Some nice songs of the time, but not by Z.Tao - where was he ?

The drama was an average rom com about a hard working Cinderella from a township in the backwards interior country, gone to earn money in a Qingdao convenience store. Her purpose in giving up her freedom as a sort of indentured worker was to support her brother's studies. We barely see the brother in the beginning and he does not reappear, but she falls in love with a handsome customer who came back to hand over the excess change he had got on a purchase. It turns out that this "shuai gege" was a famous photographer on the brink of separating from a long time lover who never acknowledged publicly their ties, because of her contracts prohibiting relationships... Could little "leaf" (Ye Zi) grow to stand beside her crush, who was more overshadowing her, than letting her break free and grow from her family's expectations?

Joe Cheng played quite well in my opinion, Li Fei'er and PeiPei (Ye Zi and Flora) were projecting the expected contrast of the poor (but not destitute) girl and the glam starlet. Some half annoying accompanying characters made up most of the rest of cast, : Ye Zi's childhood friend, her mother, her nosy colleague and her over-enthusiastic clownish boss, with exception for a shortly seen adorable old couple whose dearest wish is easy to fulfill : a wedding picture! That's perhaps the first time Z.Tao appeared in the background (ep.7), for his "silent cameo" : otherwise, perhaps a glimpse in ep11 too, although the Ke Chuan name of his character eluded me. Baidu only listed Z.Tao as 客串 (cameo), with a further note (歌手，演员) : singer, actor, but he does not appear to be singing in the drama, be it in front of camera or as bgm.

The theme song is played over and over again : Qin Ai Mo Sheng Ren (亲爱陌生人) Beloved Stranger by Della Ding (丁当). This was at the time a hit song, produced by Mayday's Ashin and was the latest creation of MP Magic Power lead singer Tingting (廷廷) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhFBCtysub4

The ending song was also a hit one, title song of Yen-J ( 严爵 ) Taiwanese lyrics and tune composer and singer's first album : Thanks for Your Beautifulness (謝謝你的美好) released 2010-04 (and also used as end theme for another TW drama that did not make much waves and is not included on MDL) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LioVy6CQfxc (with lyrics)

Some other songs are strewn in, including two Rene Liu ones : Chang Yi (长椅) Bench and Zhi Jie (直接) Straightforward

I was looking for Z.Tao, since the drama was listed in his filmography as first appearance in such type of work, but came away frustrated, unsure I recognized him ; unless he disguised as singer Yen-J lookalike then... (That singer is not supposed to be included in cast, except for OST).

As a drama, this one is marred by repetitiousness, overuse of flashbacks, and sudden cuts (perhaps for inserting ads). Also, by a terribly low picture quality, border to blurry, in the only accessible online version; it may be better on other type of recording, but it is not really going to appeal to present day audiences, because much there is so outdated now (use of cash in stores...), and the story was already too cliché unrealistic. It is not unwatchable, but requires patience and interest in the past, although a past not far enough in time to make it into a document.

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Nine tailed demon king falls for a complicated heroine

Nice spontaneous play by the FL Li Lulu (Hua Ling) who flashes lovely smiles. Lots of fluff.
The story is somewhat convoluted with the off voice of an "NPC" that is supposed to help the heroine unravel the intricacies of a "predestined fate" that turns out to be anything but. Like the tangled red thread of the matchmaking god. The Demon king has a cute and spectacular nine fox-tails that flash out on occasion. The "senior brother Shen Yan" leader of a demon hunting sect, turns out to be different from expected - he is played by Richar Li (Li Fei) who also appears as "Fang Wu Yue" in black and red at the brothel, as is shown in promo clip 2, available on dailymotion.
The bullet-time drama (2'+ episodes) glued together in 30' episodes x2 is not available any longer on Youtube, but original episodes can be watched on dailymotion or on myasiantv.

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Three minutes travelogue for Wu Lei fans - not a drama

I had watched this before, but not noticed until now that it was included on MDL as if it was a full movie or drama.

It is not uncommon for actors to do travelogues or vlogs of their trips, even modeling abroad, videos that can be shot quite professionally, like the most recent fours short videos linked under the title "On The Road" that Chen Zheyuan shot in Dubai in mid April 2024. Such pieces are usually watched mainly on the original social media of their idols by fans of the actors or of the fashion they showcase in foreign settings, or discovered by the fandom explorers.

This video, If I'm Not Wu Lei, shot in Sri Lanka, dates back to the times when tourism boomed in Asia before covid. It comes with a message : "Don't Wait For Life, Live It". Wu Lei has lived it up to do road trip vlogs of his bike travels in the Xinjiang, and an introduction to the coastal city of Xiamen, as brand ambassador. If the latter featured well known highlights of the "must see" circuit, it also included experiences that felt more personal, like this little video , where Wu Lei watches the country fly by from the train window, or briefly encounters curious youngsters of a different culture, in a kaleidoscope of pictures that make those in front of the screen feel the rush and impermanence of traveling.

But traveling abroad can also be romantic, and this was incorporated later in his full drama Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, set for a good third in Helsinki, Finland, with a small trip, not unlike this Sri Lanka one, to Annecy in France, before the evening out stargazing on top of a mountain.

For the rookie fans of Wu Lei (in addition to trawling his Weibo pages and other social media), I recommend the pages of the blog and YouTube channel of " Wu Lei Galaxy ", which is very comprehensive and up to date.

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Chinese family feud to kill time on a rainy day

This is a chaotic story, less comedy than caricature of the survival into modern days of outdated customs and the clash of greed and family.

An awful looking fortune teller, who of course had a hidden backer, instructed a gullible middle aged woman (Chen Guihua) to get her son (Gu Jiahui) and daughter in law (Yu Jing) to "make a descendant", less for her own desire than for getting back a dowry she was cheated out of when she agreed to divorce her son's dad (Gu Dequan). She suddenly arrived at her son's apartment, in company of her "step daughter" (Yu Chun).

The daughter in law was busy setting up a company with a best friend (Xiao Shan), so making babies was not her primary goal ; Xiao Shan, feeling the threat if Yu Jing changed her mind, with all the baby care products she sold online, took a drastic step to force a divorce between her friend and her wimpy husband.

The old man was quite the fiend, aided and abetted by his second wife cum free caretaker (Li Xiao), who was not even pitiable.
The couple found out about the conspiracies and tried to confront the ones who were behind them. Even those who seemed close to Chen Guihua and Yu Jing were double faced.

Fights, abduction, slanders, embezzlement, wife beating, mistreatment.... That family, the couple is saddled with, is as dysfunctional as can be. Will the old fiend, at the brink of death, get a redemption and escape punishment for his decades of wrongdoings ? He does get a slap in the face when he is confronted with the truth about his younger son. If tradition requires descendants, he has in fact no choice. He is afraid to die alone and get to afterlife with no proper mourning in his luxurious mansion in cherry growing countryside, despite his ill gotten wealth.

The drama is fast paced, sometimes jumpily so, and there is a happy end of sorts.
Can be watched for a few hours on a rainy day, amused by the wives epic hair pulling, like hens flying into each other's feathers ; a fat rabbit once steals the show.

The full cast was not disclosed on Baidu, despite there are only 7 who drive that mini drama. Here they are, from end credits :
Chen Guihua 陈桂花, is played by Shen Chang 沈畅
Yu Jing 于静 is played by Li Yizhen 李奕臻
Gu Jiahui 顾家辉 is played by Danson Tang /Tang Yuzhe 唐禹哲
Xiao Shan 肖珊, played by Pang Yixin "Scarlett" 庞奕欣
Yu Chun 俞春 is played by Chen Zhiqiao 陈芷翘
Gu Dequan 顾徳全 is played by Li Ou 李欧
Li Xiao 李晓 is played by Suxiu 苏绣

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Pets are a life long responsibiliy, and a lesson for life

I watched this drama slowly, on the one hand because of interruptions by other activities, on the other because of more interest in another small drama. I never skip but it is true that there was much repetition and that the "secret" was out of the bag too early to be really thrilled by the second half development.

The purpose of raising awareness about responsibility for adopted pets was worthy. It was developed into "case studies" that really showcased the chosen pets.

The drama could perhaps have been more realistic about some vet care, but on the whole, it pinpointed some facts. For instance, the relatively small number of guide dogs in China, but also a warning against seeing those as "workers" that could be used for years in demanding jobs such as guiding paralympic runners. Some care that actually amounts to mistreatment...

For those who want to know more about the "guest star animals", I have added a list of them, with episode number, and pictures, in the Discussion section, with an appendix listing the pets of some chosen Chinese celebs.

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/loving-you/120713-pets-my-precious-ones-and-those-of-c-drama-actors-actresses

---
For the newbies and some hailang, on the eve of Singles day 11.11
here is an introduction to Z.Tao's music and a first Profile of the ML of "My Precious " (who played a role he is familiar with in real life!), illustrated, with links to more music and some fashion, luxury (incl. explanation of what some saw as a cryptic line in the song "Promise").

These are parked in the (always hidden, newbies have to be curious to find it, although it is not that difficult) Discussion section of "My Precious" drama. (Since MDL provides the introductions to dramas and shows, I have not (yet) added descriptions and links to those in this Profile, but you might nevertheless find it more useful than the ultra short bio and list of screen appearances on Z.Tao's page). I may expand on that in the future, and move the resulting Profile somewhere else later.
Direct link to these two other "companion pieces" :

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/loving-you/120711-z-tao-playlist-and-some-xu-yiyang-thrown-in

Enjoy!

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Thriller and comedic, fun for some who are not afraid of tropes, Luo Zheng and He Ruixian drama

Synopsis on dramawiki : "This tells the story of Gu Yi, a strong and assertive man who is unruly, promiscuous, and ignorant about love, and Qiao Jing, a seemingly weak woman who is actually determined, courageous, and intelligent. " Official Baidu presentation has it as ""Heartbeat" tells the story of Gu Yi (played by Luo Zheng), a "strong man" who is rebellious, romantic, and doesn't understand love, and Qiao Jie (played by "two-faced girl") who seems to be weak, but is actually resolute, courageous and resourceful. He Ruixian), the love story of the two from falling in love and killing each other to sadistic and infatuated love" (Google translation; and no, they never "kill each other"! This was a mistranslation of an expression which would have been better termed "torturing each other" which even then is rather exaggerated; as for the sadism: there is no BDSM or overt sadism in the couple's relationship, that we could witness.)

This was the second time I watched a drama starring Luo Zheng (罗正).
The first one was "Time to fall in Love" which I ended up hating despite the pretty Hanfu dresses, because of the silly and annoying twin plot. I had not really been impressed by ML then, so came to this one with a wary bias, only because I was advised it would be a thriller romance. Coming more for the thriller than the romance, "Skip A Beat" did not disappoint me with all the twists and turns.
Lets quickly state for “parents guidance” that this drama is "not for everyone", because of some intense scenes, psychological and physical violence, gang style bloodying fight, death threats, a fall that induces a miscarriage (actual miscarriage discussed but not shown), drunk scenes (but no drugs, rape, or smoking), and miscellaneous questionable behavior (and, as usual, let's not use dramas as a moral compass to how we should behave in real life!)
There was not much product placement fun : cars, beer (was there a beauty cream: I am not sure?).

As for actors, I thought drama actress He Ruixian (何瑞贤), who was playing in her 10th drama the FL Qiao Jing 乔净 , was rather unmoving, looking very cold, which was in tune with her undercover investigation of a mystery that involved ML family and her former friend. I did not warm up to her for a while, especially during the “willing victim” beginning. I thought her character did not mesh with the "sharp cookie" description, and I was not really admiring her "independence" when she broke away, or her "fidelity to first love". As the episodes went by, they centered mostly on her relations with ML, a passing friend who grandly gave her a lease for a pretty house with a garden (before conveniently leaving the country) and a confidante in the form of a journalist best friend. She did cry nicely once, and kissed well, but did not look much like a romantic lover, mostly like a tepid one, too often with trust withheld, such as when she explored the contents of a phone record while ML was sleeping...
(As this was the first drama I saw where she featured, I did not come "for her", and I was not part of her 艾瑞丝 fandom: she seems to have garnered some faithful followers, from what I checked about her. So it was an interesting introduction to her style of acting, although I still am reserved about it).

But perhaps because of the mystery, and the blessed absence of the twin trope, I was not as annoyed by FL and characters as I was by those in TFIL.
There were plenty of antagonists and a festival of tropes, which after first puzzlement, I found very entertaining!
Watching comments, I was amused to find one that termed it as a "mix of Bollywood, Korean, Indian, even Turkish surprise" and just now, as I was checking what had been excerpted to Youtube, I had fun with one Turkish MV titled : "Yeni Dizi • Çin Klip | Sevdiğine başta acımasız davrandı sonra çok sevdi?" But this drama would not make it to the standards of those musical summaries made by another well-known C-drama lover and Youtuber ; and I am not skilled enough to try doing it to the tune of the song "For I know that love is pain, please don't go away from me again, promise me that you'll be back: I can't stop loving you again" that featured in a much more torrid and sweet romance.

Places : The drama was shot from July 2018 in Changzhou, Jiangsu province. Changzhou is a 4 million inhabitants third tier city on the Yangtse river and the Grand Canal, between Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Suzhou-Wuxi. It has boomed in the 2000s with a business and hi tech district, busy highways and rapid transit, and skyscrapers, built on the sites of former factories, such as the developing area featured in ep.16. You can see the skyline under several angles in the drama, esp. in episode 20. Nevertheless, the shots purposefully don’t show the most recognizable landmarks (China's tallest Buddhist pagoda that was built in the city in the 2010s, dwarfing the ancient Tianning temple that was famous once for its 500 arhats and 12 jade Buddhas collection ; nor the well known Grand Canal side architectural gem called Qingguo Lane, that was home to Song dynasty poet Su Shi and many more scholars later). Aside from the modern business corporate offices, we do get a glimpse of Jiangnan house style (white-washed brick walls, more or less curved “hanging” or “hard hill” roofs with the signature, stylized, horizontal snake/dragon-like ridge ending with upturned fantastic beast pointed tails or blunt snouts on each side, flush gables or high firewalls at the ends, slate grey tiles). The Gu family home in the drama, with its green terrace for outside dining, is built in a modern quarter in this style, adding a few modern touches such as the diamond shaped window (ep.10). The nearby countryside under Changzhou prefecture has varied landscapes, including wooded hills, which could be the “Xilin mountain” in the drama (real Xilin is a part of the Changzhou city), with winding roads and hilltops and viewpoints, but I do not know the precise one used in the drama (the one with white railings on top of stairs partly masked by bamboos, appearing a few times such as in ep13, perhaps it is a new feature near Tianmuhu reservoir, or elsewhere ; I doubt it is in the Maoshan Mountain Scenic Area since we do not see the famous tea growing terraces there).

OST : The intro instrumental theme, with storyboard drawing pictures and live action clips, is nice. The background music is not overwhelming, fits the atmosphere of the scenes, and the pieces of classic piano music are well chosen. The ending theme song is called 《嘉宾》(Guest), written and composed by Wang Zeyan 王泽言 and Zhang Yuan 张远 (who is the male singer, with a pleasant voice). Lyricist and composer Fu Hao 付毫 also sang the song《空气》(Air) during episode, and is the author of the song 《Tell me why》 sung by He Ruixian in an interlude (but I can't remember exactly where these two songs featured). From discussion I was informed that "嘉宾 is played frequently throughout the drama. It is a very popular Chinese song that was released in 2021! It’s got like 41 million views on YouTube and ...it’s frequently used as the background music in Chinese social networking apps such as Douyin and 快手" (hmm perhaps that's why it sounded nicely pleasing, like a forgotten memory to me).

Back to description and my impressions, spoilers included :

The Bai Yun 白纭 SFL rival “fiancée” (played by Zhu Jintong 朱近桐) was not much present : she interacted infrequently with FL, except for first episode and later, the nasty shove moment). Bai Yun, a pianist and heir to a wealthy family, unlike FL, was the puppet of her ambitious family who had made her haughty (publicly humiliating FL in first episode) and unable to deal with setbacks (she would drink herself into a stupor).

She also was the puppet of her fawning music agent, and soon, of the scheming SML, Su Jue 苏倦 , played by Guo Jianan (郭迦南: an actor who has appeared in about 15 dramas since 2020, mostly as support, but also as sweet ML in 2022 short drama My dearest boss : he has much experience in varied roles, and played a convincingly vicious two-faced antagonist here).

I wondered if Luo Zheng whose shape and hair style reminds me somewhat of Xiao Zhan (but stiffer), also has a severe myopia necessitating contact lenses and giving a strange wide-eyed and often cold feeling look (different from XZ’s cross-eyed smiles with the slight gap between front teeth, whereas LZ’s does not show teeth in this drama) ? The "moody" or deranged, or bipolar (according to plot description) "condition", that got rather miraculously "successfully treated" out of camera focus, in the first episodes, were in tune with that look. So, his sudden morphing into a funny guy (Mr Rabbit) did both surprise and make his Gu Yi 顾译 more sympathetic in my opinion. But I do agree with those who think he was too pale, even when he supposedly was sunburned. Would that be because he was a former heart condition patient, who had undergone successful heart transplant ? Yet, he did not seem that sickly in many episodes. He did look vampire-style evil when “angry”, in the first “scary” episodes. Next, he suddenly became a driven suitor, who was trying his best to regain his position next to FL after their breakup. Gu Yi realizing he could not have both ladies, discarded resolutely the fiancée agreed on for business ties between families. He faced courageously the staunchly opposing mom and dad who could demote him from his CEO position and even have him work in a physically difficult position as construction worker.
Luo Zheng could and did act adequately in the various dramatic parts, as wronged son, struggling professional faced with treason from a “sworn brother” friend, bereavements.
ML interaction with FL was as I expected, and I did notice the kissing skill, justifying the "romance" tag.
He was quite comedic in the scenes as Mr Rabbit, those “botching chores” and “fat mama's son in law candidate” again doing chores. I did laugh there.
The fight scene (almost choreographed as copied out of MG script?) to defend FL was OK, although I thought that part too contrived in the scenario ; on the other hand I was much more dissatisfied by last fight scene with Su Juan and the knife wavering there. ML looked too weak and movements were too slow in that scene, so the drama, despite finally explaining all or most of the loose threads still hanging, ended up on the wrong side of bitter or better ending for me.

I don't really care about rating, but let's say this one also went down a notch for me because of the shaky justifications for some actions : Why on earth would a pregnant woman accept to meet a supposedly wheelchair and cane using sick man on top of an isolated platform involving climbing many stairs? (Phoning to get help getting back was not sufficient when she could have insisted to go later, with Gu Yi or with friend) and the implausible fight on company rooftop, mom in tears and FL stony-faced looking on. And then the rushed end resolution. Could we have had something warmer than just a poster bearer mom shoving household registration booklets into CP's hands to order them to get married ?

So, to sum it up, I did have fun and thrills. This included looking for, betting on, and counting the many tropes and twists on tropes that this drama offered. And comparing how they were used and adapted from the “model” dramas (MG...) that spawned them.

Now will I recommend this drama? Certainly not to everyone: not to pregnant women, not to easily triggered people, not to those who seek life lessons in drama (although the convicted criminals do get appropriate jail sentences, and the other offenders show regrets and will to reform). If roller coaster thrills, plot twists, cliff hanger episode ends, gleeful counting tropes, and watching with a "black humor" mental shield (let's say like coping in such fashion with GOT "Red Wedding" episode – but this drama never gets as gory as that classic) are fun to spend time, then it is quite enjoyable. I was not bored except dissatisfied with the way loose ends were tied in the finale.

Will I rewatch it? Likely not, despite my still feeling annoyed at myself for not having remembered immediately the names and composers of the famous piano pieces excerpted in the Bai Yun parts (I like to put names on places, people in dramas, and references, lol). But not because I regretted the time I spent watching it, nor are afraid of anything in that one, it is not toxic enough to cause me any nightmares! Just because I have watched and checked it carefully enough, and can now move on to other more remarkable dramas that are on my watchlist. (But I may rewatch the nice official iQiyi MV with the "Guests" theme song, which can be found, titled " 主題曲：張遠演唱 《嘉賓》細膩詮釋虐心愛情｜愛奇藝 "on YouTube).

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Predictable fast-food like youth c-drama

At Decheng Technical University (fictitious), set near Xiamen and its well-known twin towers raised like gigantic 58-stories high surfboards close to shore, Lu Hui (Duan AoJuan), a face-blind student, is starting another year together with her best friend, bespectacled Zhen Fanxing (Kuliko Shen). Lu Hui often takes photos of young men’s walking, backs turned to her, in the hope of finding a long-lost savior boy from her childhood, and wins a prize with one such picture, submitted by Jiang Yiming (Lu YunFeng), the president of the photography club, whose almost same age niece Guo Jiajia (Zhang Xinyi) leads the News club. Two young guys, handsome and athletic Lang Chenzhou (Chen Bohao), and his cutely bespectacled cousin Lang Youlang (Xiong Wenwen) join these clubs…. The story, from then on, is very predictable, and despite some choppy editing, it could have even been further reduced in episodes. The students are shy, can’t get together swiftly, don’t dare even to kiss, until last episodes. Still, the drama amusingly ends on an encouragement for one couple to have three children in 5 years (yes, the message is that China has turned its back on the one-child policy for a while, and urges young couples to alleviate the greying of its population, together with being more accepting of some physical or cognitive defects, such as prosopagnosia, i.e. face blindness).

There is not much more to say.

The actors are not very well-known, most have hitherto only played support roles in some other dramas, except Zhang Xinyi, who was FL in unremarkable “Warm Time With You” but is playing a rather annoying and insensitive part here; and Lu Yunfeng who had a number of roles including a few ML ones in other unremarkable dramas, and is perhaps best remembered for his short guest role as Xia Xue / "Snowing" ['King of Glory' professional player] (Ep. 13-14) in “You Are My Glory”. He also has support roles in recent “Song of the Moon” and in “Insect Totem”. 26-year-old ML Chen Bohao, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, has a pretty face which will appear again in upcoming “Till The End Of The Moon” as supporting actor, and in four other upcoming dramas. 22-year old Duan Ao Juan is a singer, born in Chengdu, Sichuan. She was a “member of Rocket Girls 101 (火箭少女101), which debuted in June 2018 and disbanded in July 2020”. This is her third screen appearance, except for TV entertainment shows.

Hidden ads are not hilariously obvious. This drama is probably going to be boring and unsatisfactory for many, despite the cute childish green or blue rimmed clear glasses of Lang Youlang (the production did not dare throw in rose-hued ones…). Having just changed my own to nylon-thread rimmed light sensitive lenses turning to purple color, complementing the deep red temples and bridge, I was musing whether finally I should instead have dared a flashy green rim in cat-eye form? Anyway, this was an OK show to watch while waiting in the car, on a long weekend. No surprises and not too much excitement. Just like for a serving of bland fast food. There are some jiaozi pictured at one moment, and this reminded me that the CNY celebrations are still on, until Lantern festival this weekend. But I won’t re-watch this over the final bowl of sweetJust like for a serving of bland fast food. There are some jiaozi pictured at one moment, and this reminded me that the CNY celebrations are still on, until Lantern festival this weekend. But I won’t re-watch this serving over the final bowl of sweeter tangyuan.

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Aliens are in the human world to tidy up a mess of their own making!

Despite the title, this drama is more in the science fiction or science fantasy genre than plain fantasy with magic. Granted that Penglai is, in Chinese folklore, the abode of the god like immortals and a sort or fairyland "away from the human world". Here, Penglai is simply a far-away planet from where aliens were exploring the cosmos. These aliens looked remarkably like humans, but could live for thousands of years and they had superpowers including telekinesis (It was funny to watch Hei Qi unsuccessfully trying to move a glass with his mind-power when he was just out of confinement and recovering).

Yes, superpowers needed to be known and somewhat trained. If not, like muscles, they would weaken and go completely unnoticed, as in the case of one important character here. But they could also remain hidden in the case of some aliens who chose to go incognito among humans. These aliens were awaiting the moment when they’d be able to return to their home world Penglai, far away in the cosmos. They were on Earth because of an an accident and used the thousands of years to try to clean up the mess left by the scattered “jade” pieces of their spacecraft, which was causing obsessive humans to become “spirits”, living without aging but also turning progressively evil. If these spirits could acknowledge and let go of their initial obsession, together with handing over the piece of alien jade, they could be “cured” and return as ordinary mortal humans.

This is where Bai Qi stepped in as “Spirit doctor”. Originally just a spirit who, instead of being wiped out by the Heavenly soldiers, had become the friend of one, Xiao Zhou, he had even fallen in love with her. But after being both pursued by a killer, she let Bai Qi escape with her Penglai jade bracelet which normally only should be worn by her tribe’s Heavenly soldiers. She also entrusted him with a small sapling or “herb” of paramount importance: “Peach Blossom”, a seemingly sentient plant. Next, she was killed by a mysterious hooded character.

Before releasing him to live on in the mortal world, Xiao Zhou had erased Bai Qi’s memory of their relationship. Nevertheless, when Bai Qi, through a misdirection, found young aspiring actress Lin Xia in his penthouse apartment, he was surprised to feel a connection with her face, which made the partly forgotten memories of Xiao Zhou reappear. When he discovered that not only had this young woman taken away the sapling, because she accidentally had broken the pot, but that the herb was thriving and flowering under her care, Bai Qi decided to rent rooms at her house and work from there, while trying to understand how a mere mortal girl could so influence the other worldly herb.

Many stories and adventures ensued while Bai Qi and Lin Xia became friends and after a while, fell in love. Around them, other characters were drawn into their wake: Yang Jian the naïve Heavenly soldier who fell in love with a young celebrity actress called XiaoXiao. A Li, who played pranks at the master he had freely chosen, but preferred e-games to entanglements with humans, seeing how pitiful the obsessed ones, turned spirits, were. Lin Xia’s dad, who suddenly came back from abroad, disrupted the routine at Lin Xia’s house and showed hostility towards the spirit doctor. Not only these, but patients and antagonists made every episode grow in mystery and dilemmas.

Also, as noted, there were no fairies to find in the drama, and although the antagonists and “evil spirits” were close to the demon definition, they were just long-lived humans who have no hell to go to except of their own making. The Heavenly tribe, on the other hand, listened to a more supernatural voice, that offered them cryptic choices. Ultimately, the aliens who had crash-landed on Earth, could blend in, and become fully human, like the “spirits”, if they so desired. Or they could leave this world altogether to stay away, separate and minding their own alien business. A promise of possible contact in the future didn’t feel very sincere: once separate, the aliens and the humans’ paths were likely not destined to cross again, since Earth had nothing that could attract these aliens by way of resources. Nothing like in “My Girlfriend is an Alien” which is more superficially comedic, and a very different story despite its obsession with love.

Overall, the story was good, although there were some draggy moments in the later episodes. The drama is after all 35 episodes long. Not short. Time runs fast in the beginning, but towards the latter third, the complications could feel over-dramatic, and there were “getting away” moments that might tax patience. Just admire the starlit skies then, and take a pause to follow the lead’s explanations to find the Big Dipper and the small bear… Stuffed teddy bears also abound in this drama, btw. One falls victim to a tiff and gets repaired cutely. And the letters left for Lin Xia are stored in a box labelled with a teddy bear face: this teddy bear motif is one of the recurring details that one may notice with a smile.

Another slightly annoying or amusing thing, depending on mood, is the product placement: 999 Ganmaoling keli (herbal granules adding caffeine, sugar, and acetaminophen analgesic) popular over-the-counter Chinese medicine to treat the common cold, Unifon face masks, Hoegaarden beer cans and bottles, Budweiser beer cans, high fashion clothes like Fendi branded sweaters, and and the Nintendo Switch game console, appear in a lot of episodes.

The actors were good, Bai Yu was a convincing stony faced “spirit doctor” turning progressively more human-minded and had a very satisfyingly mischievous alter ego (“Hei Qi”, his not so “evil double”).
Jade Cheng (Zheng Qiu Hong) played every sentiment from endearing, bubbly and funny, aspiring entertainer to heart-broken lover who gives up everything for the sake of her lover and the greater good.
Marcus Li was an unforgettable prankster sidekick to the main lead. He previously played noticeable supporting roles in the two ‘Go Go Squid’ series and plays “Zhou MingMing” in the 2022 c-drama “Light Chaser Rescue” (where he picks up funnily the new personality he assumed in episode 35, end of “Fairyland Lovers”!).
Ji Xiaobing as the “Big Baby” clueless Yang Jian alien was also very good; he played a private investigator in 2018 S.C.I.
Estelle Chen /Chen Yihan as XiaoXiao is also a good singer (with several songs published since 2018); she has two songs here: “Xihuan ni” and “Xiang ni”. As an actres,s she recently played “He Zhaojun” in the 2022 c-drama “Love Like the Galaxy” (Beware: she has a namesake Estelle Chen, born in Paris in 1999 who is a model.)..
We also get Jade Cheng /Zheng Qiuhong singing and playing the guitar in some episodes : she is a real-life singer as well and released her first single in 2012.) She also dances in the beginning to the funny Little Frog song.

There is also a song (Feng Qiu Huang 鳳求凰) by HITA, a singer who has gained fame for her non- drama related song “Chi Ling”; and Patrick Kwong contributed a sweet “Lullaby of you”. There are excerpts of other songs too: children’s rhymes, classics like Teresa Teng’s “The Moon represents my heart” (parodied by Hei Qi) and more. The background soothing piano or ominous theme music was spot on to underline moods.

The OST and music were excellent; it is a pity that YouTube and another platform cut out some songs and even sound of dialogues in the end episodes, where even translation is missing, so if it wasn’t for the Chinese subtitles, these parts would be totally lost to audiences there, if for some reason, they can’t access the main WeTV platform. Of course, with only reading Chinese subtitles to convey the dialogues, this is also an interesting exercise for Chinese language learners or for those who got too complacent relying on foreign language subtitles or spoken Chinese. (Hint to the Chinese learners: use a tool like Pleco, to draw the characters on an interactive mobile device, and get the meaning and pinyin to key in for sentence translation. Reading Chinese is difficult, but c-drama dialogues are not too hard to understand).

On Youtube, there is also an alternate proposal /private wedding scene, with a cute kitten on the lakeside: Lin Xia takes the initiative, but the “rings” are identical. It is also possible to find several OST songs, trailers and BTS,and an interview; but most of these additional features have no English subtitles.

Overall, Fairyland Lovers was an enjoyable drama with a happy ending for all the positive characters, no grand wedding scene, but some cute growing kids with, already, tooth decay threats!
I might go back re-watching some episodes: it is a nice drama.

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mixed feelings

I had mixed feelings about this drama because of the main female character "Lin Hangjing" whose guts I hated thoroughly until perhaps the four last episodes. Chen Duling is not at fault if the script specified that she should convey the impression of a deep frozen fish haughtily playing the role of poor orphaned martyr.
Most female characters in that drama, except the peace loving Qi furen, were just awful snakes or stupid hens, in my opinion. As for the male ones, they were obstinate or for some, frankly evil, but at least had some or a lot of heroic spirit, which carried the drama. Shawn Dou was quite professional, and the character he played elicited some pity from me.
So it was still watchable, although I'll admit I was tempted to drop it several times, the compulsory romance ingredients including accidental kiss being, to say the least, not very redeeming here. Besides, too much was predictable in that drama.
The music, although not unforgettable, is good.
Despite all this unpromising matter, that drama still topped the charts the past end of May weekend, so the audience in China must also have found some qualities in the story and be fond or tolerant of "flawed characters" too.
I found the historical background interesting, so went to dig deeper for a refresher course on the Beiyang army, the life of Zhang Zuolin, the events from 1912 to the Nanjing decade and the story of railroads in the Dongbei until 1937, because there was a mention of a fish from the Songhua river travelling at great cost to the table of the Xiao siling 萧司令 (such details tickle me lol).
It also had me rewatch the 2016 movie "Railroad Tigers" (with Jackie Chan, Z.Tao and Wang Kai), although the action in that movie takes place on the southbound stretch of the railroad from Tianjin. Anyway that movie is well worth rewatching as an antidote to the worst of the irritating scenes in LifoW, like the totally incredible ace driving under gunfire on the wharf to save the life of a traitor and inflict a virtual slap in the face of the Xiao fusiling.
Since I stayed till the end and because the story triggered my interest in accessory watching and reading, I still give it a decent vote. But I doubt it could ever become my favorite go-to romance in Republican era setting.

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A very enjoyable movie about young music students involved in ancient instruments revival

I watched this movie back in 2017, and liked very much the showcase of new musical trends, notably gufeng as it is termed here, which work towards a revival of ancient instruments, from the better known erhu, pipa and guzheng string instruments that are still used in folk music, to really ancient ones that can now mostly be found in museums : the bianzhong bronze bell carillon, etc.. The young yangqing player and the members of her new band played and acted very well as dedicated musicians and shy or outspoken otakus living their lives in cosplay. It showed the emerging subculture of the young who devote themselves to gaming, mangas and fanfiction while they are still at school or in college.

The concerts were highlights : the epic music battle opposing the the classical instrument players and the ancient instruments department, won by the cheeky suona ; the performance of Sun Quan The Emperor at the ACG (anime, comics and gamig) convention with the guest appearance of Luo Tianyi! And the last part with the youth concert and the CGI mythical beasts flying over the stage , followed by the brief apearance of mandopop legend Eason Chan were also very memorable.

It was a thrill for those who already knew something about the music and subculture, and a smooth introduction for those who did not and had to stay on the surface of the youth romance. It could perhaps have benefited from some captions, to better enlighten the older or foreign audience unfamiliar with the tunes and celebrities that appeared there.

The new trends in pop music have been branching out in many directions since the emergence of Chinese pop stars like Deng Lijun back in the 1980s and the disco style of Sally Yeh who took Chinese listeners by storm in 1991 with her song Xiao sa zou yi hui (Gracefully walking). Mandopop or cantopop are relatively well known also abroad, spearheaded by a number of stars who, over the years, took the tunes closer to Chinese spirit, while introducing foreign elements such as rap and hip hop, which first found its footing in tunes by legends such as JJ Lin (Cao Cao) and especially Jay Chou (Fearless, etc) - proponents of the new rhythms that evolved into what is now termed as zhongguofeng incorporating Chinese opera style singing or literal musical quotes such as in the songs Chi Ling or Mangzhong,.
At the opposite end of the spectrum were bands such as S.H.E. from Taiwan who belted out songs like Zhongguohua, but also songs incorporating tunes from western classics such as in Bu xiang zhang da. The new Z.Tao style Cpop is unapologetically influenced by K-pop bands and EDM dance music, as well as by American rap : these songs (T.A.O. Alone, Collateral Love, Cross the Line etc) were composed with the explicit purpose of bringing Chinese music to the attention of global audiences, therefore incorporating titles and lines in English together with the rapid fire rap in mandarin.
Gaming music on the other hand, also pays homage to ancient Chinese culture and singing ; it is enjoying an ever bigger popularity with games such as Genshin impact and League of Legends. The Vocaloid phenomenon Luo Tianyi has also drawn enormous crowds to "her" concerts, which make use of ancient music styles mixed with electronica.
Even though these tunes are not explicitly mentioned in the movie, they are the nurturing ground for the type of music that is heard.

A 24 episode drama version by the same production crew has been released in 2019, retitled "Our Shiny Days".

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Entertaining

Entertaining drama, but some episodes drag and the story is not unforgettable.
The OCD suffering mysophobic company president's plots and snares to tie the useful but not stunning artist girl to his side are bound to fail until he resorts to sincerity, but even then, will it be enough ? The opposition of business and artistic views are somewhat caricatural, in my opinion. The mystery behind the shy and tortured genius young artist, and the company president, drives the plot more than the somewhat twisted romance which features a collection of expected problematic behaviors. Some moments are, as expected, quite sweet; some others can be disappointing and trite or even offensive to persons with high stress trigger sensitivity because of gestures and maneuvers that are almost borderline and not just funny, although they are often expected as romance ingredients of this type of stories.
Once aware about this and for those not too easily fazed (and since C dramas have instructions to stay within certain limits, that most mythology often transgressed, but our neo-victorian and social justice conscious times frown upon with passion or hypocrisy) it could still be enjoyed by most young adults or older audiences.
I thought this drama was not extremely memorable, as I had started watching it a while ago and then turned to other ones, leaving it on hold, almost forgotten. Coming back and rewatching, I thought there's enough in it to maybe embark on Season 2 which is a bit slow to air at the time I'm writing and which may flesh out some of the other supporting characters together with the back history behind the business and families stories, while adding new complications to the three couples' relationships. They are not role models to follow in my mind, but as the "nerdy" girl puts it, the developments can be "interesting", or entertaining.

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An interesting and different business comedy

Despite the terrible subtitling, which really needs to be replaced by a better version, and the strange goose honk sounding voice of the FL actress (dubbed?), I thought the story was interesting even to last episode, where suspense was still ongoing.
I watched it on YouTube, where some songs were also bizarrely erased while the dialogue was not but less clear to hear then. Anyway, the music was really not so good that it would make me look up the OST.

There is not a big variety of settings and some images come back many times, it looks very low budget. Nevertheless, the views of Shanghai apart from the expected Pudong skyline did show some interesting views of converted warehouses, waterside or countryside places in or about the metropolis, decrepit neighborhoods, and rather decent new buildings.

The small cast is good, and the actors and actresses have enough enthusiasm to make up for these quibbles. Both leads Wang ZiXuan (playing Ye Xuan) and Xie BinBin (playing Lin ZeNan) and the secondary couples leads Zhu Ran (playing photographer He YuCheng,), Zhai GuanHua (playing restaurateur Hu Yani), Liu ZhiHui (playing accountant Guo Tianlei), Ke Ying (playing LiNa), Yang DingQi (playing 88Ed studio director), Nikki Chen (playing Lin XinXia) and other main supporting characters draw audience into the interesting business story and light romance.
The magic of numbers comes again in this 520 story, but just as a discreet nudge to audience that get those meanings and jokes. I was surprised that a Floor 4 would be shown and that the two lead characters would dare to live there, although that was of course the reason for the cheap rent price, where 4,000 rmb was repeatedly mentioned for the small 2 room unit.

The expected romance and comedy are not the biggest draw for this drama, although it is nicely carried out with less “skinship” moments than loving support ones. The usual amount of slow motion closed lips kissing, catching stumbling damsels in distress, and carrying one on ML's back are also expected. Nevertheless, there are some very funny sweet moments, like the cat-like coming and going across Ye Xuan and Li ZeNan’s balconies, although one about climbing over a gated wall looked like it was a nod to Eternal Love 1-2-3 (the drama with Liang Jie as XiaoTan) and I briefly wondered whether this would go in the same fantasy direction since we did have once again a really tall, empowered ML looking rather cold to start with, and a rather shorter and less athletic, newcomer FL with a warmer outgoing temper. But no. (Ye Xuan was no pushover, she had some self-defense training!)
Some scenes that were certainly meant as slapstick humor like the redoubtable mother wielding a leek as beating stick, commercials TV ads blunders or blind dating made me smile, although they were not exceptional. The appearance of the well-respected director Sha WeiQi (who made a few dramas I also enjoyed, like A River Runs Through It and To Fly With You) first puzzled me, then I realized, and it was a sweet surprise!

Still, other elements that relate to real life Chinese work culture are, I think, very well included. I came out of this fairly enlightened about the practices of outsourcing and sub-contracting tasks to a Party B by a Party A that was the legalese which inspired the story and its title, and about some real life dangers of conducting business and construction work in China where reputation must be particularly protected, but where people still strive to keep an optimistic outlook and trust in friendship to overcome hurdles.

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The c-drama cure for haphephobia!

This short-episodes drama is quite enjoyable, although for the impatient international audience of WeTV who rely on subtitles, there’s already a 3-hours+ "movie" edition, compilation of all episodes, paring away episode intro and end credits. On the minus side, this "movie" edition suffers like many such ones of sound trouble on the YouTube post where I watched it: dialogues sound tinny, while some of the music and even speech gets muted away. If it was not for subtitles, and expressive acting, it could be very annoying to be thus interrupted in the flow.
The original short 8 minutes episode series is still airing on WeTV international app with English subtitles, so I was re-watching parts there for a more comfortable sound experience. It's the type of drama one can enjoy while snacking or breakfasting, or at pauses on a commute.

The story of Promise in The Summer (初夏的甜蜜约定 / Chu Xia De Tian Mi Yue Ding) is rather simple, and not too choppy, despite the use of some flashbacks to highlight some past events and more recent ones in order to underline the lead characters' actions. Generally, it develops pleasingly, if not unexpectedly, since this is a variation on well-known stories, going back to the HanaYoriDango/ Meteor Garden/ Boys Over Flowers phenomena. Nevertheless, the expected tropes are not too many: accidental kiss, color spills, spoon-feeding, visit to the amusement park (on double date). Product placement is refreshingly almost absent.
It is a new variation on the story derived from the web novel "Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me" (恶魔少爷别吻我) by Jin Xia Mo (锦夏末), that already spawned a successful 2 seasons drama adaptation under that title in 2017, featuring at the time Xing Fei (An Chuxia) and Li Hongyi (HanQiLu), in 46x25’ episodes, and another take in 2018, titled “The Demon Master”, featuring Yu Xintian (An Chuxia) and Jia Zhengyu (Han Qilu), in a 3seasons, 46x22’episodes Tencent/MangoTV series. But the latter drama script is closer to the MG/BOF drama model.

Despite several points in common (including some that are more pleasing here than in MDDNKM, such as the waltz scene) "Promise in the Summer” stands alone quite well on its own. Some of the story takes place in a fictitious private college, where the protagonists attend a class in Finance, but apart from desk, classroom, and a Theater side activity, we don't get much information about the college. Just enough to justify categorizing the drama as a youth-university romance, with a mystery to be solved, although the mystery is not a big surprise.

FL has endearing eyes and good chemistry with the ML, through touches more than kisses (very few and not the ravenous kind). Han Qilu (韩七录) seems cold, tsundere, "wooden" and overbearing, sometimes almost autistic-behaving, even clueless about how to behave as a boyfriend, needing help from a classmate to express repressed sentiments. But he does thaw up pleasingly (such as in the waltz teaching scene).
An Chuxia (安初夏), the “Cinderella” sudden housemate, has been expressly commissioned by QiLu's mom to conduct desensitizing of the young man for his haphephobia, that causes him to react with skin allergy to the touch of women, except from FL of course. Having discovered this, the mom and therapist of ML have decided on "exposure therapy: In this form of treatment, you’re slowly exposed to the feared situation [in this case, touch]. With a trained therapist, you can create a safe environment in which you can slowly allow yourself to become more comfortable with your fears. Repeated positive experiences through exposure may slowly change your negative emotions toward touch."
This type of phobia and cure is not exactly new in C-dramas. You can find it in the first series of “About Is Love”, among other ones. It was also briefly implied in the first episode of “Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me”, but strangely, not really used then as a lever to develop that story (and the mom of that Han QiLu did not seem to be aware of her son’s condition).

The young actors are very handsome.
• FL is played by 22 years-old actress-singer Liu Nian (刘念). When she was 17-year-old in 2018, she joined the Japanese idol girl group called AKB48 (formed in 2005, with teams which can rotate performances and perform simultaneously at several events and "handshake" events, where fans can meet group members; their highest selling single, "Teacher Teacher", sold over 3 million in 2018). Simultaneously, she tried her luck in v 101 China (rather than in the South Korean television competition Produce 48 of 2018 where 39 members of AKB48 took part) and later again, in Produce Camp (2020) Chinese competition where she 'made it to the final broadcast finishing with the rank of #12". This is Liu Nian's first experience as c-drama FL actress, and we shall perhaps see later how well she did in her previous support role in Destiny of Love (a costume drama starring Darren Chen and Huang RiYing, that wrapped filming 2 years ago already, but still is awaiting release).
• ML, 24-year-old Ma HaoDong (马浩东) had five previous lead roles in c-dramas, while still ' currently studying at the Beijing Film Academy majoring in performance art".
Supporting actors, apart from the as usual, doting mom (uncredited), are:
• Huang YunYun (黄云云) who plays Mo XinWei (莫昕薇), a classmate who is at first infatuated with the ML (but does not stay so for long, becoming a friend instead),
• Jian ZeZheng (建泽正), playing An Chenchuan (安辰川), a young bakery owner classmate who doesn’t have a crush on FL but is a good friend of both ML and FL characters).
• Zhang Xintong (张新童) who plays Xiang ManKui (向蔓葵), a heiress who appears in the last part of the drama, as the fiancée suddenly chosen for him by QiLu’s father, for business alliance.

The names of these characters will sound very familiar to those who watched “Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me”, and/or “The Demon Master”, but these are mostly just namesakes. This pared-down cast, and story, not using gossip mongering, painful breakups, vicious bullying and scandals, has in fact a better flow and leaves audience with a nice sense of completion, differently from the half-baked end in the 2017 drama.

The music is well-timed, songs don’t clash with dialogues, and the waltz is simpler than the expected Strauss numbers. They are sung by singers who are already known to perform drama OST, such as Zhong ShuTong (钟抒瞳) who sings the end theme “The Sleepless Night” (睡不着的夜晚) and Wang Ziyu (王梓钰 aka LIAN) who sings Dawn Of Dreams (梦的曙光).

Baidu informs that the Directors are Dai Xifan (戴希帆) and Sheng Han (晟菡); screenwriter is Sheng Han (晟菡); Producers are Huang Jianan, Wang Fuping, Li Qiyi (黄嘉楠、王付平、李骐屹); and chief producer is Ke Jiasheng (柯家生). These are not well-known names. The drama started filming in September 2022 in Qingdao.

“The Promise in The Summer” is not an unforgettable masterpiece, but it is a well-made variation on the old story, with no over-ambitious message, and it can even be re-watched with enjoyment for the light fluff and humor.

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Trip down memory lane for those who lived in Beijing or Qingdao in the end 2000s and into the 2010s

A beautiful story of growing up, making one's way in life, and choosing between conflicting sentiments and gratefulness.

The FL is He Luo (played by relatively unknown Bu Guan Jin ; she has since played in a number of dramas, including the main role as Chen MeiRu in witty "Dear Diary / My Babylonian boyfriend" of 2021). She is a little girl who only knew how to challenge herself on the track field until she met Zhang Yuan (played by Bai Yu, who featured in "Love O2O", and in 2018 also appeared alongside Zhu Yilong in the web drama “Guardian” : a drama that developed an online cult following which led to the actors increased in popularity )
Zhang Yuan spurred He Luo on to her new goal, which only him saw as more than an idle joke. For lack of two points, caused by a freak bicycle accident he never revealed to her, their common path in Beijing Huaqing (modeled on Qinghua) was thwarted, and He Luo was courted by another worthy young man, Feng Xiao (played by Lu ChengJue who was then a relative newcomer in c-dramas)
Feng Xiao followed He Luo to America and saved her life before step by step moving to propose. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuan had changed paths, despite his youthful promise, and struck gold with a game, but being too rash and trustful, he lost so much that he felt ashamed to hold He Luo back when he might become just another loser and drifter. His worth was still recognized by one company that helped him get back where he belonged, faithful followers, and friends ; Li YunWei and Chan Feng, Zhao Chengjie and Tian Xin (who rejected Zhao), and Zhang WeiRui "Zhang CaoCao" who boldly looked up to Zhang Yuan, but realized that his happiness was elsewhere.
Yet, for ZhangYuan to win back his girl after having pushed her away was going to take time again, and luck, and Heavens did not seem to make it easy for them to reunite, even though He Luo realized she still had feelings for her Zhang Yuan and none, beyond gratefulness, for Feng Xiao.
She could have ended up forever single, like in the song Houlai. But the drama ends on a chance meeting that could be a spark of their getting back together after having both overcome their struggles.

The story brings back many memories, for those who lived in Qingdao and Beijing in the end of the 2000s and in the 2010s, with depictions that ring very true : the angst of exams, the rally by all on the news of the Wenchuan earthquake, the life transition after the gaokao verdict, the rise of online gaming, the threat of epidemics (H7N9 avian flu of 2013 here, rather than the 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization from June 2009 to August 2010 or the SARS outbreak of 2003-2004 (when severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infected over 8,000 people from 29 countries and territories and caused disruption in travel and confinements in China).
But the story starts around 2006, and it ends before 2018, when the drama was made and released, so there's no SARS/Covid scare yet.
Some epochal events are only mentioned quicky such as the 2008 Olympics, but just as in reality, the scarcity and towering price of tickets for the live event were beyond the reach of most people, especially young students (if they were not involved in the preparation and work there, in some form).
The changing skyline and way of life is touched on by the purchase of the apartment in the He Luo development, the dinners with karaoke gatherings when the former schoolmates meet up., and the revamping of the comics store-café in Qingdao. Iconic buildings of the SOHO group in Beijing are seen, and also signature views of Qingdao and Shenzhen. There is mention of the demise of the Ferris wheel in Qingdao, which underlines the urgency of time flowing away and memories becomling bittersweet as things disappear (such as the Thanks scribbled onto a hidden corner on the roof of the school). The Ferris wheel comes back in many romance dramas and, at least since 2017, there's one standing again, 68 m tall, called the Qingdao Eye (it is located on the shore of Tangdao Bay on the west coast of Qingdao; and it has 36 viewing boxes). But this new Ferris wheel does not feature in the drama.

Food features a lot in the drama, but many signature dishes and snacks of Qingdao or Beijing (Peking duck...) are just hinted at in passing ; the dishes that comes back in cooking is the crucian carp porridge (as a difficult, but nourishing dish!) , the fangbian mian (that causes He Luo to be poisoned by gas in America, though thankfully not being exploded to pieces in her apartment), the fried noodles that Zhang Yuan gets in Beijing at the eatery, and some jianbing filled with vegetables (including the one that had a worm in it, at the university canteen). Bizarrely, He Luo who is supposedly fond of snacks and savors jiaozi or a simple stuffed baozi at her friend's grandma, favors spicy food and Sichuan hotpot: it is indeed popular throughout a good part of China, but not typical from Qingdao where she spent her childhood, and not seen in her home, where her absent dad is only stationed in Sichuan or "the south". As for beverages, beer is ubiquitous, although there is no dwelling on the signature Qingdao beer, and no hint of other popular brands of Beijing. Orange juice is often seen, as well as the Nongfu spring water bottles. At one moment Zhang Yuan hurts his stomach through accepting a drinking challenge involving drinking Moutai from the bottles (!) Lesser or more expensive brands of baijiu (Beijing erguotou, or high end Wuliangye) are not seen. There are dinners at a sushi restaurant, but in other ones, I noticed the absence of the habitual watermelon slices or juice..

All this contributes to the slice of-life feel of the drama, although there is so much focusing on the sentimental struggle and job- or studies-related entanglements, that sometimes, it detracts from a clean and legible storyline. The reluctance to kiss, hug, touch or more by the protagonists of what is a romance feels sometimes extreme, although the slapping away Feng Xiao's hand is quite in character at the moment it happens. This drama is not for those who yearn for kisses and sweet touching on screen. The growth of the characters through the years is accompanied by changing outfits (although nothing spectacular) and make-up, but i am puzzled by the ML hairstyle in the later episodes, which does not really tie in with that of a director, be he a geek gamer or not.

The OST music at the beginning and end of episodes is pleasing and the performance by He Luo at various moments of some signature songs of the time too (Houlai, by Rene Liu, was first released in 2000, but was indeed very popular at the end of the decade and even into the 2010s.) But sometimes, the background music interferes with the dialogues.

Will this be of rewatch value? Maybe. I watched it as a comparison with the "90's Beijing Fantasy", another youth drama that triggered a trip down memory lane, for me.

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A wonderful two episode fantasy very short mini drama about a phone

This mini drama (about 12-13 minutes for each of the two episodes) is very refreshing and endearing.
The story revolves about the imaginary friend of a lonely little girl who will grow up and find the imaginary friend yielding to a real life one in the second episode, as it should be. But the phone, despite it needing to be updated periodically, may still accompany her faithfully even into the future. At the time, the Oppo brand was still not very well known, now it is.
It shows an optimistic and imaginative vision of a peaceful present and future, and showcases the use of a phone not only as a means of communication, but also as a treasured possession at the service of its owner, almost like a full friend in the flesh.
The bleating of the alarm is a tongue-in-cheek play on Yang Yang's acquired nickname "mie mie" and his Chinese zodiac star sign as a Sheep. The actor's youthful, slightly clownish or android like appearance and act complement the liveliness of the little girl who is the other main character.
The two episodes are easy to find on YouTube, using the keywords "[Eng subs] Yang Yang @ phone mini drama - part 1 of 2"
It is well worth the half hour watching, for every public, not only the die hard "yangmao" fans.

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