Period C-drama Princess Agents Releases First Stills Starring Zhao Li Ying with Lin Geng Xin and Shawn Dou

Actresses rarely get the accolade of aging beautifully, reserved for actors who grow older onscreen with dignity while the fresh-faced beauties are held up to impossible standards. With that said, leading lady Zhao Li Ying is absolutely aging beautifully and it’s all due to her shedding the super cutesy baby girl looks and flourishing into an angular more intense glamour. She’s headlined so many C-dramas in recent years, mostly period fare which suits her like second skin, but I’ve yet to truly love a role of hers. Up next she’s the titular female lead in Princess Agents (Te Gong Wang Fe Qu Qiao Zhuan), costarring with two 14th Princes in a funny coincidence. Her male lead is C-drama Bu Bu Jing Xin 14th Prince Lin Geng Xin while second male lead is C-movie 14th Prince Shawn Dou. Nice! The first stills are out and I don’t see her character as either a princess or agent but she’s drop dead gorgeous even all dirtied up.

Drama synopsis:

During the Warring Period, the Western Wei enslaved large numbers of civilians. The slave girl, Chu Qiao, was thrown into the forest as a hunting target for rich lords. Through many trials and circumstances she caught the attention of Zhuge Yue. Together, they tear down the slavery system.


Comments

Period C-drama Princess Agents Releases First Stills Starring Zhao Li Ying with Lin Geng Xin and Shawn Dou — 52 Comments

  1. Great…I’m feeling torn over whether I should watch a drama again because of Lin Geng Xin. The last time was the God of War Zhao Yun, and I ended up not watching it. But the drama plot intrigues me plus there’s Zhao Li Ying…Well, at least I still have about half a year to decide since it’s premiering in 2017.

  2. I like ZLY but I don’t like both the male leads. Sorta upset that it’s LGX too. I mean, they definitely could have gotten someone bigger and better for a large scale production like this. This just makes the main pairing a lot less watchable…

    • Couldn’t have said it any better. His comment about Tzuyu’s apology video left a bad taste in my mouth. If he were a better actor, watching his projects may have been more bearable. This really sucks because I looooooove ZLY.

      • What’s wrong with his comments? I am neither LGX’s fan nor a Kpop fan, but I understand Chinese. When Tzuyu’s apology was broadcasted before Taiwan’s elections, my family made similar comments(“看她道歉好不自然 ,明明是被逼读稿的”)because she looked uncomfortable and probably did not want to apologise anyway. Tzuyu is too young at 16 to understand fully why JYP forced her to apologise for being proud of her Taiwanese roots. She did nothing wrong in having a Taiwanese flag.

        Why is LGX’s remarks seen as snide? JYP showed the moneygrubbing nature of Kpop Idol factories by forcing a sixteen year old who did nothing wrong to make a swift apology to appease Chinese fans. Kpop idol factories are disgusting in that regard, even is manufactured to appease the fans’ wallets,.

        LGX achieved fame and success without a contract that includes a dating ban, penalties for wanting to leave before 10years, or an agency that punishes him and hangs him out to dry even when he does nothing wrong. LGX is not forced to do or say what Lee Sooman, Park Jin Young or other Idol factory CEOs want. Unlike Tzuyu, LGX has the freedom to shoot his mouth off on Weibo. That’s why I will never understand why so many people are obssessed with Kpop idol factories.

      • @X Lin Geng Xin added a laughing emoticon to the end of his weibo post, if that’s not snide, I don’t know what that is. His words “道歉来的太突然,还没来得及背稿。” is aimed at Tzuyu, the innocent sacrificial lamb in the whole controversy, it’s a different story if he had focused on JYPE instead. As a celebrity with many followers, he should know that anything he posts will receive a lot of attention, especially on such a hot topic, his post basically fueled the fire even further.

      • @Lilith, I got LGX’s comment as I understand written Chinese. I don’t think using a Laughing emoticon is snide, I use them on social media frequently to make my posts less serious. Maybe it’s a generational habit but using Laugh emoticons or “Lol” doesn’t mean I am laughing or being snide.

        Wasn’t what he meant, “The apology came so suddenly (reference to JYPE tripping over their feet to bow down to the Chinese), Tzuyu has not even memorised the script”? That’s how I interpreted it. LGX(like any member who is not a newbie of the entertainment industry) understands the pressure and media fuss over maintaining their image and pandering to fans, I am sure he knows better than most that she is forced by JYPE to apologise despite doing nothing wrong. The travesty is that most Kpop consumers will forget JYP bowing down to China shamelessly and go back to throwing cash at JYP’s idol puppet groups who are forced to fake a manuafactured image, watch everything they do or say or get involved in protracted lawsuits if they want to break a >10year contract. The same Kpop consumers will make anti China remarks whilst fawning over SM, JYP, YG and their ilk who kowtow to China. The shallowness and lack of introspection is staggering.

      • I’m a huge ZLY fan, and the plot looks like my type of thing, but LGX left a bad taste in my mouth too. Maybe I’ll listen to the audiobook instead.

        @X: For me, it’s not that /what/ he said about Tzuyu, it’s the fact that he said it at all. I understand why he felt that way, BUT that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a fully grown man and a public figure with a huge fanbase, taking cheap shots at this 16 year old girl who had been dragged through a political and economic mess when she had done nothing wrong. She was just the victim of a middle-aged shit-stirrer and bad timing.

        Tzuyu as an individual was under attack, and it was already really ugly, and he just did this really immature thing by reposting and laughing at the video. Like, it wasn’t the South China Sea issue– nobody would have cared about him /not/ commenting on her apology, but he did so anyway.

        It might have been different if Tzuyu was in her mid-twenties like him, or y’know, had actually done something pro-independence, but at the end of the day, he was a grown man contributing to the harassment an innocent 16 year old girl simply because he wanted to.

      • @X Well, if that’s what he meant why didn’t he just say it that way? His words directly word-for-word translated to english is “The apology came too suddenly, didn’t memorise the script in time.” The sentence is structured in a first person speech, it’s as though he is mimicking what he thinks Tzuyu might be thinking.

      • I can’t help chiming in. LGX is indecent at picking on a minor in public. He was round the bend as an adult celebrity bashing an innocent teen. SMH…This guy’s reaction was not sensible. Dimwit!

      • Me too, LGX did not leave a good impression on me, and I didn’t find his acting in BBJX spectacular either, definitely not enough to overlook his assholeness.

        @X
        Like someone pointed out, it’s mainly due to his emoji at the end of his sentence. Sure, people made the same comments he did (apology was too sudden and she didn’t have time to memorize) but most of us with some sense of sympathy would think…poor girl, being caught in the middle of all this, and she’s so young too!…instead of laughing about it.

        You also have to take into account the context in which his message was made. At this point, she was figuratively being nailed to the cross by Chinese netizens. This went beyond the whole cyber-bullying by calling her names. People were threatening her, making jokes about her being raped, photoshopping graphic images of her. She and her group, and other groups in JYPE, were on the verge of being blacklisted by Chinese media. I don’t think JYPE wanted to do this, but after careful considerations (which included her parents’ input), this was the solution they came up with.

        After her apology, she was still being persecuted by netizens. They said her apology wasn’t enough, that it wasn’t sincere enough since she didn’t memorize it. THIS was the context in which LGX wrote the message, among thousands of people laughing and mocking her, criticizing. He knew what he was doing, what he was saying, and he knew how many followers he had. There should be no excuse for his behavior. He found humor in mocking and laughing at a 16yo who had done or said nothing wrong, and for that he is scum.

      • @nym “You also have to take into account the context in which his message was made. At this point, she was figuratively being nailed to the cross by Chinese netizens. This went beyond the whole cyber-bullying by calling her names. People were threatening her, making jokes about her being raped, photoshopping graphic images of her. She and her group, and other groups in JYPE, were on the verge of being blacklisted by Chinese media. I don’t think JYPE wanted to do this, but after careful considerations (which included her parents’ input), this was the solution they came up with.”

        So the way to respond to internet bullies who make rape threats & X-rated insults over a non-issue like a Taiwanese flag is to apologise to the bullies? Tzuyu should admit she was wrong and deserved abuse, thereby emboldening the Chinese mob’s sense of entitlement? That is a terrible approach that doesn’t solve the issue. No wonder so many Chinese netizens demand support for South China Sea dispute, no wonder idols are shamed by fans. Tons of people receive threats online. Most threats are ignored, no one apologises to crazy Internet perverts who threaten rape. Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety(or monetary benefits), deserve neither.

      • @X

        Um…when did I ever say that? Wow, wouldn’t this world be so great if we can all just fight back against internet bullies and everything will just revert back to the way it was before the issue happened?

        Do you think Tzuyu thought she was wrong? Did her parents think she was wrong? Did her CEO, her groupmates think she was wrong? It’s not as simple as “I did nothing wrong and I’ll fight back, and these internet bullies will admit their wrongdoing”. She spent the last 3-4 years of her life in foreign country training for this moment. She and her group hadn’t even reached their one-year anniversary yet. It’s not a matter of right and wrong. It’s a business matter and everyone knows it. There’s no point in arguing with a country who has been brainwashed since birth. You think she’s giving up “essential liberties” for “monetary benefits”. Well, these monetary benefits include the international careers of 8 other girls, one of whom had trained for 10 years. I don’t blame her or her company for feeling the pressure to apologize. I think that it is worse, however, when someone who mocks an underage girl for fun is just dismissed as doing nothing wrong.

      • @nym It’s funny that you view LGX as the worst bully, when in this situation the other parties are objectively worse:

        – The rabidly nationalistic Chinese netizens who threatened to boycott JYPE over a flag.

        – The rabidly nationalistic Korean netizens stoke antiChina sentiments but don’t admit that Korea is thirsty for Chinese cash. Korea’s economy relies quite heavily on the vast Chinese market, the population of 2 large Chinese cities like Guangzhou and Jinan already outstrip the entire Korea.

        – JYPE, who forced Tzuyu to apologise. JYP would have made money successfully in Korea regardless of that silly incident and no one would have cared once Taiwan’s election fever died down, but they made a big fuss out of the apology because bad publicity will get a rookie group famous and they know the China market is too vast to ignore if they want to hit jackpot, so they kissed the feet of the Chinese mob.

        – If Tzuyu’s parents were consulted and agreed to let their kid make a highly publicised kowtow to China at the height of China-Taiwan tensions (that apology video is how I and most non-Kpop humans know Twice), one can only conclude they were greedy for fame and money. Most parents would shield their child from stoking geopolitical tensions further. If they wanted to tap the untold wealth in China because wealth and success in Korea is not enough, teaching your kid to sell out and apologise for a flag of her country of origin isn’t great parenting. Then again Tzuyu entered showbiz at such a young age in a foreign country, her parents probably have different values compared to most Taiwanese since the men enlist in mandatory military service to defend themselves from China.

        – The China media stirred the pot over every little infraction before Taiwan’s elections because they support a pro-reunification KMT win and are against Tsai Ing Wen’s DPP.

        This is a sensitive geopolitical matter that the entertainment industry disgustingly took advantage of. My reaction is similar to LGX, I thought it was laughably absurd. I shouldn’t waste time analysing nonsensical Korean or Chinese pop culture scandals since I am not a fan in general, but it’s shameful that everyone made a mountain out of a molehill over a silly flag for monetary gain or political agenda. The Taiwanese flag had been conveniently planted by a Korean TV production company in the first place.

        Tzuyu(or her parents) agreed to film a apology at the height of the elections when JYPE said it was their big chance for fame, that bad publicity was also good publicity for rookies like Twice and that popularity in China would bring the untold riches. I would have done the same if I was her CEO, capitalise on a hot button issue gripping 1.5 billion Chinese in two countries to issue an apology consisting of girlish tears and blatant begging of the fans to not close off their wallets. You see, even if JYPE kept mum Twice would be successful with tons of folks who aren’t tainted by rabid Chinese nationalism. Asian entertainment culture is quite shallow, Korean and Chinese society is obssessed with keeping up with appearances and “face”, so LGX shooting his mouth off seemed refreshingly candid. Maybe I am an asshole, maybe I am too used to societal culture in Western Europe.

      • @Everyone except X
        Let’s just ignore him, it’s obvious what he/she is. I can summarise his/her few whole lengthy paragraphs into one sentence – Korean and Chinese pop cultures and entertainment industries (plus the people who like them) are very shallow, and somehow ALL Asian entertainment industries too.

        X claims to not be a fan of Korean and Chinese pop cultures, but still can find time to visit a site about them and leave so many comments. Just a hypocrite with a superiority complex.

      • People need to stop taking things so seriously. The entertainment industry is a business and just like any other business, there’s gonna be things that are unfair/things are the way it is. As fans, we should not focus too much on all of that and just enjoy the music/dramas/movies. Life is short to waste on debating things that really aren’t controlled by us/doesn’t affect us.

      • @x : oh wow ,
        Who wasnt disgust with Cnetizen? Who wasn’t angry with JYPE which forced the girl to apologize ?
        That incident created turmoils across asian countries and everybody except the Cnetizens felt so empathic for the girl, being used as a scapegoat
        You missed the entire point here ,
        We are talking about that asshole LGX remark . Being a celebrity And knowingly whatever he said will create influences to his follower , and would add fuel in to the fires, he purposely did that to mock her , no gentleman should have done that . And yes, that guy is obviously nothing but an asshole . And you speak yourself
        It got nothing to do with western cultures or eastern culture .

      • Didn’t even know about the controversy until reading this post.

        I like LGX even more now. Good on him.

        Tzuyu was stupid. She forgot she’s just a pawn to a Korean entertainment company who wants to make money from Chinese fans.

        Luckily for LGX and unlike Tzuyu he can be as direct as he likes without fear of repercussions because his home crowd and support base will love him more for it.

        If Tzuyu wants to be like him and be able to voice her nationalistic sentiments freely then she should stand on her own two feet without relying on her Korean company and go and be a celebrity in Taiwan. Except wait… all the celebrities in Taiwan are too scared to make such comments because guess where a huge chunk of their earnings comes from? China.

        He is making fun of her for not understanding the entertainment industry and biting the hand that feeds you. You want to be pro-Taiwan, that’s fine. Go and work in an industry that does not rely on China for your survival first. Once you have achieved that then say whatever you like, no one can stop you or force you to apologize.

  3. Ms. K, sorry for this hijacking but my 95 years-young Mom ask moi to look into Yang Mi’s new drama “Les Interpretes, “翻譯官” normally we dislike C-dramas esp the dubbing, but this drama is actually a joy to watch and NO dubbing… BTW, We loved ZLY’s “Boss and Me”, NO dubbing too…

  4. Agree with some of the comments. Feel like watching bcos of ZLY. She’s a talented actress and I enjoyed her drama Boss and Me, Legend of Lu Zen. Unfortunately I had decided long ago to boycott any commercial products related to LGX. I skipped his drama with Yoona without much struggle. Now ZLY’s new drama is a challenge to me. LOL.

    • You should watch Princess Agent. The main character is ZLY . It is awesome drama . You can skip the scene with LGX and still enjoy the movie.

  5. I like her so much , she is so pretty 🙂
    I don’t know why I’m having soft spot on beautiful actresses even im straight haha

  6. Really looking forward to this. I love Liying and I liked Lin Geng Xin in BBJX. I think they will look really good together. Can’t wait.

  7. I love Zhao Li Ying and I love Li Qin. I’m pretty indifferent to the male leads though, so I will just be watching this drama for the two 女神!

  8. I only learned Twice Taiwanese girl’s incident from her apologetic MV released on JYPE’s official YT channel. I just made my judgment based on the news and Kpop fans’ reactions to the infamous incident. Based upon that, I couldn’t help loathing Lee Gen Xin’s character. Now knowing more about how C netizens, C media, and C showbiz joined the crime club to bully a teen pop star, the inhumane language they used, and LGX being one of the culprits of these internet mobs, there’s no 2nd thought for me at all to totally bypass all his dramas and ent products. Bye, jerk!

    Sorry ZLY, I have to miss your new drama this time.

  9. I kinda take offense to the aging beautifully comment. Seems like the writer doesn’t like ZLY very much from her articles on Liying. Also, the writer didn’t do any background research… cause ZLY doesn’t play a princess or an agent. She plays a general and the wife of a future queen fyi don’t be mislead!

    • This author has honestly really very little grasp on current cdramas/twdramaa. There is always something wrong. So weird to make a comment about her aging gracefully.

    • Based on the original novel, the character Chu Qiao played by ZLY is a special agent who time travelled to the past and gets involved with a crown prince and other nobles, thus the novel/drama title “Princess Agent”. “Wang fei” can be translated as imperial consort or princess. So, Chu Qiao is both an agent and a “princess”. Though I have no idea as to the extent to which the drama adaptation follow the novel.

      • “the drama adaptation *will* follow the novel”.

        Maturing or growing up beautifully may be a better term perhaps?

  10. For those who have decided to boycott this… So just because of LGX’s doing, you’re gonna implicate the other actors and actresses who have worked so hard for the drama? This is just like putting the fault on the whole family just because a family member did a mistake… How ridiculous … Well, you could’ve boycott him in some other ways that doesn’t implicate others or just directly criticize him in his blog or something if u don’t like him that much… Anyway, I’ve no idea what happen between him and tzuyu… Just a third party’s opinion. Back to the main point: I’m so so so excited for this drama and I know it’s gonna be great. I love the novel and also I believe ZLY will do a great job in portraying the badass Chu Qiao!

    • Yes. I love ZLY for this drama. She did a fantastic job. Hope there will have Princess Agent part 2. The ending is so sad . The audience expect the happy ending.

  11. I think the storyline sounds so horrible though! The basic time travel thing…everyone is pointing at LGX now… but ZLY is going to be the main lead for a seemingly downfall drama, more like she might end up with criticisms in the end. Girls as main leads are very very hard to swallow. Hua Qian Gu was a little bit bearable but the legend of luzhen was a hundred percent focus on jealousy girls.

    • I actually really enjoyed The Legend of LuZhen, one of my favorite palace dramas. I think all palace dramas have a lot of jealousy, it is part of their theme. It does get draggy tbh, but sometimes they keep you hooked. I do agree that she will bear more responsibility since she is probably better known than him. But, I guess I tend to enjoy shows with girls as main leads. One of the reasons I am looking forward to this drama is that she is going back to being the main lead of the drama. ^^

  12. From the bts pics I have seen, this drama looks really interesting. It will have a lot of action scenes, ZLY has been doing a lot of her own stunt work on real battle scenes. I am interested to see how she goes from slave to warrior to potentially leading an army. I saw a still of the leads together and they looked cute, I hope they have good chemistry. LGX’s hand looked bigger than ZLY’s face ^^
    Sadly it is set for release Summer of next year for HunanTV.

  13. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh I am so excited! I can’t wait. I love Zhao Liying and only watched LGX once in BBJX. I have never watched Shawn before. But fromt he trailer, it looks like a very interesting drama to watch.

  14. Im a girl, but i like ZLY a lot!! She is really talented, i respect her as an actress.. after watching her drama, i realize why a lot of people admire her.. looking forward for her drama!! Im not a fan of LGX, but his acting is not bad, he is also very handsome, about his scandal, idc actually.. people should take a chill pill, and enjoy the damn drama.. ?

  15. LGX is doing an awesome,fantastic and fine job in Princess Agents. He’s impressed me so much with his acting skills packed with a punch of micro expresssions as lead Yuwen Yue. Love his chemistry on and off screen with ZLY too. Now, I hope to see them both in Happy Camp. Any hope please?

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