Blissful_Rhapsody

Hou Ming Hou also always dying in his dramas? May I know what dramas that he died?

Yes, Xiao Zhan only has 3 hits as 1st billing with:
The Untamed - 152m/ep
Douluo Continent - 60m/ep
The Legend of Zhanghai - 50m/ep

Chen Zheyuan didnt have any hit as 1st billing. His only hit is Hidden Love as 2nd billing with 60m/ep.

You can refer here for more detail:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cdramasfans/comments/1n451ga/actors_actresses_with_most_popular_dramas_2019/

Love of Nirvana - 17m/ep

Love of Nirvana is actually one of his most iconic roles. He won many awards for that role. Viewership now has reduced so much due to the cold market since the last 2 years. Last time, its much easier to reach 100m/ep but now any dramas that reached 30m/ep is already considered as hits.

As usual, amazing writing. I always looking forward to your reviews as they always full of amazing observations. Usually, you always discuss about the nuance and details in dramas the you reviewed. Are there any in this drama that you noticed?

The screenwriter is the original author. This is original work and not adaptation from famous novel or IP. Thus in writing this drama, he went to Macau many times to interviews people and data collecting since it based on real events.

Looking forward to your review then. 😃

Yes, the writer did his research intensively for this drama. The drama has been prepared since 2018 and he has been repeatedly going to Macau for data collecting. He is an award winning writer of prestigious writing award so that's why you notice the quality is different from other Republican dramas.

Actually, I love reading neutral reviews like yours who simply watch this drama due to the very impressive storytelling.

RJL dramas are usually have this kind of quality, the reasons why I'm a big fan lol. But lots of his dramas are not popular internationally due to lack of romance.

Hope you will write a review on this drama once you finish it. I would love to read it. 😃

I just want to say that Silent Tides is aired in CCTV1 while War of Faith is CCTV8 which itself is clear indication why Silent Tides are expected to have better production quality and overall execution as CCTV1 is the prime TV channel at China. That's why all the dialogs and language of the foreign characters are fluent and almost flawless.

I know RJL is not really famous internationally but at China, his track record in dramas are much better than WYB. For an example, he has 5 hit dramas as 1st billing. And with Silent Tides getting 3% ratings at CCTV now, we can add another. While WYB only has 1 hit drama at China as 1st billing with War of Faith. I wont comment on acting since it's subjective but RJL is particularly know for his microexpressions that are subtle but screamed volume. That is why his most famous roles are him playing restrained and cold characters.

And regarding neutrality of political fraction, you can rest assured that it remained that way till the end. No emphasis how terrible is the Kuomingtiang but simply shown the Macau people fighting against 1 enemy regardless of their political ideologies.

I think this 2 dramas just didn't interest you, which is perfectly fine since everyone has different preferences.

But I just want to say that both dramas are high quality in term of scripts since both dramas are very layered, full of nuance and highly praised, even by the tough douban crowd.

I only become his fan for a few years. But the reason I become a fan is due to his dramas. He seemed to pick scripts that handle serious and through provoking themes. Like Love of Nirvana, it's about slavery and desperation for freedom. Or in Demon Hunter, it's about equality between 2 different species. The social commenteries in his dramas are amazing like in Burning Flames.

His dramas are usually with minimal promotion. But he ended up having more hit dramas that other traffic actors due to the quality of his scripts. They have good words of mouth. Like Demon Hunter, people are still actively watching the show and the douban score for the drama just increased from 7.5 to 7.6.

Same, wishing you the health and peace as well. 😊

Ren Jialun is one of the male actors with the most hit dramas (5 dramas as 1st billed) tied with Zhang Ruoyun & Bai Jingting:

Under the Power - 103m/ep
Autumn Cicada - 41m/ep
One & Only - 73m/ep
Forever & Ever - 100m/ep
The Blue Whisper - 43m/ep (2nd billed)
Thousand Years for You - 43m/ep

And he is the only male actor who managed to get 100m/ep for both costume and modern dramas. No other actors managed to do that.

And with Silent Tides' CCTV-1 ratings more than 3%, he did very well in his transition to serious dramas. 😃

Obligatory comment that he did not have 'no kissing' clause in his contract. A simple watch of his dramas would tell you this. His latest drama with kissing scene is The Demon Hunter's Romance which is 6 months ago. It's time for this gossip to die. It's been years.

Many people disagree since his romance dramas are hits at China. That's why production team keeps offering him that kind of dramas to him since he is excellent at creating chemistry with his leading ladies. His last drama where the CP is very popular is this year with Demon Hunter's Romance with Song Zuer. That drama airdropped without any promotion but become #1 drama during airing time. Then with Love of Nirvana with Li Landi as well in 2024. Their chemistry is insane and very popular at China.

He has been taking dramas where romance as only subplot for years. 😅 But you are right since after he left H&R, it was back to back serious dramas with Silent Tides and Abyss Game. This is the kind of story where he prefers to do.

He only back doing romance drama Love & Crown in order to break away from H&R. He didn't want to do this drama actually and they tied him nearly 5 months filming this trash of a drama.

He never said he doesn't want to kiss. He said in interview that he didn't mind kissing scenes if the dramas required it. It's just that, he won't do excessive kissing scenes. His last drama with kissing scene is The Demon Hunter's Romance 6 months ago.

Demon Hunter's Romance has an open ending. It wasn't sad. It was imply they will met again after 12 years or earlier. He saved everyone at the end including his family. You guys can't say it's a sad end. 😅

Burning Flames has happy ending though. He met Baichai again at their house with the Snow Man as a clear indication it was her as its exactly the same Snowman she made at the cave and he cried happy tears when she open the door. You are not saying he cried happy years seeing some random people, right?

I thought he has magnetic chemistry with PXR. It is intense and full of tension and yearning. The vibe that I'm getting from them is how they could devour each other regardless of all the unresolved conflicts between them. Like she always forgotten that she supposed to hate him which is funny then start acting cold again lol. And they did this despite all the limited screen time in the drama.

I actually really like your review and upvoted it. ☺️ I just wish that part is removed since its just gossip that has been spread all over the years that ruin his reputation among international viewers.

They kept saying he has zero chemistry with his female costars due to this gossip when it is not even true. When in reality, most all his romance dramas are hits at China. We are talking about more than 40m/ep viewership for his romance dramas. He just like to act in more serious dramas where romance is just a subplot nowadays.

This is actually his first romance centered drama in the last 3 years. And he did this because he is forced by H&R in order to break away from his contract.

It is spread by antis / YXH accounts. They first spread he didnt kiss, then said he used stand-in. Then said its CGI later. Its actually become ridiculous at this point lol. He used stand-in in 1 drama which is Under the Power since he got lingering cough at that time. You can even see in BTS on how sick he was during the filming of the drama that Han Dong said he wants to bring him to hospital. All these kissing scenes are shot after his marriage and didnt use stand-in:

Glory of Tang Dynasty (2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oCTvOuwSZU

Forever & Ever (2021): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1GR4y1K7cD/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.0

The Blue Whisper (2022): https://youtu.be/rg6xvTn_Y2Q?si=fCYa_LsNlyy1eMS7&t=38

The Demon Hunter's Romance (2025): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/75RbV044Du8

The lack of romance scene in this drama is not his fault (like some viewers tried to imply) as they even cut a proper scene that he & PXR already shot. In the last 5 episodes, he & PXR only share 1 scene together. 😅

https://kisskh.at/photos/JBYo3o_3

This picture has been circulated since the production team released one of the trailers. This is probably what he thought about the trashy script of Love & Crown. 🤣

For context, one of the director is explaining the scene to him. In his head, he probably think how makjang and ridiculous it is lol

This picture has been circulated since they first released one of the trailers. This is probably what he thought about the trashy script of Love & Crown. 🤣

For context, one of the director is explaining the scene to him. In his head, he probably think how makjang and ridiculous it is lol

He has 19 aired dramas and only 4 dramas where he died (Autumn Cicada, One & Only, Love of Nirvana & Love and Crown). Its not even half of his filmography.

She is not dumb from episode 15 to episode 30. Its actually impressive how reasonable she is. Then the writer made her dumb again for her ending to work. 😂