Nepeta 22

Get ready, 2 dramas with Zhou Ye will be set in retro times. One featuring ballet set in the seventies!

Yes. More than just good. It's a great drama. It's been accused of being preachy in China, but as far as I see, why can't someone talk or make a drama about these subjects? They are important & asks more questions than giving us an outright answer.

Well done. I hope it gets higher because I think it's better than that rating. By far one of the best dramas this year.

I get what you are saying, and BTW I have edited my previous comment to let you know it's not about this drama but another drama called Romance in the Alley in my last comment. This drama will focus on love and you could say it's going to be light hearted rom-com with a retro feel. Nothing wrong with that. When Bridget Jones Diaries was adapted into film it does not depict real life Britain but no one questions that because it's not a political drama just like this one due out.

China has many types of dramas and self critique have been happening for a while, and dramas like The Knock Out or The Long Night depicts corrupt officials at all levels. A drama I'm watching right now called Born to be Alive is not shying away from the fact that the government neglected police forces in areas that are not deemed important enough and shows in graphic detail how they don't have proper equipment and despite numerous pleas, money is never poured into that area's police force. But you can't expect the current ruling party to say they do not think they should exist. But certainly there is criticism of their past failures. I don't find that at all odd.

I find it more offensive when a majority of dramas from former coloniser countries choosing to always put a 'white knight' at the centre of the story just to hand pick less than 1% of what actually happened at that part of history. The self censoring film & dramas. Backers and the industry blacklisting certain artists/film directors that voice their political views.

In China, their history, especially the last 100 year history is a relatively new system. so in a sense there is still a whole generation of collective pride that perhaps a fair few countries don't share, so when they come to C-Drama, they can find it too heavy handed or sometimes jarring.

But if you feel that is a form of propaganda then so be it. History is always written by the victors, so nothing new here. For those in China, they are far from blind or too innocent to know true freedom, and the type you mention is more a label like "special values" than anything actually meaningful in every day life. It's more talk and thoughts rather than true actions to bring people freedom.

I can tell you did not watch a drama like Romance in the Alley. It shows clearly the suffering, the rationing, the dobbing of others including within their own family for personal gain. It also tackled forced relationships to gain access to housing which at the time was strictly controlled by family links and which county you were born. It also showed how little people had in terms food and how many were forced to grow upwards from seeds they got from their own vegetables.

What I find so interesting is when it comes to China it's propaganda but elsewhere it's just individuals choosing to shed light on patriotic subjects. Ironically, you might want to question who's really swallowed the Kool aid with your own comments.

That might be so from the perspective outside of China. If you've watched Romance in the Alley, then you will see that this drama epitomises nostalgia to the max. There is a core audience that would view this era as strong characters that built China as it is today. Almost like a tribute. So why not use love as the universal language.

No problem. It's actually still common in Chinese dramas. Normally it's done because sometimes the actors themselves are too busy in their schedule so they cannot attend later dubbing in a studio so they then have other voice actors in place.

Other times, the production prefer a particular type of voice. The other final reason is their regional accents may be an issue for the drama, particularly historical type dramas and production will need to take on voice actors.

These issues are more so in the first 2 episodes, so in that sense they rushed in with too much and overlayed it with too much forced comedy. This happens a lot in dramas. By episode 3 they settle down a bit.

The 2 leads are generally natural at comedy, and when I originally saw the pairing, it looked too good to be true.

By episode 4-5 you can start to see their natural ability to make the drama feel light and comedic. But also mix in their growth with each other.

What they mean is in this drama, the main leads have been dubbed over with professional voice actors. Usually they specialise only doing voice acting. These voice actors will normally be listed in the credits too.

She is really like the next version of Liu Yi Fei to me An upgraded one too.

Not only do they smoke out those people, I forgot, they smoke out trolls...

I was hoping the two would grow a bit and calm down in another 6 episodes, but on reading your comment today, it has help keep me stay away for longer😉!

I was wondering if they'd matured a bit, but it sounds like the drama makers want to keep this act up to appeal to the wider audiences. Oh well. If it helps character charts on data trends, it has got to be...

Ha ha, you've admitted it! That handy FF button... I don't know why, but for me Bai Yu just doesn't suit in scenes like that. In the earlier episodes of him trying to act all silly was even worse. I hope to pick it back up soon.

I loved Eagle Flag & I agree the war scenes are amazing to look at, but I don't think dramas of bigger budgets need to see more war scenes if they are historical or costume dramas. I think it doesn't always help the dramas. Some dramas add so much of it I switch off.

In this drama at least, if they didn't add anymore I don't think it would make it a lesser drama. The dialogue and ambience is enough.

You are not the only one. I have put this on hold due this. I tried to skip bits at the beginning, but then realised they figure in many too many bits that would cause issues for other parts of the drama.

I wished they wrote these characters more in line with the rest of the drama because I feel they stand out in a bad way and don't offer any form of comic relief nor try to convey a loving couple against the backdrop of change and upheaval.

They just look like a badly made up couple just to appeal to what they think the modern audiences want. Of course I know many do not share or agree with my view on this, so I could be the minority.

Yes these types of articles always smoke out the usual suspects that are always at the front of the queue to link anything and everything on the country's government. In this one I have got to hand it to them, very imaginary.

Anything like this outside of China, they will never link a government rotting people's brains but talk about that person's background and upbringing. But no, they are trying to paint people as following some cult detached from their families.

How funny since a large portion of Chinese dramas always centre around families and their bond!

It's obvious this account was created purely to make this statement. They want to ignite a conversation about FL's appearance but cannot use their original account. For those that have not seen this drama a great deal of effort has been made for the weathered look. Including FL.

Whenever I watch these types of dramas it is actually the nice straight white teeth that is the only distraction!

I think you are reading an article that misses key points. The question is whether the police was corrupt handling the situation at the time to which they cleared their name with the statement. But this leaves the question of why an assistant would say a lie when the police came.

Was this a culture of control from manager or actress or not? Those gaps we will never know. Considering a high profile against a measly assistant the public think that 'maybe' she did not do this on her free will which then question actress & management conduct. Fraud & control.

I don't think that has anything to do with another actor's problem with taking photos on holiday. That matter is completely different.

Have you watched a few episodes yet because your comments don't match.

I understand your frustration, and this isn't just confined to Chinese dramas/films. But strangely I seldom see comments on viewers complaining about Gulinazer or Dilireba taking on Han roles. I would say representation of smaller ethnic groups are higher.

About 'blatant propaganda', would you prefer the more subtle type that sometimes falls into the entitlement side? Also something to point out, when China makes these types of dramas, it's normally from a place of pride rather than trying to hide anything. Those that keep thinking sinister and control might be projecting what they may have been feeling from their own media or political systems.

Yes, that flip flopping attitude can also make the character dislikeable. At this stage, not sure whether the character is written badly or whether it's a clunky move just to showcase his growth, but for me anyway, it doesn't make him look relatable or caring, just someone pampered and suddenly wanting to play grown up.