It’s coming everyone! One of the biggest S+ budget female lead C-drama productions on deck in the last year has confirmed the premiere date of next week on March 18th. The Legend of Shen Li (Chinese title 与凤行 Along with the Phoenix) starring Zhao Li Ying and Lin Geng Xin will air on CCTV terrestrially while streaming on Mango TV (owned by Hunan Network) as well Tencent Video. The leads have demonstrated prior chemistry in Princess Agents, Zhao Li Ying is a ratings magnet, the costuming and backdrops look incredible with money not spent on flashy stuff but attractive looks, and all three broadcast platforms are promoting it like heck so that’s triple the exposure. Short of the drama being just bad from writing and directing, it’s hard to imagine this drama not doing well. I am so looking forward to it!
Official Ending MV for The Legend of Shen Li:
Looks sooooo good! I need a new crack! Can’t wait!
I can’t wait for this and these actors still look so great for their age than most of us will ever be.
SOOOOOO EXCITED FOR THIS REUNION!
I just love the Chinese aesthetics! Hope this will be my next crack.
Tbh it doesn’t look good.
I will check it out anyway but I have significantly lowered my expectations. There actually isn’t that much anticipation in China, which surprised me but there is almost zero talk. It could also be seen in reservations that were incredibly low until Tencent artificially ballooned them in a day.
How does this look different from other average Xianxia? CGI is crappy as usual. LOL. Both ZLY and LGX exhibit aging signs with thicker cosmetic powder on their faces. Not a fan of fairies looking like uncles and aunties in the motion though. LOL. They are not age appropriate for the genre.
I agree that they r old for this genre ,maybe the story is good for them to take this, I enjoyed them in princess agent, hoping for the best
Are some of you really serious you guys are age shaming the leads I mean Zhao liying always top her dramas so be serious or be polite
@Micky, how’s this aging shaming? ZLY is a versatile actress and she’s good in other dramas. But Xianxia? She and her ML just don’t look light and fairy with heavy makeup. We expect to see lead actors exude forever-young and fairy-like aura in Xianxia. They just don’t appear anywhere close to it. And thick filters too. The reason is obvious. LOL.
If this were a historical drama, their aging looks don’t matter that much. But Xianxia? Stop the joke. I’m watching a Xianxia-equivalent Kdrama now. There is a stark contrast between that pair of charismatic Korean ML/FL and this old pair. That Korean pair were full of energy and youthful vibe. But ZLY and LGX appeared lackluster.
Not all fairies and gods are youthful looking though. The heavenly emperors and queens almost are always played by veteran actors and actresses. Even when watching a xianxia there are immortals of varying ages. It’s not like ZLY and LGX are senior citizens. I feel like it will just depend on the background of their role. As long as ZLY isn’t playing a newly formed flower fairy or something.
But I agree with you that this doesn’t look much different from the average xian xia. Nothing stood out as new. Xianxia in general has been an overdone genre with repetitive tropes. I’m also not a huge fan of LGX’s visuals in general or really lack of visuals rather.
@Somebody, I left you a message in Zhang Zhe-han post. Wonder if you read it?
Oops! Prolly not yet. Been pretty busy with clients and planning for vacations this year. I’ll check.
@Somebody, I just saw you read it. good.
@HL, I bet many ppl of Chinese descent have no knowledge of this part of the history cos I’d definitely want to conceal it if I were a CCP leader. It’s so embarrassingly hypocritical while they have been doing so much propaganda hating Japan inside and outside China. LOL.
@Somebody, I definitely did not, nor did all the friends I shared with. They were all in shock as I was. Afew are mainland Chinese who migrated to the West. I dont care about CCP…as they do play any part in my life. But I do care about people affected by history as my forefathers and families were involved. Thus the sadness.
Gosh,the guy look so wooden,the fl has too much make up,other than that,they look like standard xianxia drama.
Excited to see them. Both look great. I am
Not trying to see actors in their 20s who can’t act either or an idol drama so happy this is premiering.
Truly trying not to be ageist… but also… I don’t really care if anyone calls me ageist… xianxia should be reserved for main leads 30 and under. LOL. 33, max, because sheeeeeesh!!! Looks rough! Lol. Xianxia is like high school vibes for fantasy fare, eep.
Excited for this too, can’t wait! They look really good!
I may not watch this 2 artiste dramas much… but i will watch it. Zhao Liying is moving towards productions now…I bet she is putting higher expectations on herself more.
This will be interesting to watch. I just wonder if I will drop it midway?
😆 we mostly drop them mid way don’t we.
Unfortunately taht seem to be so for recent Cdramas. I really want to support Cdramas but it is getting harder…
Not even midway. Most likely just 1 or 2 eps in and 3 at most. That’s what happened to me. I only cut slack on my fave’s drama.
I don’t mind older leads in xianxia as long as their characters are old and mature too. I think TMOPB workded really well in this aspect. What bothers me more is that xianxia as a genre is becoming very typical. It’s the same recycled story with different characters in various shows. Maybe they should shake up this genre a bit. Especially now that Love between fairy and devil has set a very high standard for what a good xianxia should be like, many others pale in comparison with more or less similar stories.
Trashy ZLY and her 1 woman show. Other than ZLY and LGX, none of the cast members even show up in any of the trailer. ZLY is the producer, she got jealous when Journey to Love was able to elivate all cast members from top to bottom to popularity, she bought black materials on them that dramas should only focus on the female lead 100% of the time and other cast members should not have any screentime otherwise it’s unprofessional. Biash.
Best to keep my expectations low and be pleasantly surprised than to raise them and be disappointed afterwards. Not a fan of Princess Agents so I’m neutral to this pairing.
Let’s wait and see…
Ótimos actores adoro. Ainda espero 2° temporada dos agentes com os mesmos actores. Concerteza vale a pena ver este drama também, nem que seja pelos excelentes actores.
This does not look good. I hope I’m wrong.
There are so many negative points in everything released so far.
Some people here have already commented about some of the negative points.
I must say I’m disappointed with the fact that ZLY and LGX are dubbed by Voice actors. These are not their real voices. LGX I can get it because he can not speak proper Mandarin. For ZLY there is no excuse.
The acting of both of them shown in the videos released so far is bad too.
Soooo excited for this to air.
I have high expectations since I adored the novel.
Let’s do this drama gods!