JJJ

Here is a vid of it: xhslink.com/o/1pu3mR590Ml

I think this drama is doing a good job on making all the characters compelling. They feel like actual people and not just NPCs that revolve around the leads and only show up when it is time to move the leads' plot forward. Very smart of the drama to use the girl selling the fruits/vegetables throughout the different episodes to announce the passage of time without outright saying how many years have passed. There was an analysis that the type of fruits/vegetables she was selling also indicated the season.

Man (but seems to dress up as a woman) and that's her cousin too.

Everyone is a moving chess piece, just so well done!

Got me on the edge of my seat during the stamp scrambling sequence. 😩 Stressed out for everyone involved.

It was on purpose since Qingxiang is Zhao Xingtang's favorite servant (plus Qingxiang was the one helping ZXT to do the money accounts). Making Qingxiang miserable is a warning to ZXT that she can make her and those she values close miserable too if she doesn't stop what she is doing (stealing money).

Great drama so far. I think it is doing a good job showcasing the predicament and reality of servants and even the higher ranked women like Zhao Xingtang whose family didn't allow their women to learn how to read and write which limits their choices.

It is always the servants who end up suffering when the powerful clashes... one had to marry an old man, and another was beaten half to death (and only got saved because of the previous incident where the madam ended up in prison for a year). Hoping the best for the remaining 3 servant girls.

Unfortunately, it does reflect reality. 🥲 People treat those they think are pretty/handsome better, that's the "filter", that pretty/handsome people = good people = their words have more value. But I will say the drama does do a good job not portraying the side characters as one note either. When SCC exposed herself for actually not working at a job, her schoolmates changed the conversation to not continue her embarrassment. From her co-workers' POV, she really did seem lazy as she kept on "disappearing", etc. The drama is pretty logical when you think of the POV of the others.

He is a great character in terms of development! This is one of those character-development dramas so it is meant to be introspective.

Same! I am hopeful this drama will air around fall because I have seen some leaks of the new actor filming behind the scene content with Li Landi and Jiang Xin probably for future promo purposes.

Updating those who are checking in for this drama: The actor (Song Ningfeng) who plays the older brother (Wu Buyu) in this drama got caught in a cheating scandal earlier this year. The production made the decision to replace him so a different actor refilmed the scenes and there will probably be some face swapping.

This drama would probably have aired earlier this year but because of that scandal, this drama needed to be re-edit with the new actor. Usually C-dramas don't replace/face-swap someone for cheating but this incident trended a lot for different reasons. In addition, Wu Buyu in this drama is a character that cheated (truly art imitates life) so it is likely they made this decision so SNF's cheating incident doesn't get mentioned when this drama airs, take away the attention from the drama, and become all about his scandal again (especially with how PR works in C-ent, it will easily dissolved into black trends about this actor and potentially even this drama).

No unfortunately. 😢 There are some scenes we saw from the Douyin clips they released as promo such as the rain dancing scene, the extended cut of Xia Zi thinking about her dad when she first came back, and the extended grandma scene. But those never ended up in the actual drama itself and that's why some C-viewers said they felt scammed lol.

I enjoy the 20-40 episodes format too. I think modern dramas will do fine within 20 while period dramas probably do need the 30–40 episode format if they get into a new worldbuilding. I grew up on C-dramas that used to be over 50-60 episodes, and I loved those because they were very well written with an ensemble cast. But we don't get those much nowadays and the current scriptwriters are not that great (of if there are good ones, the final product becomes totally different due to various interferences). ​🥲

Had a strong start but the ending made the team behind this seems like they didn't understand what 八千里路云和月 actually meant. HXY making that poem about herself and ZYK at the end due to their names undermined the meaning of this poem/title of this drama. Still had strong moments but I wished the drama landed a bit more. I think the romance aspect hurt the drama.

Sure, but that is not the case within the context of this particular plot. It was also due to Xia Zi's mom who encouraged the dancing/singing as she wanted to change the atmosphere. Everyone else is not going to just sit and not join in when the wife of someone who they loved initiated this (especially when she herself don't consider it inappropriate and want them to join in).

I also have to correct myself because the box didn't contain the decreased as his entire body was gone. It only contained his clothes and the animal bone he left behind.

However, there can be an argument that the scene can be adjusted where they had their moment of silent/mourning when the box was first brought home. Then they had their gathering potentially the next day where they can then dance/sing as remembrance. But this drama reduced their episodes so much that it seemed like the decision was made where all these scenes were combined in 1-2 episodes.

Also lol, most cultures don't sing/dance for funeral related scenes either. I think it is more on the failure of the director's side to try to separate this from just this specific family/group of people doing it (not having to do with culture) and this being a cultural aspect. I can see the confusion and there were C-viewers asking about it too.

What kjpjqgw said, it is part of those increasing miniseries project that C-ent has been trying out to try to reduce filler (and to reduce cost) as that has been a complaint from C-viewers and audience shift to short form dramas. But they are still working through it as some scriptwriters struggle with this format too.

Very unfortunate that this drama was reduced to 8 episodes. This drama was originally meant to be 24 episodes. They rushed some of the plot lines due to that and also cut out/edited out quite a lot of scenes. There is this scene with Xia Zi and Zhou Hengzhi on the rooftop singing and they mentioned it was going to start raining and then it cut to black. However, there were clips showing that the scene would have continued. ZHZ went and get an umbrella to give to XZ, it started raining and XZ rejected the umbrella. She started dancing in the rain and he joined in and it was that moment that defined a shift in their relationship of them just enjoying themselves/not worrying about things.

There was another scene of XZ seeing grandmother on the chair and started tearing up as she looked at her sleeping before approaching her and leaning on her for their first appearance. That scene for example was cut at the start and the end very abruptly. There are a lot more, but it is unfortunate that the cast did their part, but the director/scriptwriter failed to make the transition within the 8 episodes smoother.

On C-side, there is an issue with this director as she was trying to push certain actresses in this drama and was very stubborn about some of the plot lines she wanted to keep. In the scene when XZ and FN reunited for the first time and he grabbed the goat to stop it, the actress Li Landi mentioned that in that scene, a lot of the locals actually ran to help her as they thought she really was injured which shows the warmth of the locals. A better director would have incorporated the scene as that is a natural human response.

The male lead ZHZ and the "2nd ML" FN was also supposed to be one character (ML was supposed to be a childhood crush who also ended up as FL's business partner). There is probably some kind of BTS platform/production deal involved to split those characters into two to allow another actor to be able to act.

Minawaer's storyline also had some controversies as it was deemed not suited for this kind of genre (terrible husband, bad mother-in-law, etc.). That storyline is not unique to Kashgar and could had been in a typical Chinese drama of a typical family life focusing on women in terrible marriages. The focus of her dancing and potentially having to give it up due to the marriage would have been enough within 8 episodes instead of wasting it on the husband/mother-in-law with specific scenes.

Lai Li's storyline with the pottery aspect was also brushed under the rug too quickly due to the episode limits, and so did XZ's decision to transform the Inn.

There are definitely great scenes (and I still think this is a good drama carried by the acting and specific emotional scenes + I like the complicated relationship between Xia Zi and Minawaer), and you can tell the director is capable of having those scenes, but she has biases and wasn't willing to listen to the constructive criticisms given by C-viewers. Taking out the love lines of these 3 women (because why did all 3 have to have 2 love interests each in an 8-episode drama?) would have given more room for them as individuals, their connections to each other, and to Kashgar.

Overall, C-side's reception of this drama is that Li Landi did her part and her acting was praised, but she was almost wasted in this drama so a lot of them are just treating this as a visual project for her. They felt the Douyin clips didn't match their expectations of this drama (supposed to be healing, more of the friendships, the community, etc.) and felt that XZ's character/connection to Kashgar ended up on the back burner (but was saved by Li Landi's acting).

Dramas like this show the troublesome undertone in the C-ent and what happens when a director/scriptwriter is too stubborn and lost in their own craft without considering the viewers' experience. She was very lucky to have a cast who can act and I hope she reflects on this because people went easy on her due to Li Landi's acting.

Xia Zi's father already passed away months ago, just that his body was brought back late and during the Meshrep (which was meant to welcome back Xia Zi). This therefore wasn't really a funeral. Within the drama, they danced and sung as they recognize that Xia Zi's father won't had wanted them to be sad and to mainly cheer up Xia Zi.

Yeah, C-fandoms are super competitive and try to tear down certain celebs because it has to do with who gets the scripts. The less notable actors/actresses around, the higher chance your fav gets a good script (but also depends on whether these actors/actresses have strong backers to get those scripts).

The big crimes like taxes definitely can get celebs blacklisted but there are still some around who were allegedly involved in cheating, domestic abuse towards girlfriends, sleeping with fans, etc. that are still acting now.