Nepeta 22

There seems to be a theme on the usage of the word "propaganda". Could be lost in translation since in China, they use this word literally (with no malice) unlike many western countries' hold over the mass view-point.

I must stress the western countries' population only make up just 17% of the world's population, and interestingly enough controls the world narrative through news, social media and of course film and literature. China's suffering during this period is not widely known to the western world. And there is a reason.

What makes it worse is everytime a Chinese drama/movie depicts this period, the word propaganda is used next to it. That I'm afraid is the sign that the western strain of propaganda has worked. Next time you type that word next to Chinese dramas/movies, think of the many things that have seeped into your sub-consciousness when posting. You might not be as smart as you claim to be.

I could be wrong, but someone on the discussions earlier mentioned Shanghai dialect.

OK, thanks for the quick reply.

Thanks for that. Do you know why there is a dispute? Was the old agency still signed with him in at some point in 2018 & they got him the lead role in Love & Redemption?

I heard about Cheng Yi's ex agents and the court case. I can't find the information. Does anyone know what year he actually signed with H & R Century?

Thanks for that. I thought the same, but was not sure. Anyway, her character certainly adds to a tiny bit of light relief.

Going a bit off topic. Anyone know what Niu Chun Miao has around her neck? Looks like a silver metal hoop. Is that some kind of jewellery piece?

I know what you mean. When they do the flashback, you do need to keep note of names of at least with 6-7 people as they will be mentioned in the present day. The plot is very intricate and tightly woven, and they do deliberately try to confuse us to hide the culprit. It depends on what you're into. When you find out who is the culprit is at the end, & you go back to the previous episodes, the answer was there right in front of your eyes. It was well done. I loved it.

I'm afraid it's still not subbed, and it looks like it won't be as there seems to be no demand for the international audiences. The storyline is very similar set up to this drama except it was set around 1948-9 which is a very interesting time and also shows how normal people to some extent living very normal lives with no big interest in politics after all, they have just suffered greatly after the second Japanese Sino War. Very memorable.

Fearless Whispers - no English Subs I'm afraid. I managed to watch it using Baidu episodes guide. Fearless Blood a short drama that uses black humour to tell the story from bottom up. Nice to see what it's like in the small villages instead of the big cities at the time.

He is a well established actor and have played many roles. His performance in Under the Microscope and Echo show case his range.

I'm only on episode 4 and looking forward to future episodes, which is a good sign. I also picked up on the less skin smoothing, which fits in with the feel of the drama.

Every country will tell their story, especially during the World War 2 era. The US & UK are no different. This is China's modern history, and there is no escaping the Japanese invasion, the civil war with KMT & the ending of feudalism/warlords, this is their recent history & this is made for their domestic audience.

I'm in the west, when I watch dramas here I'm used to it here. I've only just started this drama, so hope this is a good story and not done in a clunky way.

What you see is tunnel vision of one fandom driven by hormones and not reality, especially in China. Very unfortunate your response seems to have undone your fake respect for Li Qin. Of course, blame IQIYI if you must for the limited information. Reality is, WYB is the junior actor here, and actors like Wang Yang and Li Qin are buffeting his position, so he's less exposed to negativity. Regarding BL, it's pretty obvious that WYB gained fame from Untamed. Without that, we could argue today's landscape of male actors might look a lot different. In other words, his success may not be down to his acting skills.

You don't for sure, which is why you made a comment earlier stating it's a male centric drama. You said "Because it’s a male centric drama. What's fl job isn't matter much". Now that just about sums up the ignorance of "some" WYB fans. They either only watch because of WYB regardless, or the assume the FL's character actually has no relevant storyline.

BTW, in China to passerbys, Li Qin is a far more experienced, recognised and respected actress compared with WYB who rose to fame due to the short lived BL wave which then created a series of lazy writing and imagination before action was taken to stop the descend into poor standard dramas using BL just to grab temporary attention.

I think your comments are not really putting into account the strong western propaganda that's been going on for decades. Don't assume S.Korea pushes hard to get themselves known. Their placement is due to geo-politics. No amount of what China does on the entertainment circuit will get to be mainstream because most western countries are tied together in keeping China out and alienating the whole nation. Your comments come from a tiny group that believes it will grow. Unfortunately, it won't be now even if it was growing around 2010 onwards. Even TikTok is controversial. Basically, anything from China is seen as scary and untrustworthy. The entertainment industry/film industry will see less exposure internationally right now compared to 15 years ago. This is just the way things are. China markets are not trying to court the international community either. Their thinking is more, if you like what they do, you go to them, you learn the language.

Yep, I agree with you there.

This will be my final comment for you as we are all entitled to our opinions. I think you need to Google what Narcissists' personality consist of. One of the top personality trait is being kind and charming, often making those around them adore them. Ultimately, those that stick by them need to be under their command and control. Many clever and top politicians are narcissists.

You mention unconditional love, but it's not at the true sense because many of the story lines were centred around the ML's plight. Building a background of why he is so obnoxious. The rest of the characters were built around him, excusing his poor behaviour which consisted of humiliating others, bullying others by shaming them into work excessive hours. You choose to ignore this fact. Parents and side characters were only there to build him up through ignorant views. This central plot tries way too hard to do that. D you know why? Because he was a really an unlikable guy, only the FL can see past him. This fairytale story has been told for decades and often it just covers the cracks of many real-life relationships that are like this but fails.

The FL did this under the banner of being diligent and hard working when you actually peel back this layer, what's revealed is someone that's a classic upper-middle class person seeking a "project" to "right" the wrong and he was her project.

Hiding it under an obsession often makes the story more palatable. Reality is, she had been manipulated. He treated her bad for many of the in between sweeteners you have listed, and sadly this shows that this type of drip drip effect works and many young and impressionable women think it's love or even romantic. It's the classic beginnings of a toxic relationship. If this story makes you happy, that's good, but for me, it's another dated trope that's stuck in another era.

Those are my opinions, and you are entitled to yours. No problem. The generous score was for the industry, and other characters like the FL's parents, especially her father who was torn and fair minded. The mother was also realistic and let's be honest, what sane parent will be happy for their one and only daughter to end up with a partner like the ML?

The story is to try and show a divide between generations, and that's fine. That's the realistic part of the story. The unrealistic parts were a "convenient" illness inflicted on the baddie to help ML to suddenly be kind hearted when all throughout the story he was anything but kind. That is why I use the word narcissist to describe him. His behaviour was consistently self-important and controlling. He knew what he was doing and the FL was really a victim, but the writer tried to bury that by making her like an obsessive odd-ball. Reason? Because the target audience is young and impressionable women fantasising they too could hang out with the tearaway that makes them look cool.

The "boring" story would be she ended up with the artist family friend. It's OK, these stories are common. But this drama over amplified the FL lead into some crazed obsessive that wanted to "tame" that tiger. It's an ego thing because for the audience, they all want to be the "one" that can be there to sort out this intimidating, misunderstood narcissist.

I agree with that, but sadly, many dramas glamourise these types of characters to make female audiences feel they can be that fantasy woman that can be the "only" one that can change this man or shall I say be the only one he will be different to. It's basically a toxic relationship that in real life, most sane people will tell you stay away from. Also, she changed the most to accommodate his ways, and still in the final episode, he just bought a property without even consulting her. Only in a drama can this be re-branded as romantic. This is classic controlling narcissistic behaviour. Women have been sold a con-trick.