JoleCole's Station

The Patriot Yue Fei is the latest talk in Chinese TV. This grandiose bio-epic traces the life of one of the most venerated but tragic generals in Chinese history. He was the epitome of loyalty and revered by later generations for the next 800+ years. While the names of many imperial emperors are lost in the records of history, Yue Fei is still a celebrated name in China even till this day.  There are literally a plethora of temples erected in China to honor this man's military accomplishments and the Confucian virtues he personified. Unfortunately, Yue Fei also paid heavily for his loyalty and fame. He did not get killed by his enemies in the battlefield nor did he die from his war injuries. He died because he was too good at defeating his military enemies and failed to address his own political enemies at home. As a historical figure, Yue Fei is definitely someone I admire but not personally excited to learn about. Perhaps because of his tragic ending I developed a natural res...

To all YingXiao (Chen Xiao+Zhao Liying) shippers, this post is dedicated to toi ! I think I'm totally obsessed with this pairing. So to my non-YingXiao readers, please have patience or just ignore this post. After the Shanghai Film Festival, the cast of The Palace attended the official press conference the following day. The actual conference was quite procedural and dry. Nothing special besides the fact we get to see more photos of the cast. The host and reporters shifted their attention mostly on Zhou Dongyu since she's considered the most "accomplished" in the movie industry. Chen Xiao looked like he was pissed at the world at the Shanghai Film Festival. Luckily, he brightened up a little for this event.

I have been hearing talks from Yu Zheng about the movie version of The Palace for the last two years. I actually never expected much from the guy except for fluff. Thanks to my growing interest in the Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying pairing, I started to pay attention this movie when I learned that they both have a part in it. This newly released official trailer unexpectedly blew me away with the visual quality and cinematography.  The overall atmosphere of the film is characterized by this dark heaviness. The actual film looks tenfold more impressive than any official stills publicized so far. Chen Xiao's real voice is also very character appropriate and sounds so much better in the movie than in interviews. I can already sense bitchiness of Zhao Liying's character smug. And lastly, I love Zhou Dongyu's innocence and melancholy. Her youth certainly adds to the natural innocence of her character. I do not feel any forcefulness.

Any Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying shippers? I have new photo goodies for you! To promote their upcoming summer movie The Palace , our lovely onscreen couple participated in the highly publicized red carpet event in Shanghai yesterday along with Producer Yu Zheng and their co-stars Zhou Dongyu and Zhu Zixiao. Being newbies in the film industry, Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying both looked a little tense under the intense media scrutiny.

Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying collaborates for a third time in this movie Can't get enough for this lovely and incredibly cute onscreen pairing after Legend of Lu Zhen? Fortunately, we will get to see more of them onscreen this summer! The exact date is August 13th. Chen Xiao will lead in the movie adaptation of Yu Zheng's Gong series as Emperor Kangxi's 13th Prince, Yinxiang. The story focuses on the theme of first love. Unfortunately, Zhao Liying is the female antagonist of the story and plays Yinxiang's evil first wife, Liu Li. Chen Xiao's true love in the movie is Zhou Dongyu's Chenxiang.

So it's definitely confirmed that Gao Zhan and Lu Zhen are officially married in the story! Even though she never gets any official empress/concubinage titles, she definitely became a 'wife'! It's no dream sequence or someone's wild imagination. Gao Zhan looks like he's the happiest guy on earth in these photos. Chen Xiao once said in an interview that when he filmed this wedding scene, he felt like he was actually getting married. LOL.

Unlike Sealed with a Kiss and Bu Bu Jing Xin, Legend of Lu Zhen was purely scripted for television adaptation. It was not based on any existing novels or work of literature. The novel is almost entirely based on the television script;  hence, the writing style is not anything imaginative or poignant. The novel is more like an narrative of the whole drama script. I highly suggest that you avoid reading this novel if you want to keep the excitement of watching how the actors/actresses interpret the script. I, myself, just briefly scan a few bits to pacify my worries about certain "plot devices." For the first time in my life, I don't want to get spoil by the spoilers. LOL.

Mandarin title : Legend of Lu Zhen/ Female Prime Minister/陆贞传奇/女相 # Episode : 45 Genre : Historical Release date : May 5, 2013 Broadcasting Compan y: Hunan TV Cast: Zhao Liying as Lu Zhen, Chen Xiao as Gao Zhan, Yang Rong as Xiao Huanyun, Qiao Renliang as Gao Yan, Tang Yixin as Shen Bi, Liu Xuehua as Empress Dowager Lou, Maggie Cheung as Lou Qingchang

Caption Translation: Chen Xiao - "Lu Zhen, what would you like to tell me today?" Zhao Liying - "2" I waited for more than a year for Legend of Lu Zhen to air. Now that the release day is less than two days away, I feel like my mind still hasn't completely processed this fact. I don't think I ever religiously followed a drama series as closely as I did for Lu Zhen. And I've followed quite a few dramas from pre-production to broad in my life. I hope, I pray, I hope again that this drama won't disappoint! Alright, enough of my rant. Last night, the end theme song "Mood" finally got released. The singers are none other than our main couple: Chen Xiao and Zhao Liying. To my surprise, Chen Xiao's singing voice is actually quite memorable. Zhao Liying sounds more coarse and less professional, but definitely better than Yang Mi's squeaky singing voice!

 Last night, I was lucky enough to chat with a fellow Lu Zhen fan on the Baidu Forum who was willing to share some information she read in the novel adaptation of this TV series. I bombarded the poor girl with a ton of burning questions. During our short online chat, I learned a few important things and would like to share what I discovered. If you want to remain spoiler free, I strongly recommend that you don't read this post. If you want to get spoiled about some aspects of the plot, you can continue to read. I'm going to structure the spoilers in a Q&A format and hide my answers in yellow font.

While I was wasting away my precious sleep time browsing the Baidu Forum, I chanced upon a funny post listing all of Lu Zhen's love rivals in Legend of Lu Zhen. Gotta say this girl has some serious competitors to eliminate to win her Prince Charming! It seems like almost...I mean ALMOST every non-blooded related woman in the story is romantically interested in Gao Zhan. He is practically a Marty Stu character but in a more likeable way.

The mysterious and much anticipated release date for Legend of Lu Zhen has finally been officialized and finalized! Get ready for some action on Sunday, May 5th at 7:30 p.m. Beijing time. I feel as if a heavy burden has lifted off my shoulders now that the release date is officially confirmed by many sources and is fast  approaching . During the course of the initial broadcast, I hope to be more active in my blogging. If you sense that I'm awfully silent on this drama, it means the drama utterly fails to sustain my attention. If I'm super active, it can probably mean two things: I'm totally hooked or I'm totally pissed. LOL. I'm praying the latter won't ever happened.