Yang Mi (杨幂)

[JoleCole]

mango_cake: how far are you in HFZQ? And who is the father of Ru Ji's son?

[ByStander]

I guess I can wait a bit longer for more quality videos.

As of FengMi, they always have happy ending. although I haven't watch Da Sai Tao Hua Kai (YM's earliest collaboration with FSF). In which brought me to a statistic of YM's tragic roles a fan came up with:

Through out YM's career. She starred in 30 TV dramas, 15 movies; in which she died 13 times, her lover died 6 times, seriously ill 4 times, has pervert boyfriend 2 times, was beaten 4 times, treated badly at least 4 times, married to an old man 2 times, has mental illness 1 time, evaporated (ie. Xiao Qian) 2 times, became a nun 1 time, lonely until old age 1 time, disfigured 1 time. And she, herself, has been sick for over the past 20 years.

[ByStander]

Oops, looks like I spoke too soon! ^_^ Just found a very nice HQ download for HFCQ: http://www.jdmovie.com/neididsj/hufuchuanqi/

(The first part is bad quality, second section is the DVD uploads. However, you DO need to download the Baidu player for this.)

Yang Mi looks very pretty in here and I love the costumes/hairstyles. However, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't get their voices professionally dubbed. I don't mind FSF/YM's original voices in modern series but in these ancient dramas it just doesn't give off the right "vibe" without the professional voice actors. I had the same problem with some other recent ancient series (like Three Kingdoms), where the voices of the actors just sounded too modern. Some of the transitions between scenes and storytelling effects (hard to describe) in HFCQ also seem like it would be more suitable for a modern series than an ancient one.

Awesome! Thanks!
I've been following Ru Yi so I don't think that would be a problem for me

[mango_cake]

As of FengMi, they always have happy ending. although I haven't watch Da Sai Tao Hua Kai (YM's earliest collaboration with FSF). In which brought me to a statistic of YM's tragic roles a fan came up with:


Through out YM's career. She starred in 30 TV dramas, 15 movies; in which she died 13 times, her lover died 6 times, seriously ill 4 times, has pervert boyfriend 2 times, was beaten 4 times, treated badly at least 4 times, married to an old man 2 times, has mental illness 1 time, evaporated (ie. Xiao Qian) 2 times, became a nun 1 time, lonely until old age 1 time, disfigured 1 time. And she, herself, has been sick for over the past 20 years.

^ Well, not always. They had a happy ending in Gong but a tragic ending in MingYun as well as DHTHK. I also expect a tragic ending in Hua Pi 2. But you're right, Yang Mi's track record with FSF definitely seems a lot more optimistic than her other projects, lol! She definitely seems to play a lot of tragic roles (however then again, tragedies seem to be the popular thing in Chinese dramas lately, haha). I did a picspam of all her wedding scenes recently and noted that almost all of them are sad scenes! (i.e. most of them she's getting married to the wrong guy, and when the marriage is actually to the guy she loves, chances are something happens so it doesn't actually go through... )

Do you have a link to that fan compilation though? It sounds like a fun read, heheh. Several of the dramas I don't think I've seen?!

mango_cake: how far are you in HFZQ? And who is the father of Ru Ji's son?

I'm actually only halfway through episode 1. But from what people say in the forums it sounds like Ru Ji's son is indeed Xinling Jun's? Haven't got that far yet though!

[ByStander]

couldn't find it anymore on my weibo. I think I might have deleted it. I'm pretty sure she didn't go into detail with the statistic. I found this:

不完全统计，杨幂迄今共演30部电视剧15部电影。所演剧中角色，自己死了13次，老公（或男友）死了6次 ，身患重病4次，男友是变态2次，被活活拆散4次，遭非人虐待至少4次，被迫嫁老头2次，精神失常1次，毁 容1次，烟消云散2次，出家1次，晚年孤寂1次。另有曾长病20余年。

btw, can someone help me use the baidu player. My chinese is limited

[mango_cake]

^ Hmm...wonder which other drama she had a pervert boyfriend (I'm assuming one was Beijing Love Story? lol), evaporated (apart from Xiao Qian), became a nun, and had a mental illness...I'm assuming the 20-year-sickness one was "Xiao Zhe Huo Xia Qu", the disfiguration was "Hong Fen Shi Jia", and lonely-till-old-age was "An Xiang"...although I never watched any of those so perhaps I'm wrong, lol.

Anyways, baidu player should be pretty straightforward? I think it prompted me to download the player, and then it should just be up and running automatically? (Although took awhile for the video to load the first time.) Or, if you want you can wait a bit longer as I'm trying to upload it to Youtube (but since the files are rather large it will probably take quite some time).

Early review of HFCQ so far:

I'm up to ep 4 right now and it's quite interesting! Though much more serious and "dull" in tone then the more recent dramas I've been watching. Reminds me why I enjoy the Warring States period so much though (and similar dramas about times of turmoil). I enjoy this type of political scheming for the sake of their country much more than watching the lame inner-palace scheming and struggles we've been subjected to lately. A LOT more at stake here when the wrong move could result in the collapse of a kingdom! It's also quite intriguing to see the interplay between all the different states (mainly Wei, Qin, Zhao, and Qi so far) in the power struggle, deciding whether to form alliances against the "greater enemy", etc. I find it a bit funny that here, since Ru Ji is from the kingdom of Wei (and will eventually be the concubine of the King of Wei), Qin is the "enemy state"...while in DQZD, she's the princess of Qin (of course that takes place after Qin has already conquered all the other kingdoms). Yeah, I think YM's pretty much covered almost all the dynasties in Chinese history by now! From pre-Qin, to Qin...with early Han, late Han, Tang, Ming, etc. right through to Qing and then post-Qing to Min Guo and modern day! XD

My complaints though, are:

- Still really wish they got dubbed. Especially FSF, who somehow always sounds a bit out of breath (had the same problem in MingYun, but seems like he fixed it in "White Vengeance"...or maybe he's just breathless all the time when acting opposite Yang Mi, lmao! Because come to think of it, I don't notice this issue in HFCQ when he's talking to other characters, haha. ) Strangely enough Yang Mi has the opposite problem--I think her voice acting is great (sounds suitable for an ancient lady, in other words) during her scenes opposite FSF, but she sounds way too modern/girly-voiced in her other scenes. LOL.

- While I still enjoy the Ru Ji/Xinling Jun scenes (since I am a FengMi shipper and can't help squeeing at their scenes together hehe), I did have the urge to laugh a few times at how melodramatic some parts were. Though I guess these "love-at-first-sight" love stories can never escape a little bit of cheesiness. But umm, seriously, Xinling Jun's reaction after their second meeting? ...Yeah ok, way to be overdramatic, dude. Though back during that time of mostly pre-arranged marriages and where it's pretty much impossible for any actual "dating" to happen, this is probably all that makes sense, lol.

- Finally, my biggest complaint is...WHERE are all the exciting battle scenes and swordfights?!!! You would think we would be getting a lot more of that action in a drama about the Warring States period!! In particular there was a scene where (***slightly spoilerish***) Xinling Jun goes off on a chase to save Ru Ji/her father...and I was expecting a LOT more suspense/action! Like, you know, maybe actually get him to do some swordfighting with the bad guys?! Instead we got nothing, it was a lame scene. (Also I think it would've been better if he was riding on a horse instead of on a horse carriage, that was lame too. But, I admit I am a bit too nit-picky when watching dramas sooo...)

I hope there's more action to come in future episodes. After all, the real wars between the kingdoms are just getting started, maybe I should give it some time...Still, it seems like this series lacks the budget for the really impressive battle scenes in some other series. Sigh. Probably Mei Ah being stingy again since they produced this series right...lol.

[mango_cake]

Oh wait, I forgot another mini-complaint: doesn't really affect the drama but does this series not have a proper open/end theme song??!! Or do they just not have that for this small local-TV channel/pirated DVD release and are going to have a proper themes for the wider CCTV-8 release in the summer?? Because I don't think I've ever seen a Chinese drama lacking in this department and I usually quite enjoy the opening/endings.

Oh well, like I said, doesn't affect the actual drama itself...At any rate I'm definitely enjoying watching a more historical-type drama again after my recent string of modern-day and/or idol-type series. (Except, why do all the kings seem so incompetent in here?? All of them are just depending on their officials to be the brains behind everything while they just sit back on their thrones overreacting to news of disaster and then laughing heartily when things go well... )

I remember someone posted on the Baidu forums how they wish the concept of HFCQ had been made into a movie instead. While I am definitely enjoying a 30-episode series, I kinda agree that a movie would be really good. The story of Ru Ji/Wu Ji (aka Xinling Jun, hey I just realized their names rhyme... ) is actually quite brief. For the series they definitely expanded on the power struggles between the 7 kingdoms of the Warring States period which is definitely intriguing to watch; however, a bigger budget movie probably could've had better, more impressive battle scenes/sword-fighting and more "epic" scenery/sets etc. Actually I kind of find it unfortunate that the Ru Ji story (as well as the Warring States in general) seems to be so much more neglected than other stories (which have been remade too many times to count!) despite the fact that it is a really fascinating time in history...

[mango_cake]

Sorry for all the HFCQ-related posts, just found better-quality YT uploads by someone!

First ep here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NaW7GZi7Gk

Links to the rest of the eps in the sidebar! Lots of gorgeous shots of Yang Mi (and FengMi) in the opening sequence, I particularly love her look in the blue costume with sideswept hairstyle at around 1:24.




Not quite as good quality as the Chinese link I previously posted (also has an annoying watermark for the first bit) but for people who don't want to download Baidu player or can't get it working, this is pretty decent!

[mango_cake]

Ok I just spent a whole night marathoning the series, now up to episode 8 and this is definitely my favourite FengMi series (as a whole and also in terms of their story). A lot of gushing ahead because I am totally addicted to this series now and love it to bits (hopefully won't get anyone's hopes up too high--I know these type of serious historical dramas is not for everyone...)

First I'll get the FengMi gushing out of the way...

So, Gong was cute but I didn't really "feel for" or get invested in it so I didn't get that sad even in the sad scenes (I mean, I teared up but I wasn't truly "feeling" it, if that makes sense...) and MingYun was just more of the same. I've always been much more of an offscreen FengMi shipper than an onscreen FengMi shipper, but HFCQ definitely changes that!

Even though the relationship was pretty abrupt, once it was established I am loving the development...especially in the recent episodes, all the angst is just delicious. XD Even though Ru Ji/Wu Ji aren't even sharing that many scenes! (But they have a lot of individual scenes related to one another.) This is totally my kind of story--angst like crazy but with a happy ending at the end! Also Xinling Jun is such an appealing character--like FengMi, with FSF, before I also liked him more offscreen than as an actor onscreen...but I just LOVE his Xinling Jun here (even if I think the real-life historic character should've been smarter than he is written in the series, but I don't even mind). XD

Well, I am definitely more in love with FengMi than before, lol. Before GeMi/FengMi were pretty much tied (FengMi more offscreen, but GeMi a tad more onscreen just because both FengMi collabs, Gong and MingYun, were badly written dramas). Ever since my very first YM drama (Liao Zhai) where i fell in love with GeMi's Xiao Qian/Ning Caichen, I haven't found another YM onscreen pairing that beat it. HOWEVER, I definitely think Ru Ji/Wu Ji has the potential to match or maybe top it (I still have 22 episodes to go! ). I knew they just needed a good script and well-written drama to really shine.

[mango_cake]

Now onto Yang Mi/Ru Ji character gushing...

I am really liking the character--so far she does not have that much screen time but she definitely doesn't come across as a flower vase, even though she has sort of a typical beautiful "xiao jie" role, the whole "revenge for her father" thing gives her character more personality and YM definitely portrays the steely strength and determination in the character. It's also interesting that I don't find her character comes off as Mary Sue-ish at all (something that I feel has uniformly affected nearly all the recent dramas I've watched) despite the fact that she is beautiful, talented, the main guy falling in love with her at first sight and everyone else liking her, and she is the only female character that does not scheme (by the way, I absolutely love the scheming among the rest of the female cast because they are doing it for the good of their country, not for petty palace issues). This is different from Tong Liya's character in Beijing Love Story--in that one, I recognized that she was a Mary Sue character but I still liked her (quite a feat already). With Ru Ji, I don't even think she is a Mary Sue character, somehow it just makes sense for the character to be that way...

I'm also really enjoying watching a YM character that is still strong and sweet/cute, but not bratty or too bubbly (like Qingchuan, Xuejian, and Zhu Zhu in Beijing Fairytale). I am also usually bored by her generic "weak/nice-girl/damsel-in-distress" type roles (e.g. Anqi in MingYun and Ru Yi). Ru Ji actually reminds me of a mix of my two all-time favourite YM characters--Xiao Qian and Xueyuan. Ru Ji has Xiao Qian's cute moments (which serious Xueyuan lacked) but when she gets serious and set on revenge she reminds me of Xueyuan a bit. Plus a lot of Dun'er (from Shang Shu Fang) as well.

Anyways, the action is really building...I love how all the characters have complex motivations and everything they do actually makes sense. Again, the interplay between the different states (all interconnected with lots of complicated ties and relationships) is fascinating. Oh damnit, now I'm going to pull an all-nighter marathoning this series... It's been a long time since I've gotten addicted to a really good series though so I think this is worth it.

[mango_cake]

God, this is so tragic and heartwrenching. If I didn't know there will be a happy ending I think I would stop watching. (Ok not really but... My poor FengMi...nooo....)

Well anyways I now understand why FSF kept complaining he and YM didn't have many scenes together in this series--they really don't. It's seriously pretty amazing how they can sell the Ru Ji/Wu Ji story so well based on such few scenes together. I so hate the king of Wei. I hope he meets a gruesome death.

[xiaolong]

Yeah, this series is definitely of much better quality than Ru Yi. TBH I don't care about whether FengMi or any onscreen couple has been paired a couple of times or whether other something-Mi shippers get needlessly jealous all bcos their favourite ships don't have the same level of sizzle/popularity. I only get irked if FengMi get paired in a bad production (e.g. Ming Yun) just for the sake of some cheap cashing in on their popularity. I believe HFCQ started casting and filming way before the Gong craze so the FengMi element was there by virtue of their talent rather than a cheap cash-in.

[mango_cake]

^ Definitely agree, but then again I am biased towards FengMi. All their collabs have been quite different though so I don't feel like it's a retread at all. And HFCQ is the first really intriguing, well-written one at that.

Since my first episode is uploaded already I will share it here too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lxohch5gyw (No point in me uploading the rest of the episodes but I've included viewing links for the rest in the description! )




Well, I'm actually used to their voices now so I'll stop complaining about the dubbing, lol. (Same thing happened with LOCH, where at first I absolutely hated Zhou Xun and LYP doing their own dubbing but learned to like it. Unfortunately, nothing could bring me around to HXM's poor dubbing in ROCH, haha. >_<) And after the initial somewhat cheesy Ru Ji/Wu Ji scenes I love their storyline too...except that I still think FSF's acting is a bit melodramatic in parts. He does a great job in the "normal" scenes or when he's angry, but in the "heartbroken" parts, umm, maybe he can tone it down a bit...? The slightly overdramatic thing was acceptable in Gong since it's a cheesy idol drama anyways, but for HFCQ it might've been better if he was a bit more subtle to suit the more serious tone. Funny that this is even AFTER Yang Mi gave him that big lecture in Gong slamming his melodramatic acting--if you ask me I think maybe she should've given him another one during HFCQ, lol. I mean, it isn't terrible and doesn't ruin the series by any means, but I do find myself cringing a bit in a few parts.

And still a bit disappointed over the lack of battle scenes and fighting thus far. What can I say, a bit of bloodshed does make things more interesting! Anyways, up to ep 11 now and the states of Chu + Han have been introduced (along with the previously involved Wei, Qi, Qin, Zhao) so things are getting even more interesting! ^_^ The only missing state from the 7 is Yan, but they're pretty much a non-factor anyways. Seriously though, the king of Qi is the only competent king in this series. I wonder if this is historically accurate...actually I can see it making sense that the kings of Wei, Chu, Han are "hun jun" since I believe those kingdoms fell rather soon. But I seriously have a hard time imagining this king of Qin to be the future Qin Shihuang and first emperor of China. At least he is focused on state affairs, but he seems to have no ideas of his own and lets his trusted general make all the decisions.

I just really love that there are so many players in here and so much is going on, but everything makes sense and doesn't feel at all "contrived" for drama's sake. E.g for Ru Ji/Wu Ji--while a few coincidences were needed to cause the tragic situation that occurred, somehow it stills feels natural and organic instead of forced (in contrast to FengMi's other series, Gong and MingYun). But then again, it is a lot easier to create angst and drama when the story is set during a period of war. This is exactly why I loved the first half of MRXJ so much (though that was still not half as intriguing as the schemes etc. in HFCQ) but hated the second half.

[mango_cake]

Also, can I just add, for a serious drama I love the fact that there are also many humorous moments as well! The current scene I'm watching (where the king of Han meets with a general from Zhao) somehow manages to be laugh-out-loud hilarious before they get all serious about discussing who gets the lands... Yet it doesn't interfere with the overall atmosphere of the drama.

Anyways, I should probably start posting further reviews of HFCQ in its own thread (forgot about that before! ) so sorry for sort of taking over Yang Mi's thread recently... XD

[ByStander]

Apparently baidu player does not support firefox but it works fine with internet explorer. Just figured it out thanks for the youtube link though.

[mango_cake]

Apparently baidu player does not support firefox but it works fine with internet explorer. Just figured it out thanks for the youtube link though.

Oops, yes, forgot about that...I use Google Chrome mostly so it wasn't working in there, then I tried IE and it was fine...I didn't get to Firefox yet so I didn't realize it doesn't work in the one either!

[ByStander]

I thought HFCQ was suppose to be a movie in theater, then how come it has so many episode. It's as long as a drama series already

[mango_cake]

I thought HFCQ was suppose to be a movie in theater, then how come it has so many episode. It's as long as a drama series already

...Nope, HFCQ was always a TV series (30-episodes)...maybe you're thinking of something else?

[ByStander]

...Nope, HFCQ was always a TV series (30-episodes)...maybe you're thinking of something else?

I saw its poster in a picture next to Mysterious Island posted by a fan on weibo a long time ago.

[mango_cake]

Sorry for neglecting this thread, I might do a summary of February Yang Mi news sometime soon--I've just been too caught up in Hu Fu Chuan Qi.

Anyways, more detailed reviews in that thread, but suffice to say it is now my favourite one of Yang Mi's dramas and Ru Ji is also one of my favourite characters of hers. While her own dubbing was slightly jarring at first (sounded too girly/modern), somehow I soon got used to it and was pretty surprised that she actually managed to make her voice very "温柔" (soft/gentle) and fitting of the character later on...to the point where I started wondering if it was really actually her voice! (Since it lacked the bit of "shrillness", so-to-speak, we usually hear from her.) I still think a professional dubber would've done the job better, but YM's own dubbing was definitely passable! (Wonder why her dubbing got worse, IMO, in MingYun and Ru Yi.)

I thought they also did a great job of styling her. Although she doesn't have that many costumes (only one as a "xiao jie" before entering the palace, 2 as the concubine Ru Ji, and then her "peasant" style costume while on the run--plus her wedding gown and two "maid" costumes she wears as disguise), she looks gorgeous in all of them. YM also looks convincingly 16 years old at the beginning of the series, and convincingly 20-30s throughout the duration of the series (at the end of the drama, Ru Ji is probably around 33 years old).

Not to say I don't have complaints about her acting...at some parts I felt it was almost "too" subdued/repressed, but those times were minor and did not bother me that much (unlike FSF's over-the-top acting at parts, which DID made me want to cringe occasionally...at one point I wondered if YM's acting was too subdued to counterbalance FSF's melodramatic-ness, haha. )