Notes about The Legend of Shen Li xianxia drama

Zhao Liying bidding farewell to Shen Li (and welcome to Jia XiaoDuo in upcoming What A Wonderful World) from Weibo.

Storyboard picture for the set of Qingsheng Village courtyard, first episodes and ending of the drama.

From May 24, 2022 to March 18, 2024, the  public was kept aware of the new drama helmed by pair  Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin. through  a steady flow of:

• concept, character posters (March 11, 2024),incl. a Lin Gengxin double-sided special  (March 19, 2024)
• festival posters (August 4, 2022 for Qixi Chinese Valentines Day; September 10 , 2022 and September 29, 2023 : Mid-Autumn festival posters),  
• posters showcasing the steady rise of million reservations  
  • for Tencent video  (2 million on June 2023 ; over  3 million on September 1 ; over 4 million on December 2 ; over 5 million on Feb 26, 2024  ; over 6 million on March 9, over 7  million on March 12, over 8 millions on March 17, 2024, to in excess of 8.87 million on March 18, 2024 )  
  • and for Mango TV (over one million on Feb.18, 2024,  over 2 million on March 3, 2024; over 3 million on March 14; over 4 million on March 18)  
  • and of popularity points (which rose spectacularly in a few hours on premiere day, from over 23,000 points already 17 minutes into airing, to in excess of 28,000, after 146 minutes;  over 29,000 after 24 hours from airing, and one hour later, achieving status as "Fastest Tencent Drama to break 30,000 heat Index")
  • + see this short video compilation of rankings of March 19, 2024

•  pilot films (the first one, on May 25, 2022), a short promotional video (Nov.5, 2022 1'54) including several actors in cast :  Jackie Li etc,  and crew, clips, Reuters photos, stills, 
• trailers : Jan 22, 2023 for New Year ; June 19, 2023 (1'19);  February 10, 2024 (funny 1' compilation of BTS for CNY) ;  March 9 and 11, 2024, (1'54 comedy side),  March 18, 2024 (2'10) for Tencent, and another for Hunan TV (1'42)
•  BTS (Zhao Liying playing the first battle scene, on Feb.26, 2024;  a short of her doing impressive wirework.
• The  character relationship diagram, and  a 16-minute long pilot film,  published on March 16, 2024.
• long posters for the OST and more

Screenshot from  : "Lin Gengxin said: Zhao Liying cried for a whole day when shooting the finale"

March 7 and 9, 2024 official announcements of scheduled broadcast in North America and on Hunan Satellite TV, Tencent Video, and Mango TV on March 18.  A week later, on March 14, 2024, the show held an exclusive launch press conference (51' 中文 only) in Shanghai, accompanied by an interview of both leads (5'58中文 only), and simultaneously released a new trailer Preview of Happy Three Realms Edition. 

"Chinese Star News" (YouTube) posted several commented cuts from the Press conference (Gif excerpts below): 

"Zhao Liying said to Lin Gengxin: You are still keeping up the tradition of giving cheap gifts."

Discussing height : "Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin discuss how to shoot a kissing scene"

Lin GengXin's wry teasing humor.  Can Lin GengXin cook ?   Yes he can...About memes and more banter ; Lin Gengxin said to Zhao Liying: Is my face smooth?

On another Youtube channel, the kissing scene and LGX preparations for the drama was discussed (2'25) :

Since release, the promotion continued with a live stream featuring members from the cast.

Excerpt : "Why does Lin Gengxin become so shy when he makes eye contact with Zhao Liying? "   (commented by Chinese Star News with language tips on the 10'40 full video). Featuring  Zhao Liying, Lin GengXing, Liu  GuangLin (Tian Jun), Xin YunLai (Mofang), He Yu (Furong Jun), discussing the sparring session in Episode 13 including the dangers of the martial arts shooting with a waist ring (BTS of the scene here).

VARIETY  SHOW :

 =>  Also see the Goodbye to Shen Li   Gif.

INTERVIEW OF LIN GENGXIN 林更新  (3'23) ON VIU posted 2024-04-07 on YouTube:

Tourism :  "Data from the Tongcheng travel platform shows that from the launch of the TV series on March 18 to March 31, the booking volume of Jinyun Xiandu Scenic Area (缙云仙都景区) , the filming location, increased by 572.2% month-on-month. A popular check-in spot for travel.
Jinyun Fairy City is located in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. As a scenic spot featuring natural landscapes, as shown in the TV series, every scene is like a fairyland on earth. This was the real landscape of Xingyun's small courtyard."   [How to get there, what to see - Trip.com info]

The Legend of Shen Li is the second time Zhao Liying and Lin GengXin paired in a drama, after the successful but cliffhanger ending 2017  Princess Agents (Direct link to the show on Viki, 57 episodes) which got embroiled in a plagiarism case, killing the will to do the expected Season 2 (both leads have expressed that they don't wish to pick up the roles again, sadly).

Zhao Liying is the only Chinese actress whose dramas has exceeded 10,000 heat on 3 online platforms: IQIYI, Youku, and Tencent platforms. Youku's The story of Xingfu, IQIYI's Wild Bloom, and Tencent's The Legend of ShenLi.  (Direct links to the shows)

Popularity "Heat index" rise, March 18-19:

4 million reservations, Mango TV : 8.87 million reservations on Tencent Video:

The Legend of Shen Li placed among the top ten most watched dramas of the week ending March 24, 2024,  for first week since it started airing. As reported on the Marcus Here! channel, it began ranked as #2 only because it was one day late in the aggregated data for the week, as compared to the #1 which had been watched longer.  (Sandrusca added more details about the scores).  The following week, it rose to #1 with over 600 points (threshold for really popular dramas) and stayed there for 3 weeks running.   Since March 24, the series stayed consistently among the ten most popular ones as computed by Vlinkage, for over 12 weeks : see weekly rankings below.

#2 most popular TV drama for week ending March 24, 2024, as reported on the Marcus Here! channel. #1 most popular TV drama for week ending April 07, 2024, with 635 points   (It also was reported as having over 108 million views)

#1 most popular TV drama for week ending March 31, 2024, with 631 points (popular drama score).   #1 most popular TV drama for week ending April 14, 2024, with 605 points.

The Legend of Shen Li Opening Douban rating April 11, 2024 :   7.2/10  (decent, given the deleterious influence of hater anti-fans: the fans of the show worked against that. 7+ means it is acknowledged as a good show.). The drama had set a 2024 record high of 31784 popularity points on Tencent by April 11 (popularity points are not computed the same way by platforms and by companies like VLinkage, btw, each have their own methods).

WEEKLY RANKINGS :      # 2 (March 24)     # 1 (March 31)     631 points     # 1 (April 07)        635 points     # 1 (April 14)        605 points     # 3 (April 21)       # 5 (April 28 )     # 7 (May 5)      #10 (May 12)      # 8 (May 19)     #  9 (May 26)    # 8 (June 2)    # 8 (June 9)    # 8 (June 16)    # 7 (June 23)   #10 (June 30) Still in top ten for 12 weeks running now !

*  See characters gallery presentation details  by order of appearance, after the Alphabetical List.

Main cast  (main creative lineup announced on June 14, 2022):  

This section last revised and completed June 17, 2024

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This is so amzing. Thank you for this

Frost, I appreciate your notes.  It really helps me enjoy this drama even more!

 sandrusca:

Can you explain the realms and Xutian abyss please

From what i understood The realms on this Xianxia are Mortal, Immortal - Demons, and  Divine Realms - that has gods. 

Yes roughly the Chinese cosmology division you describe is like that, except it is not always clear cut : how many "divine realms" would there be?  Is demon realm one, or below?  Depends. The most well known divine realm  is "Heaven Realm" which is ordered somewhat like the Chinese Empire, with an Emperor, an Empress, Generals, and Ministers among which you might find Lao Zi (in charge of making immortality pills) and some Chinese heroes. (But I am not sure it's the only one, if you consider that in Ashes of Love, there is a hint about a Buddhist world that looks to be placed above Heaven realm as a sort of Paradise).  Everybody in Heaven Realm is not a god or goddess; there can be immortal fairies too, and in other Realms, there can be gods or goddesses that are not always immortal : the goddess of flowers in Ashes of love, who has her own fairy realm, dies, apparently forever, although death is not always final with the concept of reincarnation.

Ashes of Love, Flower Realm	Ashes of Love, Wangchuan river, ep.6, where ghosts can consume those who fall in.
Runyu, the Night Immortal, resting with his dragon tail idly moving in the pond near his Star terrace of Heaven Realm, in Ashes of Love.	A terrace in Heaven Realm in Ashes of Love

"Demon World" is bordering "Heaven Realm", separated from it by the River of Oblivion Wanchuan 忘川 in Ashes of Love, and by steep mountains with a powerful dragon gate-keeper between this and other worlds, in Sword and Fairy (the worlds of which are inspired by the Shangqing sect of Daoism). Other "immortal" worlds (Flower Realm and Bird Realm, which are immortal fairy worlds, in Ashes of Love) are in between "Mortal world" and Heaven and there is the deep down "Netherworld", that has "Ghost worlds"and other more evil Demon/Devil worlds, and "the Abyss".  But that geography is not always as clear as it seems, and there is a "path" (Dao) to ascension (using the concept of "cultivation") that can make mortals become immortals, and sometimes gods, as if these were hierarchical levels in government.

A subrealm  within the Mortal Realm is "Martial Realm", where martial artists and cultivators strive for strength and enlightenment, and strive to ascend on the path/dao.

In Love Between Fairy and Devil, there are three main realms: Yujing, which is home to the fairies and high immortals, Cangyan Sea, which is home to the Moon Tribe, and Yunmeng Lake, which is home to the mortal race. Yujing encompasses several locations, including Shuiyuntian. The Moon Tribe is viewed as demons by the high immortals of Yujing Fountain Palace which is a part of that world's Heavenly Realm.  Another realm is touched on when in Xuanxu realm, on the border of Wanchuan Oblivion river, the dragon Shangque explains the outcome of the battle 30,000 years ago between Shuiyuntian and the Moon Tribe,

Shuiyuntian Haotian Tower (prison from which Dongfang Qing Cang escaped in LBFAD)

Shuiyuntian arbiter hall where fairy Orchid  resided and was assigned to take care of the "Destiny books".

Xianxia is not always consistent with concepts : each author has his /her own and I am not a specialist of the work and ideas of 九鹭非香  (Jiu Lu Fei Xiang), the author of this story, who is also the author of 苍兰诀 (Cang Lan Jue, adapted to drama as Love Between Fairy And Devil).  There may be some overlap between the two xianxia worlds of Cang Lan Jue and  与凤行 (Yu Feng Xing, which means Walking with the Phoenix, the novel also titled "King is Here", which now gets adapted to drama as The Legend of Shen Li).  I had watched Cang Lan Jue as entertainment, curious about the pairing there, since I had heard about them and watched Wang Hedi before, in my exploration of the Meteor Garden phenomenon, which is as far removed from xianxia as can be.  But I had fond memories of Ashes of Love and some other xianxia dramas, from Ten Miles of Peach Blossom to the Untamed, so I went to watch the story of Orchid and Dongfang Qing Cang, after spending part of that summer on the epic Love Like The Galaxy. Coming back later to other xianxia, such as,  lately The Starry Love, Till The End Of The Moon and although it was not totally satisfying to me, The Last Immortal (but I still need to watch Ancient Love Poetry, to get back to re-watch TLI with better perspective, I suppose).     

Some wuxia and costume dramas also touch on Daoist beliefs which have a special view on esoteric worlds divisions and the path from mortals to ascend towards immortality through "cultivation" (which can have spectacular outcomes, such as "flying" over walls,  rooftops, battlefields.. in stories of course).  These beliefs, as far as fantasy is concerned, are used as raw material that also get influenced by other World folk tales and beliefs, including from Indian or Greek or other mythology (in The Legend of Shenli, the Chimei 魑魅   is a man-eating mountain spirit shown as a poisonous shape shifting beast with snake-scorpion tail that looks much influenced by the Greek Chimera (translated as 嵌合体 Qiàn hétǐ  or phonetically as Qíměi lā 奇美拉), although hybrid fantastical creatures are numerous in homegrown Chinese culture, such as the 麒麟 Qilin, the 龙 Chinese dragons, and 凤凰 Fenghuang Chinese phoenix, among other ones). Daoism as a creed gets colored by Buddhist close concepts. Demonology draws on many sources, that can be modernized from authors of stories, novels, movies, anime, even games.  

Not only are there the traditional Chinese Si Xiong 四凶  four evil creatures :

• the Hundun (渾敦, 渾沌; Hùndùn; 'chaotic torrent), a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face;
• the Qiongqi (窮奇; Qióngqí; 'distressingly strange', 'thoroughly odd'), a monstrous creature that eats people;
• the Taowu (檮杌; Táowù; 'block stump'), a reckless, stubborn creature;
• the Taotie (饕餮; Tāotiè; 'greedy glutton'), a gluttonous beast.

Lord BiCang battling the Chimei shape shifting monster with scorpion tail, in The Legend of Shen Li,  Clip from ep. 8 linked  (4'48)

The phrase 魑魅魍魉  Chīmèi wǎngliǎng  refers to "evil spirits, demons and monsters  - all sorts of evil  persons", and in fact specifically three sorts : .魑 Chi is a sort of yellowish dragon, 魅 Mei is a seductive forest spirit, 魍魉 Wangliang is a water demon.  China has a wide variety of demons. Each Chinese New Year the Nian beast will be remembered, for example. Plus sometimes some "new ones" borrowed from other spirit believing cultures in Korea Japan, India.   To make matters even more murky, and complex, in this perspective, Chinese xianxia can also be mixed  with  "xuanhuan", a sort of Chinese fantasy genre concept that has influences both from wuxia "cultivation" tales, xianxia, and science fiction alternate universes or far planets stories.  

So, the take of one or another author on Heaven realms, Mortal realms, Demon Realms, Ghost Realm and other "lesser" Realms can be very different, as can be the use of traditional myths. There is of course the old Chinese folk religion, with its various levels/tiers of Hell where people will have to pass three tests before getting judged in afterlife  before Yama, the King of hell. Visiting Fengdu City of Ghosts near Chongqing gives an idea through walking the temples and their colored statues : the path goes up through stairs, a view of the Bridge of Helplessness, and more and finally wrongdoers get tortured more or less forever in very graphic ways by devils.  The old Chinese ghost stories and Chinese opera often draw on this folk religion and ideas, such as the story of the Peony Pavilion, or the White Snake (which introduces one  form of "demons" that can lead astray in the human world ;  there are also foxes and other "spirit animals" yaoguai (妖怪 strange beings), yaojing (妖精 fairies), etc. that can appear and coexist with humans in the "mortal realm". In fact, the "spirit" idea also touches plants and things, as is shown in The Journey To The West, the very famous and entertaining novel by Wu Cheng'en written in 15th century Ming dynasty and set in the 7th century about the time when Buddhism was introduced in China. (This story about the Monkey King is interesting too in that the protagonist is a benevolent demon born from a stone, on his way to ascending to Heaven! All Chinese demons are not necessarily evil, some are even life savers such as the White snake. There are also fantastical beasts that feed on dreams, doing away with people's nightmares ; these are called "dream tapirs", belonging to Huanming fantasy worlds such as in Sword and Fairy universe : you can have a look at my notes on S&F4  for an introduction to that drama and universe, which mentions several other beasts from Daoist  lore :  the six guardians of the night time. There is also a brief visit to the Netherworld 冥都 Míngdōu. )

Buzhou mountain in Sword and Fairy 4, in which is located the entrance to the Netherworld where dead people may linger.

Terrace entrance to Netherworld (through an invisible portal watched by a dragon)

 The Abyss is a sort of "hell like" concept where the worst offenders and devils get thrown (literally), as in jail, forever supposedly, but always strive to get out and take over the universe. I suppose suicide also can lead to falling into it.  It is a layer of Hell of course, and can be shown diversely, either as a wasteland such as in The Last Immortal, or as a rocky but foggy marshy place with hostile plants and fantastical, threatening creatures :  it has, like any land, different parts, so some can perhaps be visited less dangerously, at the entrance, which can be a sort of cave, or  an opening mystically connected to other realms but submerged under deep sea.  (ancient gods had contained the demons under the sea in Chinese very ancient mythological times).

(My screenshots and Gif from episode 10 of the Legend of Shen Li : Shen Li and Xing Zhi inspect the entrance to the Abyss, outside and inside)

The 墟天渊 (Xū Tiān Yuān  - where xū u is a wasteland, in ruins, tiān is heaven and yuān means deep) abyss in the Legend of ShenLi  looks like it is bordering Demon realm, called 灵界 Líng jiè (spirit world, where shape shifting beings reside) in this xianxia. This "Immortal Realm" (name chosen by translators here)  seems to serve as "buffer state" between the Abyss and the neighboring other realms. The Immortal realm is also "far away" from Heaven realm, called "Divine realm" 仙界 Xiānjiè,  in this xianxia (despite the other translation "fairy world" may look confusing : the Divine realm is where immortal beings who are not originating from shape shifting beasts reside), where there is an emperor, and the "Extranatural Heaven" (天外天 Tiānwài tiān) which looks like a small and  independent part of the Heaven plane: that's where Xing Zhi resided ordinarily. There are "demon/humanoid" guards at the entrance to the XuTian Abyss, which looks like it belongs to the cave entrance variety.  There is a chain that forbids the access and escape of the unknown beings that are inside, and magic seals that form an invisible barrier. A sort of fiery evil eye maelstrom can nevertheless suck in those who come too close. There, the "miasma" flies around, pictured somewhat like black giant amoeba floating and swiftly attacking, targeting living beings to enter them with evil alien poison, that will color the hapless humans' veins black. The landscape looks dark like night time, there are sorts of trees and plants and even luminescent mushroom, two waterfalls, perhaps the source to the Wangchuan (which seems to be a spirit river that can be invoked, for ferrying the dead to their next destinations and thus, help give closure to the living. Shen Li, ep.3 and 22 used the invocation 吾以吾引忘川 Wúyǐwúyǐn Wàngchuān : "I summon in my name the River of Oblivion").

Despite the barriers, miasma can still manage to contaminate other realms, such as Mortal Realm (ep.14-15) and evil forces can threaten the local Earth deities portrayed (these are not in all xianxia, but the Earth God does appear in some like Ashes of Love).

To my mind, it looks like the XuTian Abyss  has a proximity to the Netherworld, which is another concept from Chinese folk religion, Daoism, and Buddhist cosmology where hell is called Dìyù 地狱 (Buddhist cosmology identifies six realms of rebirth and existence: gods, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and hells that are mirrored in the six paths that disciples may follow. So there is a connection between "sects" in human world and those ancient beliefs : A Journey To Love, the recent wuxia drama, draws a lot on this, and for an overview you might check my notes on that one too).

The puppet show in Qingsheng city, Mortal Realm, where Shen Li landed in the form of a strange "mountain chicken" and was rescued by Xing Yun.

Immortal Realm capital city and Holy palace on top of a mountain in The Legend of Shen Li.

In the Legend of Shen Li, the division of the three realms is told in easy words to the mortal human audience in a puppet show, in ep. 2 :  "When Heaven and Earth were created, there were three realms. The lower realm is the human world, and the upper realm is heavens. The heavens originally had beasts. The beasts absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven  and earth and practiced techniques. They transformed into human form and called themselves the Immortal. Above the heavens is the abode of the ancient gods, the Extranatural Heaven. The ancient gods are powerful, each with their own duties. Some control time or create beings. After humanity was created, [some beings] learned the techniques of the five elements, ascended to the heaven and called themselves the Divine. More and more of them came to the heavens, and there were constant disputes between the Divine and the Immortal. After millions of years of conflict, the two sides finally drafted an agreement. They settled in two different parts of the heaven known as the Divine realm and the Immortal realm." (WeTV translation)

Hoping these thoughts are useful to you.

This section updated on March 31, 2024

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I came back to this and its so beautiful. Thank you for your dedication, the fast response the will to write these notes, your effort, everything. The chinese names are really interesting.i've watched a few Xianxia and it was easier to understand their realms. This drama chose Divine and Immortal wich sounds the same so it was confusing. I wish they just said demon and Immortal like a few others since Shenli is Demon Lord of Chaos. After the explanation its easier to understand. I like the original novel name Acompanying the Phoenix, its simple and represents the story well. There are too many Legend of, Story of , Love blabla .  Grateful for the reply 

Im always coming back to this. Just noticed the platforms you forgot to list Viki, it premiered the same day and its following the chinese platforms schedule.

Awesome job. Thanks for sharing