Lee Jong Seok and Zheng Shuang Confirmed for 1930’s Era C-drama Emerald Jade Lover

It’s a done deal, now fans of Lee Jong Seok can only sit back and wait to see the end product. Lead casting for Chinese-Korean co-production C-drama Emerald Jade Lover is complete, with Lee Jong Seok as the male lead and the female lead now confirmed to be Zheng Shuang. Filming begins in January in Shanghai and Hengdian, the massive film studio capital of China. To do this drama, Zheng Shuang reportedly postponed her sabbatical to study overseas, which isn’t a surprise since she’s only 24 years old and her breakout drama with Let’s Go Watch the Meteor Shower came out when she was all of 18 years old. Zheng Shuang wouldn’t be my pick for Lee Jong Seok’s leading lady but it could have been worse, and there is something new to look forward to as she’s totally different in visuals and acting styles than all his previous leading ladies. With low expectations, this has a good chance of being a pleasant surprise of a watch.

Lee Jong Seok’s character is described as a mysterious returning from overseas business executive, who straddles both legit business enterprises and the underground mafia world. Zheng Shuang’s female lead is a romantically clueless rich girl who has her world turned upside going, going from princess to pauper, and in the process undergoing a radical growth and maturity into a strong capable woman. Their romance will be of the meet cute bickering type. I’m also intrigued at seeing capable Korean PD Jin Hyuk helming his first C-drama, and bringing his visual aesthetic to the process.


Comments

Lee Jong Seok and Zheng Shuang Confirmed for 1930’s Era C-drama Emerald Jade Lover — 27 Comments

  1. Cheers to LJS’s first chaebol role ever. Cheers to LJS’s farewell to his agency.
    This is the parting gift to his agency Wellmade yedang according to the official announcement. Cheers all around.

    • His agency made many troubles for him which I can’t count them here… They even sometimes made him lonelier than he was, IMO if he were under another agency, he surely could be in another status right now….

      • BTW I don’t think it was the case of treating him as a person but his professional career affected by their weaknesses and faults in managing him!

  2. The plot reminds me a lot of “Lady and Liar” and “Cruel Romance”. Hopefully, this drama will bring something new to the table. And hopefully, Zheng Shuang improves her acting.

  3. This is something I’ll 100% skip. I can’t stand LJS’s acting, and I can’t even stand Zheng Shuang. The way she portrayed her role in Cage of Love was NIGHTMARE.

      • @Crystal In my opinion, I wouldn’t say he is in the top 3. I have seen a lot of actors under 30 and 25 who can act better than him. I don’t hate LJS, but it’s just his acting annoy me. For example, the episode in Dr. Stranger where he kissed a baby made me shudder and want to go hit something so bad.

      • Even though I can’t stand his acting but it’s tolerable and I will still watch his drama if the plot is good like Pinocchio. But the problem here is Zheng Shuang, even Hawick couldn’t save Cage of Love which was horrible due to Zheng Shuang’s acting and stupid plot. Same goes for Love Through a Millenium. If Zheng Shuang’s acting isn’t improved or at least acceptable, LJS is in for a big mess.

      • It’s interesting that I see different tastes cause the director of doctor stranger said in an interview that LJS’s acting is a top notch among his age group and he thinks this CPR scene and the one which park hoon takes back his father’s possessions are two example of notable scenes in the drama and his acting, he continues he loves this CPR scene because the result and the way he portrayed it was exactly what he had imagined in his mind! You can read the translation of his interview on tumblr.

    • lol he didn’t kiss it… he gave it cpr. If you had a problem with that scene then it’s a problem with the writer and director…

      I’m with @Gladis, i’m curious why you would even click and read this article when you obviously don’t like either of the people the article is about. And then even come back to the article a day later, read the comments, and reply to someone who mentioned you without even replying to you.

      • And it wasn’t even a real baby, they used a doll lol. Out of all things to dislike him for…

      • @ Mist. I click and read almost every new article Koala posts daily. And what’s wrong with reading article about two people whose acting I don’t like. And what’s wrong with coming back to the article a day later? I don’t see anything wrong with being curious about the production between China and Korea and reading other people comments on this article.
        FYI, as for the cpr scene, the problem was him. I didn’t go awww or woah, and this is just my opinion. Others might like it or whatsoever and I don’t judge them for that.

  4. @StanSmith @lafille wondering why are you here then????like seriously you read his name in the article’s title no need to click it, read it, then leaving your sh**t comments.. too much effort for someone you can’t stand ..weird people

  5. Don’t understand why actors choose to do c-dramas that get no overseas attention beyond china. There’s probably more money in it, but I don’t know if it’s really worth their time. It’s a really difficult market to break into, I think, esp if you don’t speak the language. 1 really great kdrama role will bring you to the attention of korea and the international audience beyond.

    • It’s really a lot more money, like USD6m. A Korean actor gets around USD30-50k per episode for a Korean drama, so for 16 episodes, the paycheck is about USD500-800k. Also sometimes, it may be the actor’s agency which is making the decision, and profiting greatly from it, since they get a cut. If you noticed, the K-actors doing C-dramas have already made it in terms of fame both in Korea and internationally, recent examples being Joo Won, LJS, Rain and JCW.

    • In Jongsuk’s case, I think a part of it is that he’s doing this so he could leave his agency amicably. In honesty, they’re not a trustworthy agency and they’ve always brought more problems to Jongsuk than solutions. It’s evidence in how even though Jongsuk said he’d work with them until Jade Lovers ends since the drama is meant to be a ‘beautiful farewell’ with them, he already hired his own temporary manager from another agency and got his own PR team so he can accurately correspond with the public without Wellmade.

    • You might be surprised that there ARE international fans of C-dramas, and I believe the number is growing.I myself is an international fan who watches almost exclusively C-dramas (despite not speaking the language), particularly the historical and wuxia ones. I’m grateful for the increasing blogs dedicated to Cdramas in recent years, as well as the dramas getting English sub in Viki 🙂

      • @lenje, Glad you mention this. I’m a new international fan to C-dramas. Nirvana in Fire triggered my interest to take a look at C- or T-drama. The C-drama production seems to work in a way different from K-drama. That gives me a fresh feel bcos I’m a kinda tired of repetitive cliche in the recent K dramas. Also heroines in C-drama are usually not as air-headed as those in K dramas. So when watching C-drama, I don’t have to get pissed off and feel humiliated the same way as I did when going along with K-plots.

  6. I haven’t watched any c-dramas, so i have no idea what to expect. I will watch anything with Lee Jong Suk in it though, so it will be a first for me. I’m looking forward to when he finishes this drama and goes back to doing korean movies and dramas. He has been gone far too long.

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