FENG SHENG BANG-Fan Bing Bing, Ma Jing Tao, Eddie Kwan, Zhou Jie,Yuki Xu| Ruby Lin

[NessunDorma]

got tired of reading the summary above? Here are some nice pics to please your eyes:

aiyaya ... getting pretty intimate here
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the color purple
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umm ... something is going on
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[NessunDorma]

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that's Ma Jing Tao's dog that Bingbing is holding
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Ma Jing Tao looks very sexy without that heavy crown
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[NarutoSakura]

For those of you who are curious or even judgmental against the action of the Goddess Nu Wa towards Da Ji at the end, I included this excerpt from the text. It kinda' explains why Nu Wa had to do what she did when she decided to have Da Ji killed instead of granting her immortality as was initially promised.

So what happened after the tyrant King Zhou lost his kingdom to King Wu was that Da Ji and her other 2 sprite sisters (Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang) were being chased after by Yang Jian, Thunderbolt and Wei Hu. The three sprites were running for their lives when:
"Yang Jian saw the yellow pennants and a parasol before him. A fairy, attended by her lasses, rode forward on a green phoenix. It was the Goddess Nu Wa.

The three sprites dared not run away when they saw Nu Wa. They had to descend from their sprite light, kneel down, and greet the Goddess. 'Dear Lady! Your small beasts must beg your pardon as we were not aware of your honorable presence. We are being chased by Yang Jian and two others. Have mercy on us, dear lady!' they begged.

Nu Wa ordered her Blue Cloud Lad, 'Tie them up with my Demon Binding Ropes and hand them over to Yang Jian.'

The three sprites wept bitterly and cried, 'Let us, your small beasts, have one more word with you. It was you that instructed us to delude King Zhou and lead his kingdom to destruction. By your order, we met his every desire and offered him every pleasure he could imagine. We murdered all his loyal ministers and helped him lose the nation. His end is near. We were returning to report to you when Yang Jian suddenly attacked us. We are so happy to meet you here. Have mercy on us! Set us free! We beg you to consider what we've said'.

'I sent you to help King Zhou lose his kingdom; it was just as fate had destined. But you were too cruel and ruthless. You murdered so many loyal ministers and innocent people. Your crimes are too great and you must be dealt with according to the law,' Nu Wa stated resolutely.

The three sprites knelt down, not daring utter another word. Yang Jian, Thunderbolt, and Wei Hu rushed up, and knelt down before Nu Wa with the others.

'Yang Jian! Take these sprites back with you. Let Jiang Ziya deal with them according to the law. The country will soon enjoy peace again, and the Zhou Dynasty will prosper and shine like the sun. You may return now,' Nu Wa announced............
...................................

The sprites knelt down, and Jiang Ziya spoke loudly so all could hear. 'You damned beasts have ruthlessly murdered and caused great suffering to the people. The Shang Dynasty has been brought to its end as destined by fate, but how could you destroy so many innocent people through ruthless torture? How could you waste the national resources and wealth on the Happy Terrace and other big mansions? Heaven cannot forgive you for these crimes. You must pay with your lives.'

Daji wept bitterly before Commander Jiang.'I am the daughter of Su Hu, the Marquis of Jizhou, and was brought up in seclusion at home, ignorant of world affairs. By the grace of His Majesty, I was sent to the palace as a royal concubine. Unexpectedly, Her Majesty the queen died soon thereafter, I was kindly chosen by His Majesty as the queen.
All political matters were controlled by His Majesty, and all administrative affairs were dealt with by the high ministers. As a woman, I was kept busy cleaning the royal courts and chambers, managing the palace maids, and serving His Majesty. I could do nothing else. King Zhou behaved improperly, but though he had thousands of civil and military officials, no one could change him. How could I, an ordinary woman, lead him to the proper path?
Dear Commander! Your virtue is known throughout the whole country and your kindness extends in all directions. King Zhou's days are numbered, but it would be useless to send such a poor woman as I to death just to prove your greatness. As the ancient proverb says, 'The wife and children of a guilty man are themselves innocent.' Have mercy on me, Commander. Send me back to my native land so I can live out the rest of my days in peace. Forgive me, and your great virtue will allow me another life,' she begged pitifully.

Jiang Ziya smiled. 'You're a great liar. You said that you are the daughter of Su Hu, but you're really a fox sprite with nine tails. You murdered Daji in the Jizhou Hostel and have used her body to allure the king. All the crimes we have listed were executed by King Zhou, but they were created by you. Even your death cannot pay for all the lives you've destroyed.' Jiang then order, 'Take them out and cut their heads off.'............

The pheasant and lute sprite (Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang) hung their heads dejectedly, but the fox sprite was still very bewitching. Though bound and kneeling on the ground, Daji looked like a piece of white spotless jade. Here face was as beautiful as the morning haze, her eyes were like ripples of autumn water, and her teeth were as bright as jade. She spoke sweetly, as if she were singing.

Daji looked up charmingly at her executioner."Dear General!' she cried."Don't you know that I am innocent. I've been wronged. Please let me live. Your good deed would be greater than if you built a pagoda for the Buddhas.'

The executioners melted at her words. They stood fixed as if intoxicated; their bones softened, their muscles slackened and their arms became numb. Charmed by Daji, they only felt deep sympathy and great pity for her.

The pheasant and jade lute sprites were both quickly beheaded, but the executioners under Thunderbolt's command could not even lift up their swords. Thunderbolt shouted his order again and again, but they were all paralyzed and absolutely helpless before Daji.

'Where is that fox sprite's head? Don't tell me it ran away?' Jiang Ziya said excitedly.

'The fox sprite has bewitched the executioners, and no one could move to cut her head off. What shall we do?' Thunderbolt reported, hanging his head low.

In a great wrath, Jiang Ziya ordered, 'Then cut the executioners' heads off, Let Yang Jian and Wei Hu be the new supervisors!'

The new executioners led in by Yang Jian and Wei Hu melted just like the first group. Completely paralyzed by Daji's coquettish charms, they could not move, much less lift their swords.

Then they saw what had happened, Yang Jian and Wei Hu discussed what they should do. 'Daji is a fox sprite, experienced in alluring and bewitching ordinary men. King Zhou himself fell into her trap; his heart and body were completely bound up by her invincible rope. How can these commom men resist her charms? We must report this to Commander Jiang at once and save these innocent executioners.'

When Jiang heard their report, he said.'I have a way of dealing with thise 1,000 year old fox sprite.' He led the nobles out to the camp gate where they saw Daji still lying tied up on the ground. She was as beautiful as jade or fresh flowers. The executioners around her looked like idols made of clay. Jiang ordered them to retire and told his men to lay a teapot with an incense burner. He burnt incense and took out Lu Ya's gourd. When he removed the lid, a whirling light soared high. Jiang Ziya bowed and said, "Please turn over, dear precious.'

With only three turns, Daji's head dropped to the ground and her blood flowed like a river. Many of the nobles felt it was a shame to kill such a beautiful creature. Jiang then ordered the three heads to be hung atop bamboo poles at the camp gate.

[NarutoSakura]

For those who wants to know why Goddess Nu Wa was so angry with King Zhou that she had to send three specters to destroy him.

"Reaching the Temple of Goddess Nu Wa, King Zhou left his royal carriage and went to the main hall, where he burned incense sticks, bowed low with his ministers and offered prayers. King Zhou then wandered about the hall, finding it splendidly decorated in gold and other colors. Before the statue of the goddess stood golden lads holding pennants, and jade lasses holding S-shaped jade ornaments which symbolized peace and happiness. ...............

As King Zhou was admiring the splendors of the hall, a whirlwind suddenly blew up, rolling back the curtain and exposing the image of the goddess to all. She was extremely beautiful, much more than flowers, more than the fairy in the moon palace, and certainly more than any woman in the world. She looked quite alive, smiling sweetly at the king and staring at him with joy in her eyes.

Her utter beauty bewitched King Zhou, setting him on fire with lust. He desired to possess her, and thought to himself in frustration, "Though I'm wealthy and powerful and have concubines and maidservants filling my palace, there's none as beautiful and charming as this goddess."

He ordered his attendants to bring brush and ink and wrote a poem on the wall near the image of the goddess to express his admiration and deep love for her. The poem ran like this:

The scene is gay with phoenixes and dragons,
But they are only clay and golden colors.
Brows like winding hills in jade green,
Sleeves like graceful clouds, you're
As pear blossoms soaked with raindrops
Charming as peonies enveloped in mist.
I pray that you come alive,
with sweet voice and genlte movements,
and I'll bring you along to my palace.

When he finished writing, Prime Minister Shang Rong approached him. "Nu Wa's been a proper goddess and the guardian angel for Zhaoge, I only suggested that you worship her so that she would continue to bless the people with timely rains and favorable winds and ensure that they'll continue to live in peace. But with this poem, you've not only shown your lack of sincerity on this trip but have insulted her as well." He demanded, "This isn't the way a king should behave. I pray you wash this blasphemous poem off the wall, lest you be condemned by the people for your immorality."

"I found Goddess Nu Wa so beautiful that I wrote a poem in praise of her, and that's all. Hold your tongue. Don't forget that I am the king. People will be only too glad to read the poem I wrote in my own hand, for it enables them to identify the true beauty of the goddess.".........................

On her birthday, Goddess Nu Wa had left her palace and paid her respects to the three emperors, Fu Xi, Shen Nong and Xuan Yuan. She then returned to her temple, seated herself in the main hall, and received greetings from the golden lads and jade lasses.

Looking up, she saw the poem on the wall. "That wicked king!" She flew into a rage."He doesn't think how to protect his country with virtue and morality. On the contrary he shows no fear of Heaven and insults me with this dirty poem. How vile he is! The Shang Dynasty's already ruled for over 600 years and is coming to an end. I must take my revenge on him if I'm to assuage my own conscience."

She took action at once. She mounted a phoenix and headed for Zhaoge.

King Zhou had two sons. One was Yin Jiao, who later became the "Star God Presiding over the Year," and the other Yin Hong, who later became the "God of Grain". As the two gods paid their respects to their father, two red divine beams rose from the tops of their heads and soared high in the sky, blocking the way of the goddess. Looking down through the clouds, Nu Wa at once ralized King Zhou had still twenty-eight years to go before his downfall. She also realized that she could do nothing about it at this moment, since that would go against the will of Heaven.

The goddess returned to her temple, highly displeased. Back in her palace, Goddess Nu Wa ordered a young maidservant to fetch a golden gourd and put in on the Cinnabar Terrace outside her court. When its stopper was removed, Nu Wa pointed at the gourd with one finger and suddenly a thick beam of brilliant white light rose from the mouth of the gourd and shot up fifty feet into the air. Hanging from the beat was a multi-colored flag called the Demon Summoning Pennant. As soon as this pennant made its appearance, glittering high up in the sky, all demons and evil sprites, no matter where they were, would gather round.

Moments later, dark winds began to howl, eerie fogs enveloped the earth, and vicious-looking clouds gathered in the sky. All the demons in the world had arrived to receive her command. Nu Wa gave orders that all the demons return home except the three sprites that dwelt in the grave of Emperor Xuan Yuan.

Who were these three sprites? The first was a thousand year old femal fox sprite, the second was a female pheasant sprite with nine heads; and the third was a jade lute sprite.

"May you live eternally, dear goddess!" the three sprites greeted Nu Wa, kowtowing on the Cinnabar Terrace.

"Listen carefully to my secret orders. The Shang Dynasty's destined to end soon. The singing of the phoenix at Mount Qi augurs the birth of a new ruler in West Qi. This has all been determined by the will of Heaven, and on one has the power to change what must happen. YOu may transform yourselves into beauties, enter the palace, and distract King Zhou from state affairs. You'll be richly rewarded for giving the new dynasty an auspicious start and helping the old one to its downfall. However, you mustn't bring harm to the people."

At the end of her order, the three sprites kowtowed, turned themselves into winds and flew away.


Excerpts taken from "Creation of the Gods" Volume I, Chapter 1. Library of Chinese Classics, New World Press, 2000.

Previous excerpt was taken from Volume 4, chapter 97.

[convoy]

Is this guy name Tay Ping Hui he is a Singapore actor??

Yes, he is.

[tweety365]

I have not read the novel, so I don’t know the exact details of what transpired b/t Nu Wa and the fox spirit. However, from all the details revealed by other members, this is what I understand:

The goddess Nu Wa feels insulted by a lewd poem King Shang made to her and orders the Fox Spirit and her 2 other sisters to bring down the Shang Dynasty. Upon completion of the mission, they will be granted immortality. However, they are not to harm innocent people.

If I’ve missed anything, please feel free to let me know. I have several problems with this picture.

1. Did Nu Wa give additional warnings to the spirits or was that 1 line about not harming innocent people all she said? If that’s it, then I think she should have cautioned them more before they went too far.

2. Nu Wa wants to bring down the Shang Dynasty without harming innocent people. That is a very tough, almost impossible task. I’m assuming the people are living somewhat peacefully and have no apparent reasons to revolt. Unless the spirits can somehow brainwash and control everyone in the kingdom, how are they going to get the population mad enough to rebel? Reasonably speaking, they would have to get rid of loyal government officials and make people suffer enough to harbor extreme hatred for the king. If she has a grand master plan on accomplishing this, I would like to know the details.

3. Nu Wa is insulted by the king, but why didn’t she just kill him? If she wants to give him a bad rep in history and make him lose his kingdom, she is instead bringing her wrath down on the people. Don’t tell me someone can ruin a dynasty without hurting anyone.

4. Yes, the Fox Spirit and her sisters are guilty for all their heinous crimes, especially the Fox Spirit. Personally, I think she’s a disgusting creature and being behead is too easy for her. She should be tortured the same way the other people were tortured. However, from an objective point of view, she is not the mastermind of the original plan to bring down the Shang Dynasty. Nu Wa came up with that bright idea. She did go back on her word to give immortality to the spirits. Yes, she gave them a warning, but this is a huge mission. There should be more guidelines or some sort of strategy.

5. Nu Wa’s reasoning for not granting the spirits immortality is that they are too corrupt and evil. That’s perfectly fine. They are overzealous in their cruelty and deserve to be killed. I’m ok with that too. The big problem here is that Nu Wa personally captures the spirits and sends them to their deaths. That is a backstabbing and underhanded move. She betrays them while they are at their weakest. If they deserve to be executed, I don’t see why Nu Wa doesn’t get any sort of punishment for her involvement in the mission.

6. In no way am I defending the evil spirits’ behaviors. I just feel it is totally unfair that Nu Wa doesn’t get blamed at all and still revered in her position. She makes a lot of mistakes, but just because she didn’t do the dirty work, she isn’t held responsible. It’s just typical of those in high power to point a finger at the scapegoat while they take a back seat to the trial. Not to say the spirits are innocent victims, far from it. Yet, the injustice of the situation somewhat grates on my nerves.

BTW, thanks for posting all the details and pictures guys! Getting very excited to watch this series. Hopefully, I won't get too annoyed with Nu Wa.

[Athena]

I have not read the novel, so I don’t know the exact details of what transpired b/t Nu Wa and the fox spirit. However, from all the details revealed by other members, this is what I understand:

The goddess Nu Wa feels insulted by a lewd poem King Shang made to her and orders the Fox Spirit and her 2 other sisters to bring down the Shang Dynasty. Upon completion of the mission, they will be granted immortality. However, they are not to harm innocent people.

If I’ve missed anything, please feel free to let me know. I have several problems with this picture.

1. Did Nu Wa give additional warnings to the spirits or was that 1 line about not harming innocent people all she said? If that’s it, then I think she should have cautioned them more before they went too far.

2. Nu Wa wants to bring down the Shang Dynasty without harming innocent people. That is a very tough, almost impossible task. I’m assuming the people are living somewhat peacefully and have no apparent reasons to revolt. Unless the spirits can somehow brainwash and control everyone in the kingdom, how are they going to get the population mad enough to rebel? Reasonably speaking, they would have to get rid of loyal government officials and make people suffer enough to harbor extreme hatred for the king. If she has a grand master plan on accomplishing this, I would like to know the details.

3. Nu Wa is insulted by the king, but why didn’t she just kill him? If she wants to give him a bad rep in history and make him lose his kingdom, she is instead bringing her wrath down on the people. Don’t tell me someone can ruin a dynasty without hurting anyone.

4. Yes, the Fox Spirit and her sisters are guilty for all their heinous crimes, especially the Fox Spirit. Personally, I think she’s a disgusting creature and being behead is too easy for her. She should be tortured the same way the other people were tortured. However, from an objective point of view, she is not the mastermind of the original plan to bring down the Shang Dynasty. Nu Wa came up with that bright idea. She did go back on her word to give immortality to the spirits. Yes, she gave them a warning, but this is a huge mission. There should be more guidelines or some sort of strategy.

5. Nu Wa’s reasoning for not granting the spirits immortality is that they are too corrupt and evil. That’s perfectly fine. They are overzealous in their cruelty and deserve to be killed. I’m ok with that too. The big problem here is that Nu Wa personally captures the spirits and sends them to their deaths. That is a backstabbing and underhanded move. She betrays them while they are at their weakest. If they deserve to be executed, I don’t see why Nu Wa doesn’t get any sort of punishment for her involvement in the mission.

6. In no way am I defending the evil spirits’ behaviors. I just feel it is totally unfair that Nu Wa doesn’t get blamed at all and still revered in her position. She makes a lot of mistakes, but just because she didn’t do the dirty work, she isn’t held responsible. It’s just typical of those in high power to point a finger at the scapegoat while they take a back seat to the trial. Not to say the spirits are innocent victims, far from it. Yet, the injustice of the situation somewhat grates on my nerves.

BTW, thanks for posting all the details and pictures guys! Getting very excited to watch this series. Hopefully, I won't get too annoyed with Nu Wa.

1. Goddess Nuwa only gave one warning.

2. The Shang dynasty was already rather weak and the Ji Family, Western Zhou was strong and virtuous. The Ji family had all the signs of becoming the new ruling dynasty. So, Nuwa did not order the destruction of Shang alone, but it was time a new era and she created the circumstances to ensure that the Shang dynasty would fall.

3. Nuwa wanted to kill him, but a powerful aura protected the King Zhou from killing her. King Zhou was destined to live for another 20(?) years or so.

5. Goddess Nuwa is one of the more primal deities in the Chinese mythology. She gained her power and status at the very beginning of the universe, she draws her power from the chaos that created the cosmos. Unlike the Jade Emperor, the Three Pure Ones and other supreme deities, those gained their enlightment and power through aeons of (Taoist) cultivation. They gained power through wisdom.
Although the Jade Emperor is the ruler of all gods, immortals, deities, but he still has to respect certain other deities (the primal gods). For instance he can issue celestial decree to all gods, but he does show a certain respect and reverence to several other deities in heaven (The Three Pure Ones, Goddes Nuwa and later on Buddha and other higher ranking boddhisvattas).
Nuwa is even revered by the Jade Emperor and other celestial higher ranked deities. The reference books I consulted on Nuwa (excluding the Investiture of the Deities), all refer to her as a goddess who is not like the either gods, immortals, deities in heaven. She did repair the Heaven and brought order, but many later (Taoist) academicians, (Taoist) scholars feel that she is also a goddess who has her power and status at the very beginning of the universe. She did not like the other celestial beings walk the path of enlightment to gain power and wisdom. In order to create order one has to understand chaos too (know both elements, order and chaos. Yin and Yang). So, therefore those Taoist scholars, academicians feel that she has some fearsome primordial element in her. Judging by what she did to king Zhou, she does have a vicious streak.
Even the most powerful and supreme celestial deity, the Jade Emperor has to respect her. Who would dare to punish the goddess Nuwa?

Being a primordial goddess, she was there before concepts of good and evil. I am not saying what she did was right. But, I don't think we can use those concepts on her.

There is 2 King Zhou in here. SO who is nice and who is bad?

The evil one is called King Zhou [王紂] of Shang.
The good one is King Wu [武王] of Western Zhou.
So, in other words one never refers the good one as King Zhou but as King Wu.

I just hope that this serie won't portray Hierarch Tongtian as some evil deity. I hope Hierarch Tongtian will be portrayed in a more objective manner.

[NarutoSakura]

2. Nu Wa wants to bring down the Shang Dynasty without harming innocent people. That is a very tough, almost impossible task. I’m assuming the people are living somewhat peacefully and have no apparent reasons to revolt. Unless the spirits can somehow brainwash and control everyone in the kingdom, how are they going to get the population mad enough to rebel? Reasonably speaking, they would have to get rid of loyal government officials and make people suffer enough to harbor extreme hatred for the king. If she has a grand master plan on accomplishing this, I would like to know the details.

Well, Nu Wa did say that it was okay for the three sprites to disguise themselves as beauties and distract King Zhou from all political duties. In the history of China, there have been many examples of using beautiful women to distract emperors from political duties. Over a period of time, if a king continues to neglect his duties, the common people usually will rise up against him to overthrow him and set up a new king in his place (who would want an incompetent fool to lead us, right?) This was seen in the story of Yang Gui Fei. She indeliberately caused the downfall of a kingdom because the king was much more concerned about having fun and toiling with her all day/night long that he didn't even do much of anything effective to defend the enemy's intrusion, even when there were threats of enemy take-over. This was why the citizens demanded the death of Yang Gui Fei even after they had already lost their kingdom to the enemy, because they were outraged that their king was made incompetent because of her. So based on this example, it's not always necessary to have divine intervention in order to topple a kingdom.

3. Nu Wa is insulted by the king, but why didn’t she just kill him? If she wants to give him a bad rep in history and make him lose his kingdom, she is instead bringing her wrath down on the people. Don’t tell me someone can ruin a dynasty without hurting anyone.

Nu Wa was just going to do exactly that - kill King Zhou immediately after she was outraged by his poem. But on her way to finding him, she was interfered by 2 beams of light coming from the top of King Zhou's 2 sons, both of whom were destined to become gods. Because of this, she realized that King Zhou still had another 28 more years to live and if she killed him now, she would be interfering with Heaven's will.

4. Yes, the Fox Spirit and her sisters are guilty for all their heinous crimes, especially the Fox Spirit. Personally, I think she’s a disgusting creature and being behead is too easy for her. She should be tortured the same way the other people were tortured. However, from an objective point of view, she is not the mastermind of the original plan to bring down the Shang Dynasty. Nu Wa came up with that bright idea. She did go back on her word to give immortality to the spirits. Yes, she gave them a warning, but this is a huge mission. There should be more guidelines or some sort of strategy.

Actually, it was the Fox Sprite that broke the deal with Nu Wa first. The deal was that innocent people must not be harmed. But the fox sprite in the guise of Da Ji had the king built the Burning Pillar to kill his loyal ministers. This was not just an execution device; it was more so for torture. People would get burned alive to ashes while screaming excessively before their deaths. Also, digging a pit, filling it with snakes and throwing 87 innocent maidservants into it wasn't exactly something that would help bring down a dynasty; it was more so a form of torture to appeal to Da Ji. Cutting people's feet and cutting open pregnant women just to confirm a few hypothesis of some evil queen don't exactly qualify as methods for bringing down a dynasty either; it was, once again, done to satisfy Da Ji's sadistic love for torture.

[NarutoSakura]

And another thought came to me, there was really no reason why Nu Wa should cooperate with the three sprites and help them achieve immortality. Achieving immortality for oneself can only be done by the individual.

[NarutoSakura]

Well, Nu Wa would probably help those three sprites if they were kind-hearted, but unfortunately they weren't.

[ejc999]

Athena and grace
Thank you so much for answering my questions.
Have you guys heard any info about a song called 《长恨歌》”Song of Eternal Sorrow?” that likely to be composed by “白乐天” (White Carefree) for King Zhou of Shang and Da Ji?

I watched Journey to the East (China classic verison) 6/7 years ago. It has showed about the fox spirits in at least 2 episides if I remember correctly. The fox demon gave troubles to Tang Priest and his disciples. She has other fox sisters and other fox demons like Athena said before. She called them Xiao Zi Man. She was captured at the end of episode and sent to heavenly court or in front of Buddha (I think Lo Lai Buddha) and also Goddess Nu Wa.
In other episode, the fox demon was defeated with the help of Na Ja. The Great Immortal Dong Hua gave his 2 medicines to Na Ja or Sun Wu Kung to defeat the damon. Was she and Hu Ja Ji the same fox spirit?

Thanks so much for posting summary and nice pics:

Some more pics here:
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Other cast pic
dance pic

Images courtesy of 8mchina.com

[NarutoSakura]

I suppose this is Yang Jian? Wonder who's the actor.

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And this is actor Niu Ma (looks familiar eh? He played the Taoist priest in A Chinese Ghost Story with Leslie and Joey Wong). Niu Ma is going to be the righteous Prime Minister Shang Rong, I think?

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And this is probably Nezha (the little kid in red). But who is that next to him?

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[NarutoSakura]

And here is BI GAN (the vice prime minister with a pure righteous heart, who gave his heart to cure Da Ji of her illness).

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[NarutoSakura]

Some sketches and costume designs for Fan Bing Bing's character "Da Ji"

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[NarutoSakura]

For anyone who was curious whether or not Da Ji fell in love with King Zhou, here's another excerpt taken from the text. It's still a little bit ambiguous at answering the question, but it sort of explains something about it. It also explains another important fact, that Da Ji did attempt to go against the deal with the Goddess Nu Wa.....

So what happened here was the enemy's army was already at the palace gate and it was only a matter of time before they would break through the gate and seize the kingdom.



Entering the inner chamber, King Zhou was met by Daji, Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang. He wept bitterly before them.

"I ignored Ji Fa and Jiang Ziya and never took any precaution against them. How could I have imagined they would unite all the dukes to attack us? Even though I hacked some of their generals to death, I was hit seriously by Jiang Wenhuan on the back. Lu Renjie, Lei Kun, and Lei Peng have all lost their lives. The palace will be taken any time now. The Shang Dynasty has lasted for twenty-eight generations. How can I face my ancestors after I die? How can I bear to be separated from you three? What shall we do? If King Wu breaks into the inner palace, I must kill myself first. I could not stand to be their captive. Perhaps I should run away, but you would all be taken by Ji Fa and our love would be destroyed. What a tragedy! I feel as if my heart has been broken, " King Zhou cried to Da Ji, tears streaking down his face.

The three sprite women knelt down, wept, and said, "We can never forget your deep love. How can you give us up? Where will you go?"

Da Ji put her head in King Zhou's lap, her face covered with falling tears. She held him fast and would not let him leave. King Zhou could do nothing, so he ordered his attendants to lay the table for a farewell feast with his three beautiful women.

The king downed a cup and then wrote a poem for Daji to sing as they drank on:

Much pleasure had we on this Happy Terrace
But unexpectedly comes the bloody army
The love of the phoenix couple gone forever,
A reunion never to come again
Our heroes have all been turned to ashes,
While good scholars now enjoy their best day.
This cup of separation helps me to forget
Sobering, the world is new in every aspect.

Kin Zhou drank several more cups but finally sighed and said, "I can't drink another. The wine only sticks to my throat".

"Dont feel so sad, Your Majesty. I was born into a general's family and learned how to fight with a cutlass as a child. Besides, both Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang know some magic and are familiar with military strategies. Your Majesty, let us fight for you tonight," Daji said comfortingly.

"It would be wonderful if you could defeat those rebels. I can set my heart at ease then," King Zhou said happily.

After offering him several more cups, Daji, Hu Ximei, and Concubine Wang donned armor in preparation for their surprise night raid. The king was really delighted to see his favorite ladies so smartly dressed up.

Jiang Ziya had already predicted the date of King Zhou's complete downfall and never imagined that the three sprites would try to attack his camp at night. Suddenly, at the second watch, a strong wind whipped through the camp, sending stones flying. Daji, Hu Ximei, and Concubine Wang rode horses on their sprite wind towards the zhou camp. Daji held double cutlasses, Hu Ximei two swords, and Concubine Wang a large slender knife forged with a phoenix on each side. The Zhou soldiers were sleeping soundly in their tents, and the patrolmen and guards were so surprised that the camp barricades were nearly all broken through. The generals rushed in to report to Jiang Ziya. When he saw the sprite aura outside, he immediately ordered the disciples to go into action.

Nezha got on his Wind-Fire Wheels with his Fire-Tip Lance, Yang Jiang galloped out with his three-pointed cutlass, Thunderbolt flew out with his gold cudgel, Wei Hu carried his Monster Subduing Club, Li Jing his ridged halbered, and Jinzha and Muzha each wielded two swords.

Nezha led the pack, and in a second, all seven highly talented disciples surrounded the three sprites. At the very same moment, Jiang ZIya was sitting in his tent reciting charms. Thunder crashed in the air above the sprites and lightning exploded around them.

When they realized their enemy's tremendous power, the sprites knew they had absolutely no chance of victory. To linger on would mean death, so they turned thier horses and ran away with a whirl of sprite wind. They had left the palace at the second watch and returned at the fourth.

King Zhou was waiting patiently just inside the palace gates, expecting his ladies to return in great victory. When he saw them come back in such an awful condition, he asked, "What happened in the raid, my sweets?"

"Jiang Ziya was well prepared. We were surrounded by his disciples and nearly killed. We cambe back because we were afraid we would not be able to see you again," Daji replied.

Disappointed, King Zhou lowered his head in silence. He went into the court and wept,. "I now know the grace of Heaven will never return to my side. It's hopeless to keep on trying. Let's go our own separate ways, lest we all suffer together in the coming doomsday," Kin Zhou stated resolutely, and with a flick of his sleeves, went directly to the Star-Picking Mansion The three sprites had no chance of stopping him.

Daji turned to Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang. "King Zhou must mean to commit suicde. Where can we go then, as we have already ruined this dynasty?" she asked them.

"It seems we can delude only King Zhou with sexual pleasure. No one else is likely to fall into our trap. Why don't we return to our old nest, the cave at Emperor Xuanyuan's grave. It was our home before and we can stay there for the time being," Hu Ximei, the pheasant sprite with nine heads suggested.

The others agreed, and the three sprites planned their immediated return to the old nest.............................................. ...................

After devouring several palace maids, Da Ji, Hu Ximei and Concubine Wang got up to leave. With a rush of wind, they flew into the air and headed back to their old nest.

And this was when Yang Jian, Thunderbolt and Wei Hu started chasing them until they all met up with Goddess Nu Wa.

[NarutoSakura]

And this excerpt is for anyone who's curious about what King Zhou's first impression was of Da Ji when he first saw her

Daji moved gracefully towards the palace gate, crossed over the Nine Dragon Bridge, and when she reached the entrance to the court, raised the ivory tablet in her hands, knelt down and saluted the king, "Long live the King! Long live the King!"

King Zhou fixed his eyes on her. She had soft black hair, cheeks as pretty as peach blossoms, a body slender as a tender willow branch, and was dressed as elegantly as floating clouds. She gave one the impression of a begonia drunk with sunshine, or a pear blossom drenched in rain. She was as ethereal as a fairy from either the Ninth Heaven, or the moon palace. When she parted her cherry lips, she gave off a breath of perfumed fragrance. Her eyes were like autumn ripples, radiating coquettish charm.

When she said in her sweet voice "The daughter of your criminal servant prays that Your Majesty be blessed with 10,000 years," King Zhou was entirely bewitched and seemed to by flying towards the sky. His body went limp, his ears grew hot and his vision blurred. He could hardly control himself. He stood up and ordered, "Rise, my beauty! You may stand." Turning towards his palace maidservants he said, "Lead Lady Su to the Fairy Longevity Palace and await my arrival," and then pronounced, "Su Hu's whole family is now pardoned. Su Hu is restored to his original rank, and as a royal relative he's granted an extra monthly allowance of 2,000 piculs of rice. He's to be entertained for three days at the Celebration Court, and escorted back to Jizhou by two civil and three military ministers.

[NarutoSakura]

Supposedly Kenny Bee is also in this series. Can anyone confirm this? Does anyone know what role he plays?

[grace]

Reportedly, the FSB producer(s) wanted to offer the role of King Zhou to Kenny Bee, but when Steve Ma expressed interest in the same role, they decided to go with him instead.


The reporter has sensationalized that little tidbit under this very caption below:
二涛争演《封神榜》 马景涛胜出演商纣王
Two Taos (i.e. Ma JingTao - Steve,　Zhong ZhenTao-Kenny)fought over FSB; Ma JingTao won the role of King Zhou.

sina report

[NarutoSakura]

Reportedly, the FSB producer(s) wanted to offer the role of King Zhou to Kenny Bee, but when Steve Ma expressed interest in the same role, they decided to go with him instead.


The reporter has sensationalized that little tidbit under this very caption below:
二涛争演《封神榜》 马景涛胜出演商纣王
Two Taos (i.e. Ma JingTao - Steve,　Zhong ZhenTao-Kenny)fought over FSB; Ma JingTao won the role of King Zhou.

sina report

Thanks Grace. So did they give Kenny a different role then?

[feifei]

Some sketches and costume designs for Fan Bing Bing's character "Da Ji"

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very cute the drawing not bad.