Rest in Peace ๐๏ธ ๐๏ธ ๐ค๐ค You were the first E.Asian actress I ever watched. You started my E.Asian drama craze. Cannot believe that I won't ever be able to watch her on the screen ever again. I will miss her a lot. ๐๐
Also the novel author who wrote the original book is Ma Bo Yong, who wrote novel behind these amazing shows: 'Longest…
Thank you so much for this information! I have recently gotten very interested in Yang Guifei's story, but had no idea that the noble consort in this story is her!
The new character posters are mind-blowing. I am so intrigued with the clothing. It looks so beautiful and intricate! A great recreation of Tang dynasty hanfu. I've heard that the costumes are very close to Tang dynasty clothing. I wish more Tang dynasty dramas had such colorful, vibrant and detailed clothing. Glad that they put in effort and went for a historically accurate depiction. This just added to my anticipation of the drama! Can't wait any longer!
Glad to see an article about my absolute favorite screenwriters! These 2 have written the best contemporary Chinese dramas of all time. Thank you for writing such an amazing article about their dramas! โค๏ธ
One of the best Korean dramas out there. The score here is baffling. This deserves way high ratings. For anyone looking for motivation to watch this, the rating on Douban is 9.0. And unlike MDL, achieving even a 8.0 there is a huge feat.
My ultimate favourite. She is GOAT. After watching her act, I find so many other actors unconvincing. Rarely any other actor from E.Asia could hold a candle to her acting.
I highly anticipate this drama as the plot is so interesting & unique. This is my top awaited show! A little information about the painting and the novel behind this drama:
So the painting was made in the Song dynasty by the artist Zhang Zeduan (1085โ1145), and is considered to be the most renowned amongst all Chinese paintings. It is called 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'. It is an handscroll painting and is indeed very long! It showcases a wide panorama of the capital of Northern Song, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng) and captures the daily life of people at that time. Scenes reveal the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as economic activities in rural areas and the city, and offer glimpses of period clothing and architecture. The scroll is 25.5 centimetres (10.0 inches) in height and 5.25 meters (5.74 yards) long. In its length there are 814 humans, 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 buildings, 20 vehicles, 8 sedan chairs, and 170 trees!
The painting is highly impressive! As an artist and an animator, I am in awe with the precision and details put in the painting. The old masters never fail to impress me! I am providing the link for its wikipedia for you guys to check out yourself. Scroll down to the gallery, and the entire painting and it's subsequent 'remakes' are available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival
Now, the author of the novel was himself highly impressed by the painting. He had a copy of the painting hanged in his room. When he closely examined it, he was able to notice some things were off in this otherwise slice of life painting. Slowly, he connected all things that seemed off and came up with a mystery-thriller plot. Using this, he wrote his novel called 'Qing Ming Shang He Tu Mi Ma'. Please visit this link for more information regarding the plot of the novel: https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2015/04/02/historical-thriller-based-on-famous-painting/
I find the exact same thing in Korean historical/fantasy dramas as you say you do in C dramas. Some that are popular…
Firstly, I had only made this comment to counter the opinion of the person below me. They were doing the exact same thing that some people who watch European & American shows do to Korean drama watchers, aka judging them for watching 'cringey' and 'stupid' shows. I have seen a lot of such comments from people who just watch Korean shows, labeling Chinese shows as 'cringey' and having weak female characters, which is obviously not true.
Secondly, in my list there are several shows where the FL is not physically strong, but strong in other ways like having mental strength. The first in my list is 'Ruyi's Royal Love In The Palace', and there we do not have a fighter FL, but rather a smart one. It shows how tough the life was for women during the Qing dynasty, and you will find yourself sympathizing with even the evil women and come to the conclusion that the emperor and the patriarchal society are the actual evil. Also, as I said before this list was to prove this assumption about Chinese dramas wrong for people who think like the person below. I myself have no problem with a not so strong or a weak female leading character when it fits the storyline. For me, execution of a story as promised matter the most. That and an interesting plot that stays interesting throughout.
This brings me to Alchemy of Souls. The drama had promised a badass assassin to the audience. Yet we never got to see that. So no matter what amazing things they had done, they never did that one thing through which they had pulled potential viewers like me in for. Imagine that you order a dessert at a restaurant. You crave nothing, but that dessert. But they are serving you some spicy food saying that this is their best seller, and that the dessert you ordered is unavailable. They tell you this as they serve you, not when you were placing your order. You don't eat spicy food, nor do you crave eating it at that point. Would you still eat and pay for the food, or would you walk away in anger? Any sane person will choose the latter. Same happened with me while watching 'Alchemy of Souls'. And not just AOS, even 'Tale of Nokdu' did that by promising a good historical comedy, but serving an average and poorly written politics instead.
Also, I had acknowledged in my comment that Korea does make historicals with strong female characters, but they never go popular. The recently released 'My Dearest' had one of the best written complex FL I had seen in a Korean historical, but look at the reception for FL. Many of the commentors called her so many names, and were collectively hating on her. I know that this show will never go as popular as 'Hwarang' or 'Love in The Moonlight'.
In regards with your list, I have a feeling that I will love 'Jewel In The Palace', 'Queen Seondok', 'Empress Ki', 'Six Flying Dragons', 'The Red Sleeve', 'Tree With Deep Roots', 'Mr. Queen', 'Princess Man', 'Dong Yi', 'Arthdal Chronicles' & 'Splash Splash Love'. I had checked out the other shows in your list before, but they never pulled me in and led me to drop them. I would recommend 'Under The Queen's Umbrella' & 'My Dearest' for amazing Korean historicals that were recently released with a well written FL.
This is based on the novel 'Wo De A Lei Tai' written by author Li Juan. Her works are highly rated on douban, including wo de a lei tai which is 8.9. The author herself used to live in Aletai/Altay prefecture in Northern Xinjiang and this novel is a compilation of her experiences. I am so excited for this show as it is a well known fact that just like my country India, China boasts a varied geography. However, I have rarely seen a show that is set in this area of China. This drama showcases Aletai in all seasons. It is a slice of life story about pastoral and nomadic lifestyle. I hope to see this soon.
So the painting was made in the Song dynasty by the artist Zhang Zeduan (1085โ1145), and is considered to be the most renowned amongst all Chinese paintings. It is called 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'. It is an handscroll painting and is indeed very long! It showcases a wide panorama of the capital of Northern Song, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng) and captures the daily life of people at that time. Scenes reveal the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as economic activities in rural areas and the city, and offer glimpses of period clothing and architecture. The scroll is 25.5 centimetres (10.0 inches) in height and 5.25 meters (5.74 yards) long. In its length there are 814 humans, 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 buildings, 20 vehicles, 8 sedan chairs, and 170 trees!
The painting is highly impressive! As an artist and an animator, I am in awe with the precision and details put in the painting. The old masters never fail to impress me! I am providing the link for its wikipedia for you guys to check out yourself. Scroll down to the gallery, and the entire painting and it's subsequent 'remakes' are available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival
Now, the author of the novel was himself highly impressed by the painting. He had a copy of the painting hanged in his room. When he closely examined it, he was able to notice some things were off in this otherwise slice of life painting. Slowly, he connected all things that seemed off and came up with a mystery-thriller plot. Using this, he wrote his novel called 'Qing Ming Shang He Tu Mi Ma'. Please visit this link for more information regarding the plot of the novel: https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2015/04/02/historical-thriller-based-on-famous-painting/
Secondly, in my list there are several shows where the FL is not physically strong, but strong in other ways like having mental strength. The first in my list is 'Ruyi's Royal Love In The Palace', and there we do not have a fighter FL, but rather a smart one. It shows how tough the life was for women during the Qing dynasty, and you will find yourself sympathizing with even the evil women and come to the conclusion that the emperor and the patriarchal society are the actual evil. Also, as I said before this list was to prove this assumption about Chinese dramas wrong for people who think like the person below. I myself have no problem with a not so strong or a weak female leading character when it fits the storyline. For me, execution of a story as promised matter the most. That and an interesting plot that stays interesting throughout.
This brings me to Alchemy of Souls. The drama had promised a badass assassin to the audience. Yet we never got to see that. So no matter what amazing things they had done, they never did that one thing through which they had pulled potential viewers like me in for. Imagine that you order a dessert at a restaurant. You crave nothing, but that dessert. But they are serving you some spicy food saying that this is their best seller, and that the dessert you ordered is unavailable. They tell you this as they serve you, not when you were placing your order. You don't eat spicy food, nor do you crave eating it at that point. Would you still eat and pay for the food, or would you walk away in anger? Any sane person will choose the latter. Same happened with me while watching 'Alchemy of Souls'. And not just AOS, even 'Tale of Nokdu' did that by promising a good historical comedy, but serving an average and poorly written politics instead.
Also, I had acknowledged in my comment that Korea does make historicals with strong female characters, but they never go popular. The recently released 'My Dearest' had one of the best written complex FL I had seen in a Korean historical, but look at the reception for FL. Many of the commentors called her so many names, and were collectively hating on her. I know that this show will never go as popular as 'Hwarang' or 'Love in The Moonlight'.
In regards with your list, I have a feeling that I will love 'Jewel In The Palace', 'Queen Seondok', 'Empress Ki', 'Six Flying Dragons', 'The Red Sleeve', 'Tree With Deep Roots', 'Mr. Queen', 'Princess Man', 'Dong Yi', 'Arthdal Chronicles' & 'Splash Splash Love'. I had checked out the other shows in your list before, but they never pulled me in and led me to drop them. I would recommend 'Under The Queen's Umbrella' & 'My Dearest' for amazing Korean historicals that were recently released with a well written FL.