Nepeta 22

I'm sure it will happen. Since COVID, Chinese dramas have sped up with numerous productions. The issue is the rate of how many dramas coming out per week, it's very hard for reviews. She never finishes anything nowadays.

I think in the end, it will be some niche reviewers for certain types of dramas to cater to certain groups. AvenueX represents an earlier generation I think. Her competition will most likely be people watching dramas for a younger audience.

Thanks for answering that. I thought so too.

Ha ha, thanks for writing all that up. You might give Yu Zheng ideas. No, I was more interested in the ending allowing her imposter status to stay. If that had been in a modern day drama, would that pass in China? I heard that all dramas must end with any crimes to be resolved officially. Her husband would be party to it, so he'd be corrupt because he would be on par with some modern day police commissioner.

He is hoodwinking those that can cause an issue regarding Xue Feng Fei's true identity. It's like I know I'm employing an illegal immigrant but carrying on anyway with using the employee pretending I'm ignorant to it. I'm breaking the law.

In the drama, he uses her to get what he needs, obviously, the lines are blurred because she "needs" him to get what she needs. It's a relationship of convenience.

I don't have an issue with that. I want to know, if this type of storyline is set in modern day China, will the ending be allowed as seen in current drama.

No issue with the ending at all. I liked it all.

I was more interested to find out if anyone knows, if this same kind of storyline was set in modern day drama, can an ending with an imposter with a husband party to that knowledge be able to end in the same way? Or is this only reserved for dramas over 200 years in the past.

Yes, I can see that. What interest me most is, if this was set in modern day China, will the drama be able to pass since she is essentially an imposter and her husband party to that, which would make him a corrupt official.

I'm trying to understand why so many keep saying pass censorship. There are clearly changes from novel to drama, and some so convoluted it's creating other issues plot-wise. Is it really all about by-passing censorship? If it were true with time travelling ban, why is Link Click allowed to air right now.

Thanks for letting me know about all the other bits. I keep seeing time travel not allowed, but I doubt so, as the recently aired drama called Link Click is all about time travel.

I think you have misunderstood some of my comments. We differ in opinions on the changes made to both Shen Yu Rong and Princess Wanning's deaths. I feel their deaths have changed to make them more morally grey in character.

Him killing himself instead of facing death penalty can be seen as cowardice, but I think that was pretty obvious all along he was a coward. But his death was glamourising himself to make the FL feel guilty and trying to make him seem like some mentally damaged victim. To me, that's very different to being beheaded later.

I am wondering if the same happened in modern day China, will the drama be able to pass due to keeping her imposter status open in the end. Her husband is also party to this, which would make him corrupt.

Have to be honest, AvenueX doesn't give fair judgement. She may appear to be because there are not that much competition on Youtube. They are just her opinions and often she doesn't research some of her stuff thoroughly.

This current actor is under Yu Zheng, and it would be fair to say that she cannot bear to say anything good that comes under Yu Zheng's name. In other areas, she's avoided talking about Xiao Zhan because she's received threats and nowadays, to get her to review any of his films and dramas are a no no, which is why I say, it's her channel, her choice.

I feel the end is problematic. How could an imposter live out her life with a corrupt official (her second husband) using morals as a reason? I know there's different shades of grey and all that....If this had been a modern day drama in China, I question whether an ending like this would be passable. I think many are so swayed by the lovey dovey storyline they just ignore the inconsistencies.

Very interesting, thanks for letting me know. It would seem the current storyline may have created other issues the original novel probably didn't have to contend with.

If I remember, the original Jiang Li did not commit suicide, she was literally flogged to death. The committing of suicide for Shen Yun Rong is making him into a more victim status and Wanning using Shen Yun Rong to get herself killed off is another part that is making her storyline more favourable and also a victim. Is this Yu Zheng's attempt to grey up characters and flesh them out to make this more modern?

My main concern is the high morals set up actually falls flat when in the end the FL ironically lives out her life with no consequence for being an imposter with the help of a corrupt official, using morals as a reason. If this had been a modern day drama in China, will this ending be allowed?

At the end of the day, it is her channel. People can analyse forever, but those are her opinions just like you have yours.

Can anyone who have read the original let me know the following:

Did Jiang Yuan Bai (Jiang Li's father) actually admit to FL he knew she was not his real daughter in the final?

Did Shen Yu Rong kill himself.

Final thought, if this had been a modern day drama in China, would the story line of someone pretending to be another person be able to carry on with their lives without being found out, with new husband also aiding and covering? Just curious because much as the drama tries with all the morals, but there are clearly inconsistencies when it suits the storylines.

It's pure escapism, and let's face it, going back 8-10 years, ethnic representation was minimal, and when they started to insert some into historic dramas, the alt-right was up in arms. But the ethnic customers are not represented and they are paying customers in the waiting.

In comes Bridgerton, going by gossip that Queen Charlotte quite possibly had some ethnic blood, they had an opening to allow ethnic groups into historic dramas where normally, black actors typically only played a slave instead of dress up in crinoline.

Here, it's the same. Insert a fiesty 20th century girl within the stuffy confines of Song dynasty and then add a few foppish men and men with fans that can fight, it's the perfect ingredient to get mainly women to watch. Of course she'll avoid death penalty for adultery, of course she ends up in court doing a better job than the old men in front of the emperor. Of course she plays the zither well and be well educated. If not, it'll be too cruel for us to watch.

Oh don't worry, I know the characters are both weak willed but the SYR here is an attempted murderer.

Let's be honest here...could some that defend him be possibly hormone driven?

I read somewhere, a fair few dropped Red Moon Pact because the baddies were old two dimensional types that did not have enough back story to engage let alone lust over. Perhaps Yu Zheng knew a trick or two. Fleshed out the original two-dimensional villain and gave him a longer screen time looking torn and lost.

All splitting hairs here. The step mum's story was a reminder that if the FL had been obsessive it "worked" in her favour, as shown in the plots. In the step mum's case the opposite choice (choosing to side with her family's ambitions) led her down the path of being passive aggressive, petty and ambitious in the wrong way.

Personally, I think this storyline could have been formed better and hopefully still time to get it right. She is there to demonstrate that she too was once like the FL, but she chose the opposite. A bit clunky.

Yes, wind machine of course... Petals that seemingly appear in the air from nowhere is another classic. What I find most funny is in Xianxias the wind machine seems to be void when they're flying in the air at break-neck speeds, and the female dangling earrings seems to have no such wind machine treatment!

Yes, with less than 8 parts left, the Princess has not changed, if anything, getting worse. This is the weak point and problematic point too. Her life ambitions are just to be able to control Shen Yu Rong and drag him down to her level with some jealousy thrown in.

It's not eat up un-realistic plots. The plots are secondary to characters with modern day thinking under ancient costumes. It caters to women more than men. Which begs the question, would this drama have as much interest if the male lead was Zhang Yunlong.

These types of dramas are just using "historical" clothing in the drama to add a bit of glitz and glamour escapism and not really anything else. We all know women had less rights and the men can take numerous wives back in Song/Tang dynasty.

It's just an opportunity to write modern ideas/thinking into these dramas and of course, women fighting against the norms at the time. The target audience are mainly women so they tend to have high ratings, even with the most unrealistic plot-lines. The male lead then adds to the mix and it's a plus 8.5 on MDL.