She also wrote his name in the heart she drew with a stick, in the dust, in the fireside "drunken" scene, before he wiped it away to keep her secret.
If you are interested in the other characters "Chinese characters" names and more info, you can have a look at my Companion piece which is very illustrated with pictures and Gifs : https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more (direct link, but you can also find it as "Companion piece" in the Discussions section above this comments one) I will probably still be adding to it on the way..
She says A Zan. If they put A before the surname is a form of familiarity and endearment.
Well many journalists don't take pains to research properly and will be unable to pronounce the names. Even though it may take only a click on Internet to find a correct pronunciation audio recording. Plus the Americans love to use the obsolete Wade-Giles romanization, or Europeans use another system, when the United Nations agreed that the official language of China is putonghua and the romanization in "alphabet" system is pinyin.
Of course, people who read the news are not aware of the rules for pinyin, even if they hear over and over in the news Xi being pronounced as Si like in Spanish "yes". And their school system is so poor that they mostly never were made aware there of the fact that East Asian people in the billions use the family name as first one, and the given names following. So I would not be surprised if during his first visit to the US, way back when, Xi Jinping could have been addressed as "Mr Ping"...
She says A Zan. If they put A before the surname is a form of familiarity and endearment.
I prefer "Family name" + "Given Name(s)" , a variation on Surname + Given Name. Talking about "first names" can be very confusing imho depending on context, despite the phrase "to be on first-name terms". The "middle name" concept is very anglospheric. In other countries, it is something else that can have meaning such as patronym. Or be a string of multiple given names extended for various reasons, of which one will be underlined as the "usual given name", with the other ones relegated as alternate names... Also, in Chinese names, there is not necessarily a generation "middle" or "last" appearing character (I used the examples of Mao ZEdong and Xi JinPING for names with generation name parts, but there are lots of people who only have a family one character name + a given one character name). And the two characters in a given name may not have one generation name character at all.
She says A Zan. If they put A before the surname is a form of familiarity and endearment.
Well, correction: ZE is NOT his personal first name nor DONG his personal middle name. ZEDONG is his "first name" or "given name" according to Western standards.
I am somewhat annoyed by the convention in romanization to write Chinese names according to syllables, when as I pointed out, with the example of Zhousheng Cheng, the family name can be 2 syllables, and the personal (given) name one syllable...
Therefore, in my companion pieces, I systematically write names without a space in pinyin : example I write Xi Jinping and not Xi Jin Ping. Same for actor names, since they can be confusing, even for those who have grasped that the first part of the written name is a family name.
Xi or Mao are family names (these are not nicknames, pen names, given names, milk names or whatnot. Plain family names like Jones in English speaking countries).
My sons who were born abroad have both Western and Chinese given names : Tianyu and Tianhu, written as such on their birth certificate and foreign passports ; Tian is their generation name shared now with several cousins. In China, of course their names are written in a three character string with no space, first one being their family name.
Zedong should not be cut, just like Joséphine should not be cut to Jo Se Phi Ne or José Phine.... ;)
Oh another fun fact: Xi Jinping's brother is Xi Yuanping. Guess what? the ping part is a generation name, but compounded with a first syllable from a proverb which his father liked! "Xi Jinping's name was given by his father, from the phrase "The same nature，Varies on nurture (chinese pinyin: xing xiang jin, xi xiang yuan)" in the Three Character Classic. Therefore, he also has a brother named Xi Yuanping." So there, the generation name appears as last syllable...
She says A Zan. If they put A before the surname is a form of familiarity and endearment.
No nothing to do with middle name. In China, on documents the first name (one or two characters) is a family name and the second and third names are, depending, either a one character given name (by parents) or a two characters given name which may incorporate a generation name.
For instance : Zhousheng Chen in One and Only+Forever and Ever, where there is a fun exchange between ML and a new acquaintance who mistakes him for being Mr Zhou, "first name" Shengchen, and is corrected to appropriate understanding. I mean, even Chinese people can be confused, when there is no precision!
The generation name is now optional although it used to be common. Here is a famous example :
Mao Zedong (毛泽东): Mao (毛) is the family name and Ze (泽) the generation name. His real personal name is Dong (东). The name of Mao Zedong’s grandfather is Mao Enpu (毛恩普 ) and the father’s name is Mao Yichang (毛贻昌). The generation names of the three generations are respectively 恩(En), 贻(Yi) and 泽(Ze), belonging to the 12th, 13th and 14th generations of the Mao clan in Shaoshan, Hunan Province (Mao Zedong’s hometown). According to the genealogy of the clan of the Maos at Shaoshan, Hunan Province, the chain of generation names of Mao Zedong’s family is a poem with five characters to a line. The generation name Ze (泽) in the name of Mao Zedong (毛泽东) stands as the fourteenth character of the poem, namely the fourteenth generation since the chain of generation names was begun in 1737. Even though Mao Zedong had several names that he used for different reasons or for different periods of time, the name with the generation name Zedong (泽东) never changed and he used it all his life.
Not all Chinese generation names are as scholarly as building a poem over generations. Some modern families with more humble origins decide to use a generation name for the children to mark the family relation between cousins too. Anyway, when there are two or more children in a family, they would often share a generation name. For example, in Taiwan, "Barbie Hsu" name was 徐熙媛 ; her younger sister is "Dee Hsu" 徐熙娣 and her elder sister is Hsu Si-hsien :the generation name is romanized as "Si" or pinyin "Xi" for 熙 with a meaning of "excellence". The generation name usually is in 2nd position in a 3 character full name, but it can also be in 3rd position, less frequently. (Barbie Hsu is well known for her role as Shancai in 2001 drama Meteor Garden, she died, 48 years old, on Feb.2, 2025 from complications of influenza, on a family trip to Japan)
Chinese names are very interesting, and what I just wrote is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also the usual nicknames, pen names, art names, and when it touches gentry, "courtesy names", and for royals, "reign names" and more. The Li 李 name is very common in China, and many claim that they descend from the famous Li Shimin 李世民 who was known as the Tang dynasty founder better known as emperor Taizong.
I've read it was all in China. With a made up set for each city. I only remember Chengdu but not the other places.
It's a "high quality S+ drama" : it had lots of money thrown into it. They could afford building a "city". And it is now another touristic spot, not only for Chen Zheyuan and The White Olive Tree fans. It still stands there, so if you go to SIchuan, you could take the train from Chengdu to Leshan, and next a taxi to drive you to the site !
I've read it was all in China. With a made up set for each city. I only remember Chengdu but not the other places.
The Dongguo city parts were specifically built for the drama in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture ; modern Chinese city parts such as road, parking, office, apartment were filmed in studio in Chengdu. Other outdoor sites were used in Leshan and Zigong from what I read elsewhere: Leshan and Zigong are also in Sichuan province, the first is a town world famous for its giant Buddha on the edge of the river and is close to the site in Liangshan where the Dongguo city was built, the second is a smaller city famous for dinosaur finds and for a big a waterfall but also for its chemical factories (episode where Song Ran takes the shortcut to Happo/Hepu). Some pictures and GIF of the building of the hilltop Dongguo city are in my Companion piece : https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more
I agree LOL. In light of how sad this drama is getting thank you for your comment lol. I also wish they would…
The latter footage is an extended cut from the beginning of ep12, when Luo Zhan comes to take Li Zn from the local hospital to bring him to Liangcheng hospital. It is also typical of the body building routine Chen Zheyuan had to prepare for his role. Indeed, contrary to previous roles where "slim" and "slight" were favored by productions, he was allowed to develop muscles according to his own wishes, so he did not need shoulder pads, lol.
(I am adding a GIF of this footage to the Companion piece, below the one showing his overall preparation for the role).
You just dropped another bomb with that last part. 🙊
well, you know, in the end, there's only one certainty in life : that is that it is going to end in death. Even if some would like to believe in after life or transmigration... So any story will, in the utmost end, be one of "going away to die", just that, novels and dramas seldom go that far, except if there is a more acceptable reason: old age, heroic deed sacrifice, accident, etc. We prefer to stay with happier memories of course, such as Big S (Barbie Hsu, r.i.p. Feb.2, 2025) remaining forever the undying Shancai in Meteor Garden.
But there was a promise somewhere that The White Olive Tree would be adapted so as not to go till bitter end. Adaptation was discussed carefully, also to be able to pass review with authorities which would not condone totally depressing subject matter when the role of dramas is not just to get a written story "come to life on screen", but also adhere to some official moral guidelines (not that dramas should always be taken as a blueprint for behavior, of course ! ).
PTSD and depression are mentioned (as survivor guilt) are mentioned in the drama tags. (And iQiyi does warn that this is not a kids or family cheer programme, so tag it as unsuitable for children under 13 years old). The subject matter is very much in the drama news, both for real life events of a well known actress, and for triggers in another drama (Drifting Away, that one from a true story). The causes of the mental wounds are not one only.
Although she is not in many episodes, Song Ran's mother is also a bitter one who wounded her daughter mentally, but realized in time, perhaps, how flawed her parental skills were. The causes of Song Ran's mental trauma were not only from the deadly events in Dongguo.
Condolences for the loss of sister Barbie Hsu (famous for the role of Shancai in 2001 Meteor Garden)
Dee Hsu notably reprised the role of Shancai's elder sister Daoming Zhuang in the 2018 PRC version of Meteor Garden. On February 2, 2025, Dee lost her two year older sister to pneumonia as a complication of influenza, during their family trip to Japan.
Rest in peace. 🕊️ 🤍 Barbie Hsu also known as Big S (大S) died on February 2, from pneumonia complications of the latest strain of influenza.
Those who come here probably remembered her as "Shancai" from 2001 Meteor Garden, the Taiwanese adaptation of the Japanese franchise Hana Yori Dango of the 1990s that made waves almost as a cultural phenomenon throughout East and South East Asia from the late 1990s to twenty years later (South Korea adapted it as Boys Over Flowers in 2009 ; it launched the career of PRC young star Dylan Wang Hedi, in the PRC 2018 adaptation where Shen Yue reprised Barbie Hsu's role as Shancai ; and there even was a Thai adaptation in 2021).
"Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣)" wrote on social media. They had traveled on January 29 to spend the Chinese New Year in Japan, and Barbie Hsu died there on February 2 after a few days struggle with influenza...
The sad news rippled immediately throughout Asia and beyond. More than 30 articles have already been written to commemorate her iconic career and smiles, her love story in drama and real life ; "she is survived by her South Korean husband -- singer and DJ Koo Jun-yup -- as well as her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, whom she shared with ex-husband and Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲)." And by her younger sister, whose show Barbie was a producer of in 2021. Dee Hsu "more commonly known as Xiǎo S or Little S (小S), is a Taiwanese television host, actress (she played the role of Shancai's elder sister in 2018 Meteor Garden), and singer, also formerly a ballroom dancer." Barbie also had an elder sister, Hsu Si-hsien.
Despite not starring in recent dramas or movies for the past 13 years, Barbie Hsu remained an iconic name and face and was remembered fondly, mentioned on and off. She will not be forgotten even after she has left this earthly plane.
Thank you for confirming the language used! I’ve seen a few comments asking about it, but so far, no one seemed…
The novel is long, and I haven't read it till end. Now, I prefer to watch the drama before finishing, just riding along and not trying to anticipate, especially since it is a known fact that because of the sad end of the novel, the drama will not follow it exactly, and be more of a happy end one. But it you want to read it alongside the drama, the translation into English is available through Discussions or through the link in my Companion piece. 🙂
Behind the Scenes : In fact the tying shoe laces were on another set with a different child ; Chen Zheyuan is always attentive to the kids on sets 😁. In Liangshan, it was a little girl with a broken coat zipper whom he helped. Her name was revealed to be Mimi and there was footage I remembered, not an official BTS but pieces which circulated on Tiktok, that I found again and turned into a GIF for the Companion piece, so now you can watch it here : https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more
Wang Tian Chen is such a good actor, some how always landed in negative role... first time I have see him in Love…
Did I correct something?? Ah yes, back in comments for LSIW, the funny mixup with the name of the actress of My Girlfriend is an Alien - it's true that it was mischievously tempting for you to exchange two letters and wait to see who would notice your joke ! 🤣 -- we both enjoyed LSIW.
2 
5 
1 
1 
1 
If you are interested in the other characters "Chinese characters" names and more info, you can have a look at my Companion piece which is very illustrated with pictures and Gifs :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more (direct link, but you can also find it as "Companion piece" in the Discussions section above this comments one)
I will probably still be adding to it on the way..
Plus the Americans love to use the obsolete Wade-Giles romanization, or Europeans use another system, when the United Nations agreed that the official language of China is putonghua and the romanization in "alphabet" system is pinyin.
Of course, people who read the news are not aware of the rules for pinyin, even if they hear over and over in the news Xi being pronounced as Si like in Spanish "yes". And their school system is so poor that they mostly never were made aware there of the fact that East Asian people in the billions use the family name as first one, and the given names following.
So I would not be surprised if during his first visit to the US, way back when, Xi Jinping could have been addressed as "Mr Ping"...
The "middle name" concept is very anglospheric. In other countries, it is something else that can have meaning such as patronym. Or be a string of multiple given names extended for various reasons, of which one will be underlined as the "usual given name", with the other ones relegated as alternate names...
Also, in Chinese names, there is not necessarily a generation "middle" or "last" appearing character (I used the examples of Mao ZEdong and Xi JinPING for names with generation name parts, but there are lots of people who only have a family one character name + a given one character name). And the two characters in a given name may not have one generation name character at all.
I am somewhat annoyed by the convention in romanization to write Chinese names according to syllables, when as I pointed out, with the example of Zhousheng Cheng, the family name can be 2 syllables, and the personal (given) name one syllable...
Therefore, in my companion pieces, I systematically write names without a space in pinyin : example I write Xi Jinping and not Xi Jin Ping. Same for actor names, since they can be confusing, even for those who have grasped that the first part of the written name is a family name.
Xi or Mao are family names (these are not nicknames, pen names, given names, milk names or whatnot. Plain family names like Jones in English speaking countries).
My sons who were born abroad have both Western and Chinese given names : Tianyu and Tianhu, written as such on their birth certificate and foreign passports ; Tian is their generation name shared now with several cousins. In China, of course their names are written in a three character string with no space, first one being their family name.
Zedong should not be cut, just like Joséphine should not be cut to Jo Se Phi Ne or José Phine.... ;)
Oh another fun fact: Xi Jinping's brother is Xi Yuanping. Guess what? the ping part is a generation name, but compounded with a first syllable from a proverb which his father liked! "Xi Jinping's name was given by his father, from the phrase "The same nature，Varies on nurture (chinese pinyin: xing xiang jin, xi xiang yuan)" in the Three Character Classic. Therefore, he also has a brother named Xi Yuanping." So there, the generation name appears as last syllable...
For instance : Zhousheng Chen in One and Only+Forever and Ever, where there is a fun exchange between ML and a new acquaintance who mistakes him for being Mr Zhou, "first name" Shengchen, and is corrected to appropriate understanding. I mean, even Chinese people can be confused, when there is no precision!
The generation name is now optional although it used to be common. Here is a famous example :
Mao Zedong (毛泽东): Mao (毛) is the family name and Ze (泽) the generation name. His real personal name is Dong (东). The name of Mao Zedong’s grandfather is Mao Enpu (毛恩普 ) and the father’s name is Mao Yichang (毛贻昌). The generation names of the three generations are respectively 恩(En), 贻(Yi) and 泽(Ze), belonging to the 12th, 13th and 14th generations of the Mao clan in Shaoshan, Hunan Province (Mao Zedong’s hometown). According to the genealogy of the clan of the Maos at Shaoshan, Hunan Province, the chain of generation names of Mao Zedong’s family is a poem with five characters to a line.
The generation name Ze (泽) in the name of Mao Zedong (毛泽东) stands as the fourteenth character of the poem, namely the fourteenth generation since the chain of generation names was begun in 1737. Even though Mao Zedong had several names that he used for different reasons or for different periods of time, the name with the generation name Zedong (泽东) never changed and he used it all his life.
Not all Chinese generation names are as scholarly as building a poem over generations. Some modern families with more humble origins decide to use a generation name for the children to mark the family relation between cousins too. Anyway, when there are two or more children in a family, they would often share a generation name.
For example, in Taiwan, "Barbie Hsu" name was 徐熙媛 ; her younger sister is "Dee Hsu" 徐熙娣 and her elder sister is Hsu Si-hsien :the generation name is romanized as "Si" or pinyin "Xi" for 熙 with a meaning of "excellence". The generation name usually is in 2nd position in a 3 character full name, but it can also be in 3rd position, less frequently. (Barbie Hsu is well known for her role as Shancai in 2001 drama Meteor Garden, she died, 48 years old, on Feb.2, 2025 from complications of influenza, on a family trip to Japan)
Chinese names are very interesting, and what I just wrote is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also the usual nicknames, pen names, art names, and when it touches gentry, "courtesy names", and for royals, "reign names" and more. The Li 李 name is very common in China, and many claim that they descend from the famous Li Shimin 李世民 who was known as the Tang dynasty founder better known as emperor Taizong.
Some pictures and GIF of the building of the hilltop Dongguo city are in my Companion piece : https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more
(I am adding a GIF of this footage to the Companion piece, below the one showing his overall preparation for the role).
But there was a promise somewhere that The White Olive Tree would be adapted so as not to go till bitter end. Adaptation was discussed carefully, also to be able to pass review with authorities which would not condone totally depressing subject matter when the role of dramas is not just to get a written story "come to life on screen", but also adhere to some official moral guidelines (not that dramas should always be taken as a blueprint for behavior, of course ! ).
Although she is not in many episodes, Song Ran's mother is also a bitter one who wounded her daughter mentally, but realized in time, perhaps, how flawed her parental skills were. The causes of Song Ran's mental trauma were not only from the deadly events in Dongguo.
https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/134834-the-white-olive-tree-full-ost-with-eng-subs
The Spotify link is also in my Companion piece, music section, there. 😊
https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more
Dee Hsu notably reprised the role of Shancai's elder sister Daoming Zhuang in the 2018 PRC version of Meteor Garden. On February 2, 2025, Dee lost her two year older sister to pneumonia as a complication of influenza, during their family trip to Japan.
Those who come here probably remembered her as "Shancai" from 2001 Meteor Garden, the Taiwanese adaptation of the Japanese franchise Hana Yori Dango of the 1990s that made waves almost as a cultural phenomenon throughout East and South East Asia from the late 1990s to twenty years later (South Korea adapted it as Boys Over Flowers in 2009 ; it launched the career of PRC young star Dylan Wang Hedi, in the PRC 2018 adaptation where Shen Yue reprised Barbie Hsu's role as Shancai ; and there even was a Thai adaptation in 2021).
"Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣)" wrote on social media. They had traveled on January 29 to spend the Chinese New Year in Japan, and Barbie Hsu died there on February 2 after a few days struggle with influenza...
The sad news rippled immediately throughout Asia and beyond. More than 30 articles have already been written to commemorate her iconic career and smiles, her love story in drama and real life ; "she is survived by her South Korean husband -- singer and DJ Koo Jun-yup -- as well as her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, whom she shared with ex-husband and Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲)." And by her younger sister, whose show Barbie was a producer of in 2021. Dee Hsu "more commonly known as Xiǎo S or Little S (小S), is a Taiwanese television host, actress (she played the role of Shancai's elder sister in 2018 Meteor Garden), and singer, also formerly a ballroom dancer." Barbie also had an elder sister, Hsu Si-hsien.
Despite not starring in recent dramas or movies for the past 13 years, Barbie Hsu remained an iconic name and face and was remembered fondly, mentioned on and off. She will not be forgotten even after she has left this earthly plane.
Behind the Scenes : In fact the tying shoe laces were on another set with a different child ; Chen Zheyuan is always attentive to the kids on sets 😁. In Liangshan, it was a little girl with a broken coat zipper whom he helped. Her name was revealed to be Mimi and there was footage I remembered, not an official BTS but pieces which circulated on Tiktok, that I found again and turned into a GIF for the Companion piece, so now you can watch it here :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/bai-se-gan-lan-shu/123595-shooting-location-cast-and-crew-and-more