Wei Wuxian

I agree with you. I dislike Mao as an emperor. I don't know why they thought he would be a good fit to serve as Regent. He's definitely not incorruptible (clearly). He actually didn't appear to struggle that hard in the decision to become a willing villain for power. Easily manipulated by his teacher Grand Tutor, even after KNOWING the guy was bad news. I'm only on episode 21, but I have a feeling they'll try to have him regret and try to redeem himself in the end...sigh.

I will do that 😊

It’s this western idea that romance needs to have intimate scenes. As a westerner, I appreciate the chasteness of the romance here because I can focus on the palace intrigue. I also don’t see HOU Ming Hao’s discomfort. In the BTS, he treats her like a younger sister. On screen, he’s professional and portrays his character well. I also am tired of productions dressing up clearly older women with ribbons and such and telling us to believe they’re 15 or 16 when they’re 30 or almost 30. The age gap is more historically realistic, as well. Either way, the age doesn’t detract from the story for me. I agree with you. I feel others are projecting their own discomfort on MingHao and AiMi and seeing what makes them feel better. 🤷🏽‍♀️ It is what it is.

Kissing is against Chinese law (NRTA) because she’s a minor at the time of filming. The most that will ever happen in this drama and the next one she’s in, A Chen, until she’s 18 at the time of filming is pretty clean hugs and hand holding- and there's this brief forehead kiss in episode 21 (feels very brotherly tbh). Now that she’s officially 18, any future projects can have more kissing. For me? I’m. it really interested in the romance- the twists - and fight scenes with HMH - are the draw for me. Him with that flaming swords… 🙂‍↕️🩷

I just finished episode 20 (I’ve been hesitating to finish because I feel some kinda way about the best friends to betrayal story- I’ve also seen edits which make it appear that somehow they end up under the control of the North and suffer there quite a bit- I could be wrong) and your comment doesn’t help me. I’m most disappointed that Prince Qi has turned into a villain- Not just that, but seems to be embracing it wholeheartedly. He’s a weak-willed individual and thus, easily manipulated by bad men (mainly the tutor). I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if WuYi ends up being his actual son. What Karmatic justice for him!

They legally cannot do intimate scenes with minors in China. It’s against Chinese entertainment law. NRTA. The most you get is pretty clean hugs and hand holding. I just finished episode 20. Very very clean. Now that she’s 18, I hope the talk of her age and “appropriateness” will end. She’s amazing and will only continue to grow. Besides, she has her parents, her agency, and a whole set of government regulations protecting her up to her becoming a legal adult.

I thought it was AI at times ngl. I was like, are they brothers?! Nope. But the resemblance is uncanny!

Rhey both avoided censorship in similar ways. For Revenged Love, they didn’t even submit to the censorship and released internationally only. There was a period when fans and the production team thought the show would be forced to pull mid-airing, but their loopholes ended up being effective enough to tie the Chinese government’s (NRTA) hands. They also funded the production with international sources. The same fear was repeated with ABO Desire. In fact, that series was completely banned and pulled from the Chinese-owned international platforms where they were airing.

I see you trying to make a point... However, all of this info can be found online with a simple search. China’s NRTA doesn’t play. Just seeing how quickly they have pulled other dramas that didn’t utilize these loopholes from the air shows just how much control they have over Chinese entertainment. China is not a democracy, as I’m sure you know, so there is rarely an “oops, these popular dramas just slipped through the cracks” moment. The SpiRealm is an example of swift Chinese government response- the drama was pulled just a couple hours after its release. It was just recently able to air through Viki and iQIYI International only. It is still very much banned from release in mainland China.

Though iQIYI International is China-owned, in The SpiRealm, while showing “Coming Soon” on the platform, it has yet to actually release- it has no hangups and completely released on Viki.

To My Shore was co-produced with Thailand, partially filmed overseas, and released on an independent foreign platform (GagaOOLala is Taiwan-based and Viki is a Japanese-owned, USA based platform). It was also not released in mainstream China- only internationally. This is how they were able to overcome China’s strict anti-same sex romance censorship issues. Plus neither actor were widely known before the drama aired.

YES! Thank you! 😊

Or on Gaga

It’s on Gaga in movie format (57 minutes) 😊

Why does he look a little like a taller, more muscular WeiWei from Revenged Love? Just a bit? Tell me I’m not the only one who sees it?

It’s on Gaga now. In movie format (57 mins).

OMG Right! I wouldn’t have minded the hot springs scene either…

edited my response to you. sorry. Someone corrected me and I verified on the Wattpad version that it’s 2 years.

I just went back to the story and re-read. your right. Why did I remember 12 years… 🤔

Nope. Mo Ran has absolutely ZERO shame. He was a tyrant emperor with zero redemptive qualities and very, very gay. Brutally so in his past life against Wanning and in his current life? Bro constantly has same-sex on the brain. The subject of all that pent up desire: Wanning. I don’t know how they would even manage to censor this enough for the Chinese government. Make Wanning a female? All Mo Ran’s “partners” female? No point in releasing it at that point. There’s no way platonic bromance would work for this story. It would end up going the way of Heesu In Class 2 for fans of the original source.

If I were you, I’d just go a read and read the source material. It’s pretty good so far.

Oh absolutely. I’ve started reading the novel and am on book 2. It’s definitely not approved content for China- very, um…explicit…compared to The Untamed’s novel version Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation where the more explicit scenes were spread out and far fewer comparatively. The Husky and His Cat Shizun is practically dripping in the forbidden gay. The anti-LGBTQIA+ Chinese pearl clutching government would have aneurisms. It’s too bad because I absolutely agree that Chu Wanning is best portrayed by Lou YunXi. He fits the role so well.

I am certain this will never see the light of day at this point. Both MLs are now way more famous and established in their careers than they were when filming this and have significantly more to lose if this releases in any edit because of its BL origins. The backlash of this airing now at this point in their careers could be detrimental for them on Chinese soil. (I’m remembering what happened to Love in the Big City star Nam Yoon Su in Korea.)

I honestly don’t think it would air even if the Chinese government removed same sex depictions from their restrictions for being “immoral” category because of this very thing. Like, it may have a chance IF the current president was ousted by a more liberal candidate and then they purged the negative mindset for same-sex and passed a pro same-sex marriage law, THEN waited about 5-10 more years for China to settle into it before they released this in its original form. Maybe. Though they’d likely have to refilm it with newer names actors. It would be more likely to air now if someone reproduced it in Thailand or Singapore with little-to-no-name Chinese actors and released it internationally. Just being realistic.

It was.