Chasing Dramas

Karen and Cathy discuss 8, yes 8, Chinese dramas currently airing in July. Xiao Zhan brings The Longest Promise or 玉骨遥. Angelababy has 2 dramas out: Twilight or 暮色心约 with Ren Jia Lun and 尘缘 Divine Destiny with Ma Tian Yu. Yang Yang stars in 我的人间烟火 or Fireworks of My Heart with his rumored real life girlfriend Wang Chu Ran. There's also Destined 长风渡 with rumored real life couple Bai Jing Ting and Song Yi, Hidden Love or 偷偷藏不住 with Zhao Lu Si, Snow Eagle Lord or 雪鹰领主 with Gu Li Na Zha and Xu Kai and 闪耀的她 or Stand or fall with Qin Lan and Wang Yang.

The escaped member of the Wolf Squad, Cao Po Yan, murdered an elderly man who scooped him out of the river and heads to a barber to shave his beard to better escape in the crowd. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiao Jing recovers a detailed map of Chang An that the Wolf Squad were seeking, indicating a bigger plot is afoot in Chang An, bigger than just finding the lone survivor of the Wolf Squad.

There's been a flurry of scandals these past two weeks. Pop Idol Cai Xu Kun was exposed with having slept with a fan and ordering her to get an abortion. In Taiwan, multiple celebrities including former Fahrenheit boy band member Aaron Yan have been accused of sexual assault or harassment. The 28th Chinese Television Magnolia Awards were held last week and fans were rather discontent with the winners. Listen to our latest podcast episode for the latest tea!

Karen and Cathy discuss the first 20 min of episode one of The Longest Day In Chang'An. They introduce the layout of the city and how "fangs" work as well as the curfew system during the Tang dynasty. They provide an overview of how time was announced then and then introduce the main characters of Zhang Xiao Jing and Li Bi. Zhang Xiao Jing is an inmate on death row selected by Li Bi to track down a member of the Wolf Squad who escaped capture that may be intent on causing harm in Chang An.

The Chinese entertainment industry's biggest stars had dramas air in June. Xiao Zhan had success with The Youth Memories 梦中那片海 and Dilireba educated us on cybercrimes with Prosecution Elite. Karen and Cathy provide their thoughts on the drama and some ratings commentary for how these dramas performed in their initial airing periods.

We kick off our 4th season of Chinese history through Chinese dramas by starting our discussion of the Longest Day in Chang'An 长安十二时辰。 Based off of a 2017 book of the same name, this drama was nominated for and won numerous awards for acting, cinematography, production design among others. We provide a high level overview of the drama, discuss the setting in the Tang dynasty during Emperor Tang Xuan Zong's reign and introduce the two main leads, Lei Jia Yin and Yi Yang Qian Xi.

In our latest In the Know podcast, we discuss the events that led up to the blacklist of actor Zhang Zhe Han in 2021. Fresh off his success in Word of Honor, the future was looking bright for the actor. However, photos of him visiting a Japanese shrine were uncovered in the summer of 2021. The backlash online and the government was swift and severe. He was quickly blacklisted from the Chinese entertainment industry. Listen to our latest podcast to hear the whole story.

In our wrap up episode for the Story of Yanxi Palace with the history of Fu Heng, Emperor Qian Long, and our lead Wei Ying Luo! We then discuss the impact this drama has had on our main cast including Wu Jin Yan, Charmaine Sheh, Qin Lan, Nie Yuan, and Xu Kai. Finally, we share our thoughts on our favorite characters and stories in this drama! Come listen to our final goodbye to this drama

As we round out our discussion on The Story of Yanxi Palace, did you know that it, along with RuYi's Love in the Palace are both actually unavailable to stream in China? Both dramas were removed and may never be available for Chinese audiences. We discuss theories on why these dramas were removed as well as a few other dramas that are still available abroad but have either been edited or removed in China.

In a final confrontation on the dragon boat, the Empress Nala is dragged off after she cuts her hair as a way to curse the Empress Dowager and Emperor. The Prince of He similarly receives his just punishment for treason. As for Yuan Chun Wang? His background is finally revealed even though there are several questions that remain. We wrap up episode 70 with a plot recap and a discussion on what happened to Empress Nala in history.