Frost_edelweiss

Willful by the well-known group Mayday :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ktAt-Gg2k&pp=ygUObWF5ZGF5IHdpbGxmdWw%3D

This question was answered already yesterday ;)
Here again : Wen Yifan's names and connection to Chinese traditional culture: https://kisskh.at/722171-first-frost#comment-20816574 :

"Wen Yifan has three names :
温以凡 Wēn Yǐfán,
降 Jiàng short for Shuāngjiàng 霜降 (the solar term day when she was born, which is known as "First Frost" among the 24 solar terms which rhythm the traditional luni-solar Chinese calendar) and
点 Diǎn or 点点 DiǎnDiǎn ("Dot", the name of the stroke which recurred in 以凡 and which was the only one she remembered when she was learning to write in early school).

Her father and close birth family called her 降 Jiàng
Her friends from early on call her 点 Diǎn"

Familiar or endearing ways of addressing a person use a repetition of the syllable such as in 点点 DiǎnDiǎn , or depending on region or family to add "small" (xiǎo 小) or "ah" (阿) before the syllable, which could be the last of the two syllable given name, i.e. like in "xiǎoJiàng" 小降 or "xiǎoFán" 小凡 or "ahJiang" 阿降 etc.

I'll add that this is a "small name" like a common nickname, and that Chinese names have more complexity and variety than the usual First name, Middle name, Surname (or Family name) known in the West.

In HL, Sang Zhi has a small name : ZhiZhi. It is in the category of the 小名, xiǎomíng "little names" also called "milk name" (乳名, rǔmíng) as ZhiZhi is used only for close family. So this was a case of a "milk name" continued as a familial nickname into adulthood. (But milk name are usually forgotten after the formal given name was agreed)

In TFF, WYF 's small name 点 Diǎn is really a nickname (绰号 chuòhào, or 外号 外號, wàihào category) used by close friends but not by family, who use the alternate childhood name Shuāngjiàng 霜降 .bestowed by her dad, but not registered with local authorities.

Since they are not used in this drama, I have erased the stub explanation about other possible special names (courtesy names, generation names... also school names)

(for those who are interested, I wrote a piece about the solar terms in my MDL Notes for GenZ : https://kisskh.at/discussions/hou-lang/100789-about-traditional-chinese-culture)

And again, since I'm at it, here's the song from the Chengdu zhongguofeng group, about Frost's Descent : https://archive.org/details/zhao-fangjing-songs/Zhao+Fangjing.+ST18.+Shuangjiang.+Frost+Descent.mp3

You meant Sang Zhi. She is a minor character in TFF drama so her name should not be mangled. And ML's name is Sang Yan.
Zhang is another family name....

I do not think HL was ever planned as having a second season.
The two books existed and different productions decided to do different things with them. But even the books are only as faintly connected as you are to your older sisters dating life (although I assume you would have heard about or even met the more important persons sometime?) There is no whole meal in this. Even though some will desperately try to connect dots.
I prefer not to try.

Some are attempting to build a timeline. It will necessarily have some discrepancies. Especially if they attempt as planned to build it around the dramas which differ from source novels.

Let's appreciate TFF the drama for its own merits without locking it as ball and chain to HL the drama, which is a wonderful story, on its own.

I initially regretted that some characters like the Sang parents, Qian Fei... are being acted by other actors, although the three leads from HL were clearly excused (no time, no willingness to go back alongside different leads as Support or Guests, Victor Ma not known enough to be chosen as ML and stating he was not interested in the romantic role).

In fine, perhaps it was best for production to have chosen a totally different cast in the hope also to avoid forced comparisons. TFF is not really meant by the new production team to stay in minds as HL S2 or HL.alt.

perhaps skip also 3/4 of the last episode then, just stay with the wedding and the elopement, the kids driving under the clouds reflecting the white olive tree grove "mirage"... The episodes I point to are enough to see the awesome change that CZY enacted from cheerful to thoughtful and finally ptsd shell-shocked but nevertheless willing to love. There are many other nuances, but many of the episodes are indeed more angsty. So that's my "sample" for you.
Me, I re-watched the drama 2-3 times along the way, but perhaps I've grown more detached now from ancient traumas, in other incarnations as an " ancient alien from deep space c-drama and world observer". This Earth is very troubled indeed. I don't blame those who look to c-dramas only for light fluff and uplifting moments.

Episode 9 end, for those who like to know what is the "cultural quote" being thrown as bait for those who watch and chafe that there is not much of cultural interest except Wen Yifan's three names which I commented on earlier.

The poem that Sang Yan reads in the bookshop :

When You Are Old
William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.


Wen Yifan's names and connection to Chinese traditional culture:
https://kisskh.at/722171-first-frost#comment-20816574 :
"Wen Yifan has three names :
温以凡 Wēn Yǐfán,
降 Jiàng short for Shuāngjiàng 霜降 (the solar term day when she was born, which is known as "First Frost" among the 24 solar terms which rhythm the traditional luni-solar Chinese calendar) and
点 Diǎn or 点点 DiǎnDiǎn ("Dot", the name of the stroke which recurred in 以凡 and which was the only one she remembered when she was learning to write in early school).

Her father and close birth family called her 降 Jiàng
Her friends from early on call her 点 Diǎn"

I'll add that this is a "small name" like a common nickname, and that Chinese names have more complexity and variety than the usual First name, Middle name, Surname (or Family name) known in the West. We are spared from the (sometimes bewildering in modern setting) courtesy names or the generation name in that story. In HL, Sang Zhi has a small name xiaoming as ZhiZhi which has a different use : only for close family. In TFF, WYF 's small name is really a nickname used by close friends but not by family, who use the alternate childhood name bestowed by her dad.

(for those who are interested, I wrote a piece about the solar terms in my MDL Notes for GenZ : https://kisskh.at/discussions/hou-lang/100789-about-traditional-chinese-culture)

And since I'm at it, here's the song from the Chengdu zhongguofeng group, about Frost's Descent :
https://archive.org/details/zhao-fangjing-songs/Zhao+Fangjing.+ST18.+Shuangjiang.+Frost+Descent.mp3

Yes but not only. The production changed it deliberately to fit several reasons and policies to conform to c-entertainment rules and laws, as noticed by some commenters who reminded of the "age of consent" law that was implicitly criticized in the story: the story could not leave any doubt that the ML had no romantic interest for a girl before she became an adult - despite there are tons of Asian or c- dramas with that sort of trope and age difference which escape being labeled as dubious. DJX had to be painted as older, OK, but only concerned with no other thought than furthering the girl's studies and well being, as a brother would be, for the duration of her "childhood" period.
Therefore, the Beijing News official newspaper did an article to defend HL the drama against the cyber-bullying from raucous people that copy-pasted disparaging comments at the time. A move to state official position that does not often happen.

It is not for the easily triggered... Those who have suffered depression and/or ptsd can still watch and relate or appreciate, also criticize. I was in two minds about adding one good criticizing comment among the ones I quoted in TwOT Companion piece, but left it out finally, so that readers would not feel I was thinking it's not worth watching because of those objections. After all, my objective is never to gun down a drama I was interested in, warts and all.

TWOT is a strange drama that will keep a special place. It is not a relaxation watch, nor really an educational one. It is a "raw" item in many senses of the word.
Chen Zheyuan wanted to try something else, and did an outstanding job, hailed by all, even dissenters.
Liang Jie is his friend from long ago so they had no difficulty, but there are audiences who did not like her; her character is in fact also a ptsd and depression sufferer, so it is a double dark story...
If you are afraid of sad ends, this one is relatively light and open ended though. You can watch the1st, 2nd, 7th episode and the last one (that last one with some tissues since it does lean to tearjerker).

Good end (of sorts) "Drifting Away" is one drama you might want to avoid for the graphic torture scenes, copied from real news! Zhao Jinmai played very well and courageously.

actually this mistake has been repeated many times here even by one commenter who knows both books and dramas and joked herself that it was dyslexia that kept her repeating the erroneous spelling. I assumed it could also be due to a problem with cut and paste for quickness, lol

Thanks Twinty. I was considering, but there was not much of cultural interest up till now, despite the 24 solar terms which I covered in the Notes for GenZ or a few things like the poem and the white moonlight romanticism. Maybe the interest for horror movies since the beginning of Chinese cinema? Doing a Companion piece takes a lot of time and I am almost exhausted after TWOT.
I only added some notes on Peachey Blossom's thread for the MVs and the singers ; there is one song that is not in OST which I will perhaps ad there, as I did in the thread for HL's OST. I like music and this drama has an original Mao Buyi song so ...

Ah yes, some people ought to think of all these classic songs where the "Moon represents my Heart", old but still quoted as the epitome of romantic feelings; here it is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgB4GTagINM sung by Teresa Teng/Deng Lijun

She plays in character : WYF is a living ghost in this part of the story. ZRN does indeed a good job.

I do NOT hate on NanNan, and have no hate either for the small seals, or any actor, actress, and neither for their reasonable fans who support their work without hating on other ones.

As for the adaptation of the book which I read about a year ago, I think both BJT and ZRN were well chosen, but I think the backdrop of the drama is somewhat lackluster as concerns the friends and other support. The first two episodes were fine, the sleepwalking one was underwhelming. I am still on board though, so not thinking it is fit to be dismissed. Just not a 10 for me, yet.

And besides, HL the drama did not follow exactly HL the book or manhua.

There clearly are some small seal friends among commenters... It's totally in order and understandable. I like both leads here equally, they were well chosen for their natural skills: aloof and covertly warm for BJT, cold, detached, sadness inspiring , almost ghostly for ZRN (although she can be fun, as she proved in My Boss).

in the HL drama version you are right about the age gap difference of 5 instead of 7 in novel. It does distort the comparisons.

Not Jaixu. Duan Jiaxu.
dyslexia has a ball in these comments ;)

It's an okay drama, not a masterpiece in my view. I'm still on board because I like Bai Jingting and am curious about how Zhang Ruonan will not be only the poker face walking ghost for too long.

Different story... These are two separate novels "in the same universe" but not intended as sequels so there are discrepancies if you set out to compare....

that question has been asked and answered repeatedly....

As for family dynamics I totally disagree ; it is probably because Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu (not Jaixu or else) are very unimportant in The First Frost, which is much more centered on the complications of Wen Yifan's troubled past and Sang Yan's infatuation since high school, that the SZ and DJX here are so nondescript and almost as unkempt as Mu Chengyun! We almost haven't seen them or the parents, instead, it's the band of present friends in Nanwu and Su Hao'an who lead the support of Sang Yan in the drama version.

TFF is as far removed from family matters as HL was principally about it, and even after the daughter left home to study in another city.

It is noticeable that Sang Yan avoids staying home, visits his parents rarely, especially since he has now finished his studies and is "looking for a job" while having a bar "as a byway", where he can sleep when he is not in his apartment or now at the shared apartment. We can't feel any love between him and his parents, and as for his sister, he used her once when she was a kid, to attract the girl that interested him, but he does not really care about whether she shares a festival meal with him or not!

TFF is totally centered around SY and WYF and the rest are just puppets with so little individuality that it's hard to be clear who they are : Chen Junwen, Su Hao'an, Xiang Lang, only Zhong Siqiao is more recognizable but her role is not very important: looking out for rivals of Su Hao'an grandma, really??

Ep20 14:39 when he spots them embracing, but he had been tipped off by Qian Fei spilling the beans shortly before, reason why he went to check in Yihe.

I did not notice Yifan getting introduced at the end of the wedding of Qian Fei : it must be in the book because I did not see that scene in episode 13 despite rewatching again. It was only focused on the shameless wooing by Duan JIAXU (not Jai Xu) until he drove Sang Zhi home in Sang Yan's car that he borrowed the keys of.

It was Qian Fei , over a meal preparing for his wedding some days before, who had told Jiaxu that it was likely that the girl who they were talking about then, without Jiaxu giving a name, despite being years younger, had fallen for him. Jiaxu mulled it over, finally seeing Zhi in a different light than the "small kid" he remembered. She had repeatedly complained that she was not a child any longer and did not want to be addressed as one.

So, after thinking about how Zhi had taken care of him in hospital when he needed an operation, how she had reacted to his joking with the other patient who repeatedly told Jiaxu that he should marry Zhi, and later, her rising to defend Jiaxu against the obsessed Jiang Ying at the restaurant, how she had cried pitifully when she was drunk, telling him that she was in love with someone who did not love her back, it dawned on him that the someone was not a fellow student like the sports one whom she had brushed away when she was drunk, but himself, Jiaxu... It was a revelation, because he had never been in love before, and never let girls get near, focusing only on making money to pay his debts and pay off the dreadful Jiang Ying, daughter of the man whom Jiaxu's drunk driver father had run over and killed.

(Being unable to face consequences, Jiaxu's father had attempted suicide by jumping off a window, but ended up in a coma for years, while Jiaxu's mother got cancer and died. The two hospital expenses and the funeral were too much for Jiaxu even after the apartment he lived in with his mother had been sold; therefore Sang Yan had obtained a loan from his parents to help his pal. Jiaxu was also saddled with money owed to the victim of his father, and Jiang Yi, as the victim's daughter, took advantage of him to drag him down and at the same time, be made to look as her boyfriend in a twisted way: she kept stalking him.)

The realization that Sang Zhi loved him was liberating for Jiaxu who put his foot firmly in, to beat away Jiang Yi. Having gotten rid of his nemesis, he at last could allow himself to accept the love that already was offered, but which he had failed to recognize. So, in both stories, it is the girl who pursues the guy: Sang Zhi cautiously in Hidden Love, until they moved in together "to escape the heat in the non a/c rooms of the dorm in the sweltering summer), and Wen Yifan more or less at the same time, because Sang Yan did not want to be the one who made the first move, after having been rejected years before. But Wen Yifan's relationship was less straightforward than DJX and SZ.

I'm not sure the episode of Sang Zhi urging her brother to wish a happy birthday to Jiaxu, over the phone, is included in TFF. It was in March (episode 17 of HL) since both him and her had birthdays that month. That's when Sang Yan told DJX that SZ was in love with a "postgraduate student", making DJX smirkingly ask Zhi afterwards if it was too late for him to apply; an hour later or so, at the restaurant they had driven to, she was the one to tell him that she was saying "yes" surprising DJX by her boldness when he had not even asked her that evening if she would consider being his girlfriend (he had cautiously asked at her birthday, a few weeks before, but she had been holding off).

At the time of airing of HL, I wrote a long Discussions piece, which included a "Characters analysis, names, ages, in Hidden Love drama and book ; assessment of characters played by main cast, and goodbyes from them" here is the link : https://kisskh.at/discussions/hidden-love/109103-shooting-locations-and-dates-misc-other-links?pid=2646315&page=1#p2646315

The page of threads compiled by annie, listed at the end of my companion piece in section 10, may also yield interesting info for you.