WK1

Thanks so much! I thought I will watch it myself and see what his comments are concerning recent dramas.

It is indeed true that as late as E31 in the series, so many people still do not know Sun's true identity. All three have met him, but they have not spoke to him. All they saw, each time he will be there to rescue Changge whenever she is in trouble. And each time they saw him, he would be in Tang clothing. And he looked just like a Tang citizen (especially with Wu Lei. If they use a different actor to play Sun, maybe the others will have reason to believe that he is a non-Tang person).

I like the way you speculate how each of them will react, upon learning his true identity. It is quite accurate. I think in the end, all will be fine with it. Especially after E49, when they saw the way Sun dashed in to help Changge

Earlier, someone commented, with a drawing like that, Shiba will never be able to find Changge.

She basically said that this other guy, he is an immortal (which is correct. His character is an immortal, in the drama Reba acted with him). So, he could just wipe off all the water. That is why when he emerge from watery scenes, he would would always appear dry

She chose Ahsun, yet did not want to make the other guy unhappy

My sincere apologies to you. You have gone to many of the discussion threads. You are not one of those who just drop by, tell us what you feel and then move on. If you really want to enjoy discussing with us, please do not over-react to anyone's comments. Please read every comment with an open mind. If anyone sound offended, it could well be we were really offended. But please do read whatever is written here. Because in as much as you have put a lot of thoughts into what you wrote, those responses are also made with equal deliberations.

I fully understand where you are coming from and you are hardly the only person who raised this issue concerning that scene with the two parrots. I recall at least 2-3 comments similar to yours.

No one had any issue with their other hug scenes, and neither did you.

Concerning the fans getting mad, that is just the view expressed by one individual in this forum. We don't really know how their fans would truly react, since Lusi and LYN did not do any kiss scene. We don't really know the rationale behind the director's decision. No one asked him in any interview, and if they did, I do not recall any reason was given. So, fans getting mad is just a hypothesis. It did not happen since they never did any kiss scene.

Now, putting myself in the shoes of those fans, how would I react? If Lusi and LYD did do kiss scenes, hypothetically, I guess it will depend on how well those scenes were executed. If they did it well, I will just applaud them for good acting. Will I be angry in anyway at all? Nah. Why should I?? I watched this drama to enjoy good acting, regardless of who did those good portrayals. I am not an anti-fan of Lusi or LYN.

I also don't really think Reba and Leo cared too much, if Lusi and LYN do or did not do any kiss scenes. That is the director's decision and knowing how respectful they are of the director, they would just accept whatever decision he made. I believe the four of them got along very well during filming and even now should be on very good terms with each other. No reason for any kind of jealousy among the four, as to who does want.

Understand. I read lots of comments like that, and would initially let my blood pressure go up. Now, somewhat inoculated and would just want to see what is the true intention here. If the intention is merely to drop an opinion, we can respect that, read it and move on. If this person really do not mind to engage us, we need not worry. He/she may not have noticed that there are 28k comments here and what kind of colony this is.

Your response is very polite and respectful. Onelovestorie looked like he/she has watched at least one of Reba's historical dramas. The name handle used is from TMOPB. So, he/she cannot be a Reba hater. Sounds like a very experienced drama viewer.

Will be keen to know the true intention. Want to discuss with us or just drop opinion and then move off

You actually spent this much time responding to this person's comments?? This individual could just be baiting us, to get us all worked up, and then move on

After a while, many of us realised that romance wasn't really the focal theme of this drama. The main focus was on the character development of Li Changge. And the character development of all the other characters in the drama.

Especially after those who read the manhua told us that in the manhua, there was even less romance. I have just read the manhua and it is indeed true that there is less romance.

So, we were just glad that in this screen adaptation of the manhua, we got to see some hand holding, some gazes and hugs between Reba and Leo. These truly were icing on the cake. The main course is still the character development

The fact that you felt good screen chemistry between Leo and Reba, and between Lusi and LYN could only mean that all four were great actors.

Oh, you are saying, that scene at the cliff, they should just show them hugging each other, and don't even pretent that there was a kiss? Some people did express the same opinion. Most of us just live with it. After all, that blurred out scene lasted just a few seconds.

Oh, why no kisses for Lusi but there were indeed kisses for Mujin and Mimi? Some people here said, since Mujin and Mimi are supporting cast members, most viewers will not compare them to Leo and Reba.

If Luis and LYN kissed, it might just make fans of Reba and Leo angry.

The rabbit bag is ok. They are selling those crossbows as well? Are those stuff real? I mean, if they are real, they could hurt someone. Those are dangerious stuff in the wrong hands

Oh, not to worry about this as well. I fully understand you were talking about C-dramas in general. No misunderstanding at all. I have never thought that you were saying any bad about the Long Ballad.

So, where is the border? Good question. Very simple. When you watch a historical Chinese drama, you will always see the story leaning toward telling us it is always right to put country interests first, ahead of personal interests. All the historical Chinese dramas will tell the story like that. You will not see a drama which says a person should always put personal interest first ahead of country interests.

The primary market for all historical Chinese dramas is the Chinese market, not the international market.

And no historical Chinese drama that shows that personal interest is more important than country will ever do well in China. That will run counter to Chinese culture. Chinese viewers will not like it.

Modern Chinese dramas are slightly different. Many try to skip the part about country interest. Some viewers may see that as propaganda. Instead they may show the importance of family, how family interest is more important than personal interests.

And many modern Chinese dramas simply choose to focus more on romance rather than talking about Chinese values or culture. Modern dramas are targetted at young Chinese viewers, and these viewers are less likely to be interested in dramas that deal with Chinese values compared to romance and other themes.

If that is how you feel, you are absolutely correct! Chinese society is what we call a collectivistic society or collectivistic culture. Individuals in such societies are expected to put collective interests before personal interest or happiness.

In ancient times, it was always like that.

But now, China is opening up. Chinese people get to read what is happening in other countries. They watch western movies, buy western branded goods and so on. So, slowly they are also being influenced by western values, which tend to focus more on individual happiness.

Do you mean, in historical Chinese dramas, they tend to always show personal preferences or happiness being sacrificed for patriotism or the good of a country??

Ah yes. The FL and ML got the most screen time. The secondary characters less screen time. This is usually the case. There are some historical Chinese dramas where screen time are evenly split between the 1st couple and 2nd couple, and many viewers can get confused, as to which couple is actually the main couple.

In this drama, although the secondary couple got less screen time, the way the story is written for them is also quite good. Many viewers also enjoyed watching the 2nd couple.

Actually, it is not so much the 2nd couple, as the 2nd female lead. If you look purely at screen time which show the two of them in love, that is indeed very little.

But, if you look at screen time for the 2nd female lead, that is not too bad. Because there are many episodes about her adventure. And there are also many scenes about her relationship and interaction with the main female lead. After all, they were very good cousins.

Sure! He would indeed be the ideal husband for any woman. Which woman would not want a husband like that? One who trusts you, gives you freedom to explore things you want to do, does not hover over you all the time, like a helicopter, but would rush to help you, whenever help is needed. One who respects your decisions, as much you respect his.

You mean the scene at the cliff where they blurred the kiss scene and showed the two birds? You may not believe it, but some viewers actually enlarged the blurred portion, examined their mouth position and said that they actually did kiss! But because of his contract, they cannot show it.

And that particular scene, their embrace was really good. It also showed Reba tip toeing to reach to Leo's height. This is a technique used by many directors, to show that two persons kissed. And she had her arms around Leo's body. From a body language viewpoint, it shows affection between AS and CG.

The other two leads, no such issue. At least not with the 2nd female lead. I am told she has done kiss scene before.

But, since they cannot show kiss scenes between Leo and Reba, it would not be nice to show kiss scenes between Lusi and LYN.

It will be quite an experience, if you can persist. I too find it a big challenge. I am so used to reading stuff left to right, just like you. Reading stuff right to left even gave me headache. And sometimes also from the top. I would get confused, how or what is the sequence of the conversation? I often have to read many times, before I could understand it fully, which of course take a lot time. But I am doing my best to continue. Like you, I really enjoy the beautiful artwork. Xia Da, the artist, she is really good with her drawings. She drew Li Changge so beautifully. Especially the Temple portion, Changge with that beautiful hat, and the long long veil. Makes Changge look very elegant.