whoissilmoy

I found reviews on this novel so I could better understand the story beforehand. The first story is about Ji Xing's journey to achieve her dream. Apparently, she is what is known as Beipiao or "drifter" in Beijing, dream chasers, those who work in Beijing but do not have permanent resident status. They left their hometowns and aspired to realize their dreams in this metropolis despite the many challenges of a hard life. Now I understand why the Chinese title for this Drama is called As Beautiful As Beijing. This drama is based on the second story about Han Ting and Ji Xing working together. The other title I came across You are More Beautiful than the Stars is in reference to her last name Xing means Star, or that they are both stars in the industry, or the beautiful night sky of Beijing when they go star gazing. The reviews were all great. Seems readers really love Han Ting and only a few are irritated by Ji Xing. There is always that one lone horrible review of female character. I would have expected the opposite since I thought Han Ting is supposed to be a "cold CEO" type. Apparently, Han Ting taught her a lot. There is a lot of angst in this story. I saw in the trailer that Han Ting can shed a river of tears, something I did not expect to see if he is supposed to be a "cold" person.
The technology subject is AI Healthcare and AI is a hot topic these days although not as big in healthcare yet (?). I hope the drama delves into the business world and technology aspects. The novel follows their relationship really far into their lives. I wonder how far in the relationship does the drama take it to.

Thanks Krish728. How could I not know that Xing means Star. The female character's name means star. To Han Ting, she is the most beautiful thing in the universe because what can shine brighter than the all the stars in the universe? Han Ting is into money and material things, so hopefully, he will discover she is more valuable.

I saw in the new trailer, during their heartbreak, she is in bed, holding up a necklace that has a star and a moon, obviously, Han Ting must have given it to her. He is sitting somewhere out there, lonely and sad, holding a sparkler that sparkles like stars. Also, they go star gazing together. That made me think about the title You are more beautiful than the stars. I wonder what the meaning behind stars in this movie.

I love these descriptions from a review I read:
"Xu Kai's amorous gaze"
"Jing Tian's seductive smiles"
"A crazy alchemy"
"Their complicity is so palpable"
"Lead couple is to die for"

I can't help but think that even though this love story is referred to as a "love-hate" relationship, these two never really hated each other, except when they first met. Take for example, when Li Ni has to sleep on the floor, Cui Lin throws him a blanket knowing how cold the floor is. The next morning, Li Ni is up first, and he puts the blanket over her and smiles at her before leaving. When Li Ni asked for his mother's beads back, she refuses to give it back because she doesn't want to end their relationship, he tugs it out of her hands and burns her hand, he is concern for her hands even though he is mad. When they argued at Wonderland, she walks away, but he grabs her and kisses her to let her know he loves her. Even though the next morning, she gives him grief that their consummation is not a big deal and that she will not suffer any loss since she will kill him and make her son the emperor. He is appalled but then the scene shifts to Li Ni daydreaming on the job, he could only think of how sweet the night before was. It was a big deal to him. It was his first time, their first time. Whatever she said didn't affect him.

I wrote down these words to the song sung so beautifully and emotionally by Tan Song Yun, a true artist! The song gives clues to the tense relationship between the leads.

"Boundary"

Once again, you stood opposite me,
telling about a world I am unfamiliar with,
those that seem far away,
but lies between you and me,
test each other to see who crosses the border first.

If I can get closer to you,
can memories be overlapped slightly,
make loneliness at least safe?

Don't let understanding become an adventure.
We stick to our point of view,
having set expectations,
and being in a dilemma,
always hope that the other party will be soft-hearted,
before you feel at ease.

Pretend love has nothing to do with winning or losing.

Going round and round,
testing in detours,
only then can I be calm,
there is no natural perfection.

Although the sweater is warm,
but it feels painful,
trying to get used to it is also a kind of bravery.

We stick to our point of view,
having set expectations,
and being in a dilemma,
always hope that the other party will be soft-hearted,
before you feel at ease.

Pretend love has nothing to do with winning or losing.

We each keep half of ourselves.
I will show you my whole self again.

Don't look forward to
ask for the other person's answer and make a judgment.
It's unbearable that the love has become a game of exchange.

The Chinese name for this movie is "You Are More Beautiful Than The Stars". To me, this is very different than English name "As Beautiful As You".

in the bts, when Hang Ting swoop up Ji Xing in her wedding dress, he bounced her up and down in his arms. If I understood Xu Kai interview, he added that to the scene. He said that sometimes the girl is not comfortable position, so he did it partly to adjust her position make her more comfortable and also, she's very light. That sounds so Xu Kai, just like in WOL, he shouted three times to Cui Lin he wanted to marry her when the director only needed him to say it once.

SAHPH is first modern drama using his own voice and, on the set, too! no dubbing if I understood it right. I recall Xu Kai said that he was nervous his line delivery might mess up Yang Mi. Now ABAY is second modern drama using his own voice and dubbed by himself. He said he learned a lot from this dubbing process. AMA is not a modern drama but a Republican drama and dubbed by a voice actor. I really like Xu Kai's voice, it is a strong distinctive voice, but he tends to be soft spoken. I hope he can do at least one modern drama a year using his own voice. He has to get rid of his accent to use it in costume dramas. I read that he sounded Taiwanese in SHPH. I believe he will surprise everyone as he gains more experience.

Tan Songyun is a gifted actress with her passionate performances. She sings beautifully too.
Both her acting and singing conveys emotions. It's like I can read what is going through her mind when I look at her expressive face. She comes across authentic. As far as romance, if it's a Xu Kai movie, the romance will be very sweet. For Xu Kai fans, this movie is a real treat because it is only his second modern drama using his own voice (AMA is a Republican drama).

how do you get the novel?

quote from a Xu Kai interview:
Q: What award would you give Li Ni?
XK: The Best Male award because he has been through so much, but he has survived it all.
Q:
XK: I envy he has Cui Lin, such an excellent lover with both wisdom and courage.

Actually, if I'm the emperor or minister of the imperial court, I too would be intimidated by the most powerful Cui army in the kingdom because at the beginning of the movie, the reason they left their territory for war was to ensure peace and good life for the people. Cui Lin mission was always to give the people a better life, even if it meant she had to take the throne herself. It was only after she met Li NI that changed. She knew he was the right one for the job. I believe that with Cui Lin personality, she would march to war against the throne again if Li Ni doesn't want the job and she felt the people are suffering. It was only after the climax of ep30 that LI Ni understood that Leyoyuan or his Wonderland is not restricted to a physical location. Then he was able to understand that Cui Lin and he always shared the same goal.

Now that Sun Jing was defeated, Cui Yi and his daughter Cui Lin were ready to go home to their territory and Cui Lin already had long difficult discussion with Li Ni. They didn't exactly fall apart but they both decided that it was best to leave it alone for now, since neither can convince the other. But then Li Ni second brother asked emperor for marriage to Cui Lin and that pulled her back into the court politics. A lot of things are out of their control.

Whoever said Li Ni is not smart didn't hear that Bao said LI Ni is highly gifted and his intelligence and talent comes along once in a century. When it comes to court politics, Li Ni goes by the book. He always finds solutions that fits within the laws of the empire. He is a thoughtful, thorough, and creative thinker and doer. He plans way ahead as shown more than once. There is not much Cui family can do, once peace was restored, weak emperor and weak ministers do not allow powerful separatist army. It's either go to war or submit to the throne. If not for Cui Yi unconditional love for his daughter, Cui family mentality is to die defending their army and their territory and Cui Lin would fight Li Ni in battle - we can see from her personality that is who she is. These wars was how it was in ancient China.

Xu Kai and Jing Tian share a great off-screen rapport, which translates into their on-screen chemistry. As Li Ni and Cui Lin, their acting feels authentic and natural. Maybe they can do a modern drama together?

I was going to do my first rewatch, but YoYo channel hid all the videos for WOL. It is no longer free on You Tube. That's really too bad for potential viewers. At least I can find WOL over at Viki for free but with commercials. I feel that anyone who has to read subtitles, if they enjoy a drama, really have to watch it again because you can't possibly catch everything the first time.
It must be nice to understand Mandarin or at least be able to read Chinese characters to capture the true meaning.

the fact that Wonderland of Love is moderately popular with zero hype or zero media attention means that the movie is standing on its own merits. When the movie first aired, someone wrote, I don't see any discussions on this movie, let me start one.

Even if people think Zhou Dong Yu was miscast, she still put in an excellent performance. To say otherwise is an insult to her as a professional. She is an amazing actress. She has her own beauty with her passion and smile. What!? "She has no fans at all"? Have you counted how many times she been nominated for Best Actress and how many times she's won Best Actress? What!" "She has few dramas?" I counted she has been in over 25 movies, and she's only 31 yrs. old! She had no acting background when she was discovered by a very famous director, who also discovered other very famous top tier actors. And she is a four Dan actress of post 90's era.
As for Xu Kai, his acting in ALP was superb too. He is a visual and expressive actor so his acting it's very subtle. What's wrong with a fat face anyway? ALP was complicated for someone like me. I had to rewatch it so many times to figure it all out. Once the movie made sense, it is not slow or boring. Who is a "trashy girl"? What kind of comment is that? MDL is not the entire universe.

thanks, i corrected it. I have not watched TLI yet, but I saw some discussion here comparing it to ALP. I'm just hoping people here just discuss TLI and not bring up ALP. They are two separate movies. Enjoy TLI and discuss it on its own story. I was very moved by Zhao Lu Si in the short film, Autumm Fairy Tales. Her acting is the reason I would want to watch TLI.