RSMasterfade

The police investigation was on Kris Wu's allegation that DMZ was blackmailing him. Wu/his team actually reported DMZ to the police, so the police investigated the blackmailing claim first. And the results seem to have cleared DMZ of blackmailing. It does not clear Wu from any accusations made by DMZ or other girls. On the contrary, the police report indicated that Wu lied multiple times in his public responses to DMZ's accusations, e.g. they did take the girls' phones away before those parties.

The police is still investigating the sexual assault claims, but none of the alleged victims has actually reported the alleged sexual assaults to the police, so I guess the police will have to go around and ask them?

But Kris Wu's career is finished, no question about that.

Tencent is unlucky this time, but seriously don't cry for a hundred billion dollar company unless you are one of the big shareholders.

Don't read this if you don't already know the story.
...
...
...
Seriously, don't read this if you don't already know the story.
...
...
...
Shouldn't they have two different actresses for Chong Zi? Since the first Chong Zi and the second Chong Zi look very much different. Maybe Wen Qi for the first Chong Zi and Yang Chao Yue for the second?

I've read the original novel multiple times. The novel was widely accused of copying Hua Qian Gu/The Journey of Flower, and the ML is nowhere nearly as likeable as Bai Zi Hua (Bai Zi Hua at least has a absolutely beautiful name). Despite all that the novel was competently written by a professional writer whereas Hua Qian Gu was very amateurish. So I enjoyed reading it a lot more than Hua Qian Gu.

As for casting, Wen Qi (Vicky Chen) probably fits the role better, but I suppose Yang's mature but still doll-like feature is the closest we can get without making a lot of people very uncomfortable. By the time this show airs it will be seven years since The Journey of Flower, China's attitude toward student-teacher relationship hardened considerably during those seven years with many universities banning it outright. It would be interesting to see how the audience react to another quasi-incestuous student-teacher romance.

Age of Awakening? I'm on episode 21. The episode on Zhuang Xuan Restoration has some of the most impactful TV I've watched in the last few years. Apparently the director Zhang Yongxin was Kong Sheng's student.

Movies and TV shows (except mini-series) are such different mediums, it's difficult to make comparisons between the two. Both Wong Kar-wai and Zhang Yimou are making their first TV shows, so we'll see how big screen masters fare on the small screen.

The synopsis on MDL is based completely on the manhua, not the drama. In the drama Ashilei (not Ashina) Sun is from a generic steppe clan.

They could have made the effort and get North Asian actors (e.g. ethnic Mongols) to play the steppe roles like what The Longest Day in Chang'an team did. I think the musical theatre actor Ayanga is a terrific choice for the male lead.

The actual ambush was offscreen, but plots leading up to it was shown. It was heavily hinted that Li Jiancheng was plotting to kill Li Shimin and that Chang'ge's mother discovered the plot and warned Li Shimin.

It happened offscreen. A lot of talks about the aftermath. Never understood the censors' sensitivity re Xuanwu Gate. It's not like people would be inspired to commit fratricide. Even if they would, most young Chinese don't have brothers to commit fratricide on anyway.

In case people don't know much about Chinese history. Here's a backgrounder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident

I don't consider this spoiler because it's such a famous episode in Chinese history, comparable to the assassination of Julius Caesar in Western history. The writer would have expected people to know at least the basics of the story.

20200808
https://youtu.be/UUwuwQCmHao

Ashina was a prominent Tujue/Göktürk clan name. Shows invloving Tang-Göktürk conflicts won't pass the censors. So the name had to change from Ashina to Ashile, and the background had to change from the historical Tang-Göktürk wars to a fictional conflict between Tang and a generic steppe horde.

This was also the reason why Göktürk was changed to Wolf Guards in The Longest Day in Chang'an.

Tong Liya isn’t Ugyhur, she’s Xibo. Xibo people are closely related to Manchus. Tong’s maternal grandmother is rumoured to be Russian Chinese, which explains her look.

This show just got blasted today by a People's Daily online column piece for having Communist soldiers living in luxury villas and using hair gel/pomade.

No she's not, unfortunately. Her doll-like feature suits Wang Yuyan well.

A shame they went into production before Yang Chaoyue happened. IMO Yang Chaoyue is the only actress after Liu Yifei that has the look to play Wang Yu Yan.

Loved the 4th story (episodes 7-8). Cao Dun's command of cinematic language and the crew's technical prowess were impressive. The long take in episode 8 was breathtaking. I expected a lot from Cao Dun and his team after The Longest Day in Chang'an and they exceeded it.

Lei Jia Yin's acting in the second story was so natural and seemingly effortless, even though people were probably more easily impressed by Ni Ni.

For the first story Zhang Jia Yi delivered as expected but I was expecting something more. Especially from Zhang Li who's often considered the greatest Chinese TV director.

For the 3rd story, I liked the idea of a road movie segment but the result turned out to be rather bland. Yang Yang's wooden acting didn't help. Zhao Jin Mai was cute and pretty and all that, but looked way too young to be 24. I was hoping for a return to form from the director of Wo Ju (Dwelling Narrowness/Snail House) after the disaster that was Shanghai Fortress, but it didn't happen.

My ranking of the first four stories:
4>2>1>3

It's more complicated than that. In the manhua Chang Ge was described as having inherited no Uyghur features and looking completely Han. Moreover the manhua was mistaken about Uyghur's appearance at that time. Uyghurs, like their Turkic brethren and nemesis Gokturks, were North Asians. Paintings, statues and historical records all point to them having North Asian appearances very similar to latter day Mongols. Uyghurs only acquired their 'mixed' look after they conquered Tarim Basin and assimilated its Iranic and Tocharian original inhabitants. So no golden hair. If a Tang-era costume drama cares about historical accuracy it should have ethnic Mongolian actors playing Turkic roles just like the Longest Day in Chang'an did with the wolf guards.

Apparently the 1:1 sized set contains multiple city blocks. WKW approached Shanghai Film Group and SFG agreed to pay for the construction. It's nice to be WKW.

A who's who in Chinese television. Same for directors and scriptwriters. Only possible because everyone (besides the crew and the extras) worked for free.

Zhihu and Douban users can no longer review or rate this drama. Clearly the two platforms were under political pressure. I don't known if it was the creatives, the production companies or the broadcaster who applied the pressure, but even if you are fine with the content of this drama, you should know that its backers are stifling free expression to protect their interests.