WK1

That is always a very personal question. Always one for the person who is facing that situation to decide what he or she will do

Like the case of this drama. For the main female character Li Changge. It would have made her really happy, to personally kill the person who killed her father. But in the end, she chose to love her country and decided not to kill him, because she believed that he will make a very good Chinese emperor for the Tang Dynasty

The screenwriters (the people who wrote the story for the drama), wanted to bring this across to us. That the love of the country is for the greater good. If Tang Dynasty is well led by a good emperor, the ordinary citizens will have food to eat, clothes to wear, houses to live in. If LI Changge had killed him, it will just make her, one person, happy. But the whole country may suffer.

Ah yes, the second female lead. Indeed she developed from being a weak girl to one that is more assertive, able to speak up for what she thinks is right. And she understood the plight of the common people. And yes, also the change in Hao Du behaviour. Yes, they both developed and change.

But if change is what you were looking for, the greatest change occured in the first female lead, or should I say the main protaganist of the whole show: Li Changge.

This drama is based on a manhua, and in that manhua, she is the main character. And Leyan was not even a character in the manhua

The manhua as well this drama's main focus was to show the character development of Li Changge, from an impulsive young girl to one that is more mature, and humble. From wanting to take revenge, she learned to value the greater good and put the interest of her country ahead of her personal goal of wanting to kill the person who killed her father (initially, she taught he also killed her mother).

Truth be told, from the view of good acting, it would be simpler to just show them kissing. Not very difficult to put two adults together and kiss and just let the camera roll.

But those eye gazes that Wu Lei and Dilraba gave to each other, they were much harder to act out. When the camera is pointed at them, their eyes must look just right.

Not only their gazes, you also also many embraces between the two. The way they put their around each other, the way she put her chin on his shoulders. All conveyed love and affection. All harder to bring across than mouth-to-mouth kisses.

In the end, many of us understood why no kisses and we grew to appreciate all these other gestures even more, when we knew how much effort they put into portraying their love and affection for each other

Definitely! This entire drama, it was mainly about Changge, the journey of Changge, what she experienced, her adventures, the people she met during those adventures, and how those adventures and people she met changed her from E1 to E 49. The proud impulsive Changge became more humble, more willing to listen to others.

Notice in E49, when A'Sun asked her to stay back in the tent, she listened. When Li Jing concured and also said the same, she listened. The earlier impulsive version of Changge would not have done that. She would have insisted on doing what she want, thinking she is the only one around who is intelligent.

Any man who has a wife like that will be extremely proud of his wife.

This is why it took mankind so long to eradicate war. Wars of the past brought about killings of innocent people. It took two war worlds, with millions of people killed, before world leaders realised it is wrong to use violence to resolve conflict.

Likewise, in the drama, we saw so many innocent people died that Changge and Ahsun both chose peace.

In the end, they retired to the grasslands, because they got so tired of all the killings.

You are absolutely right that all the main characters embraced these principles. For example, when Li Jing told Ah Sun about the military principle, he was actually quoting Confucius, to tell Ah Sun that nothing can beat benevolence. That if we are guided by benevolence, we will not make the wrong decision.

Stictly speaking Ah Sun in the drama was not a Chinese. He was brought up by the Eastern Turks. And I am not sure what moral principles the Khan would have taught him. But looking at the behaviours of the Khan, their main emphasis was to get what they want. Holding people hostage seems like a fair game to the Eastern Turks, as we see the Khan did it. And the Khatun learned some bad habits from those Khans.

But, of course, we must also bear in mind. This is just a drama. And the Chinese are by no means perfect. Take Li Si Min, for examples. History shows that he killed both his brothers, to get what he wants. Sure, we can always argue, during those times, it was either kill or be killed. But, it seems, he did not just kill his two brothers, but also their families. Only the females were spared, because he saw no threats coming from them.

But, the drama cannot show this!! They have to pass the censors. And Li Simin is China's best emperor. He made the Tang Dynasty great! To many Chinese, it is their best history, showing China at its height during ancient times. If the drama contained scenes of him actually shooting down his brothers, it would never have passed the censors. Likewise in Xia Da's manhua. It would never have been allowed to be published.

The male lead, Wu Lei, very likely has a no-kiss clause in his acting contract. He cannot do mouth-to-mouth kisses. Hence, there was one kiss that was blurred and they showed those two birds kissing.

So, since the director cannot use kissing scenes to show love and affection between the leads. he used many other methods. Like the two forehead kisses, the way the leads look at each other, their conversations, etc. All of these show the same thing that kisses show, they are very much in love.

Historical Chinese dramas are never just about entertainment. It is always about the "soft" selling of Chinese culture and traditional Chinese values. It is soft, in that it is embedded in the story. It is not hard sell like what we witness in a classroom, with lecturers telling us what is right and what is wrong.

Harmony, filial piety, righteousness, benevolence, honesty, and courtesy are all moral values valued by the Chinese. Many of these values were first taught by Confucius.

These moral values form basic ethical principles to guide the Chinese people's behavior since ancient times.

Just as understanding the age of Li Changge will help us understand her earlier impulsive behaviour. understanding these ethical principles that were or are commonly adhered by the Chinese will also help us understand TLB better.

Many of these moral values cut across cultures, while some could be uniquely Chinese, or given more emphasis by the Chinese

It is totally true that if and buts will have no end. But from the way the screenwrites wrote this story, it shows that they have some understanding of ethics. They have taken some courses in ethics. And so they have written the story in such a way that not only is this drama interesting for us to watch, it will also stimulate us to think about ethical issues that the various characters faced in the drama.

It was no accident that Xia Da created Li Changge the way she was in the drama, or the screenwriters wrote Li Changge's character the way she was in the drama.

The character change in Changge was no accident. It was deliberate. To show us that we often face many ethical dilemmas in life, and making the right decisions in those situations may lead us to have a happy life or a very unhappy life. The difference between Yicheng and Changge was exactly that.

Early on, Changge did make some wrong decisions when faced with an ethical dilemmas, but she changed. Yicheng never changed. She kept making the wrong decisions, when faced with an ethical dilemma.

The female lead in Lover and Redemption is Crystal Yuan. She acted in House of the flying daggers (2016) and Evernight (2018) an Evernight 2 (2020). She is a pretty good actress and she comes across as a very decent lady. To be treated like that by the male lead during the concert night, that is very cruel. Does he, for some reason, feel that he alone was responsible for the success of Lover and Redemption?? I wonder

Ah! I love your explanation so much!! I did not watch Love and Redemption. I know who is the male lead, even though I do not know his name. He acted in Noble Aspiration. I did not like the look of his face there. Nothing against him personally. But some actors, you look at their face, you just don't like. They do not come across as sincere.

So, the very first episode of Love and Redemption, when I saw that he was the lead, I dropped the drama.

And now, reading what you wrote about his behaviour, I am so glad that I did not watch it. Because, to me, what happens in the drama must also take place off screen. If he had great on screen chemistry with the female lead, but would simply ignore her after that, it reflects very poor character on his part. He does not need to hold his female lead's hand in that concert. But, if he was standing next to her, and there was no eye contact, no greeting? That is crazy!!

You will not see that happening to Wu Lei and Dilraba.

They already appeared together many times, after the filming of TLB to promote TLB, and at least once after the airing of TLB. And each time, there will be good eye contact and very positive interaction between them.

LIke you said, acknowledging your former fellow cast member is basic respect. Particularly when you were the two leads whose chemistry led to the success of the drama.

We need not worry. It will never happen to Dilraba and Wu Lei. They are not only first class actress and actors, but they are first class individuals

Your SFL means strong female lead? Yes, this is an amazing drama. Even the worst of the charaters in this drama still had some goodness.

Please do recommend this to your friends, relatives, or whoever who loves to watch historical C-dramas. Many of us do.

That is so true. Our lives are never governed by one single loyalty or one single ethical principle. Sometimes, we get into a situation where there is an ethical dilemma. We have two possible options, neither of which is absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective. Like A'sun. Disobeying the Khan would be wrong. But assassinating someone is also wrong. Particularly assassinating a party who had already agreed to enter into an agreement with the Khan. We know how he resolved his ethical dilemma. He chose to follow the Khan's order.

I think that is what it is. The drama TLB is complex. We may not realise it. But those who well verse in ethics will see many ethical issues in this drama. It was not an accident. The producer, the screenwriters, even the author of the manhua (Xia Da) they all want us to know that life is very complex.

You posed a very good question. Was Changge right all the time? Probably not. She was very impulsive at the beginning. she was bent on taking revenge. She failed. But, what if she succeeded? It is just a drama of course. But, what if she succeeded? Tang Dynasty would have lost its greatest emperor. Everything was so chaotic after the Xuanwu Gate incident. Tang Dyasty would have been thrown into chaos. Which will make it very easy for the Ashile troops to just come in and take over China. They had spies there all the time. They knew exactly what going on in the Tang palace.

It was only when governor Gongsun died, she realised that the well being of Tang citizens was more important than some personal agenda of hers. Gongsun Heng's willingness to sacrifice his life for the well being of the citizens of that city convinced her to think about the citizens of Tang. Which then made her to want to save Li Simin at that bridge.

He was in a way fortunate. Alir's death opened up the pathway for him to to pursue Changge as his love interest. But, what if Alir did not die? And she continued to be held hostage. Should A'Sun then continue to do whatever the Khan or Khatun want? Or should he have rescued her and they just run away? Likewise Mimi. Khatun held her brother hostage and made her do all kinds of evil.

Let me answer the question that I posed. My answer is yes. Let me give mask my answer somewhat. Many time, loyalty to my employer would mean I have to engage in certain action, let's call it X. But doing X would mean I need to betray my loyalty to another entity. I would often end up getting stuck, being indecisive.

If I may humbly suggest, not just in the drama, but for all of us too, in real life! We may well face the issue of having multiple loyalties in our lives, where loyalty to one party may well mean we have to betray another party.

Do you sometimes face this issue? No need to give any specific example if you do not feel comfortable doing so, as this could be something really personal. Just curious, have you ever faced such a situation?? It is ok, even if your answer is No

In connection with Kaju's point about loyalty, A'Sun was loyal to the Khan. And very obedient to him as a leader of the Ashile tribe. He was already ready to assassinate Li Si Min based on the Khan's order. He was fully prepared to do it, if not for Changge. Her disappearance distracted him, and by then Changge had managed to save Li Simin.

Was he right in following the Khan's order to assassinate Li Simin?

Sorry. Your LnR couple, who were you referring to??