TW & C dramas

2018 Filmed C-drama The Love of Hypnosis with Crystal Liu and Jing Bo Ran Gets New Chinese Title and AI Face Swap of Cancelled Second Male Lead in Attempt to Get Airing Permit

This is an oldie but goodie that’s been in the vault so long I thought it was permanently shelved. The Love of Hypnosis – Chinese title formerly 南烟斋笔录 Nan Yen Qi Bi Lu and now called 一曲三笙 Yi Qu San Sheng – was filmed in 2018 and supposed to air in 2019. It starred Crystal Liu and Jing Bo Ran back when in a powerhouse pairing with her long awaited return to C-dramas and him coming off the hit movie Monster Hunt. Unfortunately before the drama aired the second male lead Zhao Li Xin, a veteran actor, got cancelled after he made a statement that Japan occupied China for 8 years but didn’t loot the Forbidden Palace and questioned why a conqueror would so that (i.e. he was implying Japan did not mistreat China during their occupation). The fallout was fast and furious and he was cancelled immediately and he issued a full apology and left the industry so his cancelled was permanent. C-ent is saying that last year the drama re-filmed Zhao Li Xin’s scenes and will AI faceswap into the drama with the new actor, but unfortunately the special effects so far aren’t great. The drama also got cut down 13-episodes and is now back in front of the authorities for airing permit.

ockoala

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  • More than half a century past and WWIII is on the verge, Chinese ppl still haven't got over the Japan complex. LOL. Is this a collective trauma that warrants mental health counseling and treatment or just national sentiment manipulated deliberately by CCP to divert public attention from it's own egregious ruling and the deteriorating economy?

    Cancel culture is always a sign of authoritarian system. China has the worst among all.

    • Just like how US also manipulates its citizens to hate on China to divert attention away from its own issues? Oh, I'm sure Koreans will have something to say too if any of their actors claimed Korea did not suffer under Japan's occupation.

      • Well, in the USA we don't cancel, lockup, & destroy women who support the #Metoo movement, though we do seem to have trouble keeping the men in jail, once convicted. And CDramas, with their incredible actors are becoming wildly popular in the USA,& hopefully this makes it clear that despite BOTH our awful leaders & gov'ts, the Chinese & American people have too much in common not to fully cooperate with each other to solve Global Issues.

      • Agreed with you! I'm learning my Chinese family's background from the film and drama series. I enjoy watching the history.
        From Thai-Chinese blood girl in Bangkok Thailand

    • The same two idiots are going to talk aout manipulation, again. It will be entertaining, I'll need popcorn. Lol.@Somebody and @Lilith should be soulmates. They have one big trait in common: both are narrow-minded. Hahaha.

      • An idiot calling others idiot? 😂 And a coward who keep switching names to make it seem like there's many different people.

    • Not a Chinese but wanted to say that no one should be forgetting what a colonizer did to them. It's not a complex, these are atrocities and crimes committed against their ancestors. When we forget, we are likely to let the same thing happen again also, we won't be able to realize if the same is happening to some other country and take a stand for them. Right now South Africa is leadining the case against Israel in the ICJ because they are way too familiar with apartheid as they recently faced it. So many other countries have now 3 or 4 generations post colonialism and they seem to have forgotten the sacrifices of their ancestors for freedom against occupation. Someone wrote below why Dutch and British are not as reprimanded is exactly because of that, forgetting and not acknowledging the sacrifices of their ancestors not that they were any merciful or any colonizer and occupier ever is.

    • Is there genuinely something mentally wrong with you?

      Not a single nation has gotten over the atrocities of world war 2 and they shouldn't because as soon as we forget what was done, we are bound to repeat it. Germany is always teaching their population about this for this precise reason.

      No, China hasn't gotten over the horrifying crimes Japan has committed, much like Korea. They have good cause, especially because Japan is so evasive about their crimes and still honors the war criminals that committed them.

      Your post comes off as just ranting by a zealot that is dismissive of the horrible past. It says quite a lot about you.

      • Stop overreaching and gaslighting me!!!! Dimwit!

        The actor posed a legit question in Chinese but the whole nation (or only those who have been brainwashed by the CCP to be hawkish and hostile to the democracies, specifically the allies of the US) overreact. It's different from denying the war crimes committed by Japanese forces in many Asian countries, not only in China. All the war history related to Japan's occupation in other countries are all recorded in history books and the war criminals were put to sentence too. People aren't uneducated to ignore what had happened in WWII. Nonetheless, constantly advertising anti-Japan and anti-US sentiment decades later among Chinese nationals by the CCP is unjustified, only serving their ambition to take over the global leadership from the US and erode democracy.

        What about the on-going invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops? China has never officially condemn such atrocious aggression of Russia cos they are friends. What a huge hypocrite, let alone China has been engaging aggression, coercion in all aspects, and military exercises circling Taiwan on a daily basis!!!! Go tell your lord CCP to stop their own atrocities against human rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Hong Kongers. Then you might make more sense lecturing me. LMAO.

        LOL. Your comment comes of as an ignoramus knowing nothing about the true color of CCP and what tactics they have been using to reach their heinous agenda. It says quite a lot about you. Constant cancellation of people exercising free thinking to pose legit thoughts and questions is one of these sneaky schemes the regime has been exploiting to instigate fear among citizens and divert attention from their own huge problems.

        What's a problem for the actor to ask why the Japanese did not burn down the palace, the old relic from Ching dynasty, to ashes or looted the palace? How was this offensive to the emo Chinese? IT'S A FACT RIGHT THERE! LOL. How was this legit question an evidence of support of war crimes committed by the Japanese troops during WWII? Use your brain not your excessive mental gym to reason!!!! LOL

    • Chinese should NEVER forget what Japanese did to them and they should make sure that the future generations always remember this. No one knows the paint more then the people who suffered it.

    • Chinese should NEVER forget what the Japanese did to them. They also need to make sure that every future generations remember about it. No one knows the pain more then the people who suffered it.

    • Half a century past but have the world forgot about the Holocaust? Except Japan never admitted to their atrocity and even told the world China/Korea/rest of Asia was lying.
      CCP is CCP, but colonization is colonization. Even if the Kuomingtan won the war and China is democratic, Japanese atrocities will never be forgotten and the actor will get cancelled all the same. Ask Korea. Stop talking about issues you have no idea about and the only thing you know is the anti-China bias sprouted by your government.

  • These political discussions grow tiresome. This is an entertainment blog after all. Chinese entertainers should know they run the risk of ostracism if they do not conform to their government rules and should refrain from engaging in politics to ensure their career longevity. Pity. But there’s no freedom of speech there.

    At the same token, production should try to air their work asap to cut down the risk that their products will get canceled as it is more likely that someone will mess up somewhere the longer they delay airing their movies or dramas.

    We used to complain bitterly of Korea’s live shoot system, where dramas were aired the next day after shooting, because of the immense pressure it put on the production staff and actors. But it seems advantageous in the sense that the work is guaranteed to be aired. Maybe C-ent should consider doing something like this. Though the censorship would probably hit the roof first before that ever happens…..

    I just feel really bad for investors, pouring their money, time and sweat into works that may never see the light of day. And then we wonder why there’s quality issues on the works that do get released. Smh.

    • Well, what to do when we have people always ready to bring up CCP in every other post? It could also be a deliberate action to make C-ent less fun for international fans 🤔

      • @Lilith

        I am GENUINELY not interested in discussing this. As a non-Chinese I have no stake in the game. It would be exceedingly foolish to comment on matters I am not knowledgeable about. But it does grow wearisome reading your and Somebody’s comments from a third party’s perspective.

        I don’t have opinions on politics, but I do have strong opinions about entertainment, and my wish is to see more Cdramas aired internationally. The market and appetite for it is steadily growing. It offers a cleaner and balanced counterpoint to Western cinema that aims to dominate the world with their viewpoint.

        I have long grown sick of Hollywood and even European cinema, and for the past 15 years have sought refuge in Asian cinema. Which is why I feel bad when there are quality works that are kept on the shelf due to scandals or blacklisting.

      • @Xoxo Glad we are on the same page. I don't touch on politics unless someone else started it first. Entertainment news should remain as purely entertainment.

      • @Lilith, that's why I have issues with you with mentality very much similar to CCP mentality! Gaslighting and labeling ppl! So obnoxious! It's such a reach to insinuate that I'm critical of CCP to deliberately make C-ent less fun for international fans. So dumb of you to have such a conspiracy theory! LOL. I'm not the one initiating the talk of politics but Koala did. The whole point of her post is about politics getting in the way of showbiz and therefore cancellation of the actor.

        If it's fun to watch C dramas then it's fun. How the heck would my criticism of CCP's censorship and cancelation culture have to do with your watching experience of C dramas? LOL. I'm just being honest and blunt about that obnoxious regime making the showbiz an extension of stupid communism ideology! If I had any intention to undermine C-ent, why did I also enjoy some C dramas although there are only very few of them cos the production quality of average C drama overall is just not on par with K drama or British drama etc.

      • @Somebody Go take your medications already. This article is just an update about the drama in a neutral viewpoint. You're the one trying to make it political with your hate speech.

    • But are most Korean shows still done as a live shoot? I thought Korean TV Networks are moving away from dramas which is why there are so many finished dramas waiting for airtime slots?

      • I believe they ARE moving away from live shoots. I used that as an example of getting a product ready to market asap with no downtime. It’s a brutal system, but it ensures that the product is shown as is with no risk of cancellation.

    • I don't know why they don't fine the one with the scandal. Just ban future projects. Everything previously filmed should air unless the scandal makes the drama unwatchable. Everyone else shouldn't be punished because of one person's scandal. At the very least, air drop the series in one go and ban the person involved from promoting it.

      • You make a great point. They need to change this policy. I hope they do now that Cdramas are getting popular. I think it will happen as Cdramas get more world exposure.

      • The production companies do fine the person causing the scandal. They have 'morality' clauses in the contracts so they can be reimbursed if they can't air their shows. Everyone else got paid for doing the show already... they aren't going to get any more money if it airs.

        It isn't about one individual, it's about society. It's a censorship issue and against promoting bad behavior to their society. They don't want these people to be given a platform or to be held up in any regard or really to exist.

  • Anyone know why the ost for the drama got released even though the drama didn’t air back then?

    So are they gonna record new songs for the ost now or reuse the old ones?

    Anyways, those whose family/ people didn’t go though the atrocities by the Japanese shouldn’t be belittling it.

    Women and girls were raped and kidnapped to be sex slaves for the soldiers. People were tortured to death. Their favorite method was to waterboard those they accuse as spies. And the destruction by bombings and stealing of national treasures and resources.

    Other than China, South Korea is adamant at not forgiving Japan for what they did, more so coz Japan refuses to acknowledge what they did and apologize.

    SEA aren’t that hardcore about the hatred.

    Taiwan is the only nation to worship Japan’s colonization.

    There’s a reason why Japan isn’t forgiven as much for their warcrimes as opposed to say the British or the Dutch

    • No idea, it could be the drama trying to recoup some funds for the re-filming and face swap. They should be reusing the old ones.

  • @JodieGoldsmith
    Wise words.
    We need the two super powers to work together for peace.
    War is the greatest evil and I am very scared China is being demonized to manufacture consent for war. No country is perfect and we need to learn peaceful coexistence.

    • Tell China to stop funding Russia in Ukraine war! Tell China to stop funding Iran and terrorists in the Middle East! Chinese to stop stealing intellectual properties from the US and other countries! Tell Xi to stop manufacturing and selling fentanyl to the US! Tell Chinese to stop coercion and all military actions on Taiwan! The Chinese have to behave themselves first. Then it's feasible for both sides to sit down and talk.

      Ppl wishing the US to work together with its worst enemy ever in the history is like wishing dead rise from a tomb. At this stage, it's impossible. The US-Sino relationship will only get worse, not better as long as dictator Xi is still in power.

  • Love of Hypnosis better air. I hope the drama gets greenlit to air soon. I can only hope Deng Lun is forgiven and Night Wanderer and Immortality, two dramas at the tippity top of my most anticipated dramas list, are finally rescued from the dungeon as well. Jing Boran and Crystal Liu plus Deng Lung and Nini? We barely get such classic leading man-leading lady pairings and both dramas get shelved!

  • I think the drama Tale of Rose is very good and I love CL drama choices she really knows how to choose deep,slice of life dramas

  • LYF has a knack in choosing dramas. It seems like this one is a good one too. Hopefully it gets to air soon

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