[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

@skibbies 

I guess I have seen the term BL taking over more these day, so I was a bit confused between the 2 and made a mistake. Thank you for your correction.

 

Huang JingYu did lay low for a while, and his reappearance in all these movies, I doubt it was because of his popularity from Addicted (not that I want to discuss his scandal). I didn't say they aren't successful right now, but they did miss the best time to boost their career. Addicted was still maybe every fangirls' first love, but comparing them to BY,ZYL,WYB, XZ, those who came later, XWZ was a bit far behind. The speculation of whether XWZ could have reached the others' level can never be answered, because of the fact that he did miss his best shot. HJY, well he's another story.

 

I was hesitating if I should use the term idol drama, I find it a bit derogatory, so I settle for mainstream. But I guess idol is more fitting. I will use that term from now on.

 

As for Guardian, I know its budget got cut along the way, so it still counted as low-budget? I didn't believe their explanation of the taking down because of the paranormal stuff, so didn't include the reason in my article, but it got the whole fandom worried for a while with many conspiracies. I had my theories too, but I'm trying not to be too personal.

 

I apologize for mixing up the celebration date (I'm not Chinese). However, it's not official information, I heard it from AvenueX (she kinda knows inside stuffs), but it is to be expected that the censorship is to be tightened for projects airing during the 100-day countdown period to the celebration, and BL dramas producers should have anticipated that, slating for an April screening was pushing it, considering they want to make the most out of the drama's popularity especially after the finale. WoH's heat lasts for months, I'm not sure Immortality's team would have been able to continue the post-promotion or apply for a concert permission during this period had it aired in April. And in early May, NRTA did announce no BL dramas will be able to air til after July, so this 100-day period is probably true. I also heard the rumor that Immortality got stuck on the promo banner, again if it's true, promo banner and April slating, the Immortality team was asking for too much. After all, it's just a rumor, maybe they passed all censorship, but they came to the conclusion that April was not the best time, with WoH's heat wasn't dying down and the celebration date rushing in, hence they decided to wait for a more suitable date. We don't know for sure.

 

I don't think WoH's promotion was excessive. Everything Youku has done til now was responding to fans' demands, and even that was not enough to satisfy their hunger. All fans know Youku is trying to cash in on them, but if they are all happy with the scale of what Youku is doing, then it is not going overboard, and it is only reflecting the true popularity of the drama. It's funny because meanwhile all other BL dramas have been leaking infos, pics and rumors flying all over the place even when there's no sign of an airing date, none of their fans are complaining that they're going overboard. I bet if their dramas start doing the same as Youku they wouldn't complain either. That's the definition of double-standards. As a neutral BL audience, I don't see how one drama's promotion campaign can affect my view and decision to watch other dramas, unless of course that other drama is of lesser-quality. As a WoH fan, I couldn't care less about the bitterness of WoH rivals' fans. On the contrary, I'm enjoying it, very much indeed.

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

DEEP ANALYSIS SERIES

 

PART 2: FROM BL DRAMAS TO BL ADAPTATIONS - HOW DO WE GET HERE?

 

First, we need to establish that the ban on "details expressing male-male romantic relationship" (from here on referred to as the BL ban) didn't exist before Addicted. To be more precise, the BL wave wasn't big enough for NRTA to notice, thus NRTA didn't even bother to suppress it. 

 

The BL wave started with novels, and was tailored to the preference of female readers and viewers. I won't go into details on why women love BLs, you can do research on this elsewhere. The novels and movies about male-male relationships before this wave were more male-oriented, written by male and directed to the gay community. But following the supply - demand rule, together with the development of the online literary platform JinJiang, BL novels written by women for women started to blossom in the mid to late 2000s and ever since then have proven to be the most favored among female readers.

 

1st milestone: Addicted (2016) and the introduction of BL dramas to the public

Not much more I can say, everybody knows it. It exploded in 2016, quickly gained massive popularity throughout Asia and pushed the 2 stars, Huang JingYu and Xu WeiZhou into the public eyes, thus, at the same time, placed BLs in front of NRTA's eyes. The drama's success was too big, to the point that NRTA started to think the situation was getting out of control. The problem was, Addicted was too explicit BL, with kiss scene and implied sex scene and all that, imagine how it triggered those patriarchal old-fashioned grandfathers in the NRTA. So as fast as its success, it got taken down and banned forever. The BL ban was created, and the 2 main leads were forbidden to appear together on the media for 2 years. They had to lay low for a while after that. They have come back to the industry after that, but they unfortunately have missed the best time to boost their popularity.

 

Now of course what happened to Addicted got people afraid, but the enormous demand was still there, and even the NRTA knew they couldn't just cut it all out. The thing with politics and money is that, you don't just see things one-sided, too much oppression at once will lead to protesting, so they want to just let it loose a little bit, just enough to satisfy the public's craving. So the next period was the experimental time for both the NRTA and the film industry, to try to find the balance that they can both tolerate. Advanced Bravely was produced during this period to test the water. It was from the same author of Addicted, but now without kiss and sex scene. Needless to say this is not the answer they were looking for. After gaining some limited exposure in the fangirl community, it got taken down and had to be screened in Taiwan instead. However there were no other consequences for the 2 main actors. They stayed and pursued their career in the industry like usual. Noted that after Addicted, the NRTA doesn't interfere with any other activities from actors who stars in BL adaptations, no ban, NRTA doesn't require them (directly or indirectly) to not appear together (more on why they do that later).

 

2nd milestone: Guardian (2018) and the Introduction of BL adaptations and brotherhood.

The second bomb exploded in summer 2018, Guardian was the balance the 2 parties were looking for. Introducing the 2 terms BL adaptations and brotherhood, Guardian was adapted from a BL novel, but itself was not a BL drama. 

It presented itself as a paranormal drama with 2 male leads and highlighted their relationship as brotherhood. Guardian opened a new horizon for the genre, devoid of all romantic interactions, it expressed the love between 2 male leads through the way they looked at each other and how they protect and sacrifice for each other. It helped defined the “safe zone” for BL adaptations to pass censorship. However, one couldn’t argue that Guardian was a low-budget poor-quality drama with nothing more to see than the main couple. After it finished airing, it also got taken down from Youku, which sparked worries that the NRTA would strengthen its grasp again. Luckily, after some time, it went back to the platform. The industry and the audience were somewhat reassured and now had a basic understanding of what NRTA would accept.

 

3rd milestone: The Untamed (Chen qing ling – CQL, 2019) – a standard-quality project that reached further than the fangirl community

CQL wasn’t a high-profile drama in its earlier stage either, but it sure had more money than Guardian. Following the initial success of Guardian, investors now had a bit more confidence in BL adaptations and the project gained more attention from the fangirl community than before. CQL ended up with a decent-quality story, a drama that one would want to see even if they weren’t into BLs. It was a hugh success, massive profits for investors, massive exposure for the 2 main leads, Xiao Zhan and Wang YiBo. It became a national sensation, conquering the international market.

 

Now after Guardian and CQL garnered tremendous benefits and pushed their stars onto the top, investors and actors came to realize that this was the new trend, the shortest and fastest route to money for investors, and to stardom for actors. Everybody had eyes for BLs, but in the next year no other BL adaptations could repeat the miracle. The fangirl community realized that producers were trying to cash on them thinking they would swallow anything labeled BL and pushed out low-quality products with no chemistry and bad scripts. Fangirls proved them wrong.

 

Notable mention: Winter Begonia (2020) – a high-quality BL adaptation that made it to TV screening and award nominations

Based on a BL novel, Winter Begonia, however, shifted the focus out of BL and onto Beijing opera. A high-quality art-house style drama about Beijing opera, its target audience wasn’t the fangirl community or the young generation, thus didn’t receive that much popularity or influence to be considered a milestone for the BL genre. Judging not from a BL’s POV, but a normal drama, it was still considered a success, achieved enough popularity for a zhengju (the type of serious drama), received critical acclaim and made it to TV screening (TV dramas are considered more priviledged than webdramas).

 

Danmei 101: High-profile projects enter the game

Understanding the fangirl community aren’t easy consumers, the industry now see BL genre as a promising cash cow and are willing to give it equal treatment to BG genre, which means money pouring in. From early 2020, a series of high-profile project were licensed for production. No longer a game for newcomers and small fry, the BL genre is now a playground for the big names. Worthy of the word high-profile, this time, they really raised the anticipation with adaptations from well-known novels, high-budget, established actors with already decent fanbases. Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for a tsunami to wipe the entertainment world.

 

However, things didn’t quite go as planned. Covid-19 broke out, all production delayed. When the production was resumed mid 2020, suddenly all projects went back to filming at the same time, resources were scarce, cost went up. Entering 2021, China would celebrate a very important political anniversary in July, and the sensitive period would start around late April – early May. NRTA, once again, tightened the censoring standard, all BLs aren’t allowed to air during this period. Projects that took too long to film and edit all stuck at the censoring door.

 

4th milestone: Word of Honor (Shan He Ling – SHL, 2021) – how far a drama can play with censorship to depict a love story between 2 men

Coming out of nowhere, SHL, which once voted as the drama with the most likeliness to fail in Danmei 101, went on air silently in late February with questionable and ineffective marketing schemes. The 2 main leads attended the promoting livestream with a cannot-be-straighter-no-we-aint-a-couple vibe (Yes I still remember the livestream that fooled the whole world, but not me, I knew something was going on). No one had any expectation for this project. However, after only a few episodes, SHL suddenly became a phenomenon. With too much chemistry, touching and flirting between the 2 leads, SHL left everyone wondering: HOW TF DID THIS PASS CENSORSHIP? Many theories and conspiracies have been proposed to answer this question, including NRTA was asleep when reviewing this drama, Youku had insider in NRTA, Youku blackmailed or bribed NRTA and so on (Jokes asides, this question has to be analysed in a separate essay, which I may or may not do later).

 

Believe it or not, SHL passed censorship, aired smoothly til the finale, pumped out hints everywhere, Youku was given green light for 2 concerts (W.T.F???) where the 2 main leads didn’t hold out on sprinkling sugar and then promised each other forever. Somehow, much to everyone’s surprise and relief, SHL hasn’t been taken down, which is more or less another type of miracle.

 

The question of whether the success of SHL has put the upcoming BL adaptations in an advantaged or disadvantaged position, is still too soon to tell. However, it is undeniable that SHL has started the Danmei 101 race on a high note, we’ll see if other projects can top that in the future.

 

End Part 2.

 

The series (to be cont.)

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

DEEP ANALYSIS SERIES

Things you won't find on international platforms (Yes, I wrote this myself, take out with credit, no permission required)

This series may also benefit you in the future if you are interested in other potential BL dramas.

In this series I use SHL (Shan He Ling) as abbr. for the drama instead of WoH.

 

PART 1: HOW CHINESE CENSORSHIP WORKS

 

To understand the development of the BL drama as a genre in the Chinese film and drama industry, we first need some basic knowledge about the LGBTQ community in China, the Chinese people's POV, the government's POV, and how they affect the censorship decision.

 

The Chinese government doesn't openly ban LGBTQ, probably due to political reasons (keep their appearance internationally etc...). The LGBTQ community has certain rights, they are allowed some kind of a partnership (noted that this kind of partnership is incomparable to the same definition in the West, with all legal rights of a spouse and all that). However, the government does try to use indirect ways to oppress the LGBTQ movement.

 

How about the Chinese society? The younger generations are more open. In the recent survey (I don't remember the exact number), around half of young intellectuals living in big cities support the LGBTQ, however, the older generations and those living in rural areas are more rejectful. But things are changing for the better, slowly but hopefully.

 

Enter the picture the National Radio and Television Administration (the NRTA). You can read about the NRTA here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Radio_and_Television_Administration

In short, the NRTA controls all media activity in China, and censoring is only a small part of its duty, but from now on I will refer to the Censoring board as NRTA, for easier reference.

 

Now the NRTA works directly under the government and help them navigate the media to achieve, well, whatever they want to achieve. All media programs, whether it's news, variety shows, stage plays, films, TV dramas, webdramas, events, anything that is opened to the public, has to go through NRTA for permission before executing (Yes, the SHL concerts went through this too), and not just once. The NRTA's requirements are never clear on where are the boundaries that a program cannot pass. For example it doesn't say it bans BL dramas, but it doesn't allow for "details that express a male-male romantic relationship". You can see that this definition is very vague, and it depends on different POVs to whether one detail is inappropriate or not. So the whole thing works on a case-by-case basis and a project normally has to go through NRTA multiple times with multiple fixes before it can air. Event the requirement bar is sometimes raised or lowered depending on the current state of the market, whether it will go on TV or only air online, plus other elements in the drama that NRTA considers suitable with the country's culture (more on this later on why SHL passed the bar). That's why you would see inconsistent standards in different dramas, some may look gayer but are licensed to air, while others look less gay but are stuck.

 

Now this is how the whole censoring process works. Take a webdrama as an exhibit (doesn't have to be BL, any drama will go through the same process). First you need to submit a plan to the NRTA. This is some kind of a summary of what you intend to do, the overall theme, the main structure and details, the preliminary script, etc... Only after NRTA gives a green light then you can officially start the project, finding staff, casting,... This is the first round, which is rather easy to pass.

 

Then comes the hard part, you have finished making your drama. You have to submit it again to NRTA. If the NRTA finds it okay, congrats, but most of the time, it doesn't. It will send back your product with a list of details that it considers inappropriate. Now you re-edit it, submit it again. This whole circle continues until NRTA is pleased with your final result. Then you can start the negotiation with airing platforms to schedule your drama to air. This is the second round.

 

But the second round only allow for the drama to air, now if you want to organize a hefty mkt campaign for your drama which target the mass population, running titles and putting banners on the front page of the airing websites (Youku, Tencent homepage etc...) you need to go through the NRTA once again. Needless to say you have to subject to a stricter requirement. This is the third round. SHL by-passed this round so as to be able to air earlier. That's why their hands were quite tied when they tried to market to viewers.

 

So are you done with NRTA now? Not quite. The NRTA is powerful and has the final say in everything. If during the period of airing your drama starts to blow up and creates influence that NRTA considers negative or unfavorable to the overall atmosphere that NRTA is trying to maintain, it can interfere at any time. It can halt your airing, take it down, or request a re-edit before you can go on air again. Noted that if one of your actors get themselves in a scandal, your drama's chance to air will vanish, too. Like previously mentioned, the NRTS controls the media. If it finds someone unbefitting to appear in mass media channel, then that person's image has to disappear from the media (more on this on Addicted). So yeah, the NRTA is everywhere, it dips its hands on everything and there's no way you can run from it.

 

End of part 1.

 

The series (to be cont.)

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

 

On 5/16/2021 at 7:45 PM, Wuzetian said:

@deltos What are you watching right now? I havent got any time to start with new dramas yet. Though I'm planning to do a rewatch soon. 

 

@kur4p1k4 @Yumiyue @deltos @linhlinh111 @thyzt @miaka fy 

Have you all seen this short drama? I just saw it. Think I understood 80% of the dialogues as there's no subs. Touching...Produced by Zhao Wei his boss if not wrong.

It's from the gameshow "Everybody stand by" season 1 (2019). It's kind of an acting gameshow in which judges are famous directors. Contestants are actors. They chose a team (judges are team leaders). ZZH was excellent in that show. He was in Zhao Wei's team. There's no full Engsub.

 

On 5/16/2021 at 7:01 PM, deltos said:

I've watched so much Wuxia and Xian Xie so that ZZH in that character outfit was normal. Cinderella never came to mind..LOL  I did want to know the fabric they used..LOL. Post WOH ?  Doing good...new series starting...I run up and down the mountain - I'm not stuck ! I've followed the actors for a while so they aren't new.  The story is good and the wire work incredible. I haven't my favorite episodes and scenes so I check them out...I can't wait for their new movies to drop !

 

 

 Remember...I'm a guy so I'm always gonna see them as two guys...one of the downsides of being a guy watching BL...some places we just don't go....it's all good. They can be whatever you need them to be for you. 

The nick names laopo (wife) and princess aren't because we see him as a girl. His other nickname is Zhan Lang (Wolf Warrior). It isn't because he played the bottom in SHL either. Now is the stories behind these 3 nicknames (not just to answer your comment but more information for anyone interested).

 

1. Wolf Warrior: Of course, because he is tough, athletic and capable in sports. He is also very competitive in games and his desire to win any game he's in is enormous. He one participated in the Chinese Dream Team against Korea (It's sorta a multi-sports competition between China-Korea celebrities). He played basketball and was MVP in a tournament before. After having to quit basketball due to an injury (sad bc he really loves basketball) he got into golf and achieved a hole-in-one. He planned to compete sometime in the future. He's also called game bug in variety shows because he always understand the rules fast and then find bugs in those rules for an easy win :))).

 

2. Laopo (wife): This nickname was original for the character ZZS, later also used for ZZH. The main reason for this nickname is because ZZS makes viewers feel compassion for his character. His suffering, his gentleness, his redemption, his fragility, his strength when on the verge of being broken makes people want to protect him, want to hold him in their arms and wipe away his tears. You know he's much much stronger than you and he can handle everything on his own yet you still want to shield him away from all the danger in the world. That's why he's the wife bc that's the kind of thing you want to do to your wife and that's the kind of person you want to have as a wife. 

 

Now as why this nickname was transferred onto ZZH, in an interview, ZZH once said: For each character he played, he would naturally keep some of the traits that he found positive to himself after the role ended. ZZH is somewhat the method acting type, and during the 4 months he filmed SHL he had truly become ZZS, and ZZS wasn't a character one can brush aside easily. ZZS left a lasting mark on ZZH. ZZH admitted that after SHL he has become much softer than before. Noted that ZZH used to be bullied in high school because of his looks, since then he always appear tough, rough, the strong, masculine macho man. Not that he was putting on an act (he doesn't call himself fengzi - mad man for nothing, if you have watched the concert, you know how daring he can be, and he loves Luffy), but he's also a cute, sweet, nerdy, sensitive little marshmallow, a side of him that he's always a bit hesitate to show (but it showed, he wasn't very good at hiding it). After SHL, he has come to accept and embody this other side of him. Looking as how he treat GJ lately, one can say he and ZZS bear much resemblance. So now he's laopo.

 

3. Princess: Many of you may know this detail about how he wore his costume like a princess dress, but that's not the end of it, his personality also resemble that of a princess, and it's even more obvious when GJ is around, like:

- He's playful and like to tease others.

- He does what he wants, he makes the call, likely he's not the people pleaser, but the everyone-please-me type :)) No, he won't follow you, you follow him. Hold the door for him. Don't tell him how to do things. He doesn't wait, but if he's late, don't urge him.

- His fondness of tiaras (this is a bit funny)

- He's beautifully handsome and kind-hearted

- His inexplicable aura that makes everybody want to pamper him, and he's used to it (And GJ is the one who pamper him most, next in line is his 2 best friends).

- (J4F, if you believe they're real) He has a prince (GJ) pursuing him and 2 knights (2best friends).

They say ZZH has that unique ability to bend both men and women. Yes, I'm a girl, but I want to be a man for him. He can be no other than a princess.

 

4. He's also called Meow meow, bc of course he resembles a cat (Remember, cats rule the world, they may kill you with cuteness, but you can only admire them from afar. They may let you touch them if they're in a good mood but most of the time you are only their servants). He sometimes acts like a cat and he owns a cat.

 

P/S: The symbol flower of the LLD fandom is Gardenia, scientific name Gardenia jasminoides (abbr. GJ, as in Gong Jun), Chinese name is zhizihua (abbr. ZZH), so ZZH is also sometimes called zhizihua.

 

Next issue (might post tmr): From the knowledge of a fangirl more than 10 years in the BL world, on Addicted, Advanced Bravely, why they're banned and not others, the Chinese censorship and the development of the BL drama genre, and why other BL pairings don't interact again after their drama ends (FYI, it's not because of censorship). And why celebrities are not entirely innocent of their fandoms' toxic actions.

 

Possible future issues (if I'm in the mood): Why they say this pair have Heaven's blessing with them. How real they are, how deep is their love, how risky the road they are walking, how much they're willing to sacrifice to openly stay together. Why they are a one-of-a-kind pairing that we have never seen before and may never see again. Why we maybe having the luck to witness history unfolding before our eyes. (Only for those who ship RPS/real person ship)

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

3 hours ago, deltos said:

Could we make that Prince Oppa ??? 
 

But his nickname is Princess

On 5/15/2021 at 11:57 AM, Wuzetian said:

@Yumiyue Means you read chinese better than me...Lol...I need to figure out myself then...Oh yes...Since you are on Weibo, what is the ranking for LLD or Junzhe these days? 

 

Heard there are many sugars around...But need to know where to pick them up...

 

LLD no.1

Junzhe no.3, today just dropped to no.4

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

33 minutes ago, Wuzetian said:

Thanks for the correction! Heard something like that... but dont know much of the details.... heard he pleaded to GJ 3x to attend his concert...

It's their recurring joke that they keep bringing up. Although GJ didn't come, he sent 2 grand flower stands to congratulate and later apologized multiple times. Their relationship (whatever it is) is going strong so whatever ZZH wanted to convey during the concert, GJ definitely heard and reciprocated it.

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

3 hours ago, Wuzetian said:

 

We all know the meaning of light.....ZZS is the light to WKX.....This should be a new song that has been released recently

No this song was released in 2019.

 

On the other hand, this song was first sung in ZZH's miniconcert in October 2020, a month after the filming of SHL  finished. The lyrics were written by ZZH himself, and he said it expressed his thoughts and feelings during the filming of the drama. The lyrics are indeed very suggesting. The title of the song is "Unsaid". ZZH said during an interview that he invited GJ to the concert and was very disappointed he didn't managed to arrive due to a family issue.

 

 

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

8 hours ago, skibbies said:

I know several dramas that do auctions for their props and costumes, some of them are donated to charity afterwards. As for WoH's auction, there's several people that admitted to price jacking sooooo yeah, while I'm happy that they are donating to charity + getting some money back for investing + more fandom engagement, this is also somewhat exploitive, I wish Youku released some nice small merchandise instead tbh?

They've been selling merchandise since the show started to peak off. Everything from bookmarks, miniatures, fans, WKX's hairpins, photobooks, Bai Yi sword-style jewelry... Now they're selling behind-the-scene clips (1RMB/clip, released once a day) and concert tickets. Exploitive, maybe, but I don't mind they tried, since fans literally begged them to do so :))) and fans are more than pleased to pay a bit more for some extra happiness (for example myself, tbh :))))

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

10 hours ago, kur4p1k4 said:

Huh, I would thought at least for costume drama it would be more common to auction off their costume, since you can't use it for other dramas anyway, especially if you fans are dedicated enough like WoH, you can see the price is so bloody ridiculous. But yeah, even some costume drama I watched, even if it's famous I can't really remember distinctly their costume for each characters (TMPOB, Yanxi Palace, Zhen Huan Zhuan, for example) but then again maybe their hardcore fans remember it lol, I'm just a casual watcher. 

I heard of a few cases where the main leads bought back the costumes they liked during filming, but most of the time, Idk there were no further info about the clothes, probably went into storage. But after WoH maybe there will be other dramas auctioning off costumes.

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

8 hours ago, kur4p1k4 said:

The red robe closing price is 225k RMB, luckily the buyer asked Youku, or maybe Youku itself prefer also, to donate the money to charity, if not I think some people will make trouble for WoH. Still, wow, that's a bloody high price for a robe. Is this normal to have this high of a price for a drama prop during auction?

All their other props also got sold quite high. The funny one is WKX's hairpin that is not real jade got sold for 75k RMB, during the auction even Youku itself have to keep saying "It's not real jade! Please bid sensibly"  

Idk, I've never heard of any other dramas that auction off their filming costumes. But I've also never heard of any other dramas with such well-designed and iconic costumes anyway, even with high budget historical dramas. They may have very luxurious costumes (Ruyi's royal love in the palace, for example), but not something that is iconic and memorable enough. And for most dramas a specific character's costumes are normally of similar style and shades of color (and not very vibrant color either), so the costumes won't be as unique and stand out. WoH's case is a first in dramaland. Never have there been a character whose each costume is so distinctive viewers can remember which costume is worn in which scene. Every costume is of different style, embroidery, colour (gosh he maybe the first man ever to wear a whole set of pink or purple in a period drama, and kill it), and it changes to suit WKX's state of mind. So there's no comparison available. If China had an award for costume design and make up for dramas, WoF would surely be the frontrunner.

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

21 hours ago, kur4p1k4 said:

 

@linhlinh111 So is the final price 30k? I try going to the auction to see how it's going but it's gone now. I really wanna know what's the final price, since last time I checked there's still 24 hours left, I thought it could go up even more.

 

Idk last time I heard it's 33k. That's probably the final price.

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

2 hours ago, thyzt said:

 

Wow.. Where did the fans get that money from. That's expensive. And it is only for one costume right? Wow... 

 

You re underestimating the depth of Chinese fans' pockets. They are filthy rich.

 

One of ZZH's fans paid around 100k USD for a flycam performance to bid farewell to ZZS character a few days after the ending.

 

The highest bidder of the red costume (app 30k USD) said she will give it to GJ as a gift.

 

A super rich SHL fan offers a Rolls Royce give-away for anyone who can provide solid proof that GJ and ZZH are dating.

 

Among other things...

[[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] Word of Honor 山河令]

21 hours ago, kur4p1k4 said:

I think ZZH still look manly but there's just a certain softness to how he plays ZZS that makes you want to scream "老婆" when you see ZZS, especially in later episodes. Sorry for not explaining it well It's just rare to see that kind of portrayal from a male character in chinese drama and even more in wuxia.

I kind of want to defend the female lead in Chinese drama, even though I'm in agreement, they're usually too much of a damsel in distress. Chinese drama for the most part just has a weak scriptwriter and I think rely too much on IP novel just too make sure whatever they make already have a certain number of audience that will definitely watched it, no matter how bad they adapt it. I think with a good script and director female actors can do pretty well. ZZH and GJ originally was also being doubted by a lot of the fan of the original novel. But you know they did good at the end, good scriptwriter is important. And WoH scriptwriter is not even the best, she is still a rookie, it kind of fall apart a bit at the end, but at least she has a vision what she wants to convey from the original novel. I wish Chinese entertainment put more importance to it.

 

It's not that China doesn't have good scriptwriter, it's just too much outside powers influencing the writing process. The filming industry is quite distorted, with fingers pointed everywhere, investors, actors with liuliang (large fanbase) who bring their own writers to fix things according to their own preferences... Everyone wants a piece of the cake. Honestly scriptwriters don't have much say in what they can write. That's why most dramas with good scripts are either 1) a production team with big enough reputation to hold up their own without being subjected to capital or starpower (like Daylight Entertainment for example), or 2) a project so under the radar no one bother to interfere (like WoH).

 

That's why I have much doubt for other upcoming BL adaptations, since they are all very high-profile projects. And the whole scandal between Sha Po Lang's team and its writer, I can see they can't escape the usual tropes.

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On 3/30/2021 at 9:37 AM, Zay❤️ said:

Is this the new Untamed? Lol. Seems to be so popular right now. Both internationally and in China too. 

 

I am not into those type of dramas but I am extremely happy for its success because I like Simon so much. Glad he found such success. I mean, with his gorgeous face, I knew he wouldn't stay unpopular for a long time haha.

 

Saying WoH is the new Untamed is very offensive to the WoH fandom. You may not know but The Untamed fandom in China is very large and toxic (they have always been since that drama finished airing). Ever since WoH started gathering attention, The Untamed fandom has made every effort to sabotage the drama and it's actors' reputation on all social media platforms everywhere, spreading fake news and pushing negative hot searches. Now it has become quite a sensitive issue, no WoH fans want the drama to be linked to The Untamed in anyway, even mentioning The Untamed in a WoH post is a no-no. This is an international platform so maybe not many toxic fans here, but be careful, you know, just in case. I myself don't want to put those 2 dramas together either. I enjoyed them both, but now I have lost all interest in The Untamed, due to its fandom. Probably the largest in all of fandoms in China right now, and the most toxic.

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On 3/24/2021 at 3:59 AM, Wuzetian said:

 

AvenueX has explained why it's a HE in the last episode and the hints that implied they did it. So I'm not gonna do it anymore.

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1 hour ago, Wuzetian said:

Many thanks for your insights! I need to watch in slow mo to catch all of the juicy details! What details that gave clue in the last episode? I was watching raw hardly can focus 

It's a very complex analyzing, which include certain Chinese terms that I don't know how to translate or explain yet. I will post it sometime in the future.

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1 hour ago, Wuzetian said:

Can share? 

 

1. You can't believe everything YBY said. Remember in episode 14 when he told WKX to kneel 3 days before he agreed to cure ZZS? He never meant for WKX to actually do it, he was just testing him. It's the same this time. He wanted to know if WKX was willing to sacrifice his life for ZZS, thus WKS was led to believe that he would die, while it was not the case.

 

2. YBY's attitude didn't match his words. He was too casual and relaxed, and he had a somewhat good relationship with WKX. Would he be so happy smiling while showing WKX the way to his death?

 

3. When YBY went into the room to wake WKX up, he said "As long as I'm still alive, I won't let anyone die", anyone here included WKX.

 

4. YBY mentioned someone sacrificed himself for YBY so that he had to carry this cursed power to live to chengquan today. The word chengquan that he used means to help someone achieve their purpose. Thus, he meant he will chengquan the 2 of them. Normally when you chengquan a couple, it means you help them together, not tearing them apart. Someone also speculated it was implied that YBY carried that power to this day to give it to WKX, and YBY was the strongest person in the SHL world, his power was more than enough to save them both.

 

5. In the last scene, Cheng Ling was telling the story to their students, without any sign of sadness or sorrow. Imagine if WKS was really dead, would Cheng Ling and Xiao Lian casually mention them like that?

 

6. When they started the scene with Cheng Ling, we can see the view and there were snowy mountains in the background of the green mountains where Cheng Ling lived => Cheng Ling rebuilt the manor near where WKX and ZZS was living. (this one was not as certain as the above).

 

=> HE even in the official episode. I believe they couldn't make it openly and explicitly HE due to censorship (there are rumors that BL adaptations aren't allowed HE where 2 male leads end up 2gether), but they put in enough details for viewers to reach the conclusion themselves.

 

FYI, in episode 34, there are hints that they already slept in the same room in the same bed.

 

In the last episode, there are hints they finally did it

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Even without the Easter Egg, the details in the last episode heavily implied that WKX lived.

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In the book, there's no childhood part. So WKX stalked ZZS just bc 1) WKX's gay, and 2) he's curious about what's under that mask and the reason ZZS hides his (what WKX believes to be) beautiful face. It makes WKX kind of a playboy and less sympathetic. Besides, WKX can not be explicitly gay in the drama, so the motivation for WKX to stalk ZZS would be very weak and unconvincing. That's why the scriptwriter added the childhood timeline so that it's more logical and sentimental for WKX to take an interest in ZZS. He followed ZZS bc he recognized the martial arts that ZZS used.

 

The second reason is, of course, to amp up the emotion by creating contrast between the happiness that he had and the hell that he went though, at the same time deepen the bond between those 2.

 

The third reason is believed to be to dodge censorship. When they are disciples under the same master, they are like brothers, so whatever intimate actions they do are more reasonable (duh!!!). With this plot armor, the production team could take things a little further than what would normally be allowed.

 

For someone who have read the book like me, I always see WKX and ZZS in pain whenever they appear despite what they are showing. ZZS was filled with remorse of his past, and he had 7 nails in his body torturing him each second. He knew he would die soon but he didn't care. As for WKX,

 

Spoiler

The only reason he survived and climbed to the top of that hellhole of Ghost Valley was his burning rage for revenge. He was born to a family of doctors, but he had now turned into a cruel cold-hearted murderer who disregarded human lives. Before setting off on this journey, he had decided to kill himself when things were over. Meeting ZZS was totally unplanned. He was so flirtatious towards ZZS, but he was always the one holding back and on the guard. He treasured this relationship too much and was too afraid ZZS couldn't accept who he was. In episodes 22-25, we will see him asking why fate would give him a ray of light, a place to return to, a chance for happiness with the one he loved now when he had ruined his own life and his hands were covered in blood.

 

It's justified to say, WKX and ZZS were each other's saving grace. Their wills to live was already very low before. Without that encounter of fate in episode 1, both of them wouldn't live for long.

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Things are quiet around here.

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Oh and technically, they indirectly kiss (drink from the same gourd of alcohol intentionally)

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It seems that the popularity levels of Cdramas in this forum aren't correlated to their popularity in China. I see some hot topics in China aren't very hot here and some kinda flopped dramas get many more views and reps.

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4 hours ago, mei yang said:

I have already said that this is related to the level of social development. Of course it is also related to culture. South Korea and Japan developed earlier than China, and they are all developed countries. What I mean by online dramas is that time-traveling dramas are not allowed to be shown on TV. I have already emphasized that China does not have an age classification system for film and television. Any drama you make is open to any age. Countries such as Japan and South Korea have a grading system. Movies in Korean movie theaters can have sex scenes. When foreigners talk about China, they will involve freedom and politics. But the development of these rights is related to social concepts and economics. You also said that there were many famous homosexuals in ancient China. But I said that those people are only bisexual, and they are in the affluent class. And now our world emphasizes on everyone. Western countries have also developed for many years before slowly accepting homosexuality. The present China has only been established for 70 years, and it has only been modernized for 40 years. If you say that countries like Thailand are very open to these, then I need you to read the history of Southeast Asian countries. These open countries have had such things as shemales for a long time in history. The Chinese public cannot widely accept homosexuality. It takes time. Once people's acceptance is established, film and television dramas will slowly change, and government policies will also slowly change. I have already said that this world needs to understand each other. There is no absolute right or wrong. Many things need to be slowly accepted and changed rather than done overnight.

BL dramas are never broadcasted on TV.

 

In terms of society, I think Chinese people are more accepted towards LGBT than Korea or Japan. Korea and Japan are very conservative in this matter.

 

I understand the ban on time-travel, some people died (Although I think it's ridiculous the industry has to suffer due to some idiots). I don't understand the ban on BL. If it's not shown on mass media (TV for general audience), then this ban is more like a discrimination and discouragement from the authority rather than a requirement from society.

 

Moreover, I think the reason BL is that hot in China is bc it's forbidden. In Asian countries where the authority allows for BL content, the audience is more neutral and BLs aren't that sought after. So... the more you forbid sth, the more curious people are about it? The whole censorship on BL content is proven to be counterproductive.

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@mei yangI have to disagree with you. BL dramas are all webdramas and not TV shows, they are still censored. Homosexual acceptance has nothing to do with development. And China's society is not that much different from other neighboring countries. Many other East and South East Asian countries which are less developed and share similar cultural values with China are now more open to homosexuality (And not just sexuality, none of them have that strict censorship). Homosexuality (legal) acceptance is more or less correlated to how "free" the citizens in that country are and how much individuals' personal choice is respected. In those countries, homosexuality is still a taboo in a large part of society, but although only a small proportion of the society needs LGBT rights, the government still allows those rights. Take Japan, for example. I know that aside from the entertainment industry, their society is still very conservative, and LGBT is still frown upon, and Korea, which in general is hostile towards LGBT movements. But they do recognize same-sex relationship and same-sex marriage with foreigners, and is working on their anti-discrimination act. Meaning however conservative they are, they recognize LGBT rights as justified rights, and they respect their citizens' personal choice. And I think it has nothing to do with culture or society, since I know China has some very famous gay legends since ancient times. Chinese government's decision to oppress LGBT (and other) movements has more to do with politics than culture. But let's not go into politics and similar issues here, it will not end well.

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Our little Gu Xiang has met the love of her life in episode 8. I love this couple in the novel, maybe on par with the main couple. Sadly, the acting is kinda ruining the mood. This Gu Xiang is ridiculous.