darkstar

Sorry, but I beg to disagree, mostly after having watched Rookie Historian, My Country, The Red Sleeves and other similar-style ones. That FL needs some serious acting classes (as well as several others in this series).

The communists worked on the countryside because people there had been more affected by the corruption and incompetence of the existing government and were too ignorant and simple minded and easy to buy their bs. As the sentence "the Kuomintang fought the Japanese while the Communist fought the Kuomintang" says, the Communist were more worried about propaganda, deceit and telling whatever stories to get to power. Fighting the Japanese was secondary to them. They just saw WWII as an opportunity to rise to power.
Once in power, as usual, they eliminated anyone who still opposed or woke up, as more than 60 million starved to death by Mao did to eliminate opposition. Most of those were the farmers he "cared so much".
So, those scenes showing "genuine concern" for the farmers were just that: propaganda.
Left and Right are common terms used here to define political affiliation, with the left being those who support communists. This is a global definition, not just in the US.

Wait. You don't know where we are going? You are the one complaining about my post and the use of the word "propaganda".
Since the very beginning, I have been talking about this specific drama and how it portrays the communists as "saints".
You now expanded the discussion to several others and different eras and, if I understood, have been trying to portray communism as Chinese "culture", which I disagree. It is not. That would be akin to pinning it as part of Russia, Cuba, North Korea's. The fact that so many reject it by leaving those places or die trying proves it.
If that's not your point, please rephrase and make it more clear.

Well, we only comment on Asian content here for obvious reasons. 😉
One of the examples you mentioned, Rambo, is shameless propaganda, the se way, Independence Day and so many others. Several series and movies portraying the CIA, FBI, MI6, UN, WHO, and others are "fighters for justice" give me nausea. So, propaganda and brainwashing isn't just a Chinese exclusivity. I don't know where you got this idea. Here in the US, a very famous guy who only wanted to debate political opponents was cowardly murdered by a lunatic brainwashed by leftists and many find it great. Mao wasn't the only mass murderer. Stalin is behind for just a bit. Add Pol Pot, Kim, the Castros, and several others, and things are evident.
So, I do not understand why you thought I was only mentioning China. I was talking about the drama and the scenes showing the Communists so "worried" about "the people" were at least laughable, mostly when we see how "the people" were treated in Tiananmen Square. Even how the CCP tried to erase the part of History that did not interest it. I remember a movie about a family struggle in China during the early days of the CCP taking over. The father was completely sold to communism and would blindly follow it. One day he went to a celebration with the family and his son was killed when a guy who did not know how to drive was assigned to drive a big truck and accidentaly backed into a wall that crumbled over the boy killing him. After some time the daughter married and got pregnant. The problem happened when she had to deliver the baby and the folks at the hospital did not have a clue on how to do it. The only doctor was arrested for not towing the line and starving in prison. They released him to go deliver the baby. However, he was too weak to do anything so they gave him a lot of food. Since he was starving, he ate all, forgetting he should not. So, he passed in shock. The girl and her baby ended up also dying.
This movie (Chinese) showed quite well how the purges and "reeducation camps" worked. So, yes, movies showing how merciful and humanitarian communists are, are propaganda. That does not exclude other countries.

For some reason, my comment about the propaganda in this drama got you very worked up.

Nonethless, History is History and might influence a people's culture and, as you said, the victor writes history. History (capital H) always surfaces. I read the best description of what happened at the time of this drama here from another poster. "The Kuomintang fought the Japanese while the Commumist fought the Kuomintang". My family's Chinese branch had members murdered by the Japanese during WWII, but they also do not like the CCP. That, plus over 60 million slaughtered by Mao, can help explain why Taiwan wants to remain independent. So, nothing to do with culture.

Nevethless, suit yourself with whatever floats your boat.

Wow! What a trip! Much better than what I was expecting. Great series. The music is simply phenomenal. Definitely a must watch for who likes music. The story also covered a bit of the music industry's backstage fights and gossips, but I paid more attention to the music and the band's struggles with their creation.

It's a completely different issue.
The problem is when it becomes deception. Check History (the real one) amd you will that reality was different than the drama portrays regarding the CCP's actual behavior during that time.

Both terms were typed as intended. Both are widely used here in the US for the content coming out of Hollyweird. 😉
That's why I seldom watch anything from there and have been more into Chinese, Korean (more the older ones), and Japanese.

Great conclusion for the four stories. I'm not into Wuxia but this one hooked me up from the very beginning of the four stories. Really good acting and production. I'll likely watch again in the future.

This a nice drama. Story is very good, until the last couple episodes, when it took a nosedive into CCP propaganda. Neverthless, the main story and the acting saved it. The characters were well researched and the story could almost be a documentary. I liked Northward better, mostly because the propaganda wasn't so overt. Neverthless, it's definitely a great binge watch. For anyone who likes this style, Minning Town is also a great watch.

I noticed that too. Probably related to sponsorship. After all, MDL has to make a living and, thus, pay the bills. The bias towards KDramas is very glaring and very easy to spot. The bots posting nonsense about any KDrama garbage also makes it very artificial and numbs anyone looking for real reviews and comments. Korea has been trying to expand globally, thus got closer to Hollyweird, and this a price to pay. Everything artificial. I miss the old-style dramas. They were more genuine and not do pasteurized. The Chinese did not get that close but we can also feel Hollyweird's bad influence in some of them.

Of course. This drama does not get even close to liting a candle to the others, starting by the very lame acting and cheezy story. The grade it got shows how bad the MDL's ranking is. Comparing to other drama, it seems completely dominated by bots.

Another great chapter of the main series. The production, casting, soundtrack, are all just right. This is another one that deserves a much higher rating.

Awesome series. Interesting that this one comes in second but the timeline is earlier than the first season. The actors are perfect in their roles. Photography, acting, soundtrack, everything matches nicely and deliver a great story.

Awesome drama. I'm not much into Wuxia but this is top notch. Everything just right. Went by so fast and left me longing for more. Deserves a much higher rate.

The story was really sloooow burning. Sometimes I would get impatient because the actors also talked very slow in a kind of eerie voice. But I guess that was part of the drama's ambience they wamted to build, and were great at that. The other thing is, why the characters were crying for no reason most of the time? I think it could go with less tears. It was sad watching almost all of them dying, but it's part of it.

Outstanding series. The production checked all the boxes: acting, photography, script, direction, and so on. This drama deserves a much higher rating. Only two things made it not perfect for a 10 for me. (spoiler below)

Good drama overall, even though I liked Sandra Ma's performance as a general much better. Neverthless, the story was entertaining and binge watchable, which counts a few points for me. As a romance, it was very good. The acting, production and soundtrack were also very good.

Cool lighthearted drama. The story that looked like Cinderella was fine, except for the FL's family, which was overboard evil, pretty much like in fairy tales. Neverthless, an easy binge watch from the time South Koreans did great dramas.

Drama Box Exclusive on Youtube has the series.