Is it just me or is anyone else also seeing a lot of similarities between Cheng Lei and Zhang Wanyi, especially the way they show emotions with just their eyes or go from cold to sweet in a matter of seconds?
Thanks for the translation! Its nice she acknowledged CYQ's devotion to the AM character. If only it was real…
Yes, for me it was super interesting to see Zhang Tian Ai coming out and saying this live on the interview broadcast (along with letting us know there was actually a second version of the ending filmed with A Mai and CYQ!), because it showed that even for the main actress playing the FL herself, she felt the love and dedication coming from CYQ.
This was true love and respect, not the weird possessive kind from the ML. After Zhang Tian Ai openly said this in public, I now believe it's only a matter of time before A Mai and CYZ will eventually meet again... "after all, what kind of girl can't cherish him?" (And that's coming from the actress who played and interpreted the role...)
I have translated the entire live broadcast interview with "A Mai Cong Jun" lead casts that was live a few days ago into English, so that you can read this while watching the interview at the same time. If you're interested in getting a copy of the English translation fo this interview, feel free to reach out to me.
This is what Zhang Tian Ai said about Chang Yu Qing herself in the interview:
"When I watched the replay, I felt like I was watching the main film. I just saw the scene with Ruichang. Wow, really, oh, what kind of girl can’t cherish him? I felt anxious myself. I'm just as anxious as all the netizens. Hey, I just feel like, eh ... Towards the end, after Zhang Yizhi and Lin Zero got married, and then Chang Yu Qing stayed behind with A Mai. Wow, I was so touched. I just want to say that if I am an audience watching the show, I would feel very moved too".
Fingers crossed! yep, had seen that discussion on Weibo too... so apparently they filmed 2 different ending versions…
I have translated this entire live broadcast into English, so that you can read this while watching the interview at the same time. If you're interested in getting a copy of the English translation fo this interview, feel free to reach out to me.
This is what Zhang Tian Ai said about Chang Yu Qing herself:
"When I watched the replay, I felt like I was watching the main film. I just saw the scene with Ruichang. Wow, really, oh, what kind of girl can’t cherish him? I felt anxious myself. I'm just as anxious as all the netizens. Hey, I just feel like, eh ... Towards the end, after Zhang Yizhi and Lin Zero got married, and then Chang Yu Qing stayed behind with A Mai. Wow, I was so touched. I just want to say that if I am an audience watching the show, I would feel very moved too".
After all that has said at done, in the end, to give the series some (small) credit, they were able to redeem this drama slightly by:
1. Ending the story along the similar lines and spirit as the original novel (e.g. Chen Qi resolution, Tang's grande finale, Amai not ending up with SZY, Amai leaving the army to venture out into the world) 2. The open-ended final scene with Amai and Chang Yu Qing which is both bittersweet and hopeful at the same time, in the spirit of the author
My personal take on this is that Amai did go find Chang Yu Qing, after she finally "figured it out". It doesn't mean she will marry him, but she will eventually go to see him. After all, why did she have to leave Jingyan Pass and the city she was protecting very shortly after CYQ came to see her, proposed and let her know that there will now be a few years of peace between Beimo and Nanxia? Finally, she no longer had to serve out her duties to defend her country and was finally free to explore the world and be with anyone she wanted to be with. What other reasons did she have to leave Jingyan Pass, when she had no other family outside, and all her friends, her beloved army and Qi Yu were still in Jingyan? Also, where was she going that she couldn't take Qi Yu, whom she loved so much, with her? If she was truly going to travel the world, wouldn't she have wanted to take Qi Yu along with her and also free him from his responsibilities now that the world was at peace? When CYQ proposed, she was in front of him, his army and her soldiers were also in the background, so there was no way she could have accepted his proposal in public, seeing as they were opposing Marshals in opposing sides of the war and still in their official duties.
But finally, outside Jingyan Pass, beyond the army, A Mai could finally be who she is without their official roles. Like CYQ once said in that cave, he isn't a General and she isn't a soldier, so they can be friends. I'm not sure that they would have been married in the traditional sense, as A Mai is too independent for that and would never have wanted to be owned or possessed by another man, similar to how she did not want to be SYZ's imperial concubine. But that doesn't mean that A Mai and CYQ can't love each other or be with one other if they are not married, or that she can't finally come to realise that CYQ has always been the only one that respected and admired her (as in his declaration for her in front of his entire army) and the one to give her the freedom to make her own choices, all the while making it clear he will always be there for her.
In that final scene, when she turned around and gave CYQ that ever so gentle smile, I think she figured it out.
(And then she had to suddenly leave Jingyan Pass...alone... not long after...)
Anyone know how they are cursing the director on Weibo? Like seriously, he should retire immediately after this…
I don't think it's the director's fault, he was just directing a script he was given. The fault lies with the screenwriters and their interpretation of the novel, as well as the Producer (or people who make the Production decisions) at Iqiyi, as they have the power to veto the script or ask for changes to the story, if they didn't want to finance it.
I think our best bet at the moment for any chance of a remake or an improved version of this novel is to write to one of Iqiyi's competitors, either TenCent WeTV, Youku, HuaceTV, MangoTV, or any one of these, to say that if they want to get one up over Iqiyi, here's finally their chance: Consider a new remake (especially with the same actress and SML actor!!!) and they are guaranteed a much bigger audience who will be happy to switch over to their platforms....
Even better, there is a large & growing international audience who are already eagerly awaiting this much better improved version (as witnessed by all the English language comments here) who are very unhappy with this version, so the new series is guaranteed to be an international success.... one that they can then easily license out to global platforms like Netflix and more and make even more money!
(Note: Think how many times Mulan has been remade over the years by different production companies!!!)
I have a question. When the original novel "A Mai Cong Jun" first came out, was it first published as a book? Or was it made available online straightaway for free by the author herself, like an online web novel or comic? If so, does anyone know the the original site where the novel was first published online, or is simply this Hetushu.com site? Thank you!
Is cyq still in the next episodes too? I haven't watched 31 , 32 so i wnat to know about it
He appears in 31, but too few scenes, goes away as quickly as he came on... The few seconds he's on, he does make an impact, even that one second eye glance scene in the prison he exchanges with A Mai...
Saw the teasers for episodes 33 and 34... not holding any hope that he will make an appearance again in either of these episodes...
Just when I thought the series couldn't get any worse... after the long-awaited re-appearance of Chang Yu Qing and Beimo... the story was pushed aside swiftly like an afterthought... With two more episodes to go... I'm not sure we have a satisfying resolution anywhere in sight... or maybe they are prepping for a second series with so much left...
I have a theory why the screenwriters and director may have changed the story from the novel, and wanted to check with what you all think.
So as you may know, Zhang Tian Ai had her breakout role in "Go Princess, Go!" in 2015. Although the series was actually a low budget web series that only had online release, it actually achieved great commercial success and became a viral sensation at the time. What is even more interesting is that the author of the novel in which "Go Princess, Go!" is based is also Xian Cheng, the very same author who wrote the original novel "A Mai Cong Jun". It seems then that the author may have been impressed with Zhang Tian Ai in their previous work together and may have even requested that the actress be involved in her next novel series adaptation.
In the series, "Go Princess, Go!", Peter Sheng played a comedic emperor with many funny moments. In fact, I have read a few comments that Zhang Hao Wei's acting in "A Mai Cong Jun" is very similar to Peter Sheng. So my theory is this: Given the commercial success of "Go Princess, Go!", maybe the production team believed that the commercial success was a result of having a light-hearted comedic male protagonist and a funny relationship with the female lead. Maybe they felt that the original "A Mai Cong Jun" novel was too serious and deep with all the army warfare & military tactics. So they wanted to emulate the success of "Go Princess, Go!" by including a comedic male lead character (similar to Peter Sheng) who could have a similar type of relationship with the same actress, Zhang Tian Ai. I wouldn't be surprised if Zhang Hao Wei was told by the Director and screenwriters to try to copy Peter Sheng's acting style and facial expressions from the previous series.
Normally, for any production company to make any decision or narrative change to the original novel story, there needs to be a very good reason to do so - and believing that they can emulate the same breakout commercial success of "Go Princess, Go!" with the same actress and a similar male lead & female lead relationship dynamic may seemed, at the time, to be a very good one.
But of course, in reality, as we all found out, what works for one film/ series doesn't necessarily always translate well to another film/ series... Or it could simply be that, in this case, the charm, appeal and sexual tension with the second male lead Chang Yu Qing (the original novel protagonist) is just too powerful to take away...
I find it really strange why the script writers would deviate so much from the original novel, it doesn't make sense. Normally when a TV or production company option a novel or comic book to turn into a series or film, it is because the novel is already very successful with a large audience base who would be the viewer. This is the case when Warner Bros optioned the Harry Potter books.
Compare "A Mai Cong Jun" to "Lost You Forever" By Tong Hua. The "Lost You Forever" series was commissioned due to the large popularity of the book. The series followed the original storyline very closely, as normally that is what the audience would expect of the story. Normally, the commissioned series or films will only make some minor changes (for example, to modernise the story or to adapt to a local culture), or in the case where the original author didn't finish the work, such as in the manhua for "The Long Ballad" or "Games of Thrones" books, then the scriptwriter would write their own version of the story from where the author left off.
But in the case of this series, as someone said below, this is like a fanfic/ Mary-Sue version (from the male protagonist perspective) written by the scriptwriters, using the original novel's names, world and some character elements, but even core character elements have been changed.
So, it is really strange and it would be good to understand why the scriptwriters wanted to modify the story this much. Is it because they are male scriptwriters (and a male director), they thought that the story needed modifying to appeal to a wider audience, who also wanted to see more traditional storylines (e.g. palace/ harem dramas, coming of age of male protagonist character? - "Lost You Forever" also had such a male protagonist, but was much more well-written and the character felt much more natural to the story development.) Or was the story modified to fulfil some government regulations? I believe that a large part of the story deviation may have been because the script of the drama was re-written by male writers, when it would have been handled more delicately by female writers.
On that note, the only way to change this and prevent this being a more common phenomenon is to write more stories ourselves and to ensure that when they are commissioned into series/ films, that the right writers and directors are able to carry through that original voice and vision...
...Or we can also write to Xian Chen (the original author the "A Mai Cong Jun" novel who's on Weibo) to ask what she thought of the story... and when would her story come out of exclusive rights licensed by Iqiyi so that it can be remade by a new production company with a story line that respects the original novel.... Just saying ;)
Can someone please tell me if "Fighting for Love" is considered an S budget level drama or an A budget level drama? Zhang Tian Ai appears to be quite a well known actress in my opinion, but the other stars are relatively less known. The production values and size of the cast (especially army and war scenes) seem quite big compared to other dramas I have seen, but I'm not sure if this is considered an S budget level drama. If this is not yet an S budget level drama, can you give me an example of an S budget level drama to compare with? What is normally the budget size for an S budget vs A budget dramas? Thank you.
This was true love and respect, not the weird possessive kind from the ML. After Zhang Tian Ai openly said this in public, I now believe it's only a matter of time before A Mai and CYZ will eventually meet again... "after all, what kind of girl can't cherish him?" (And that's coming from the actress who played and interpreted the role...)
This is what Zhang Tian Ai said about Chang Yu Qing herself in the interview:
"When I watched the replay, I felt like I was watching the main film. I just saw the scene with Ruichang. Wow, really, oh, what kind of girl can’t cherish him? I felt anxious myself. I'm just as anxious as all the netizens. Hey, I just feel like, eh ... Towards the end, after Zhang Yizhi and Lin Zero got married, and then Chang Yu Qing stayed behind with A Mai. Wow, I was so touched. I just want to say that if I am an audience watching the show, I would feel very moved too".
This is what Zhang Tian Ai said about Chang Yu Qing herself:
"When I watched the replay, I felt like I was watching the main film. I just saw the scene with Ruichang. Wow, really, oh, what kind of girl can’t cherish him? I felt anxious myself. I'm just as anxious as all the netizens. Hey, I just feel like, eh ... Towards the end, after Zhang Yizhi and Lin Zero got married, and then Chang Yu Qing stayed behind with A Mai. Wow, I was so touched. I just want to say that if I am an audience watching the show, I would feel very moved too".
1. Ending the story along the similar lines and spirit as the original novel (e.g. Chen Qi resolution, Tang's grande finale, Amai not ending up with SZY, Amai leaving the army to venture out into the world)
2. The open-ended final scene with Amai and Chang Yu Qing which is both bittersweet and hopeful at the same time, in the spirit of the author
My personal take on this is that Amai did go find Chang Yu Qing, after she finally "figured it out". It doesn't mean she will marry him, but she will eventually go to see him. After all, why did she have to leave Jingyan Pass and the city she was protecting very shortly after CYQ came to see her, proposed and let her know that there will now be a few years of peace between Beimo and Nanxia? Finally, she no longer had to serve out her duties to defend her country and was finally free to explore the world and be with anyone she wanted to be with. What other reasons did she have to leave Jingyan Pass, when she had no other family outside, and all her friends, her beloved army and Qi Yu were still in Jingyan? Also, where was she going that she couldn't take Qi Yu, whom she loved so much, with her? If she was truly going to travel the world, wouldn't she have wanted to take Qi Yu along with her and also free him from his responsibilities now that the world was at peace? When CYQ proposed, she was in front of him, his army and her soldiers were also in the background, so there was no way she could have accepted his proposal in public, seeing as they were opposing Marshals in opposing sides of the war and still in their official duties.
But finally, outside Jingyan Pass, beyond the army, A Mai could finally be who she is without their official roles. Like CYQ once said in that cave, he isn't a General and she isn't a soldier, so they can be friends. I'm not sure that they would have been married in the traditional sense, as A Mai is too independent for that and would never have wanted to be owned or possessed by another man, similar to how she did not want to be SYZ's imperial concubine. But that doesn't mean that A Mai and CYQ can't love each other or be with one other if they are not married, or that she can't finally come to realise that CYQ has always been the only one that respected and admired her (as in his declaration for her in front of his entire army) and the one to give her the freedom to make her own choices, all the while making it clear he will always be there for her.
In that final scene, when she turned around and gave CYQ that ever so gentle smile, I think she figured it out.
(And then she had to suddenly leave Jingyan Pass...alone... not long after...)
Even better, there is a large & growing international audience who are already eagerly awaiting this much better improved version (as witnessed by all the English language comments here) who are very unhappy with this version, so the new series is guaranteed to be an international success.... one that they can then easily license out to global platforms like Netflix and more and make even more money!
(Note: Think how many times Mulan has been remade over the years by different production companies!!!)
Wang Rui Chang (Chang Yu Qing) - Guest Role
Chen Zheng Yang (Mu Bai) - Main Role
Wang Yong Xuan (Lin Xiang) - Main Role
Saw the teasers for episodes 33 and 34... not holding any hope that he will make an appearance again in either of these episodes...
So as you may know, Zhang Tian Ai had her breakout role in "Go Princess, Go!" in 2015. Although the series was actually a low budget web series that only had online release, it actually achieved great commercial success and became a viral sensation at the time. What is even more interesting is that the author of the novel in which "Go Princess, Go!" is based is also Xian Cheng, the very same author who wrote the original novel "A Mai Cong Jun". It seems then that the author may have been impressed with Zhang Tian Ai in their previous work together and may have even requested that the actress be involved in her next novel series adaptation.
In the series, "Go Princess, Go!", Peter Sheng played a comedic emperor with many funny moments. In fact, I have read a few comments that Zhang Hao Wei's acting in "A Mai Cong Jun" is very similar to Peter Sheng. So my theory is this: Given the commercial success of "Go Princess, Go!", maybe the production team believed that the commercial success was a result of having a light-hearted comedic male protagonist and a funny relationship with the female lead. Maybe they felt that the original "A Mai Cong Jun" novel was too serious and deep with all the army warfare & military tactics. So they wanted to emulate the success of "Go Princess, Go!" by including a comedic male lead character (similar to Peter Sheng) who could have a similar type of relationship with the same actress, Zhang Tian Ai. I wouldn't be surprised if Zhang Hao Wei was told by the Director and screenwriters to try to copy Peter Sheng's acting style and facial expressions from the previous series.
Normally, for any production company to make any decision or narrative change to the original novel story, there needs to be a very good reason to do so - and believing that they can emulate the same breakout commercial success of "Go Princess, Go!" with the same actress and a similar male lead & female lead relationship dynamic may seemed, at the time, to be a very good one.
But of course, in reality, as we all found out, what works for one film/ series doesn't necessarily always translate well to another film/ series... Or it could simply be that, in this case, the charm, appeal and sexual tension with the second male lead Chang Yu Qing (the original novel protagonist) is just too powerful to take away...
Thoughts welcome! :)
Compare "A Mai Cong Jun" to "Lost You Forever" By Tong Hua. The "Lost You Forever" series was commissioned due to the large popularity of the book. The series followed the original storyline very closely, as normally that is what the audience would expect of the story. Normally, the commissioned series or films will only make some minor changes (for example, to modernise the story or to adapt to a local culture), or in the case where the original author didn't finish the work, such as in the manhua for "The Long Ballad" or "Games of Thrones" books, then the scriptwriter would write their own version of the story from where the author left off.
But in the case of this series, as someone said below, this is like a fanfic/ Mary-Sue version (from the male protagonist perspective) written by the scriptwriters, using the original novel's names, world and some character elements, but even core character elements have been changed.
So, it is really strange and it would be good to understand why the scriptwriters wanted to modify the story this much. Is it because they are male scriptwriters (and a male director), they thought that the story needed modifying to appeal to a wider audience, who also wanted to see more traditional storylines (e.g. palace/ harem dramas, coming of age of male protagonist character? - "Lost You Forever" also had such a male protagonist, but was much more well-written and the character felt much more natural to the story development.) Or was the story modified to fulfil some government regulations? I believe that a large part of the story deviation may have been because the script of the drama was re-written by male writers, when it would have been handled more delicately by female writers.
On that note, the only way to change this and prevent this being a more common phenomenon is to write more stories ourselves and to ensure that when they are commissioned into series/ films, that the right writers and directors are able to carry through that original voice and vision...
...Or we can also write to Xian Chen (the original author the "A Mai Cong Jun" novel who's on Weibo) to ask what she thought of the story... and when would her story come out of exclusive rights licensed by Iqiyi so that it can be remade by a new production company with a story line that respects the original novel.... Just saying ;)