FM_dramas

I'm glad to hear that!! Best wishes to your family! nice to know you.

Hi! I'm from Portugal.

I suggest these : Love is Sweet, Perfect And Casual, Unforgettable Love, Once We Get Married, The Love You Give Me.

Some people think Zhang Wanyi should play Cui Xing Zhou and Cui Jiu equally, on an actor-character level. But there are two acting levels, creating fiction within fiction. First, we have the canonical actor-protagonist level, Cui Xing Zhou, the Prince of Huai Yang; secondly, within fiction, the protagonist also becomes an actor by having to take on the role of Liu Mian Tang's husband. This protagonist is an average actor, forced by circumstances, hence the comic moments and the portrayal of a character that does not quite live up to the audience's normal expectations. People forget this second level, demanding the actor-character level and forgetting the protagonist-actor level. (And I apologize for my bad English...)

I disagree!
The cold and ruthless Cui Xing Zhou, the Prince of Huai Yang, has to assume a false character as Liu Mian Tang's husband. Of course, the Prince of Huai Yang cannot play the role of the good and cute husband perfectly, he is not even an actor! He is extremely serious and focused on military and political affairs and distrusts her. Zhang Wan Yi skillfully navigates the complexities of Cui Xing Zhou's authentic demeanor and the "challenges" faced by the character in adopting the guise of a pretend husband—captured in subtle facial expressions, moments of aloofness, penetrating gazes, and body language that shifts from gentle to stern...

There are many aspects that you mention that result from the censorship imposed for ideological and cultural reasons, greatly conditioning the final dramatic product.
As for propaganda, it is interesting to note that its languages ​​can be diverse and more or less subtle and artistic. This is an aspect that we should consider when we critically analyze a series, drama or film. (Until recently, when we went to see an American film, there would always be the comment "It doesn't fail! There's the American flag in the foreground...). Let's be honest about propaganda: ALL countries do it regardless of their political system! We are subject to all types of American, South Korean and Japanese propaganda and it seems that strangely we cannot identify it. Flags, heroes, places and landscapes, patriotic values ​​and ways of life, models of beauty... these are three countries with an extremely powerful soft power, which also implies a certain amount of brainwashing. The disastrous Chinese soft power should learn from them, but they won't give in! All they know how to do is cut!

It's true - Censorship is one of the main reasons why many cdramas are not masterpieces, as they force cuts in key scenes, removing logic from parts of the plot.

Maybe it's because I've seen so many, Korean and Chinese dramas, regardless of their acclaim, seem to be becoming more and more repetitive in plot, scenes and even actors' expressions, especially modern dramas. Maybe I shouldn't read comments that are banally complimentary about all aspects of the dramas, ending with "Wonderful", "Perfect", because it alienates me and makes me hyper critical when I watch, causing me to break down. For example, “Business Proposal" – I’ve tried it twice.
Therefore, I am watching this drama without any expectations. We'll see how it continues...
Regarding Korean and Taiwanese height and beauty standards, there is no big difference between them and Chinese. There are certainly tall and naturally beautiful people in China. It is disheartening that some East Asian countries ignore natural physical characteristics and seek Westernization through various plastic surgeries, particularly in entertainment industry, a trend that South Korea has heavily influenced. That's why, when they put South Korea at the top of those strange rankings of global / Asian coutries beauty, I don't understand... All countries have beautiful people without needing plastic surgery!

This drama has some aspects close to Victor Hugo's novel, "Les travailleurs de la mer". Xiang Liu and Gilliatt are two tragic heroes, on a solitary and silent journey, where the word-act is absent, heroes of non-correspondence in love, who save their rival out of love for the woman they love, disappearing into a world that does not understand them, a world where their existence seems meaningless..

Propaganda in entertainment is not just Chinese. All countries do this in a more direct or indirect way for internal or external consumption. South Korea, Japan, the United States are countries that invest a lot and in different ways in propaganda, but as the political regime is different, we don't value it. For example, we have been bombarded for almost a century with American propaganda - the omnipresent American flag, in close-up shots, American patriotism and the American hero who always defeats the bad Asians, Africans, Latinos and Russians, the references to the American way of living consumerist and individualist that is always superior to Europe and other parts of the world, etc. But we already find it so natural and believe in this propaganda so much that we no longer know how to identify it.