Nepeta 22

I never knew it was a book adaptation. I thought it was an original script. Nonetheless, a really interesting drama that at times can be difficult to record as I am sure some crimes with customs, they had to keep from us for fear it can reveal some parts that may be used for those that want to evade customs.

I really liked the group dynamics and thought it was so natural, almost like you were watching a reality programme with the team's interactions. The bigger crime woven in the background was well balanced but as stated, felt a bit rushed in the end.

Being beautiful and being able to act might sometimes be a tall order, but they do exist in China. Maybe I have different standards to you, but I am quite happy with the talent around. There seems to be a healthy line of new actresses that look promising already, and the established actresses a decade before that still are in demand have a place in the field if directors and the audiences want to see more.

I think there is something for everyone. Idol style dramas to slice of life dramas to thought provoking dramas, there are a range of actors that can fill these genres. But yes, it would be nice to see more of the mainstream to be filled with actors that have both looks and skill, but that might still be hard.

As for actors that look more relatable, I think this trend has been going on for a while but, it's often muddled with new stars that come in from the music industry or reality show industry and sadly, as you notice, not all are talented in acting, but more riding off viral fame or youth boy/girl bands.

Whilst I agree on some points you have raised it's no point pretending performing arts still rely on "screen presence" and in many times, above average looks is a big factor into attracting audiences. This is the world over.

I am like a lot of viewers, just a novice at judging what is deemed a good actor/actress, and everyone can have their opinions on a person's performance. We may differ in our opinions on whether the FL is portraying her character well and if a different actress may give a different feel.

I do sometimes feel the need to point out that female actors get more criticism on their portrayal or performances over men, and that is in general, not just here and fair enough, you made your point with being a former Rada student, so you may be over critical of a field you trained in, I understand that. But in China, a fair portion are given plum roles because of their former music fandom, and because fandom culture is big in China, production companies will go for the safer route of borrowed viewers.

Many respected actors in China have not come from a training in acting including RJL, and I welcome that as I believe acting isn't all about training in a top school in Beijing.

It's also an unspoken rule that Xianxias are normally going to have a lot of above average looking actors in them and looks tend to come first because there is a type of requirement which is usually long slim necks, pale and smooth features with minimal angular contours. It's just the traditional way of how lead characters are supposed to look like. Obviously, there is always a bit of bending of rules here and there!

I see this often all across the board. It's sadly not just on forums like this. Mass media generally controlled by men, over the decades have made this more normal and unfortunately, this has influenced a new generation of people to hone in on women more and you'll notice the band of acceptance for women is getting narrower and narrower as time goes on, and the best tool for that is women themselves.

Captivating because for a fair few viewers tend to not watch the drama as a whole, but project what they want from the characters. And this is why a predominately female audience can sometimes be overly critical and opinionated with how female characters are portrayed.

Here, ZKY's character is no nonsense, a dead face killing machine. Only soften for one person (that's not RW character btw), loyal always, for now. Whilst FL is wild, emotional, unstable at times, inconsistent and god forbid too self righteous to a fault, this switches some viewers off. Why? She's just not perfect as she thinks she is. Not self aware.

I think the 2 actresses have portrayed their roles well. Unless someone can tell me I have been not watching the drama properly.

No problem. I have no issue with the article but I think some of the reactions here are from other articles the reporter has made in the past, and they feel that the content by the reporter is often below par and not accurate. They are now nitpicking at every article because they feel the reports are inflated tittle tattle from China and has no place in bringing over to MDL.

That's possibly why you are seeing some reactionary comments. Then there's some that feel, ZLH has been used for any sort of reporting just to get a rise out of those that support him and also those that may not support him.

If you watch Wang Herun in Footprints of Change. Let me know what you think, because it's definitely not an easy role to play.

Yes, I saw his name on the cast list. Look forward to seeing him.😉

Thanks for letting me know. So basically, he is not linked in anyway between these dramas. I loved his role in A Moment But Forever, so immediately recognised him here!

I noticed Mei's master here was also the chess god in A moment But Forever. If anyone knows, is there any links?

No problem, I will not swerve into politics, but it's a bit hard not to in some cases, especially when discussing what content goes inside newspapers. Even ZLH can be dragged into politics or shall I say used by others for their own gain.

As for popularity, this is just a heat of the moment, viral situation. That cycle happens every year with a new so-called hot male artist. The real test is if ZLH can sustain a legacy and international publications will put his name up there in a couple of years' time.

If China is in an economic mess, of course it will be bigger because of the volume/population. Nothing new though. China is really following the same template as all the other capitalist models. With that, it's the usual cycle of boom and bust. What I meant was China plays hard in that game doing business, and the irony is Europe is more socialist than China if you really delve into the every detail. Only difference is, China can halt and control their economy quickly when they feel the free market gets out of hand. Europe has to go through so many hoops of bureaucracy.

Nah, nothing that deep. Allen Ren is just showcasing the comedy that's expected in this drama. He's the master of dead-pan. But done softly which is even more funny. The other being Cheng Yi that's good as this.

The more nonchalant the better. It's just a send up of a swash buckling hero that's rude and brusque with even his side kick. Luckily for him. That side kick kicks back, which makes for a nice sparring partner.

China was all the rage in the past because they allowed Europe to have concessions. This is evident with Germany and France. China is not in favour with Europe because they are now one big unit and act as a whole country in itself, although it is fractured in Europe. Reality is, France is probably more closer in relations with China than some of the other countries right now because of politics, nothing else.

Communism is also not the real reason, otherwise, France and plenty of other countries will pull up Vietnam more, but note they don't. I bet half of the world don't even know Vietnam's regime. That's the power of the mass media.

The reason is simple. They are threatened by their ability to be more capitalist than the capitalists. That's the irony. If anyone is going to show how business is done, it's definitely China.

This then goes back to my comment about snobbiness. The only 'currency' left to put themselves above China is to hang onto the intellectual properties and hype of 'values'. Those things are free and easy to do.

So far so good. I have high hopes. Loved A Moment but Forever, so I hope this one will be just as good.

BTW, she had a lot of support from other actors on Weibo yesterday, like Lei Jia Yin, Zoey Meng, Chen Duling, Ou Hao, Huang Xiao Ming, Wu Jin Yun & Bai Jing Ting. 🙂

Yes that's correct.

I'm glad too. My estimation of her rose even more after seeing her performance in Footprints of Change. Not an easy role to play.

You need to make sure you have the English app, not the mini drama series app one because the latter uses YouTube translate which can sometimes be unreliable.

I wasn't just targeting France, but Europe in general. I guess, what I am trying to say in regards to snobby is more that Europe still hold on to the idea that they still hold the intellectual properties and still want China to be the manufacturer and they will do whatever they can and will to stop China from gaining any upperhand.

One area is limiting any knowledge about China's arts and culture. That information to the masses would do what you just said about Japan before that. They want to continue to push the stereotype of China only good at copying or making to order something coming from Europe. And if China had come up with something similar, it's usually stolen and never something that organically grew out from China.

Here, we see a change, and this only happened because through an agreement of cultural exchange by both countries last year, we get to slowly see stuff like this. Not all media are natural. In fact, many headlines and opinion pieces are controlled by senior editors link to the government.

These headlines are not accidents or natural. It's all part of a culture exchange between China and France that was signed around a year ago. It includes music, art, film and travel. We're just seeing a snippet because it involves an actor. They are all inter connected with travelling visas, rights to distribute certain films/dramas and this includes subtitling priorities. Luxury brands expanding to put Chinese artists in more prominent positions in their media etc. Europe has always been reluctant to this because they are traditionally very euro centric and snobby, so they have always been guarded with China.

If you need to use a site like Kisskh, I suggest you use something like Librewolf to open it from. As you stated, it is risky in general, and it's better to be safe.