August 2022 Passes with No Sign of Xianxia Drama The Longest Promise with Xiao Zhan and Ren Min, Industry Insiders Say the Drama Stuck in Getting Permit Due to Recent Crackdown on Costumes
Once I’m finished with one crack drama then I’m finished with one crack drama I go on a mad search for another similar one to follow, but it has to appeal to me from leads to visual to story. I’m on a mild C-drama kick and looking around one that looks very interesting to me is The Longest Promise (玉骨遥 Yu Gu Yao or Jade Bone Ballad). It’s actually the most anticipated period C-drama among C-netizens based on how much it’s searched for and also the number of follows among the yet to air drama pages. I’m not a Xiao Zhan fangirl but he’s good enough for me and I’m interested to check out Ren Min as she’s still newer the industry and has been making in roads from 2020 onward.
I love their visuals in the drama and how calm with a smidge of melancholy the drama posters give off. Apparently the production was expecting the drama to air this August but the month has come and gone with no sign of it. Industry insiders say the reason is that the permit has not come down, and the delay is due to the production submitting it late and then getting swept up in the recent crackdown on period costumes being not adhering to historical accuracy. This is a xianxia drama so I’m not sure anyone is looking for accuracy but every so often Chinese censors find an issue to gnaw on like a dog and any production that happens to have it gets impacted, i.e. ban on time-travel dramas, ban on BL novel adaptations into dramas, etc.
At this point, I can’t help but wonder if Xiao Zhan ever offended some “big ppl”? From that ridiculous scandal because of AO3 to how long his dramas are being approved…
Nah, the approval times for his dramas are still within normal period range, including The Longest Promise. Ace Troops and The Oath of Love were approved normally, TOOL’s broadcast was delayed due to HunanTV being greedy and wanted to force Tencent into sharing its sole web broadcasting rights with their affliated web platform MangoTV.
As for The Longest Promise, it’s true Tencent was aiming for broadcast this summer at first, but approval has been delayed probably due to the recent crackdown on costumes and set pieces. It is still within the normal approval time period though.
The reason you feel the approval periods are long is because YXHs often create false “melons” about his dramas airing soon as a tactic to cause unrest within Xiao Zhan’s fandom. These YXHs are often owned by or affliated with rival agencies. Then there’s also the actual next upcoming drama trying to make use of Xiao Zhan’s liuliang to grab the audience’s attention to its own drama. For example, if they pretended the next upcoming drama is TLP, people will anticipate for the airing date and time, then when it releases its own drama info, at least more people will know about its drama title, synopsis and maybe even watch its trailer.
I think there are no “big ppl” offended or something of sort. The problem with TLP is I heard Tencent submitted it for a tv broadcast license and not just sole web broadcast, which usually takes longer time to get passed censorship and permitted. That and that it got caught with recent tightening on xianxia/wuxia genre as many other historical drama. That’s why LLTG had to fill up it’s slot (with many unsettled post-production like OST etc) but well I think summer drama slots are so full with xianxia this year, adding another would be a bit of a lethargy.
Yeah plus with Love Between Fairy and Devil that is the hit of August 2022 as well, I guess they wanna lay low on the Xianxia genre for some times now.
He has the strongest, most loyal, financially-capable fandom; the number one product endorser in terms of number and title (all spokesperson title, with the highest number of luxury products endorsed), and with the highest market value both with his dramas and endorsements. On top of it all, he is well-mannered, eloquent, educated, talented and a very good actor and singer. Ill-intended competitors won’t like him, naturally.
My guess is that the earliest release date for The Longest Promise will be sometime in January 2023, during their school winter holidays. Next month is the annual period for China to start airing their patriotic dramas, which will last a couple of months.
It’s not a crackdown on costumes, the drama is held up by censors because it is features a master-disciple relationship are very picky on how that is portrayed. In Chinese culture it is taboo for teacher and student to fall in love, Journey of Flower and the disciple was tortured for most of the show because censors do not agree with portraying it in a good light. I heard the Longest Promise fl kills the ml who is her master so it won’t be a straightforward love story, censors will not let a teacher student romance air so easily.
False. Journey of Flower was filmed exactly according to the original novel except for the ending. The original novel came first, so how can it be due to the censors? There’s also another teacher-student romance drama, Chong Zi 重紫, which is much more similar to Journey of Flower, their original novels even sued each other for plagiarism. And for The Longest Promise, the teacher is only a few years older than his disciple.
What’s false? My point is that Journey of Flower was only able to air because the story is written that the ML was very unwilling to reciprocate (he let her get tortured) and the FL got abused by everyone after falling in love. Teacher student relationships are taboo and China’s censorship has only tightened since 2015 or whenever JoF aired, nowadays everything is censored be it BL, palace, time travel.
The Longest Promise was scheduled by producers in August but didnt get the license to air, obviously they were told to edit it more and have to pass censors again. Novel fans say the FL never loved the ML from the start to end, so it should pass. Chongzi also hasn’t aired, and won’t air this year it is not even trying to pass the censors yet.
All I’m saying is, any teacher student relationship drama will be rigourously checked and cut by China’s censors especially in 2022. Even a current airing drama about a demon ML was edited into moon lord and instead of calling the ml Big Demon 大魔头 the fl calls the ml Wooden Head 大木头.
Like I’ve explained in my first sentence, your assumption that Journey of Flower disciple was tortured for most of the show because censors do not agree with portraying it in a good light, is false. Because the drama was filmed almost exactly according to the original novel.
We don’t know what didn’t pass the censors for The Longest Promise, it’s wrong to assume that it’s definitely because of the master-disciple relationship.
@lilith
You have reading comprehension issues nobody said the FL eas tortured because the censors ordered it. I said the censors will demand a lot edits. Go back to school.
i’m pretty sure teacher/student relationships are taboo in every culture lol
Not really, it happens and this is fantasy not a normal classroom situation in any way. He’s not teaching things one would learn in a real world school. I prefer the costume fantasy series and if this keeps on with banning this and that China will be a laughingstock. Don’t they know they produce the best xianxia of any Asian country? They should stop ruining their entertainment industry
@Jo
You need to brush up on your English then, because that’s what your words meant. “Journey of Flower and the disciple was tortured for most of the show because censors do not agree with portraying it in a good light.” These are your exact words.
I thought so, when I read the synopsis & it said it was a relationship between teacher & student my first gut feeling was it will never pass the censors. That is bad influence.
What’s everyone’s thoughts on immortal Samara? I’m told It has a good story line and I plan to check it out…
Remix and rehash of many previous xianxia. It’s good, but I’m a bit apprehensive about the long episodes, the story does get drag at some part. Many said YZ is almost the same as her Jin Mi character previously but I disagree. Yan Dan is more animated and chaotic for sure. Just as usual she sometimes tend to overact. CY is good, his emotional scenes are lit, but I’ve seen LaR so, almost the same.
The beginning and middle arcs are essentially xianxia copy and paste but this last arc that’s about to start seems like it’ll be a bit different.
It’s pretty good but I feel another actress for the lead would have fit better. Out of all the newly released costume series, Love Between Fairy and Devil is the best. IMO
I’m so looking forward to The Longest Promise!! Can’t wait n Jia You Xiao Zhan ^_*:))