*Sigh…* While I am usually not the most patient sort when it comes to historical palace dramas heavy on intrigue, I was still rather disappointed when I found out that the Chinese government has put a ban on it. The ban is not new since it had already come out once seven years ago but obviously, everyone took it more of as a suggestion and kept on putting out even more shows so instead of fading from public view, palace intrigue dramas have actually become so popular that it even garnered some international attention. Shows such as Story of Yanxi Palace, Legend of Ruyi, and The Legend of Hao Lan) As of right now, all currently filming palace dramas has been halted so of course that means those that were in the planning stage are shelved indefinitely as well.
In case you guys are curious, here are reasons the C-government gave for the ban 1. Idolizing the lifestyle of the royalties making them a fad. 2. Detail portrayal of palace intrigue worsens the current social condition. 3. Glamorizing emperors and palace officials, thus diminishing the achievements of the modern era. 4. Encouraging lavish and extravagant lifestyle while downplaying the virtue of being frugal.
So the question follows if the ban were ignored seven years ago why couldn’t people just ignore it again? Well, my personal guess is that the ban will probably be lifted or at least the government might be willing to look the other way eventually but in the last couple years things have been fairly tense with government crackdowns in various areas so I am afraid most tv stations will choose to play it safe or else risking being made an example.
All Is Well (Chinese Drama)
The death of a mother caused her three children to come rushing home but reunion soon brought years of repressed resentment and long ignored issues to the surface.
This one is getting quite a bit of positive response from Chinese viewers because the heroine’s emotional scars that came from her mother’s belief that daughters are useless and unimportant compares to sons is something a lot of Chinese women resonant with. This one is based on the book from the same author that gave us Ode to Joy so if you like that one, All Is Well should be a good bet.
3/12
Brave To Love (Taiwanese Drama, New)
Adopted from Japanese cartoonist Fumi Saimon’s “Love White Paper”, Brave To Love tells the story of five university friends as they experience the joy and sorrow that life throws at them.
The story begins five years after our heroine has graduated from university. Despite being a hard working girl, our heroine seems to have the worst luck when it comes to jobs. Jobless yet again after only two days at a new position, our despondent heroine wonders around aimlessly in the rain and runs right into her ex-boyfriend.
Different from your usual innocent college first love, Brave To Love deals with some pretty heavy and realistic struggles such as workplace bullying, death, same-sex attractions, social injustice, and complexities of family relationships. I would usually be scared off with a show that attempts to tackle that many issues, however, the show was able to present the various obstacles naturally- in a way that feels like our characters are real people going through real lives so of course that many challenges will come their way since this is after all…life…for better or for worse.
Judging by the first episode, the story and the acting seem very promising. However, the one concern I have is that the show had enlisted Lego Lee and Kingone Wang as guest stars. I don’t understand why the show would shoot itself in the foot like that. The four young actors (most of them upcoming Taiwanese actors, still relatively unknown to audiences) who play the four main characters seem to be doing a decent job but how am I suppose to pay attention to them when Lego Lee AND Kingone Wang show up on the screen?! (For those who follow T-drama, Lego Lee (Meet Me @1006) and Kingone Wang (Swimming Battle) should be fairly familiar names.) Kingone Wang is guest starring as the heroine’s picky boss and boy, am I having a hard time giving the actual hero (the ex-boyfriend) a spare thought when Kingone Wang looks so manly and sizzling. Lego Lee of course doesn’t help either. Lego Lee is guest starring as the hero’s lawyer boss so it makes it EVEN harder to see our young inexperienced hero as anything but a silly boy when your eyes keep wanting to wander off to his boss instead. I am assuming the show enlisted the star power of Lego Lee and Kingone Wang to promote the show…but I think it backfired since I now just want our heroine to forget her ex and ride off into the sunset with her sexy boss.
I Will Never Let You Go (Finished)
Warning: Spoiler!
Really, I will be talking about the ending so scroll down at your own risk…
This one started out so fun but sadly, it really got draggy towards the middle. After skipping the last eight episodes, I went back to watch the last episode thinking I can work my way backward. I know, I know. A really weird way of watching shows but in this case, it saved me from wasting hours of drama watching.
What’s with the ending?! It was like the writer had a really bad day and decides to kill every single character but remembered belatedly this is actually supposed to be a comedy so that’s how our hero mysteriously managed to come back to our heroine alive at the very last 30 second of the show. I was so speechless at the body count that I was ready to just turn off the show…thankfully I ended up watching it to the bitter end and therefore saw the miracle return of our hero. The show didn’t give us any explanation of how our hero survived but my personal take is that since the villain fell into the well first, then our hero must’ve landed on top of the villain’s body thus saving our hero’s life.
This one started off so great so it was such a shame that out of the many many more interesting ways to develop the story the writer decided to settle for the most boring ones and to give it such a lackluster ending.
3/14
Nice To Meet You (Chinese Drama, New)
A talented jewelry designer, our heroine was on track to become the envy of everyone in both love and career…until her fiancé publically fires her from her job and breaks up with her on their engagement party. In most cases, a synopsis that starts like this will usually end with our heroine finding her true love AND achieve her dream career. However, the fiancé in this case is actually our hero so our two leads will have to work out their misunderstandings in order to have their happy ending.
I am hesitant about this one because the show starts off with our two leads’ big break up then time jumps to their meeting eight months earlier…which means we have to go through all the back stories before we can find out what happens after the ill-destined engagement party. There is of course nothing wrong with this method of storytelling but I am just the impatient sort so I might wait until the backstories are done before I check back on this one.
I Got You (Chinese Drama, New)
Having never had a boyfriend before, our heroine had to use all her imagination when she was tasked by her boss to write a perfect boyfriend game program. Stunned when during a lightning storm the character she designed for her game somehow came out of the program and materialized in her house, our heroine has to figure out what to do with her very own “perfect boyfriend.”
This sort of story for some strange reason has never been my sort of thing but if you like dramas such as J-drama’s Absolute Boyfriend (Zettai Kareshi) then this one might be interesting to check out.
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Damm, guess this means no Rise of Pheonixes season 2😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
just what I was thinking!! like noooooo
I’m new to C-dramas and the ban served to stimulate me to search the ones particularly mentioned to watch it. I’m intrigued by why these shows were banned and would like to judge for myself. Personally for me the ban served to popularize the very shows the government banned. After all negative publicity is still publicity.
It would have been nice to see a season 2 of Rise of the Phoenixes but I didn’t think that was likely to happen with or without the ban.
I really don’t see them doing season 2 of Phoenixes either. Just like I don’t see them doing season 2 for Princess Agents and that one had a whole lot more story left over.
I’m currious how they can ban Palace Dramas but not Dramas where the parents have more than one adult child, in All is well even 3. The One Child Policy isn’t gone that long. I know, that it’s just a story but that are Palace Dramas too.
They are trying to encourage people to have kids now so we will probably actually start seeing dramas with big (well, big for China) families. Palace drama is BIG business so I really don’t see the ban lasting TOO long but it will at least be long enough so some big important official feels like they have made their point.
This is disappointing. As an American woman who just discovered the Chinese historical/fantasy genre, I am sad to learn this. The fourth point seems the most hypocritical. There are millions of dollars to be made as these types of dramas are intensely popular, especially overseas. Not to mention the stifling of creativity. I can’t imagine a world without Legend of Fuyao or Eternal Love. I look forward to your translations for Rise of Phoenixes. If I hadn’t seen that drama, I never should have become curious about what other C-dramas were available. I think it is important to be proud of your past even if you’re living in the present. One shouldn’t negate the other. The Chinese have a rich and beautiful culture. Watching these dramas make me want to learn more about China and her culture. I think the government has a very narrow view of what constitutes a true hazard to the public.
No.4 makes much sense. A lot of Chinese are poor and will be poor their entire life. Seeing all this lavish things can raise the will to rebel against the current system and get rich themself. It happened in Europe already with the former communist fraction. Don’t forget the main audience for these Dramas are Chinese and not us. We just are lucky that we can see them thanks to internet.
In total agreement with you … given China is mainly a communist/semi socialist society they want what is best for common good of the people and a majority of Chinese people are not well off and rich like some of these dramas pretend … they are drama/fantasy for a reason ….
The good news (if there is such a thing that could come out of this) is that we will most likely see an increase in dramas like Fuyao. The TV stations are pretty good and well practiced at skirting around regulations so historical fantasy is probably the safe bet right now. Most of the dramas the government had issues with seemed to be shows based on real people in Chinese history.
I only watch historical fantasy anyway since the real ones I prefer to watch in documentaries. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good but I find it quite depressing how cruel life then was.
Dear Anonymous who I chatted about King of Blaze 2 in the past and can’t answer in the old post, all english subs finally are up in official YT channel. Enjoy it…or not ;).
Ninja,
Your comments about Lego Lee and Kingone Wang had me cracking up.
I’ve not even watched the show but based on your description I’m with you on what the heroine should do, “forget her ex and ride off into the sunset with her sexy boss.”
Your method of watching shows, skipping to the last episode, is something I’ve started doing if I start to like the show enough commit to watching all of it. Started doing that after watching Black…that one about broke me. lol
Sigh…I see you have been hurt by the drama gods as well… 🙂
I read your first impressions on “Its All About Looks” that aired about 2 years ago and I just felt the need to point something out.. You say the things that go on in the drama are things “most women experience”, but that’s.. not only alienating but also untrue. Relatable I would understand since it’s something you recognize in your own life, but take the example of trying to place a purse in a bathroom – I am very much an adult woman and “most women” around me don’t even own a single purse lol!
After refreshing my memory a bit on the drama, I am assuming when I wrote “most women experience” I am talking about insecurities most women experience about themselves (at least that’s what I remember having a strong impression of). I guess I had assumed that’s fairly universal but I will totally concur that’s obviously my own bias formed by my own experience and the experiences of those around me. I apologize if I offended you since that is certainly never my intention.
By the way, you don’t own a single purse? And no one around you carry them either? What do you carry stuff such as tissues, wallet, and misc stuff in? (I did recently just bought a jacket with like 10 pockets in them so I got rid of my purse…until summer comes around) How about carrying backpacks? My own experience is actually trying to find a place to put my backpacks in bathrooms.
I love pockets and being hands free. However, I still need my purse for days when I am wearing a dress or something fancy. And hellz, no, purses never touch the bathroom ground. Unless I got thick wads of paper lined beneath the purse. Haha.