WK1

We should. We want to make them feel welcome here, that this is a very warm and inclusive community

Every culture has something that is moon related. Maybe the Chinese just took it to a higher level than some cultures. This is arguably the most famous moon-related Chinese tale; https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/chang-e/#:~:text=Chang'e%20(%E5%AB%A6%E5%A8%A5)%20is,the%20annual%20Mid%2DAutumn%20Festival.

Here is another link, to explain why the full moon is so signficant, because it is round: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2013-07/25/content_29524953_2.htm#:~:text=In%20ancient%20China%2C%20the%20circle,philosophers%2C%20scholars%20and%20literary%20figures.

Oh, I have no doubt about that at all! Moon appears in every country around the world. It is hardly the monopoly of the Chinese. The differences lies in the ways legends and stories have been used to connect moon to love and romance.

In China, they used moon cakes and to other stuff. In your country, it will just be another device.

My absolute pleasure. The ethical and moral components of Chinese culture were always something that the screenwriters wanted to convey. Something you yourself raised a while ago. I just carried it one step foreward.

You are hardly the only one! But, many of us need to be very sensitive here, because quite of people here in this forum ship the Haoyan couple really hard. We did not really want to sound rude to fans of the Haoyan couple. There are indeed many who feel that although their screen time together was short, they portrayed their love relationship well.

It is out of respect for people who feel this way that we do not wish to keep dwelling on this issue. It might start a war between GeSun lovers and Haoyan lovers here in this forum, and that will not be good at all.

Sure! It will help non-Chinese to understand why AS would often meet CG under the full moon. Many non-Chinese may not understand that it was deliberately used to build up the romance between AS and CG.

Moon carries lots of symbolism in Chinese culture. Since this is a Chinese drama after all, the screenwriters wanted to make full use of it to convey romance and emotion.

Many older Chinese songs contain wordings related to the moon.

Yes, the GeSun couple was developed very well. As Changge was the main character in the original manhua and here too in the drama, they needed to give her more screen time. And Ashile Sun, being her love interest, was also given more screen time, as a result.

Not sure if you have read the original manhua, but in the manhua, Ashilen Sun was also a prominent character. Just that the manhua got stuck because of legal issues and the author stopped drawing it.

So here, in the drama, the screenwriters took liberty to develop the GeSun relatioinship more fully and gave their relationship far more romantic spin than we would find in the manhua.

We have Anya and Kg9398 who joined us today, and their comments thus far show that they will be here for a while, and helping this place to come alive again!

This place is just unbelieveable

For sure!! The Chinese have always treated the moon with great respect. Especially the full moon. It carries great symbolism. It is a topic that has not been raised before, and I am really glad you raised it

In many historical Chinese dramas, it is like this. Hero saves the damsel, and the damsel wants to marry him. This is a rather common plot used. It is more out of gratitude, than romance. So Leyan would fall for Shuyu, because Shuyu saved her; and now, she will fall for Hao Du, because Hao Du saved her.

It does sound very shallow, but that was the way the screenswriters wrote her character, in so far as who she would fall for.

And as a plot device, it will be great. Because, it will present a very nice contrast to the AS and CG relationship. It was AS who would fall for CG first, because he first respected her skill and determination. And would fall for her as early as the riverbank scene in E5, when he first realised that CG was a girl. But, it will take a while before she warmed up to him, as she needed time to grow into being a woman. Their relationship will take more time, would be somewhat more realistic and run parallel to CG's character growth.

You have a very good observational skill. Lots of these scenes were not by accident. They were deliberate.

Here is the link for greater understanding of why all those scenes have moon in it:

http://en.chinaculture.org/chineseway/2007-11/20/content_121946.htm

Yup. It was a bit abrupt, like you said. But the screenwriters did want Haoyan to be together, so we got what we've got, and they ended up with each other rather quickly. It was like just 1-2 episodes, and boom, they were married.

She did express some liking for Hao Du, prior to the fighting scene. I think the moment Shuyu told her that Hao Du was the one who helped Ashile Sun and Changge escape from the Liuyun temple, her attitude toward Hao Du has already changed. But, all the way, she was still pinning for Shuyu. When Hao Du stepped forward to fight for her, and the scene after that, it made her realised how much she meant to Hao Du. And very quickly she developed romantic feelings for her. I admit, it was a bit abrupt, compared to the feelings between AS and CG, but they were running out of time. They cannot stretch the relationship between Leyan and Hao Du for too long. They were the secondary couple, after all.

It seems that you have already watched the drama. Sure, you can read as many comments as you can. But I would recommend that you set some kind of priority. See what is most important to you. Because there are thousands and thousands of comments here. So, just skip those less interesting to you, and join in discussion of those you find more interesting. That will be better use of your time and energy

You can also start new posts. People here do not mind if it is something we have discussed before. If it is, we will let you know. There are indeed possibilities that you may well introduce us to new ways of looking at certain episodes or certain scenes in the drama. Or, you might have some questions concerning scenes, and someone will be sure to answer your queries

If you are new here, trying to read so many or as many as you can will take a lot of time. Maybe we can guide you. What exactly are you looking for? Have you already watched the drama?

No, you have not. Very soon, this comment section will be the highest in MDL. And you have noticed very correctly. Everything is two way or multiway. We share what we learned about this drama and we enhance each other's experience. That is why you see so many comments here

Li Changge's moral compass and its reflection of Chinese Values

Our behaviours are often guided by our moral compass and values. Here in the drama, we can see Changge's moral compass in E17:

In return for being AS's military advisor, she wanted AS to do three things and three things revealed a lot about her moral compass, and to some sense her 'Tao' or path in life:

1. She wants AS never to harm Tang - this shows her loyalty to Tang, and loyalty is core Traditional Chinese value. Loyalty can be applied at different levels, e.g, to friends, one's bosses, but the highest level is to one's country. In CG's case, it would be to Tang. I read from the manhua, loyalty to Tang may even rank above loyalty to the emperor (for some individuals).

But for Changge, her highest level of loyalty would be to Tang as a nation or country (and hence to Tang citizens). It would rank even above her desire to take revenge. It was not always something she was born with, but something she would learn along the way. For instance, it was only after the Shouzhou event, she learned to put loyalty to Tang citizens above her personal desire for revenge. Governor Gongsun would teach her this, when he was willing to sacrifice his life for the citizens of Shouzhou.

2. Next, she wanted AS not to do anything immoral and harm others. In the context of those times, it would include no unnecessary killing, kidnapping of others. etc. In the context of the grasslands, it would mean AS cannot force himself on those slaves or harm them in anyway.

We can see this in the drama, that even though Mimi was just a slave, she was treated very well. In general, I like the way the drama handled this.The manhua was more realistic, in that female slaves (like prisoners from tribes they have conquered) were often used trophies or rewards. The Khan will give to AS female slaves, as rewards for what he did. And these women would be treated as sex slaves, among other things.

Here in the drama, perhaps because they brought forward the element of AS's love for Changge, he would do no such thing. He would not request any female slaves to be used for sex. In anycase, his promise to Changge would forbid him for using female slaves for his personal enjoyment.

3. She wants her freedom. You can see from CG's choice, she first thought of Tang, and then others, and only lastly, herself.

There would be other aspects of Chinese values portray by other characters or even by CG herself, but I will just stop here, for us to ponder over. For even more meaningful discussion as it relates to how these values would guide CG's behaviour and how AS's promise to CG would affect his behaviour in the drama

Li Changge's moral compass and its reflection of Chinese Values

You have typed three messages to Fairydustpuppy. I am pretty sure she has read all your messages but have chosen not to reply. Maybe she feels that she does not need to?

She was merely expressing her opinions, how she feels about the various dramas. You have been here in this forum for a while now. Surely you understand how much love many of us here have for the TLB. So when the results were out, many of us were just expressing our sadness (and shock), almost like griefing for the TLB. We were hoping that people could understand why we did what we did, and even empathise with the language used. This is our little corner; we thought we could just let out our frustrations openly and honestly. And we do it here in this forum. We did not go the pages of those dramas and dump hate on them.

I have been to the pages of some dramas, and many people there dump a lot of hate on TLB. I don't really have the urge to go there and correct them. I know it their little corner and they were merely out to vent their frustration why TLB would get such a high rating in MDL when the drama they love did not score so high.

In the end of the day, all of us know that different people have different tastes. It goes without saying, Fairydustpuppy also knows that.

Furthermore, whatever we do is certainly not going to hurt the ranking of any drama, as the results are all out and are driven purely by viewership numbers, not by opinions expressed here. So, no real harm has been done to any drama or the actresss who acted in any particular drama.

Out of the thousands of threads here in this forum, this is the only one that has done this sort of comparisons, and it coincides with the release of the results. So, it is clear, this is not our preoccupation.

Once our griefing is done, we will move on. You can be sure of that.