With so many period C-dramas stuck at the censor approvals for whatever fangled reasons there are, a youth romance is dropping in our laps this week and thank you for Lighter and Princess! Hate the title but really intrigued by what I see. Starring young leads Chen Fei Yu and Zhang Jing Yi, he’s 22 and she’s 23 and they play college kids in love before getting torn apart and then brought back together and it’s all so much more dramatic than I expected from the early promos. It’s like a Lee Kyung Hee melodrama moved to China and aged down to wee babies like these two. Chen Fei Yu of course got his mega start with Ever Night but I wasn’t keen on checking that out so I am excited to see why he constantly looks so emo and put upon but in a believable way. Zhang Jing Yi is one of those fast rising young actresses nipping at the heels, she reminds me of Zhou Ye a lot, and she’s part of Chen Kun and Zhou Xun‘s agency which makes me think they saw something super talented in her. Lighter and Princess drops today on November 3rd on Youku so check out the preview below with subs and maybe this is right up your alley.
Trailer for Lighter and Princess (English subs):
Finally a post about Lighter and Princess! Never thought this drama would get noticed here let alone Zhang Jinyi! She’s extremely talented and anyone who wants to see her performance should watch Fall In Love! Its an excellent example of great actors carrying terrible writing but at least it had a plot and amazing costumes! Zhang Jingyi was especially amazing at being smart and vengeful Cinderella who never takes abuse lying down! The promos for this drama look amazing too so here’s hoping for another successful drama for her! Hope she hits big super soon!
I loved her acting in Fall in Love. No cringe squeaky voice or exaggerated pouting. She has a kind of poise and weight to how she delivers lines and varied subtle and complex emotions.
I looked her up while watching the show to see if she was older, like late 20s. But no, she’s just a talent.
Zhang Jing Yi’s acting can be considered a high caliber one.She is good in acting. She shows top notch acting in all her dramas and movies. Her eyes are moving.She has these micro expressions in her eyes and in her facial expressions that’s why she can be categorized as a top notch actress. What best in her is she came from the renowned Beijing Film Academy, like Chen Fei Yu, that’s why she knows how to enunciate her words in a very understanding manner , and again, the micro expressions are always shown in her face. And she is still young, only 23. She has a long way to go to catch those prestigious awards from the esteemed award giving body of China. Jiayou, ZJY!
Youku has some great gems that often go underrated. This one looks great but I hate how cdrama trailers basically ruin the entire plot. Yes to more age appropriate casts too. This has the perfect winter drama vibe to it.
Speaking of king of gems Falling Into You and Shining For One Thing are excellent dramas that deserve more love.
Tencent released a bunch of upcoming dramas’ posters and trailers today too. I’m looking forward to Hu Ge’s Blossoms Shanghai 繁花, the trailer looks amazing.
Waiting for that drama too
China is better than Korea at matching up actors of the same age range and acting caliber. That’s probably why Chinese dramas are gaining a huge fan following these days. The world has only just woken up to Korean dramas so the mainstream transition will take time but among the long time Korean drama fans many have shifted over to Cdrama. It’s only a matter of time before if catches on worldwide and despite the restrictions China keeps forcing on their entertainment sector and the dubbing (which arguably has improved dramatically these last few years) their dramas are starting to catch. Even Netflix is picking up on Cdramas now. Hopefully they can find a way around the restrictions of the government and give the actors and studios a better working environment and more freedom.
And wait till viewers worldwide also find out how batsh** Chinese celeb fans are and how crazy c-ent drama is 🤣
I don’t think there will ever be a total shift to c-dramas just because so many people are literally just discovering kdramas. Anyway, it’s better for there to be more options and worldwide exposure for dramas from Asian countries, it doesn’t have to be a competition.
I don’t think OP is talking about a total shift to c-dramas just like how there is no total shift to k-dramas. Personally I don’t think American dramas and their appeal will ever disappear no matter how bad the writing and acting gets. But still it’s good to see Asian dramas out performing American dramas on the regular. C-dramas have been better than K-dramas lately but as you rightly said people are still discovering K-dramas so it’ll be a while before they discover the gems of C-drama. Everything needs a watershed CLOY moment. I wonder which will be THE C-drama to achieve that because in my opinion it should have been either LBFAD or LLTG or YAG but it might be something even bigger and better than these dramas. I look forward to that day and hope Thai and Japanese dramas are also able to catch up one day.
@Numeo Do you know about the famous 2023 prophecy post that started from Douban back in end 2020 and got spread around furiously? The OP posted that starting from 2021, there will be major changes to C-ent’s fengshui, C-ent will go into a 3-year stagnation, many popular celebrities will fall from grace in an instant. Then in 2023, a worldwide star will emerge from C-ent.
Everyone just laughed this off at first. But then Zhao Wei, Kris Wu, Zheng Shuang, Deng Lun, Li Yifeng etc got banned, and people started to believe it. I personally don’t believe it, but the industry seems to be trying to make use of this prophecy to push out their upcoming newbies.
@Numeo Do you know about the famous 2023 prophecy post that started from Douban back in end 2020 and got spread around furiously? The OP posted that starting from 2021, there will be major changes to C-ent’s fengshui, C-ent will go into a 3-year stagnation, many popular celebrities will fall from grace in an instant. Then in 2023, a worldwide star will emerge from C-ent.
Everyone just laughed this off at first. But then Zhao Wei, Kris Wu, Zheng Shuang, Deng Lun, Li Yifeng etc happened, and people started to believe it. I personally don’t believe it, but the industry seems to be trying to make use of this prophecy to push out their upcoming newbies.
@Lilith
That “prophecy” was made because they didn’t like the current top star lol forever tough luck
Rooting for both leads. Their chemistry is already off the charts in the posters and looking forward to a good heartwarming melo with a happy ending. This has a winter the wind blows vibe but with a more active female lead and more broody male lead.
Tell us you are a stan without telling us you are a stan. Lol forever.
This drama Lighter and Princess is a gem. I love its cinematic color. It is not making my eyes teary, lol. The leads are very good and the charisma is between them whenever they are in one screen. I’m not a fan of ZJY but a fan of CFY but I find XJY an amazing actress the way she acts her. I love her conveyance of emotions. For CFY, no need for explanations; he is quality himself. Further, this CP is beautifully paired; even the height difference doesn’t bother the charisma of this CP. Thanks to the gods of dramas, at least, the drought is now ended. After, LLTG, it seems the there are no quality productions that premiered for a while. Good job for the 1-4 episodes that didn’t disappoints me but lifted my spirits. Yay, there will be a drama to look forward to in the coming weeks. Plus, again, I will always say, I love drama that are feast in my eyes, that both leads are eye candies. It is easier to watch if I am watching beautiful people at least for me and with a plot that’s superb, so, that’s a total win.lol.
I don’t like him but I may check it out for her.
4 episodes and so far Im liking it. Its executed differently from the flow in the novel and also the anime. I thk that was an intelligent move. It has the melancholy vibe that added to their story. CFY has this bad boy vibe so this character is right up his alley. Him and ZJY is selling it, you can see the spark. Im jus worried with the episode count that it might lose steam in the middle or get bogged down with unnecessities. We shall see.
Title wise they are sticking to the original.
Just watched the first 6 episodes I love college dramas that follow up after graduation. The male lead is a bit too much of a know it all…it’s towing a line but for some reason I still don’t like it. Maybe it’s because the female leads response to his jerkiness are kind of weak or annoying? I love when a male lead encounters his match but she doesn’t really ever match him. Kinda wish washy….So hmmm not sure it’s a love it for me.
And flop. Datawin score is a disaster. Yikes.