Historical Dramas Club

 LucianYaz:

How come I'm only now seeing this club??  I want in!! I love Chinese historical dramas (haven't worked up interest yet to try other countries) - I love the plots, the scheming (when it's smart), the costumes, the glimpse in the past, well, just about everything. And I have Battle of Changsha and Nirvana in Fire to thank for that wonderful rabbit-hole of goodness.  Thanks, Estelll, for creating this space :D

Hi & welcome to our company!!! ^.^

 LucianYaz:

On the weekend, I was thinking how, lately, I only want to watch historical and fantasy dramas, and then I stumble across this club :)

It seems like great minds think alike, lol! ;)

 Estelll:

Oh, you're missing a treat, I highly recommend it, for when you're in the mood for something a bit slower, maybe!

Yup, this drama requires a specific kind of mood and mindset.  My mum and her sisters thoroughly enjoyed it though, it's right up their alley lol

 Estelll:

I've been meaning to ask, do most of them only have numbers as their names? Like Er Niang being the 2nd lady (I'm guessing she was the 2nd child of the family), Wu Niang being the 5th, Shiyi being the 11th, etc.?

Ming Lan taught me a lot of things, e.g there, too, the sisters were sometimes just being referred to by their numbers, but they also had proper names, not just numbers!

Yes, which is why in addition to the suffix (eg "niang"), they add the identifiers/ numbers as prefix (eg ta-niang, er-niang, xiao-niang).  This is actually practical because in the old days most families were big with many children.  This is even before we get into historical eras where you have the main wife and concubines, which produced even more children!  

 Estelll:

So what's the deal with The Sword and The Brocade? I'd heard that it's the same in the book by the way, so is this simply something the writer chose as a stylistic choice maybe or just laziness? Or is it something that actually happened historically? Maybe because they're concubine's daughters, not even bothering to name them?

I didn't read the book and currently I'm not following this drama but historically speaking, everyone gets an official name. The "numbers prefix" as I mentioned earlier is just part of their moniker or nickname.

 Banesa:

Hey I'd like to join too : )

Welcome!

 Banesa:

I've always been curious about seeing dramas set during the Liao Dynasty  or Yuan Dynasty  (I finally learned the names by reading through these pages lol) but I've yet to see any. Does anyone have recommendations?

I haven't watched any Chinese dramas set in those periods. You could try the Korean drama Empress Ki. It starts off in Goryeo, but most of it takes place in Yuan.

 xinya:

I haven't watched any Chinese dramas set in those periods. You could try the Korean drama Empress Ki. It starts off in Goryeo, but most of it takes place in Yuan.

Thank you, I've heard good things about that drama but never got around to watching it. I might start now

 WandereR:

For Yuan Dynasty, historical (palace) dramas are rare but we do have wuxia dramas set in this era, primarily The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre drama and its associated series/ versions.

Thank you, I usually avoid wuxia so I've never heard of it lol, but my curiosity is piqued so I'll check it out. I did try Legend of Xiao Chuo  but couldn't get through the first ep, I just wasn't interested unfortunately.

A couple years back I remember seeing a list of different dramas sorted by dynasties and I wondered why Liao and Yuan didn't have anything listed under them. But like you said, I guess they're just not popular.

 Estelll:

Are you talking about this post? https://mydramalist.com/discussions/chinese-drama-movies/5511-chinese-hong-kong-dramasmovies-on-historical-time-table 
I've also listed it in the front page by the way, under "History" section.

Yes! though its fuller now then I remembered (its definitely been a couple of years)

 Estelll:

Also, a quick search, besides the numerous Heavenly Sword & Dragon Sabre adaptations (I've watched the 2019 version btw & I LOVED it!), gives me these 2 dramas: 

A Weaver on the Horizon

The Legend of Kublai Khan

Thanks for giving me a version you liked cause I didn't realize just how many there are lol  and I actually finished A Weaver on the Horizon some years ago (though its been taken down by now) and I did try to look for the Legend of Kublai Khan but couldn't find it at all

 lucy_lu:

Hello 

I thought that maybe the club would be interested in a little table I've created about all the historical tags available in MDL database about Chinese history.

Wow, this is really useful and detailed!

Thank you so much for your hard work, really appreciate it!  :)

 Estelll:

So, I'm thinking of posting on the feeds 1-2 times a week to promote some posts here, what do y'all think? :)

Edit: Also, I added a "Featured Posts" section in the front page.

Sounds good. :)

 Estelll:

So, I'm thinking of posting on the feeds 1-2 times a week to promote some posts here, what do y'all think? :)

Edit: Also, I added a "Featured Posts" section in the front page.

Great idea!