to join while Russia has been excluded from the CE since 2022 (that's why the actual number of members is 46, with no death penalty in any of them) - and the death penalty existence was mentioned among the "lack of the respect of human rights" motivations. The existence of death penalty somehow goes against our Western sensibility, but we should not forget that it existed in our countries, too, not many years ago. I am old enough to remember the (live-broadcasted) execution of Romanian autocrat Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, charged and found guilty for mass-murder (well, the charge exaggerated the mass-murder of 100 people killed in Timișoara 1989 protest to a "genocide") and "starvation of Romanian citizens" (due to his wrong economic policies) - I admit, it was quite a shock for me, even then and despite the fact I had no sympathy for that couple at all. The death penalty exists in China, even today and there's a death penalty for certain crimes we would certainly label as "minor" or "subject to set-ups" like... the corruption of public officials. The difference in punishment from convicts for corruption and those for mass-murder is the lethal injection for the first, and "thanks" to them, the more brutal execution by firing squad for mass-murderers is (gradually) replaced by lethal injection. But although China is making its effort to decrease the harshness and even to decriminalise certain penalties, the death penalty will not cease to exist in China any time soon. Therefore, the justice implemented by Xu Qi'an on two officials (one responsible for a genocide, because 380K killed people is not a simple mass murder, it is a genocide) and the second covering for it will not offend the sensibility of Chinese audience. Honestly, his actions didn't offend my sensibility either, although I'm against death penalty in real life, Xu Qi'an's actions made perfectly sense because - as Ruxi said - if the law can't provide justice (bc. of the emperor's scheme), it is justified for ANYONE to take care of it, espc. in a fiction, espc. because the emperor betrayed and lost "the heaven's mandate" to provide justice, and espc. because XQ is a Guardian, loyal to the motto "do no wrong and fear no Guardian"
Take a chill pill! It’s a drama! But if we talk history, that kind of behavior would result in death penalty…
Everybody can have their opinion, yes, but only if that opinion is based on some true facts, information and knowledge on the subject. This person said that the script "deviates from the historical drama you're acting" ignoring the basic facts: 1. this isn't a historical drama, it only emulates certain cultural and philosophical aspects of Chinese history 2. any fantasy drama script can deviate from the real history as much as its author wishes, it's called artistic freedom aka licentia poetica. 3. This person assumes that every "historical drama" script (whatever he/she implies with such a term) must follow the same pattern, otherwise "it deviates". Some persons should stick on watching only the same pattern drama and stop to express their uninformed opinions, disgracing themselves. In particular, such persons should avoid any original script most of the audience is after 4. This person missed or didn't recognize (because too dumb or ignorant) the Confucian principle of the rule "under the heavens' mandate" (I've explained below) when rebellion and even a death punishment of the ruler is justifiable and desirable. 5. This person can't watch the historical drama Three kingdoms, because it would certainly deviate from his mindset: that story is a series of rebellions against rulers trully happened during that period of time.
he cannot fight justice by defying the King openly , kidnapping a state Duke from the palace ? this is an era…
You are convinced to be knowledgable of (Chinese) history because you've seen some of C-costume dramas. Ugh, it's always tough to interact with a person unaware of his/her ignorance.
This drama is not historical, it's an isekai framed in a fantasy setting which only emulates Chinese history. In particular, it mentions "Heaven above - people on Earth", a formula introduced by Confucian scholars as "mandate of heaven", indicating the double responsibilty of the ruler: towards "heavenly principles" and towards the people. If the ruler fails to satisfy people's need (eg. in providing justice), he betrays the heavenly mandate and the trust/respect of the people, so -today we would say - he is not fit to rule any more and any rebellion against such a ruler is perfectly justified. Actually, the Chinese history is full of rebellions and uprisings against every single dynasty, we may say more dynasties have fallen because of the rebellions (often followed by civil wars) than because of foreign invasions.
Mencius (371 – 289 BC, a pillar Confucian philosopher in Four Books and Five Classics) in particular emphasized the significance of the common citizens in the state and that a ruler who does not rule justly is no longer a true ruler. Speaking of the overthrow of the wicked King Zhou of Shang, Mencius said, "I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I have not heard of murdering [him as] the ruler." (because he was not a ruler any more in the eyes of the people.)
Conclusions: 1. the rulers were revered, yes, but the "heavenly mandate" doesn't indicate the ruler "is like a god", it means he responds to gods/heavens, he is accountable before gods, who judge his actions and punish him for his wrongdoings. 2. XQ can fight injustice by openly defying the emperor and even to raise the sword against him because the emperor delievered injustice to 380.000 people, mass-murdered by his brother! Not only he can, he MUST do that, because the rebellion against such a ruler is not only justifiable, it's DUTIFUL for a Guardian like him ("do no wrongs-fear no Guardians!") 3. "A bloody nobodies" not only led numerous rebellions in real Chinese history, but one "bloody nobody" (a constable in some God-forsaken village) became one of the greatest rulers of all times: Liu Bang, also known as Emperor Gaozu, the founder of Han dynasty
Take this brief lesson on real Chinese history as my effort to make some sense into you. Consult real history, not dramas, next time, before speaking
1. Acting is subjective and I do agree that the lead actor really does look the part of XQA. He also has the general…
ad 1. If acting was subjective, there would not be academy awards, golden globes etc. for actors' perfomances. Ofc., you - subjectively - may think he didn't emote well the most dramatic scenes, while I subjectively have eyes which never cry while watching dramas, but they were wet during ML's dialogues with the actor performing lord Zheng. Later, I've read on MDL that even the director was shaken by the impact of those scenes while filming them, so maybe your subjectivity is to much subjective. You simply don't like the actor, I'm fine with that but don't mask your disliking trying to objectify with "marbles in his mouth" which people who aren't Mandarin speakers cannot understand. In this drama, Wang Hedi performs a character from our time projected in an isekai-fantasy-supposed past. If he wasn't dubbed, that means the director and producers desired sc. naturalistic performance. Naturalism is a modern, informal way of communication espc. among the youth, and young people frequently mumble and like to mumble, worldwide, independantly of their native toungue, as a part of a rap and hip-hop culture they feel to belong to. This trend is well spread in productions of Western hemisphere, causing a need for 57% of native English speakers to use subs while watching dramas or movies. If you watch this video, you'll learn more on this topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8 Nobody dislikes Tom Hardy for being a mumbler.
ad 2-3-4. well, I've told you, you should direct your own adaptation. As for the length of American adaptations of written source materials, they may seem shorter, as per number of episodes, but the running time of each is longer and usually have multiple seasons, contractually engaging actors for a longer period of times (ie. years). Chinese webnovels often have more pages than War and Peace (novel which never had a proper screen adaptation because of its length and few attempts to make it failed miserably), but we can use the source material for the Game of Thrones adapted from A Song of Ice and Fire, with similar number of pages (I've checked the novel translated in English, it's even lengthier). It had 8 seasons, first 6 seasons x 10 eps, 7th with 7 eps + 8th/6 eps and a medium of 70' airing time. 73x70'=5.110'. Guardians, having a medium of 42' per episode aired (x40) in total 1.680', ie. it's three times shorter because of the limited number of episodes. That's why the fight against Duke Zhenbei was shortened. It is your opinion this fight was "pivotal" (I imagine this character was more developed in the novel and you're influenced by the character in the novel), but for those who haven't read the novel, the duke was just any villain and are completely ok with the length of that fight. We are watching dramas, not comparing dramas with their source material. 5. Ok, I respect your opinion, I even trust you're right about the improvement of JOL compared to the novel, while nothing was improved in GotD compared to its novel. But, if this is true, the most obvious reason is: there were things in the novel which needed an improvement, while GotD novel is a better novel and there was no need to improve things in it.
Your incoherent review really wondered me. 1. You've stated you were writing this review "as a prior reader of the novel" claiming "the lead actor is the weakest part of the cast, as he seems to only have one facial expression". As you've said, you're just a reader, how is it possible the author of the novel claims "the lead actor is just what how he has imagined XQ" while writing the novel you love so much? 2. "The pacing of the drama is odd". No, the pace is fast, not odd. Totally normal for the genre 3. You may be right about the somewhat under-explained "power scaling in the drama", but you didn't explain how it affected the drama. C-productions have limits of 40 episodes, ofc they can't represent thousands of pages in the novel, they must select among the most important ones in terms of screen. In your opinion: "long stretches of screen time were spent on minor/irrelevant sideplots, while interesting sections of the book were breezed over" but when I tried to read the novel... with so many unnecessary characters and details, I would not have even bothered myself to put on screen anything. The screenwriter(s) have done this ungrateful effort, try yourself to do it better. 4. "many of the fight scenes are crazy truncated". We understood that, as well as we understood why multiple pages dedicated to the fight between XQA and Duke Zhengbe could not be replicated in the drama. As a "Mandarin speaker" (I'm not), just be realistic, try to google in Mandarin the limits imposed on Chinese productions. 5. I agree with you "the most worthwhile comparison is with Joy of Life", because Guardians comes close to that standard, they simply came after, they are not the first, nothing else. All you've said about the improvement or regression in the scriptwriting is just... in your imagination, which helped you to create a pretext to downrate the drama
Dear fellow Dafengers, before saying goodbye, I wish to let you know I won't only miss this awsome drama but also our exchange of thoughts (I've read almost all of, wow, almost 10K comments here). Lets hope we will soon read each other again on MDL once S2 starts to air.
For those who will join our Dafeng community later, I've left a review (no spoilers) with a reminder to rate this drama properly.
What should I say? The last 5 episodes were... EPIC! It's almost impossible for me to cry watching a drama, but the interactions between XQ and Mr. Zheng made my eyes wet several times. That is what I call a performance, both actors were not anymore playing a role, they've become characters they've played! The ending is, more or less, within the expectations, I knew/felt his father was to be revealed (although I didn't expect Peter Ho 😂), and I haven't expected this "mystique technique" (although we had hints of early Alzheimer affecting especially Xu family 😂) spreading dementia over the Dafeng. I've expected the Emperor's empeachment (what a great actor is Minglan's father?) but I would have made his defeat just a bit more sore: him not to be affected by the "mystique technique" and remembering XQ flying away riding Loong. But there's a limit of 40 eps in C-productions... better take this "thing"slowly".
Wei Gong... you will also remain in my ❤️forever, you're definitely not a villain, whatever the villain who never cared about his son says!
Now, you all must not be affected by the mystique technique and rate the last 5 eps as they deserve. I will rewatch the whole drama tomorrow once more time, write a review with emotions cooled down and rate it properly (between 9,5-10)
3 
1 
Can people who read the novel spoil me, will Chen Mo's parents divorce? Idk how long I can stand her egocentric father... although just 8 eps left, that character invokes harsh slaps...
It deserves higher rating
I am proud of my patience but still have some prejudice towards the script.
I don't know whether I am "a perfect person to answer your question" or not, but imho, we should stick to the fact Dafeng emulates many traits of Chinese history and culture. The death penalty is abhorred in most Western-culture states, including Australia (where it was abolished in 1985) but it is also due to the fact terrible mass-murders don't happen in our states any more and probably it is the reason why it still exists in 27 federal US states (although it is applied only in 15 of them). Death penalty doesn't exist in any EU country and it is abolished in almost all 47 countries of the Council of Europe (the last country, Kazakhstan, abolished the death penalty in 2021), with the exception of Belarus and Russian Federation (in the latter, it has not been applied in the last 25 ys), the first was only a candidate to join while Russia has been excluded from the CE since 2022 (that's why the actual number of members is 46, with no death penalty in any of them) - and the death penalty existence was mentioned among the "lack of the respect of human rights" motivations. The existence of death penalty somehow goes against our Western sensibility, but we should not forget that it existed in our countries, too, not many years ago. I am old enough to remember the (live-broadcasted) execution of Romanian autocrat Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, charged and found guilty for mass-murder (well, the charge exaggerated the mass-murder of 100 people killed in Timișoara 1989 protest to a "genocide") and "starvation of Romanian citizens" (due to his wrong economic policies) - I admit, it was quite a shock for me, even then and despite the fact I had no sympathy for that couple at all.
The death penalty exists in China, even today and there's a death penalty for certain crimes we would certainly label as "minor" or "subject to set-ups" like... the corruption of public officials. The difference in punishment from convicts for corruption and those for mass-murder is the lethal injection for the first, and "thanks" to them, the more brutal execution by firing squad for mass-murderers is (gradually) replaced by lethal injection. But although China is making its effort to decrease the harshness and even to decriminalise certain penalties, the death penalty will not cease to exist in China any time soon. Therefore, the justice implemented by Xu Qi'an on two officials (one responsible for a genocide, because 380K killed people is not a simple mass murder, it is a genocide) and the second covering for it will not offend the sensibility of Chinese audience. Honestly, his actions didn't offend my sensibility either, although I'm against death penalty in real life, Xu Qi'an's actions made perfectly sense because - as Ruxi said - if the law can't provide justice (bc. of the emperor's scheme), it is justified for ANYONE to take care of it, espc. in a fiction, espc. because the emperor betrayed and lost "the heaven's mandate" to provide justice, and espc. because XQ is a Guardian, loyal to the motto "do no wrong and fear no Guardian"
This person said that the script "deviates from the historical drama you're acting" ignoring the basic facts:
1. this isn't a historical drama, it only emulates certain cultural and philosophical aspects of Chinese history
2. any fantasy drama script can deviate from the real history as much as its author wishes, it's called artistic freedom aka licentia poetica.
3. This person assumes that every "historical drama" script (whatever he/she implies with such a term) must follow the same pattern, otherwise "it deviates". Some persons should stick on watching only the same pattern drama and stop to express their uninformed opinions, disgracing themselves. In particular, such persons should avoid any original script most of the audience is after
4. This person missed or didn't recognize (because too dumb or ignorant) the Confucian principle of the rule "under the heavens' mandate" (I've explained below) when rebellion and even a death punishment of the ruler is justifiable and desirable.
5. This person can't watch the historical drama Three kingdoms, because it would certainly deviate from his mindset: that story is a series of rebellions against rulers trully happened during that period of time.
This drama is not historical, it's an isekai framed in a fantasy setting which only emulates Chinese history. In particular, it mentions "Heaven above - people on Earth", a formula introduced by Confucian scholars as "mandate of heaven", indicating the double responsibilty of the ruler: towards "heavenly principles" and towards the people. If the ruler fails to satisfy people's need (eg. in providing justice), he betrays the heavenly mandate and the trust/respect of the people, so -today we would say - he is not fit to rule any more and any rebellion against such a ruler is perfectly justified. Actually, the Chinese history is full of rebellions and uprisings against every single dynasty, we may say more dynasties have fallen because of the rebellions (often followed by civil wars) than because of foreign invasions.
Mencius (371 – 289 BC, a pillar Confucian philosopher in Four Books and Five Classics) in particular emphasized the significance of the common citizens in the state and that a ruler who does not rule justly is no longer a true ruler. Speaking of the overthrow of the wicked King Zhou of Shang, Mencius said, "I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I have not heard of murdering [him as] the ruler." (because he was not a ruler any more in the eyes of the people.)
Conclusions:
1. the rulers were revered, yes, but the "heavenly mandate" doesn't indicate the ruler "is like a god", it means he responds to gods/heavens, he is accountable before gods, who judge his actions and punish him for his wrongdoings.
2. XQ can fight injustice by openly defying the emperor and even to raise the sword against him because the emperor delievered injustice to 380.000 people, mass-murdered by his brother! Not only he can, he MUST do that, because the rebellion against such a ruler is not only justifiable, it's DUTIFUL for a Guardian like him ("do no wrongs-fear no Guardians!")
3. "A bloody nobodies" not only led numerous rebellions in real Chinese history, but one "bloody nobody" (a constable in some God-forsaken village) became one of the greatest rulers of all times: Liu Bang, also known as Emperor Gaozu, the founder of Han dynasty
Take this brief lesson on real Chinese history as my effort to make some sense into you. Consult real history, not dramas, next time, before speaking
ad 2-3-4. well, I've told you, you should direct your own adaptation. As for the length of American adaptations of written source materials, they may seem shorter, as per number of episodes, but the running time of each is longer and usually have multiple seasons, contractually engaging actors for a longer period of times (ie. years). Chinese webnovels often have more pages than War and Peace (novel which never had a proper screen adaptation because of its length and few attempts to make it failed miserably), but we can use the source material for the Game of Thrones adapted from A Song of Ice and Fire, with similar number of pages (I've checked the novel translated in English, it's even lengthier). It had 8 seasons, first 6 seasons x 10 eps, 7th with 7 eps + 8th/6 eps and a medium of 70' airing time. 73x70'=5.110'. Guardians, having a medium of 42' per episode aired (x40) in total 1.680', ie. it's three times shorter because of the limited number of episodes. That's why the fight against Duke Zhenbei was shortened. It is your opinion this fight was "pivotal" (I imagine this character was more developed in the novel and you're influenced by the character in the novel), but for those who haven't read the novel, the duke was just any villain and are completely ok with the length of that fight. We are watching dramas, not comparing dramas with their source material.
5. Ok, I respect your opinion, I even trust you're right about the improvement of JOL compared to the novel, while nothing was improved in GotD compared to its novel. But, if this is true, the most obvious reason is: there were things in the novel which needed an improvement, while GotD novel is a better novel and there was no need to improve things in it.
1. You've stated you were writing this review "as a prior reader of the novel" claiming "the lead actor is the weakest part of the cast, as he seems to only have one facial expression". As you've said, you're just a reader, how is it possible the author of the novel claims "the lead actor is just what how he has imagined XQ" while writing the novel you love so much?
2. "The pacing of the drama is odd". No, the pace is fast, not odd. Totally normal for the genre
3. You may be right about the somewhat under-explained "power scaling in the drama", but you didn't explain how it affected the drama. C-productions have limits of 40 episodes, ofc they can't represent thousands of pages in the novel, they must select among the most important ones in terms of screen. In your opinion: "long stretches of screen time were spent on minor/irrelevant sideplots, while interesting sections of the book were breezed over" but when I tried to read the novel... with so many unnecessary characters and details, I would not have even bothered myself to put on screen anything. The screenwriter(s) have done this ungrateful effort, try yourself to do it better.
4. "many of the fight scenes are crazy truncated". We understood that, as well as we understood why multiple pages dedicated to the fight between XQA and Duke Zhengbe could not be replicated in the drama. As a "Mandarin speaker" (I'm not), just be realistic, try to google in Mandarin the limits imposed on Chinese productions.
5. I agree with you "the most worthwhile comparison is with Joy of Life", because Guardians comes close to that standard, they simply came after, they are not the first, nothing else. All you've said about the improvement or regression in the scriptwriting is just... in your imagination, which helped you to create a pretext to downrate the drama
For those who will join our Dafeng community later, I've left a review (no spoilers) with a reminder to rate this drama properly.
https://kisskh.at/profile/11598319/reviews/421792#comment-20332202
"Do no wrong", take care, stay healthy and strong. Untill our reunion. ☺️
The ending is, more or less, within the expectations, I knew/felt his father was to be revealed (although I didn't expect Peter Ho 😂), and I haven't expected this "mystique technique" (although we had hints of early Alzheimer affecting especially Xu family 😂) spreading dementia over the Dafeng.
I've expected the Emperor's empeachment (what a great actor is Minglan's father?) but I would have made his defeat just a bit more sore: him not to be affected by the "mystique technique" and remembering XQ flying away riding Loong. But there's a limit of 40 eps in C-productions... better take this "thing"slowly".
Wei Gong... you will also remain in my ❤️forever, you're definitely not a villain, whatever the villain who never cared about his son says!
Now, you all must not be affected by the mystique technique and rate the last 5 eps as they deserve. I will rewatch the whole drama tomorrow once more time, write a review with emotions cooled down and rate it properly (between 9,5-10)