Answer to Million Dollar Question: " Why Dilraba as Li Changge?"

@Martial Also, in all her previous projects, I never liked how the male lead character was written. It seemed like she was always on the giving end and never on the receiving end in the relationship except in Love Designer. The romances either started with unrequited love as in ELOD or forceful toxic love as in King's Woman. In The Long Ballad, I'm so overjoyed to see a greatly written amazing male protagonist paired up with her played by Wu Lei. I can't express in words. 

@Martial Agreed. Hopefully her company continues to let her shine and give her freedom to choose. 

@SerenityShimikaBlack Totally agree with you!

Now..that's not fair to compare her with Vic Chao or Vengo. On the character these two ML were supposedly two old men, one was over 80 years old waiting for the birth of  daughter of his beloved and the other was over thousand years old ex-Heaven Emperor. They're looking pretty good for the old men. Lin YuZhen was criticized for partnering with so much younger Zhao LuSI (Dating in the kitchen) but to me it made sense because a successful businessman that's been around the block for a while shouldn't be like a boy in their 20th. A guy above 35 should take role for that drama.  

I love Leo Wu, I think he's super hot..very natural in expressing his anger and sadness of the death of his mom...or sat proud, powerful and strong when tried to attack the town or even determination during arrow competition against She'Er to win Back ChangGe.  Zhao LuSi has the most heartbreaking cry when she lost Ziao Wu...I love those two characters.  But I don't see ChangGe character improves, she still inconsiderate selfish stubborn reckless princess...her action was empty bravado. Hope she'll be better but I haven't seen it yet. She's a dang lucky woman that has some powerful people love, care, trust her.  Even the timid and most helpless LeYan help her not to get kill. Yes, Hou Du wants to kill her but it's by the order of his ambitious adopted father. So, I got 30% patience to watch ChengGe.

@Xtinew About Vengo and Vic they might be 80 or 1000 yrs older but their counterpart female lead is also supposed to be older like that but aimed to be adolescent in face. 

And about Changge, I think you are forgetting her original conviction. That is revenge only at first. But so many things add to it. She protects her people and wants to guard her country against enemies. She is not just a lucky chap surrounded by people who wants to save her. She is hunted as a fugitive from her homeland and she has lost her family through the most trusted person in her life- her uncle. She has trust issues. She saved Shuozhu, setting aside her grudge she saved Li Shimin from Khan's ambush just to ensure people don't fall in the hands of malicious Khans. She saved Luo Yi who was a valiant loyal general close to her father. But he chose to sacrifice to save her having no option left. She holds the most complexities in her emotions that is not just usual dilemma of choosing love or people, she has way too many things on her mind to find some time and think about Sun. And she saved Sun from Sher and Khan thrice. It's not that she doesn't care about him. She has to save the people she wants to save, she doesn't leave them to fate and regret later. As for Sun and all the people involving in her mess, it's also their choice in spite of her warning them not to because she knows she's like a mine field. That's the reason she pushed away Leyan, and also warned Adou but he followed her and lastly she is cold to Sun for this exact reason but he, too can't help protecting her at all cost because he sincerely loves her. As for her to realize this feeling completely, she needs time for growth to think things through and be less impulsive with her actions which is the main point of her character growth arc. She has had the most number of her loved ones leave one by one right in front of her eyes our of all characters in this series. She has the most layered emotional complexity.  Even though Leyan felt just once through her journey about this loss, it's still far from Changge. She protects Changge because she knows she loves her but pushed her away to protect her, as Changge was the one to always protect her since they were children.  Even after being hunted like a dog, she chose to fight for people using whatever skills she has learned. How can you call her selfish, seeing her just from Sun's love interest perspective? She got rotten vegetables thrown at her by the people of Shuozhu who even didn't know she was the one who protected them but she didn't care at all. Also when she shot the arrow at Li Shimin to save him, she took the blame for herself as a part of Wolf division to save Sun and his Eagle division. She didn't care what happens to her. She is anything but selfish. Yes, she's stubborn and reckless. These two words sound right. She is like a Fire Phoenix who's willing to burn herself after flying but she also makes sure others aren't burnt with her.

She's not a simple puppet like Hao Du, pointlessly hunting her down. He is the one who hasn't had any substance to his character, just blindly following orders with no avail. 

@Xtinew I think you came to the wrong thread with all that bias in your comment. We were discussing double standards that woman face in showbiz that men are almost exempt from. Characterisation of male leads is completely different from their reality like the characters you just named that were played by Vengo Gao and Vic Chou. To call Changge selfish is unfair considering there are a plethora reasons behind her actions. She is a complex character who is also very much flawed. Out of all the characters in the series, her character growth is the most evident because unlike the others, she has had to face so much adversity in such a short timeframe and almost always on her own. To associate her triumphs only to other characters is taking away the level of individual effort that Changge has put into discovering these truths about herself that she can be arrogant, inconsiderate but she is always looking to improve herself by looking at the bigger picture and putting others first. If she was selfish, she would never keep thinking about the welfare of Tang first. I feel like your comment was just to be divisive between the actresses in the series  and to perpetuate the idea that women should always be in competition with each other which is a shame, because both Dilraba and Zhao Lusi adore each and compliment each other well.

Also, Dilraba and Lusi gets along so well like sisters. I'm really glad they collaborated. But I kinda find it funny and frustrating how people are so busy trying to compete with who's superior.