[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] The Rise of Phoenixes 凰权·弈天下

[Pollen Ainne]

7 minutes ago, sonosong said:

You hit the bull's eye on a lot of great points. I'm actually rewatching it again and on Episode 9 now. (I would move along faster if I could just stop replaying every Ning Yi-Zhiwei scene a million times LOL). I can see that some of the things you pointed out makes sense. Also, I can wholeheartedly agree with this. Ultimately, he sacrificed his family in order to protect Ning Yi in his ascent to the throne, thus fulfilling his duties. 

From my understanding, Ziyan doesn't know what we know about Ning Yi. He just sees a guy who gave up on his dreams and is trying to live his merry life with his mother while he (Ziyan) lost everything. I don't think he truly understood him either. They may have shared the same dreams, but they were definitely not on the same page.

 

The thing I can say is that it was never in his plans for

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Erhua to be murdered nor for Dahua to lose her unborn child.

The threads of his meticulous planning were unraveling before the Emperor in Ning Yi's absence, and this was a terrible miscalculation on his part. 

 

Oh I agree. They were definitely not in the same page. I don't think Ning Yi also knew how much Xin Ziyan was willing to do for their dreams. But I really loved their banters. I wish they saw more of each other's heart.

 

As for his family. I am sure he didn't mean for those tragedies to happen but he risked it. When he left, he knew there was a risk and yet he chose to take it. He was that devoted to Ning Yi and their dreams together. It is sad that it was at a time where Ning Yi chose to give up. They were really not on the same page.

11 minutes ago, sonosong said:

I doubt there will be a US release with english subs, but I hope that they will have a Japanese release for me at least. Chinese TV series are popular in Japan and get really nice boxsets. I just purchased Nirvana in Fire on Blu Ray. I definitely think this show is replay-worthy, and I would shell out that 60,000+ ¥ for the entire series if I have to! 

 

Noooooooooooo! Why not. Fuyao has one. Please let there be one or else, will have to do desperate measures!!!

[galea]

4 hours ago, sonosong said:

You hit the bull's eye on a lot of great points. I'm actually rewatching it again and on Episode 9 now. (I would move along faster if I could just stop replaying every Ning Yi-Zhiwei scene a million times LOL). I can see that some of the things you pointed out makes sense. Also, I can wholeheartedly agree with this. Ultimately, he sacrificed his family in order to protect Ning Yi in his ascent to the throne, thus fulfilling his duties. 

From my understanding, Ziyan doesn't know what we know about Ning Yi. He just sees a guy who gave up on his dreams and is trying to live his merry life with his mother while he (Ziyan) lost everything. I don't think he truly understood him either. They may have shared the same dreams, but they were definitely not on the same page.

 

The thing I can say is that it was never in his plans for

  Reveal hidden contents

Erhua to be murdered nor for Dahua to lose her unborn child.

The threads of his meticulous planning were unraveling before the Emperor in Ning Yi's absence, and this was a terrible miscalculation on his part. 

 

I doubt there will be a US release with english subs, but I hope that they will have a Japanese release for me at least. Chinese TV series are popular in Japan and get really nice boxsets. I just purchased Nirvana in Fire on Blu Ray. I definitely think this show is replay-worthy, and I would shell out that 60,000+ ¥ for the entire series if I have to! 

 

 

That's a good point. If I remember correctly, there was even a scene where NY and XZY wrote down something on their palms before showing each other and NY commented that they didn't share the same heart after all (they'd written different characters). It was a nice little touch and really hinted towards what you said about them not being on the same page. 

[galea]

5 hours ago, Pollen Ainne said:

I really wonder... I watched 30 episodes of this in 2 days and started watching raws because I wanted to see what happens next. For me, every episode went by so fast... but a lot of people think its slow. And I guess, in most asian dramas, what people look for is either power female leads or bromance/pretty boys. lol. I mean that is what I usually see. This drama does not have a lot of pretty boys you can swoon over. Nor does it have a female character you can easily "self insert" yourself into. So although it is enjoyable, people don't gush over it. And I guess not everyone can appreciate a character like Ning Yi. 

I know... Pretty boys are indeed pretty, but as bad as it sounds, I practically see most pretty boys as a single entity in drama-land. My entire emotional range is literally from "huh..." to "oh..." whenever I watch one of those dramas saturated in PRETTY. Hence, I am now reluctant to watch anything else because I have been utterly spoiled by the two leads in this show, and every other cast member who put their soul and efforts into a severely underappreciated series.

 

Out of interest, I've been looking on weibo to see what else CK was working on and found out that he has been nominated for some award. Not to my surprise, he's being outvoted by fans of Wallace Huo, who IMO has decent but not amazing acting skills. It really highlights what many of the Mainland Chinese audience appreciates nowadays.. :/ Oh well... *waves International support flag*

[sonosong]

12 hours ago, galea said:

To put it bluntly, I'm so used to side-characters being one dimensional wastes of budget that I was completely taken aback by the quality of the entire cast.

The series is immensely rich in character depth at 70 episodes, but I don't think people would complain about a little extra padding. I kind of wished they expanded more on the supporting cast on Feng Zhiwei's side. Not that they're not fleshed-out characters. (I love Gu Nanyi!) But his story with Master Zong was relegated to seconds-long flashbacks, so you barely feel the connection. It would have been nice to have them spend a little more time character-building these two, so that the events later on would have a much bigger impact. (Oh, my poor heart!) (Maybe this is masochistic side speaking.)

 

4 hours ago, Pollen Ainne said:

Noooooooooooo! Why not. Fuyao has one. Please let there be one or else, will have to do desperate measures!!!

Where do they sell the dvds/blu rays at and are the subtitles any good? I'd love to have it with Eng subs! But the Japanese editions are just so gorgeous, and I can at least follow along with the Japanese subs! Just take a look at this: 琅邪榜-ろうやぼう-麒麟の才子、風雲起こす-DVD-BOX1

[Pollen Ainne]

17 hours ago, sonosong said:

The series is immensely rich in character depth at 70 episodes, but I don't think people would complain about a little extra padding. I kind of wished they expanded more on the supporting cast on Feng Zhiwei's side. Not that they're not fleshed-out characters. (I love Gu Nanyi!) But his story with Master Zong was relegated to seconds-long flashbacks, so you barely feel the connection. It would have been nice to have them spend a little more time character-building these two, so that the events later on would have a much bigger impact. (Oh, my poor heart!) (Maybe this is masochistic side speaking.)

 

Where do they sell the dvds/blu rays at and are the subtitles any good? I'd love to have it with Eng subs! But the Japanese editions are just so gorgeous, and I can at least follow along with the Japanese subs! Just take a look at this: 琅邪榜-ろうやぼう-麒麟の才子、風雲起こす-DVD-BOX1

Yes, this series definitely needed more episodes.

 

As for buying, I usually just look through Amazon. Subtitles are usually good. But someone mentioned Yesasia before and that its cheaper there.

 

17 hours ago, galea said:

Out of interest, I've been looking on weibo to see what else CK was working on and found out that he has been nominated for some award. Not to my surprise, he's being outvoted by fans of Wallace Huo, who IMO has decent but not amazing acting skills. It really highlights what many of the Mainland Chinese audience appreciates nowadays.. :/ Oh well... *waves International support flag*

I shall waive that flag with you!

 

[sonosong]

As of this morning he's leading right now at 58.5%. Wallace is at 29.4%. I'm international as well! (I go between Japan and US), but I was able to create a weibo account (with the help of some people on Instagram) and I voted for Chen Kun and Ni Ni.

[sonosong]

Where I voted: https://vote.weibo.cn/poll/138871551

[tendrilsofwind]

The ratings on douban have risen to 8.3! Steadily rising. 

I think Chen Kun might win the poll, but looking at the female actress lineup, Ni Ni's chances are very slim 

[Pollen Ainne]

None of the other guys seem attractive except for Chen Kun. lol. I guess this is an acting award not a beauty contest. Cool. I researched Wallace Huo because I don't know who he is. He is pretty attractive in his pictures but not on that one, I guess the half shaved head weirds me out.  The rest I haven't seen ever and I dunno their names but they seem pretty pro, I mean, they seem to be in the industry for quite some time. I really love Chen Kun, but I hope he is not just winning because of his looks. He better be really better than those other guys.

[skibbies]

Voting is always a popularity contest, not how well they perform the role. Wallace Huo have pretty steady fanbase. That contest's votes are kind of suspicious though, they jump up very suddenly. Apparently this award is weird in that if you don't attend, the award goes to the next person, which is...uhhh. Yang Zi already lost out on Golden Eagle and she's extremely popular at the moment so her fans will definitely try to get her the award, she did pretty well in her role too.

 

Zhao Li Xin, the actor who play Xin Ziyan have also been nominated. Also, I know this is super slim, but since Netflix licensed QIn Empire 2 (why 2 or is it 3?), and previously All Quiet in Peking, I hope they pick up Ming Dynasty 1566 at some point. Both Zhao Li Xin and Ni Da Hong (the emperor) are in it and they did amazing job there. (sidenote: Ni Da Hong are in so many high rated dramas omg) Since it's too heavy and serious for fansubs to ever consider picking up lol.

 

Douban cheers every time it rise by 0.1, it's super cute. Before Chen Kun would post screencaps, then bunch of antis will come and give one stars and it would drop again. I think 8ish is a decent score, if it gets too high, it'd invite people with high expectations, then they'll end up disappointed by the drama's fairly noticable flaws and it'll drive it down.

[niniandkun]

Hey does the name liulang mean anything? Or is it just a random nickname? 

[sonosong]

^I'd like to know too. I just assumed this was his nickname. 

 

Btw, I've been watching dailytofu's English subbed clips on youtube. I'm sure some of you have already seen it. This is a subbed video of the bts,  and there were other cute clips. I hope they do more! I honestly wish they'll include deleted scenes for us in a dvd release. 

 

 

[tendrilsofwind]

3 hours ago, skibbies said:

Voting is always a popularity contest, not how well they perform the role. Wallace Huo have pretty steady fanbase. That contest's votes are kind of suspicious though, they jump up very suddenly. Apparently this award is weird in that if you don't attend, the award goes to the next person, which is...uhhh. Yang Zi already lost out on Golden Eagle and she's extremely popular at the moment so her fans will definitely try to get her the award, she did pretty well in her role too.

 

Zhao Li Xin, the actor who play Xin Ziyan have also been nominated. Also, I know this is super slim, but since Netflix licensed QIn Empire 2 (why 2 or is it 3?), and previously All Quiet in Peking, I hope they pick up Ming Dynasty 1566 at some point. Both Zhao Li Xin and Ni Da Hong (the emperor) are in it and they did amazing job there. (sidenote: Ni Da Hong are in so many high rated dramas omg) Since it's too heavy and serious for fansubs to ever consider picking up lol.

 

Douban cheers every time it rise by 0.1, it's super cute. Before Chen Kun would post screencaps, then bunch of antis will come and give one stars and it would drop again. I think 8ish is a decent score, if it gets too high, it'd invite people with high expectations, then they'll end up disappointed by the drama's fairly noticable flaws and it'll drive it down.

 

The Golden Eagle awards led to a lot drama. I was shocked by the results as well since it's supposed to be one of the most prestigious Chinese tv awards. These polls are just popularity contests so I am more hoping Rise of the Phoenixes wins some of the serious awards.

 

Ming Dynasty 1566 has very nice eng subs, but the complete version is extremely hard to find. You need like a private investigator to dig through the internet archives.

 

@niniandkun  Liulang is usually used to refer to the sixth son in a family. I don't have a good way to translate into English that doesn't sound kind of weird. 

[Pollen Ainne]

1 hour ago, tendrilsofwind said:

 

@niniandkun  Liulang is usually used to refer to the sixth son in a family. I don't have a good way to translate into English that doesn't sound kind of weird. 

I don't know Chinese. But it was kinda in the series how it signifies his name and being the 6th son. But I have no idea if it has any other meanings...

[niniandkun]

4 hours ago, tendrilsofwind said:

Liulang is usually used to refer to the sixth son in a family. I don't have a good way to translate into English that doesn't sound kind of weird

Ah ok... I wondered if it meant something more when the emperor and official zhao starting referring to him as liulang instead of Chu Wang when his title was revoked. This makes sense because now he's just the sixth son. Before that I thought it was more an endearing nickname so it seemed off when the emperor (who was on bad terms with Ning Yi) started calling him that. Funny I wouldn't have thought to question it if that hadn't happened. 

[galea]

7 hours ago, niniandkun said:

Hey does the name liulang mean anything? Or is it just a random nickname? 

I remember in Nirvana in Fire, they would refer to Mei Chang Su as "Jiang Zuo Mei lang", which was translated as "Sir Mei of Jiang Zuo". I imagine it's a similar meaning here?  With "liu" meaning six(th), what I'm getting from searching about for a more official translation of "lang" is
郎

láng

(arch.) minister, official, noun prefix denoting function or status, a youth" 


 

[Pollen Ainne]

6 minutes ago, niniandkun said:

Ah ok... I wondered if it meant something more when the emperor and official zhao starting referring to him as liulang instead of Chu Wang when his title was revoked. This makes sense because now he's just the sixth son. Before that I thought it was more an endearing nickname so it seemed off when the emperor (who was on bad terms with Ning Yi) started calling him that. Funny I wouldn't have thought to question it if that hadn't happened. 

Oh they did? I didn't even notice that. I only remembered him being called Liulang when he was in the house of Lanxiang. He explained it as "My last name is Ning, first name Yi and I am the 6th son." So I took it that it was kind of a nickname. I wonder why they would revert to calling him Liulang instead of just Ning Yi tho...

[niniandkun]

17 minutes ago, galea said:

I remember in Nirvana in Fire, they would refer to Mei Chang Su as "Jiang Zuo Mei lang", which was translated as "Sir Mei of Jiang Zuo". I imagine it's a similar meaning here?  With "liu" meaning six(th), what I'm getting from searching about for a more official translation of "lang" is
郎

láng

(arch.) minister, official, noun prefix denoting function or status, a youth" 


 

Thanks! I understand it better now. 

[niniandkun]

11 minutes ago, Pollen Ainne said:

Oh they did? I didn't even notice that. I only remembered him being called Liulang when he was in the house of Lanxiang. He explained it as "My last name is Ning, first name Yi and I am the 6th son." So I took it that it was kind of a nickname. I wonder why they would revert to calling him Liulang instead of just Ning Yi tho...

Ah I didn't make that connection in the beginning. I guess it was too impolite or informal to keep referring to him by his name only? Etiquette? 

Edited October 25, 2018 by niniandkun

[Pollen Ainne]

6 hours ago, niniandkun said:

Ah I didn't make that connection in the beginning. I guess it was too impolite or informal to keep referring to him by his name only? Etiquette? 

Could be... although I am not quite sure how a nickname is better than the name, but then again, I would not know anything about Chinese etiquette. 

 

 

By the way, as I watched through some episode again, I saw another reason why I didn't find the Prince of Wei interesting. Aside from the fact that Ning Yi never actively schemed against him, he also didn't have a devoted person who cared enough to risk his life for him and help him ascend the throne. He had his mother who loved him but she was not interested in him becoming Emperor. I re-watched some scenes with Ning Chuan and Chang Hai and I realized how I loved the fact that although the crowned prince always doubted his loyalty, he had been extremely loyal to him. He was also a very wise adviser who was able to see through Ning Yi's schemes and that if only the crowned prince had trusted him more, he would have not been trapped. Yet in the end, Chang Hai chose to go down with the crowned prince, and even was willing to admit to all the crimes by himself to save him.

 

Ning Sheng also had his mother who was plotting aggressively with him and in the end gave her life to plead for him. Even Ning Yan had a good adviser who was loathe to leave him and seemed to be devoted to him enough to want revenge later by revealing the truth. The Prince of Wei had no one. Everyone who helped him simply wanted to use him... he thought he was the master, but he was just a pawn. Now that I think about it, I feel bad for him. I actually feel pity when I watch his scenes now.

 

 

Oh, and also for Xin Ziyan, I think, had Ning Qiao been alive, he would be helping Ning Qiao ascend the throne. I think he was his first candidate. But then again, Ning Yi would have supported Ning Qiao too.

 

Edit: Ning Shizheng actually stated that since he became emperor he has never stepped out of the palace wherein Xin ZIyan said that it was for the nations interest as it is for his safety. Quite funny how Ning Yi as emperor seem to step out as much as he wishes even leaving to go after Zhiwei's caravan to Jinshi, walks around the forest area, and telling Zhiwei he will pick her up himself. Guess Ning Shizheng was just a coward.