MyLangyaList

Yeah, the villains were less interesting in S2, and since it was resolved in 2 parts, felt less coherent in terms of pacing. Hope NiF2 gets more love, as it's a bit overlooked here. And some people may prefer this over S1.

Yup, they got their house back, renovated it, and kept the tunnel.

You probably already have the answer since you finished, but anyways. They are actually not related, even by political marriage. Mu Nihuang has the princess title and is treated as if she's royalty because she and her brother are heir of the House of Mu. It was indicated that her father threw his allegiance with the Liang Emperor, along with troops and territory. For that, his family is conferred noble status, even though they are not directly related to royalty. And even though it's translated as Princess in English. The Chinese uses the slightly different term of Junzhu, instead of Gongzhu. This is a way to convey very high status, while delineating that she's not royal blood. Indeed, House of Mu probably ruled a kingdom not long ago, so her princess status is also true.

Not sure if it's explicitly stated, but historically, Southwestern China, where the House of Mu is based was frequently its own independent kingdom. And there have been frequent periods of unrest, incursions, and rebellions in the periphery of China. And Da Liang's name hints at a historical situation similar to Northern/Southern Dynasties, where imperial control was fragmented, hence you get Da Liang, North Yan, Da Yu, etc. So having allies around the periphery that not only won't attack you, but help you guard your borders is especially important.

As you are well aware of by now, our emperor doesn't have much of a soft spot for anybody (expect himself 😂). The biggest reason he wants her married (which she's resisted to this point) is to prevent her from becoming too established with her power base in the south and becoming a threat. She has too much power and importance to be just ordered around. So he has to cajole her, at a time when the Southern border is relatively peaceful with fewer threats. Once married, to someone presumably affiliated with the royalty, her will be effectively giving up part of her power and control over the 100k troops, and becoming less of a power outside of the Emperor's control. She is aware of this as per her conversation with Xia Dong, but also can't outright refuse. So she goes along, but with some caveats for wiggle room. All of this is done on the surface as about her marriage, but it's really about the troops/power, and thus the princes all send their suitors to win the marriage.

Another detail that's often overlooked. On the surface, Nihuan's younger brother Mu Qin is in the capital to be pampered as a favor to the House of Mu. That's true. However, the bigger reason is that he's effectively playing the role of a hostage, so that Nihuang doesn't get ideas in the South. This type of VIP hostage treatment is unfortunately one of the standard practices in Chinese history.

The key message is that life is not a fairy tale and comes at you with unexpected twists and turns, so the writer made that message loud and clear in the final episodes.

It's a bittersweet ending, but one that makes sense in the context of what the show is about.

Ouxia (idolxia)

'Jing' is the identifier for what generation the people belong to, as Chinese had big families are very attentive to seniority relationship within families and relatives. Traditional naming convention for educated families is Surname Genname Givenname. And the generational character were prescribed by a genealogical poem for that family, as the subsequent generation uses the next character in the poem. Pretty cool huh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_name. Also keep in mind the actual characters and their meaning is far more important than the sound in Chinese naming culture. And their actual names were rarely used with people outside of immediate family.

What's even more confusing is that well-to-do folks in traditional China would have like a dozen different names, and many different titles that they use for different contexts. A lot of the English subs will paper over that and just use one name, otherwise it gets too confusing.

I would be so lost if I had to watch NIF as an international viewer without a character chart.

It's the custom. What's more confusing is actually Jingyan is Prince Jing, but it's two different characters for Jing.

Don't feel bad if a lot of things don't make sense as it's definitely not a beginner drama. It's a lot of info and nuances even for native viewers, not to mention international viewers. I would look for character guides and plot synopsis. Or go with more entry level dramas.

Seems to have similar vibes and high rating, this one is set in Llasa, Tibet. City of Sunlight https://kisskh.at/754311-ri-guang-zhi-cheng

Wind Direction

It's likely some reference to her personality, based on palm reading. Can't remember the scene and context it was said. But it could have been used sincerely or sarcastically. Interpretation of that palm pattern varies, but it seems to generally imply some negative qualities in females.

You can translate machine translate this article https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1778871129313921433

Because he's quite young and unconvincing as an actor.

Yeah such a massive difference when the whole crew knows what they are doing and dedicates the effort to make a great show.

Yeah I'm sure you have a pretty good idea when's the best mood for this show. Though with only a few dozen watchers, this very high quality show is unfortunately invisible to most MDL users. I suspect most people might be hesitant due to how serious the show appears, when in fact it quickly becomes an engaging, easy watch with a lot of organic comedy. It should have broad appeal when given a chance, as evidenced by the comments and few reviews.

I'm also in the situation with a couple of high quality shows like The Long Season and Blossoms Shanghai. It's mostly because I want to dedicate a watch time where I can be fully engaged as to not degrade my viewing experience. Though I've been pleasantly surprised by quite a few 'serious shows' that I feared might be tougher to get into, like Trilateral Slopes, Ordinary Greatness, and this one.

As far as movies go, I hear '800' is a pretty good film about the Battle of Shanghai.

And a personal favorite of mine is Bodyguards and Assassins. It's about events leading up to the end of Qing and beginning of the Republic. I found it really touching for a big budget action film, as it also captures the pain, tragedy, hope, and spirit of that turbulent era.

1) I wouldn't be surprised if such sentiment existed, though depiction of the KMT in Mainland dramas often are biased. After all it was the KMT who did 80% of the fighting and dying. My general sense through some limited survey of the history (which is still highly contested) is that the KMT really got shortchanged in the blame/credit department in the Mainland, in the US, and even in Taiwan today. They made terrible mistakes, committed terrible atrocities, and led terrible failures. But at the same time, they inherited a shitty hand and took the brunt of the IJA assault, while trying to hold together a warlord coalition that also created its own problems. And everyone blamed them because they were nominally in charge. And then they lost the Civil War so couldn't write the history.

One important thing to note though, the very habitual American notion of Good vs. Evil still doesn't apply here. Neither side are close to what you'd consider 'good', and it's simply trying to figure out which outcome makes a really terrible situation a little less terrible. Choosing between the good vs. evil side is not a moral luxury that China or many countries get to enjoy. Rather than trying to figure out and lament whether the good or bad side won, it's far more useful to understand history and the present through all its complexities so we make less terrible choices. Which brings us to ...

2) Despite some historical tensions and bad events, there's also ample reservoir of cooperation, goodwill, and ingredients for friendship and respect between US and China. For example, many of the top Chinese universities were built by American missionaries, American entry into the Pacific Theater saved China from Japanese conquest, US has been the biggest adopter of Chinese orphans, and only until recent years US was the one of the most admired countries in China and top destination for business, travel, study, and immigration. The full list would be very long and contain entries from both sides.

There's a lot of genuine differences between US and China, and the two cultures. But for those that know the actual realities and people, we know that if Chinese and Americans actually knew each other as people, they would find actual conflict and the existing political rhetoric to be utterly insane. For example, I'm certain that if Red American working class saw the lives of the workers in China, including the small business owners and factory workers, they would find greater resonance than even with the American white-collar workers. And most Chinese would be surprised and touched by how most Americans sincerely want to make the world a better place, even if they find the execution somewhat misguided. Ultimately people are people everywhere, and that extends beyond Americans and Chinese.

But historical tragedies are quite common. I'm reminded of the story of Germans and British soldiers celebrating Christmas in the trenches of WWI, before their brief moment of fraternity was ended by commanders that ordered them to resume killing, in a war that was ultimately terrible for everyone and never should have been fought.

And unfortunately, there's the possibility of conflict of unprecedented catastrophe between US and China, where both sides and the rest of humanity would be destroyed. And it won't be because both sides are selfish and cynical. Selfish and cynical is normal and actually good for survival. Selfish and cynical kept prevented nuclear armageddon between US and USSR despite far greater differences and vitriolic polemics. Because whatever the difference, it's not even remotely close to risking mutual destruction.

But a conflict could start by panic, delusions, or miscalculation. And I can't even fathom what level of guilt and moral condemnation both sides would need to bear. Oh Father, forgive them for they know not what they do? Unfortunately, I can't say that I didn't see the signs and risks.

So my modest hope to make the world a little less terrible is the prevention of such catastrophic conflict. And then with time, everything else will sort itself out, and people will learn, understand, come to their senses, and work out solutions, because there are no irresolvable differences between US and China and people have far more in common than many realize.

Room temperature IQ is an unwritten rule in these dramas. And here the room temperature is lower than usual, so ...

In order to appropriately answer this question, you have to understand the context of China before the West, during colonial period, the leadup to 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Cold War history, and how geopolitics work in general. But the short and partial answer to your question is:

1) There was a convergence of interests during the WWII years as US (and USSR) supported both the CCP and KMT to fight Japan. Then between 1945-1949 China resumes its bloody Civil War and Mao won instead of Chiang. So the side with more Soviet backing won over the side with more US backing. So naturally China would lean more towards USSR.

2) Genuine threat and paranoia of communism - before Hitler, communism was seen as the biggest threat by the West, so it's no surprise hostilities resumed between the West and Soviet Union after WWII. Where public sentiment erred in the US was viewing all communist countries as a unified bloc, and not understanding conflicting interests between them. The primary reason most 3rd world countries became communist was for the very simple reason that USSR was far more supportive of countries gaining independence from colonial powers. In comparison, despite the liberal values practiced at home, Western countries did not apply that to their colonial interests. So the less knowledgeable people in US began lumping China with the USSR enemy. And those that had previously worked on US-China engagement were branded as failures who 'lost China'.

3) Korean War happened and Domino Theory took hold - but there were still many that thought it would be beneficial to have some relationship with China, until Korean War broke out. The history is quite interesting as neither US or China wanted this war. Even though it's not the official discourse in China, basically NK roped a reluctant China into its war effort, by making a gamble on the South, and after triggering an American counteroffensive, basically forced China's hand in bailing him out. Because it would be extremely geopolitically threatening to have US on China's border (and McArthur's rhetoric to nuke China before Truman reined him in definitely didn't help), China intervened at great human and material cost. That also had huge consequences on the current Taiwan conundrum, as US was not committed to Taiwan before Korean War, but now saw it as part of wider struggle against international communism. So the 7th fleet was dispatched to the Taiwan Strait, and this issue has been a major area of sensitivity ever since. Also funnily enough, China had to send regimens of soldiers originally assembled to 'liberate' Taiwan to Korea, where a lot of them froze to death.

4) Vietnam happened - of course it feels very threatening to China who sees US fighting two wars in Korea and Vietnam right on its borders, while the Cold War rhetoric was raging. So China became the primary backer of North Vietnam. Though apparently beneath the rhetoric, both sides at least learned some lessons from Korea and were keen to limit the confrontation. Supposedly US was very careful to stop the bombing raid clear of the Chinese border to not trigger a Chinese response, even though that's where Vietcong would locate their safe haven.

5) But guess what, US and China then became Cold War allies (which many in the US and China seems to have forgotten) - both saw USSR as the bigger threat. And many point to US-China entente as the inflection point where the tide turned in the Cold War. If this part is confusing, it's because of the common American misperception of history through ideology and Good vs. Evil. When it's much better explained by clinical national interests of different states. USSR cared more about its national interest than communism, which often ended being communism by name, imperialism by deed. And China has always been wary of Russian/Soviet expansionism, both Chiang and Mao. Two powerful countries on each other's border makes for very uncomfortable bedfellows.

6) And fun story as a bonus: then China and US worked together to counter USSR in Afghanistan, by backing the Mujahadeen. And this evolved into blowback in the form of Al Qaeda for US and Uyghur extremists for China.

ok makes now