C-netizens Dying of Laughter Over Ridiculous Voices and Subs in the US Airing of Popular C-drama

A modern new C-drama classic gets a fresh coat of Western paint and the result is unending hilarity that makes me cackle even as I’m thisclose to falling into blissful slumber. The currently hot topic C-drama The Empress of China is merely the latest and boobiest challenger for the throne still occupied by the early 2012 hit The Legend of Zhen Huan (Empresses in the Palace). But the reigning queen shows no sign of relinquishing her position of power, what with the C-drama snapped up by HBO to be broadcast as a six-episode miniseries.

The C-drama made leading ladies Sun Li and Jiang Xin household names and faces in China and recently vaulted back into headline entertainment news when the US subtitled and re-dubbed cut dropped online, showing the hack job done in order to prep it for US airing. All the voices have been re-dubbed using Taiwanese Mandarin speakers and slangy dialogue (Taiwanese Mandarin is referred to as guoyu 國語 or national language versus the Mainland’s version of Mandarin called putonghua 普通话) and the subtitles are a bucket full of laughs in each and every line. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Continue reading