TheStarsOfTheLion

This series isn't depict 1900s China, but more like 1900s Chinese migrants in Thai. So the father, the leaders of the firm, the mother are Chinese migrants, but the sons are Thai.
As for lakorn, due to my knowledge, it's a kind of soap drama of Thai and is the most watched kind of drama by the native, aired on prime time. It usually have evil over-reacting female antagonists, fights for power/wealth/men between women, schemes and misunderstanding, and ridiculous gun fight at the end. Those are kind of like trademarks of lakorn, just like sitcom having laughing-track in the background and Korean soap drama having cancers or white-blood-cell disorders (at least that's my impression on Korean drama).

He calls the fake shaman as "uncle", so he was not adopted. And I don't think he is a close relative to him either. Otherwise, whether he was adopted or his nephew, Pink can't love him because it would be against the law.

About point 4, the walking canes was used as fashionable items, especially in 17th and 18th century. It's used a symbol of authority and nobility (and some time, weapon, check out Loki using his cane to smack head in Avenger).

So it's the stupid and self-centered strong-willed-wannabe female lead trope, huh?

"He's loving, loyal, sincere, and really hot" - Captain is loving and hot, that is true. However, loyal and sincere he is not. He is a playboy who is two-timing or even three-timing. He idolizes the person who helps his father to cheat on his own mother. You may see him committing in his pursue right now and think he's faithful; however, if he drops Foei after getting him and chases after someone else, I wouldn't be surprised.
Regarding Cher, she may ruin some lives, but Phat ruins even more. Cher ruins those lives because she reveals the truth and those people must deal with the consequence of their action (cheating/too distrusting); and it's fair. Phat ruins their lives in the long run because he helps them to cover the truth, nurture the lies and bad behaviors, the seed of unfaithfulness (if their stop their unfaithful behaviors, they wouldn't need Phat to cover up for them, that means they will continue to cheat). Please ask yourself, would you like your lover/spouse to cheat on you and be lied to, just because you wouldn't discover?

I agree with you.
Xing Si and Yong Jie story might not strike the fancy of many BL fangirls, but it taps on a more serious concern among gay couples: acceptance of family. As a closeted gay guy that dreads my parents' backlash, I appreciate the take of the story.

Li Cheng and Mu Ren storyline is lighthearted, fluffy, cute. Their relationship is still young with all of its sunshine and candy. Their fire of love is still strong and they have yet to face the more nasty problems in a gay relationship yet, no doubt there will be troubles to come but I believe they can overcome it; afterall Li Cheng is energetic with positive outlook and Mu Ren is strong-willed. Their story is still very much... childlike.
Xing Si and Yong Jie storyline comes with a more serious note: family's acceptance. Xing Si is an emotional person, so family's acceptance means a great deal for him and it weights him down. He need someone who can stand by his side and give him the courage to face the coming out to his family, and Yong Jie is the person he need. The sexual assault (more like taking advance of, in my opinion) can be jarring, still as the story gone by, Yong Jie isn't strike me as a bad person. He even has positive traits: brave, honest, truthful (boldly admit that he hit Mu Ren due to jealousy; admit that he drunks Xing Si and take advantage of him instead of lying and making Xing Si take reponsible; come out and intentionally take the blame and fury from the step-father so he would flip to a lesser extent when Xing Si would come out). The situation comes down to the question: can Xing Si overlook Yong Jie's violation and accept the good thing Yong Jie can bring for him, or does the damage from the violation too hurtful to make amend? Each person would have a different answer, but Xing Si chooses to accept Yong Jie, and I don't think it's a bad choice. Their story is more passionate and matured than their counterpart.

I like the show, and both couple.
Each couple has their own elements. However, I'm more bias toward Xing Si and Yong Jie.

Love In The Air, perhaps.

"I just wonder if that show in particular is rated highly because it has a minor BL subplot sprinkled in" - To my own opinion, I think you're correct.
That series getting high rating was partly due to BL subplot. That subplot of gay relationship between the primary (this is important) main couple helps catalogue it in BL genre. On its own, the series's concept is not new, but among BL genre, that series is kind of a break-through. For so long, BL series, especially Thai, stuck with cheese, fluffy, puppy love between students with the setting of high school or college in urban area. ATOATS is something new, fresh, have not been seen before.
The same went for Kinnporsche the series that people are so hyping about.

Of course it's not. The title is "Big Dragon", not "Kinnporsche the 2nd".

This series may be aired now but the trailer and the pilot was out way before KinnPorsche was aired. "adopted after KP" is not the case here.

Slow shows have value of slow shows. High rating doesn't reserved only for fast-paced shows.
I personally regard highly of Tale of a Thousand Stars. Its slow-pacing fits the theme of the show: a journey of self-discovering and self-forgiving, to discover what you want to do in life, where you want to belong to, how to prove your worth, your sexuality and coming in term with it. You can't "WHAM!", "PAM!" and find out about those. BL element is just a small part of it, a side-plot even. Also, the setting of ATOATS is in a rural mountain area. The living pace in those areas tend to be slow. It's fitting.
Though, I do find that some parts of it feels quite... arranged, like a play/theater drama instead of a film, but hey, that's why I rated it 8.5 instead of 10 :)

I wonder why you think Meen's unexpected ending suit her? Is being a good girl such a bad thing?

5. There are people who like to wait until the series end to give it a rating, even if they don't find this series good while watching.
6. There are people don't bother with this series after seeing the comments, so no new rating from them; only die hard fans still stick around to give it full of 10s.

If Meen is evil then what would Wan be? Supreme evil?

I think the problem with Prea's video isn't that she had sex, but she had a foursome, which indicates a lecherous lifestyle. Normally it would still raise some eyebrows and some behind-the-back whispers at best, however that video was aired during her wedding - that's the real problem. Imagining a video of a groom having foursome with 3 girls was leaked during his wedding, then wedding would still be called off for sure.
Also, regarding your upper part of the comment, I fail to grasp what you mean. When 2 guys approached Meen without her liking, it's called harassment; but when 2 girls approached Pitch without his liking, would it be called harassment too or it's just all guys are man-wh*re?

I don't agree with "equally as bad as the other girls" though. With the exception of Saras, both Wan and May trampled on Meen trust and had malicious intentions toward Meen. We can't expect her to just bite the bullet and endure the bullshit those two toss her way, especially from Wan.
It's called retaliation. Even in fairy tales, witches and evil queen wouldn't just perish on their own, but need to be dealt with by the protagonists.
Besides, Meen never said she's good and pure. She was threaten by Palana too, remember? She has her own dirt.

I don't think it's fans of GMMTV, only fans of Jimmy.
Also, I have witness the double standard of "over-hyped praises allowed but not criticism" in many, many places. It's not exclusive here.
E.g. Back when A Tale of A Thousand Stars - a show I love - was still airing, they can give thousands of likes to the video before it was even aired and there would be no problem, yet a few dozen dislikes and they call it despicable and prejudice.

How about "Be My Favorite" with Krist and Mike as leads?
A guy turns back time to woo the girl of his dream, only to be wooed by the girl's soon-to-be-husband. Even spent a 419 with him :D It's a seizure-induced shocking experience, I'm sure.