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Again, it was known for a long time this drama was not like the novel especially for those who actually followed the drama's development progress and not just based on melon rumors. However, fans of actresses like Reba have been spreading that she should be the main character in this drama due to her ethnicity that people assumed the drama = novel when that was not the case.

Ethnic minorities relationships in China are NOT the same as how race works in say United States. You try to bring this type of thinking up in China and with C-netz and they would absolutely tear it apart because the system set up in China is vastly different than the racial tension in the United States with slavery, Jim Crow laws, gerrymandering, etc. You cannot apply what happens in Western countries with POC not being represented enough in media to countries like China where the founding of the country itself is already different. You want to bring up cultural nuances when our Chinese period dramas are full of them and if we want to apply that type of thinking, then non-Han Chinese people should not be wearing Hanfu or any of the Han traditional wears in those dramas at all.

Kashgar has a majority of Uyghur people, and it is reflected in the cast (which MDL doesn't have the full list). Most of the characters are Uyghur and played by Uyghur actors/actresses + those actually living there. One of the main girls is a Uyghur actress, Mukerrem Qeyser, playing a Uyghur character (again, not listed on MDL). However, Kashgar doesn't only contain Uyghur people, they have Han, Hui, etc. (over at least 31 ethnic groups living there). The drama actually reflects how Kashgar's current reality is like.

Lastly, this drama is co-produced by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Committee. They had a part in the script and plot and what they wanted to convey through this drama.

Nope, this is no longer based on that novel (the summary on MDL is wrong). It is considered a separate IP now based on the 2023 iQiyi conference about this. It is based on 3 girls (and I think 1 boy) from Kashgar. One is Uyghur (played by an Uyghur actress), one is Han, and the other one I am not sure yet.

It is the stories of these girls/boy who were friends who grew up in Kashgar but some left as they grew up. They experienced traumas/struggles with different things, and they met again in Kashgar.

The only similar thing with the novel would be the setting in Kashgar but that's it.

And there are literally so many ethnic minorities playing historical Han characters in period Chinese dramas. Reba literally play mostly Han characters despite being Uyghur. If we were to separate these actors/actresses and say they can't play these characters, then most of these non-Han Chinese actors/actresses would/should not be acting in period Chinese dramas (yet they do) or even modern dramas where the characters are Han Chinese with Han names.

There are some! But it is more of skulls and some organs here and there. It is not horror and not jump scares so I think if you can handle a bit of flesh/blood, you should be okay.

Thanks for your hard work!

Congrats. 🎉 CD broke 3000 for Yunhe per episode meaning it reached at least 30M views per episode. It is currently the highest viewed per episode idol period romance drama during the summer slot this year (will probably be the highest in the genre overall soon for this year). The heat period is until the end of this month so the viewership will probably go up and the final numbers should be in by the end of this month!

AJTL is definitely supposed to be FL-centric BUT LSS's character development IMO regressed towards the end due to her relationship with the ML. The 2nd FL's character development in comparison was a lot fuller especially because it wasn't tied to the ML.

Yes, he definitely got a lot more attention after that drama but then TSOPG happened and that one was...

Then there was TPOB where the FL lead doesn't even have a proper name (the novel is just like that though, it is just supposed to be smut and not supposed to be logical) and then there is ADWAD where the FL got bashed due to the decreasing FL narrative and her struggles being portrayed as humor instead.

Within actresses' Chinese fandom circle, most fans don't want their favorite actress to act with him because although his fans will definitely push up the popularity of the drama, they feel like their favorite actresses don't gain anything out of it in terms of becoming better at acting or being able to shine as the FL even if they were first billing.

LYN was already pretty popular from his singing career, and he has a looooot of fans. It is just that the recent dramas now made him more known in the drama circle too. I don't think it is necessarily his team rewriting the script but more so he only accepts the scripts in the first place with MLs like that (so the scripts with these MLs go to him because they know he mostly prefer those scripts). LYN is one of the few actors in the idol genres that are okay with second billing in name so these scripts sometimes "make up" to him by giving his character more weight to make up for it but it ends up undermining the FL who is first billing. His fans are also willing to spend a lot of money on him for his dramas so scriptwriters will try to appeal to him in that way via the ML in order to get him to sign on + just biases for men in general so they focus on making the ML more appealing while not caring for the FL.

I like LYN as a person and think he is funny/good singer but I myself don't prefer seeing him in idol period dramas (modern is okay though). For me, it is not even his looks, but him/his team tends to add in so many scenes for his character in FL-centric idol period romance dramas when the focus should be on the FL. His character gets so much more weight while the FL becomes a side character in her own story. It is a repeated pattern from "A Journey to Love" to ADWAD. Whenever I watch those dramas with him in it, I exit the dramas feeling frustrated because I feel like the FLs' character development got derailed to prop his characters up.

It is an ongoing thing in general with these idol period dramas now where the actors kept on adding scenes in FL-centric stories/weaken the FL, but it is especially severe with the dramas he is in. It is easy for actors to attract a lot of fans from these FL-centric dramas, so they push to add in scenes but then they fail to carry their own ML-centric dramas.

Her comments about certain things on specific dramas (especially the idol genre dramas) are just repeated sentimental from C-netizens so a lot of people on C-side feel the same way. I think some behind the scenes things she comments on such as production is her own though since she said she has some connections to the industry.

But when I watched her videos, her comments are not really new if you ever watch the Chinese bilibili reviewers' videos though she definitely goes lighter on criticisms when it comes to her favs (for example, LYN has been criticized for his acting and him dominating the storyline in FL-centric stories but she instead in her videos implied LSS's team was behind LYN getting attacked and not that a lot of C-netizens just really don't want him in idol period dramas because they don't prefer his looks in idol period dramas nor care for his acting).

Yup, I agreed with some of her opinions and disagreed with others when it comes to dramas, but it is very obvious to see when she has just a straight up agenda especially against dramas that are airing around the same time as dramas she herself like or her fav is in.

She repeats exactly what the antis on C-side say. There are valid criticisms for this drama and even the viewers who enjoyed the drama acknowledge it but the characters being too perfect is nonsense.

I also liked LLTG more than LBFAD but both dramas were big and had their own audience.

But her making an extra review after having done one already and being more hateful about it just shows me she has something against it (because there are way worse dramas than this if it is just production/directing/scriptwriting/acting but I don't see multiple videos on those from her). She sounds exactly like the fans of other dramas on C-side who can't fathom people actually ENJOYED this drama overall. Especially the cinematography, acting, and the chemistry of the leads. LLD and ARP are two attractive people who had great chemistry in this drama and their pairing was refreshing, sometimes that alone is enough to blow up a drama. The scriptwriting was considered the weakest part of this drama and viewers themselves pointed it out, but they also said the other factors made up for it.

Coming back here to drop a comment since I know there had been bitter people (and yes bitter, because I know exactly where this is coming from + even the same talking points since I have been seeing this on the C-side from fans of the cast in other iQiyi dramas) making comments on other platforms trying to say the characters are too perfect = no character development.

Qin Wan and Yan Chi are not perfect, but their flaws are just regular flaws that actual human beings have (unlike very obvious flaws that the MCs have in C-dramas such as being toxic in the beginning). We all have flaws, but our flaws are not going to be in everyone's faces every day.

Qin Wan is calm/mature/smart, but she holds a very narrow view of justice in the beginning due to her father's teaching. She had her own impulsive moments too like trying to stab Qin An with the needles or neglecting her own bleeding/injury during the skulls washing scene or thinking Yan Chi was siding with Prefect Huo. But she is able to collect herself, reflect, and even apologize when she is wrong, like a normal person. As the cases proceeded, she recognized justice is not all black and white and although she still upholds Shen Yi's teaching for the greater good, she is able to empathize with those like Qing Niang and established laws that would decrease her punishment.

Similarly, Yan Chi is smart/cunning, but he has his own impulsive moments too like wanting to just kill the perpetrators or neglecting his own injury for the sake of "being a warrior" or rushing to go see Qin Wan despite the weather which resulted in him getting frostbites. However, through the drama, he was able to change due to Qin Wan's influence such as letting himself be vulnerable and not just straight up killing Prince Cheng.

Qin Wan and Yan Chi are actually refreshing because FOR ONCE, we get main characters in idol period C-dramas that aren't full on obvious with their flaws. AND they actually communicate with each other and show visibly how much they love each other. This is absolutely one of the reasons why this drama did so well and stood out from the rest.

We actually get a FL that is written to be smart/mature and not one that is written to constantly make mistakes to push the plot along or prop up the ML's suffering. We actually get a ML that is written to be respectful and not having the defining trait of being an asshole that needs to be changed by the FL. A FL doesn't need to be a bumbling fool in the beginning to then go through "character development" and a ML doesn't need to be trying to kill the FL in the beginning to then fall in love with her and regret his actions (because let's be honest, half of these MLs only regret their actions because they fall for the FL, not because the FL is a fellow person that is actually innocent).

I myself have criticisms for some of the cases too due to the time constraint/episode limits and some dialogues due to the multiple male scriptwriters BUT Qin Wan and Yan Chi are absolutely well written characters. We get their past, their motives, their goals, their ambitions, their relationships with others, and their relationship to each other.

And for people calling Qin Wan a perfect Mary Sue, I want to ask you if you ever called out a ML for being a Gary Stu. Why is this standard not applied to MLs who are prodigies in martial arts and leading troops by their teenage years? Why is this standard not applied to MLs who make decisions over their elders who have more experiences than them? Is it because these MLs come with very obvious personality deficit traits thus it cancels out their sky-high achievements and power by the time they are in their 20s?

And then ask yourself this, is a FL even allowed to have some of the toxic traits MLs are allowed to have in these idol period C-dramas without being bashed and not forgiven by the viewers? How many FLs can get away with attempting to kill a ML who can't fight back, choke a ML who is innocent, or get jealous and harm/shade the 2nd FL (because viewers would not be calling that hot if a FL is doing all that)?

I am not surprised because it is obvious she is a big Liu Yuning fan at this point. His fans on the C-side have been slandering this drama non-stop especially after it reached 10K heat index. Even the fans of the other iQiyi dramas before and after this drama aired have been bitter because this drama is currently iQiyi's period drama this year with the highest Yunhe viewership % this year with over 32%.

Both Qin Wan and Yan Chi are not "perfect" either. Qin Wan has made mistakes and apologized for it and so did Yan Chi. They are just grown people who can actually communicate with each other. Qin Wan's thought process about justice has also changed from the start of the story (influenced by her father) and at the end when she found out the truth (aka it is not black and white).

I really did not like the comments about Qin Wan being too "perfect" because this kind of comment is never made with the male leads with plot armors. You got male leads in their early 20s commanding troops since they are 10-year-olds in idol period dramas and that is seen as normal because it is a man. We already don't get enough smart/mature FLs in so called FL-centric dramas.

I am also tired of needing "character development" from abusive MLs in the beginning to okay MLs in the end. Yan Chi is a great ML and a great human being in general, his flaws just doesn't include him being abusive, like regular human beings.

I dropped ADWAD and I had a ton of criticisms for it too for being overtly ML-focus throughout the story despite it should be about the FL more.

Nah, but it seems like she does have some cultural dancing scenes (probably the characters celebrating something together)!

Sure!

Haha, yeah, the pics do look like them (more mature/taller) and there are only a few of them like that in the 95 gen. Let's see if they ever leak the person because it will definitely drop their popularity a ton.

CXX has dated co-stars before but not for every drama + dated non-co-stars before so I don't think it is him.

ZLH is an interesting one, I only ever heard about him with BL. 🤔

Yeah, if it is good, people will naturally tune in, be it for the plot or the shipping. At least one needs to be good for the viewers to stick with it.

I did not check the trends last night but maybe CXX? He had those rumors before though I don't think it is true.

Edit: I just checked Weibo, and it is all guessing games basically. People are saying CXX, ZLH, and even Xu Kai. No idea who it is though until further leaks.

Zhou Ye I would say is known for her visuals so at least people will check it out for her visuals. And Ryan Cheng became more known with "Journey to You" and had a really popular ship. But the general!FL trope is very hard to play, and the FL basically have to save herself most of the time/not have the ML involved in order for that general persona to be solid. It did be easy to drag the character/drama if the romance itself hurts that persona. I have already read some repo of the drama changing things from the novel. 😅

C-side is very mix on this drama right now based on the released episodes. They feel like the characters haven't established themselves enough in the early episodes to relate to them first. There is also a lot of talks about the FL setup and character. 🫠 I guess it will depend on how good the cases will get because the romance aspect is a no go at this point.

YY's drama started off fine at first but it deviated from the novel here and there, so some people are annoyed. And poor Jin Chen is being dragged right now for the bad CGI and her postures during the flying scenes. But the drama is a big IP so it will do fine regardless.

"Legend of the Female General" has already started promoting and their current strategy is to anti CD and Qin Wan to say the FL in LoFG is a better FL/more feminist. 🫠 CD ended already but it is definitely still the talk of the summer/being stepped on for these upcoming dramas.