Posters and Preview Ramp Up Excitement for Modern Romance C-drama Our Generation with Zhao Jin Mai and Zhang Ling He in Second Time Working Together
So this is one of the fastest reunions in C-dramas among OTP leads and I couldn’t be happier. Zhao Jin Mai and Zhang Ling He went from their period C-drama The Princess Royal airing to good reviews and reception to being reunited and kicking off filming of modern growth romance C-drama Our Generation (Chinese title 樱桃琥珀 Ying Tao Hu Puo or Cherry Amber). I really really liked The Princess Royal and their first go-around chemistry but it’s funny to see them play old souls traveled back in time to now playing actual high school students navigating growing up and falling in love with the typical parental and life obstacles. Youku is reportedly scheduling this drama for this summer 2025 and will be putting in a lot of promos to build up additional interest beyond the fans excited for their reunion. The first preview looks great even if the story set up feels very been there done that.
Preview for Our Generation:
I like watching him in best thing as a Chinese med doctor. Hope he makes more modern series. I will tune in to this one
I watched RP but couldn’t really get through alot of the later episodes. I liked their characters’ bickering there but didn’t think they had much chemistry, just ok enough a rapport to make it work. She’s a good actress but don’t think she suits period garb and hasn’t sold me on being an adult romantic FL – still gives off a bit of teenage vibes. Still kinda has that vibe in the trailer while I feel ZLH acting is always kinda the same, stiff with limited and sometimes weird expressions that don’t fit the scene. Also is it normal for c-ent to go from being in a mature adult role (best thing) to this – which looks very cusp of high-school/college vibes. Feels like a regression in a way, from an adult role to a student role. Most actors when they get adult roles, will just move into that. Sometimes I get a feeling ZLH’s backers/agency just put him in anything with no thought just to make a quick buck. The guy is clearly overworked and I feel he doesn’t quite suit romantic roles. Funnily I quite like his serious, quiet, intellectual self in varieties like the Truth – that’s where i feel he shines more and is more him, but guess that doesn’t quite make much money
Did he film best thing first or this? Maybe he filmed this first but just happened best thing aired first. This is in response to going from adult roles to students.
I just started watching c dramas again since end of 2024 so I’m not sure what is a norm to them. My last cdrama was in 2011 and that was scarlet heart. After that, I watched mainly kdramas. Zhang ling he is one of the first few Chinese stars from the 90s I am exposed to besides Dylan wang. For now, they will be my bias and hold a special spot until replaced lol. However I will still pick the genre they’re in before watching
Some netizens on Weibo told me this pair looks like a brother and sister but I have to watch princess royal to see.
He does work hard. He filmed like over 15 dramas in the span of 4 years since his debut. Competition is fierce. Maybe he takes on whatever comes his way while he is still in demand
@rollingstone. he filmed best thing first in march to june/july of 2024. then this followed right after, before he started on chasing jade. hence why i don’t understand his career trajectory and feel like his agency just throws him in anything. Him and WHD and the idols around their age are already soon hitting 30, so kinda “ageing out” of the idol bracket in a sense. So most of them will try to branch out into more serious roles or take on lesser but meatier roles as they get older. Kinda like how WHD is trying to cement his brand as one of the top male actors in dramas which are male-centric and where he is top-billed. I don’t see that sort of trajectory for ZLH – there’s no pattern and it’s all over the place. I agree that competition is super fierce in c-ent and maybe they have no choice but it also comes off like his agency has no strategy and does not know what to do with him. Tbh he’s better off filming ads and being a model cos I feel he has way more potential there than in acting.
Yes and him and ZJM come off like siblings, even their bickering in princess royal had very sibling energy. Hence why i’m kinda puzzled producers thought they were amazing and needed to be back together again so soon.
@LayHeong – Yup I really think they are milking him dry! He looks utterly exhausted in alot of things i’ve seen him at – events, livestreams, and in alot of the BTS for chasing jade, he was yawning alot and didn’t look very cheery (not that he is usually but you get what i mean). Even in snippets of the Truth 3’s filming, I thought he came across abit low energy. Kinda like just going through the motions for alot of these things.
And yes the shoulder muscles – he mentioned in a variety show a year or so ago with He Jiong that his neck has been hurting for awhile already, because of all the headpieces for the historical dramas and his posture has been affected. I can’t imagine how much worse that has gotten.
Agreed he has outgrown high school dramas, so feels kinda strange watching an almost 30 year old regress back to that. Hope he does speak up/leave the agency and gets a break somehow. I can’t imagine how him and alot of their celebs actually not have health issues. They are just flying up and down all the time. Like I remembered one week he went from promoting best thing to filming the truth 3 and back to chasing jade filming – with fans stalking him everywhere. How they don’t fall ill or feel low or depressed with the lack of rest is beyond me, kudos to them but it’s sooo unhealthy.
I totally agree with you.
He’s tired to the bones. And I feel his agency is milking him dry. Hope they don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs too quickly.
At other social events you can see him trying to stretch and crank his shoulder muscles.
And yes, he has out-grown high school dramas.
Hope for better T&C and more restful days ahead for him.
He has to at one pint speak up so that he won’t collapse.
@anne, is WHd you are referring to Dylan wang or someone else? Sorry I’m not good with abbreviations
I Do notice zhang ling he goes on a lot of variety shows ? That probably helped his fame. He is schedule for more brand events this month. I didn’t know he film this drama and catching jade back to back. I saw he confirmed 2 other dramas that koala wrote. Maybe his agency is milking him for his looks. I do find him a little skinny and not very muscular
Since I’m new to c stars, does zhang ling he consider a top actor of his generation like an A listed or is he not there yet ? L
@rollingstone – yes sorry! WHD is Dylan Wang.
I don’t follow his schedule very closely but I had an impression that he doesn’t go on very many, compared to some of the others. They usually will do varieties around their drama promo slot, where they’d attend something like Hi!6, or maybe be a regular cast of something. Yes it helps keep them relevant and may help with popularity and is usually done more at the beginning of their careers, but when they are a few years in, they don’t. Not enough time I guess. I’m not sure if the 2 dramas koala talked about regarding him will happen or are just rumours (koala has a habit of posting melons that aren’t correct and then doesnt correct them. appreciate her but she does post alot of unverified gossip). Out of the 2 i think the republican one may happen (i’m not sure about the other, is it the one with zhao lusi? that has fallen through). Yes he’s veryyyy skinny =/ and not muscular at all, alot of the c-ent male stars are like that. Very different from the korean celebs.
Hmm he’s not really a top actor. He’s in a bracket of celebs known as idols or traffic stars (liuliang) – they are popular mostly among the online and younger crowd and often get cast cos of their looks, branding power etc. And no they usually aren’t good actors =/ their true A-listers act in a very different kinds of dramas that only the china genpop knows about. Many of their genpop don’t know much about all these idols, they tend to act in wuxia/costume dramas or modern shows with not alot of depth. China gatekeeps some of their good dramas (like Blossoms in Shanghai) and their genpop tends to prefer those meaty costume dramas like rebel princess. The shows that these idols are in are idol dramas that cater to international fans. Hence you will always see the same names being mentioned over and over again on reddit,blogs and dramas, but they are usually idols.
Agree on ZJM and ZLH lack of chemistry
@anne, I went to weibo and I haven’t seen any mention of his next dramas yet including the republican one and the Zhao LuSi one. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. The only updates I saw are his drama with ZJM coming out in the summer, he finished filming catching jade, he completed some variety show and he would be attending brand events later on the month.I asked one of my weibo friends about him and she also said the same thing about Zhang Ling he. He is not considered A list and his acting has not passed yet but he has decent looks and is still kind of skinny and some of his outfits make his physique more obvious lol. My friend thinks he does not have amazing chemistry with any female costars yet. She is more critical than me lol. Who do you think is considered an A list actor in this generation? My friend thinks it is Xiao Zhan.
Back in 2011, I always thought it was Huang Xiao Ming or Hu Ge who were in that A list category
@rollingstone – that’s interesting! yeah i’ve not seen confirmation of the republican one also. sometimes they do drama announcements very suddenly so who knows. hm. he just completed The Truth 3! a recommended watch cos it’s like a mystery variety and the cast is very fun and spontaneous. he’s also more relaxed when filming this. perhaps he’s on a break.
Yes in some outfits it’s very obvious he’s very thin, haha they tend to hide it well though with baggy jackets and if they wear sleeveless stuff when shooting, the camera never shows their arms LOL.
Oooh I like ur friend already!
I agree with her totally – contrary to what reddit cdrama thinks lol – i don’t think he has chemistry with any of his costars. like…none. Haha. Alot of people say bai lu in SOKP – uh no, it was dry, and his acting was terrible there, so was his character – never seen such an abusive ML in awhile.
This gen’s A-list… hmm. Yeah i’d consider Xiao Zhan. He has stayed far and away from all the idol nonsense – good for him – has strong boundaries with fans (I respect this alot) and is heading into more serious roles, like musicals and that recent movie – international fans keep questioning/mocking the c-movie industry and laughing at his trajectory. While c-movie industry is not big like hollywood, it’s seen as prestigious to the locals. Many of them would want to push into movies after awhile, some other recent examples – zhu yilong, wu lei, even wang yibo, ni ni – cos there’s where the true artistic/acting prestige is and also a launchpad for international acclaim.
@rollingstone – and yes, Hu Ge I still firmly think is an A-lister, has been there a long time. Huang Xiao Ming.. no. He has branding power and some genpop appeal I guess, but isn’t really an acclaimed actor though I quite liked him in winter begonia.
I totally agree with you.
He’s tired to the bones. And I feel his agency is milking him dry. Hope they don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs too quickly.
At other social events you can see him trying to stretch and crank his shoulder muscles.
And yes, he has out-grown high school dramas. After The Best Thing, he should have moved on and up, not down to film a teenage era kind of drama. Producers are cashing in on his dashing looks!
Hope for better T&C and more restful days ahead for him.
He has to at one point speak up so that he won’t be shortchanged and worse suffer health problems.
Zhao Jinmai looks like a deformed frog and underage child meshed into one in TPR. She looks slightly less ugly in modern dramas. Glad Zhang Linghe is working with actual visual actresses like Tian Xiwei and Wang Churan for his next two dramas. Hope ZJM’s team don’t try to pull him for a third reunion.
Glad I’m not bothered about whether “visual actors” pair with “visual actresses”, am more bothered about whether they can even act (usually mid to mediocre to no), so could care less if he’s paired with “actual visual” actresses, neither of whom are strong actresses (WCR slightly better and at least has screen presence, TXW huge no). ZJM out-acts both of them any day.
That aside, ZJM doesn’t look good in costume dramas, I agree. her face shape doesn’t fit the look and she has huge eyes which look mega-huge in the historical styling. I also feel she still gives me child/teenage vibes. I’m not sure if it’s really her team pulling him? Is her team that powerful, his team i have no confidence in cos they seem very greedy so.. and I’m not sure if it’s actually the investers/the network. Someone must really like the princess royal drama or something – though it wasn’t good.
@Anne, It seems common for him to have reunions? He worked with Esther again too. I kind of enjoyed watching him with Xu Ruohan in The Best Thing. I dont mind if they work together again but since Xu Ruohan is not very popular compared to his other female costars and she is often criticized for her chipmunk teeth, I think the chance of them working together again may not be high. One reason I watched him in the best thing is because I read it is his first modern series in 4 years as a male lead. I was first exposed to him through Love Between Fairy and Devil and I kind of like his character in that drama even though I watched that series initially for Dylan Wang. I haven’t watched Zhang’s other series yet. Maybe I will consider Princess Royal and Kunning Palace when it comes to nothing on my watch list lol.
I noticed it too that he does not look cheery through fan cams when he gets off from work. I remember in a fan IG acccount, someone asked if he is snobby because he is rarely seen taking pics or signing autographs. But, one of his fans said he mentioned in a live stream he is forbid to interact with fans during filming or work.
I noticed it too the camera never shows his bare arms in the dramas. He wears baggy clothes to cover up the physique. It is very different than Korean actors where they show their arms sometimes and clothes that fit very well. lol. Coming off from watching Kdramas for 15 years, I can’t help but to do some comparison between the stars and drama qualities every now and then. But, I will try to watch cdramas with a fresh mindset.
I love these Two. I think Zhao Jin Mai is one of the best actresses in her generation. I love her in reset too. I’ve seen Tpr twice. I like it. I guess to each is own. I think she’s pretty. But more than that she can act.