So I skipped Story of Yanxi Palace when it aired in 2018 as by then I had lost interest in C-dramas and also because it’s a Yu Zheng produced drama and that man is the trolliest of all trolls. It also looked like a weaksauce copycat version of The Legend of Zhen Huan (Empresses in the Palace). Yanxi was there to promote Yu Zheng’s new muse Wu Jing Yan who did indeed sky rocket to stardom and folks shipped her with second male lead played by Xu Kai who also parlayed that role into his own stepping stone to male lead-dom. They would later reunite in 2022 drama Royal Feast. I did find it weird that there were chihuaha jokes around the time of Yanxi and this week seeing the memes resurrected explains it all – apparently C-netizens though Wu Jing Yan with her bambi eyes and super small face in that atrocious Qing hairstyle looked like a baby chihuaha! Okay, once you see it you can’t unsee it. But this week Wu Jing Yan released new photography stills of her in a xianxia costume looking every bit the ethereal goddess, the hairstyle does wonders for her with both framing her forehead and length softens her features. Yu Zheng commented on the stills praising her beauty and lamenting the chihuahua grief she got during Yanxi airing saying that it was especially cruel on her since she was a rookie just trying her best. Dude, you could have helped by not styling her look that way, there are Qing court lady hair styles not nearly as ridic as you gave her.
LOL.
Shes so much better looking here.
Yes. Indeed she looks so much better with these new pictures. Look at her very bottom picture here and the chihuahua – I got a really good laugh out of it! 🙂
Can’t understand the strong words against Yanxi Palace. The drama is super interesting and Yingluo is one of the best FL ever. The production value from the setting and the costumes are amazing and definitely worthy of all the hype and its popularity. While I enjoyed Zhenhuan, I definitely appreciate Yanxi Palace for its own merits.
毁容式的演技，i don’t think anyone thinks she is not pretty in Yanxi. But everyone knows she can’t really act despite Yanxi’s success. A lot of actresses look great if they don’t move their face: Zhou Ye, Jelly Lin, Wu Jinyan.
I actually think she’s quite pretty but Yu Zheng likes to troll his leading ladies and give them the worst looking set up. Even in the Royal Feast, they made Wu Jingyan pale and sickly looking, but somehow the other supporting females looked okay. Then lets not even talk about the terrible styling Michelle Chen got as Xiao Longnv. She was a miscast to begin with but the hair and styling made it so much worse.
I’ve seen a few of her work. This lady can act and do wonders for the story with her acting.
Is it better to look like an overly cosmetized fairytale princess than an interesting character? I thought she looked like an interesting character in Yanxi Palace, which was an entertaining potboiler while Legend of Zhen Huan was a work of art.
I think the fact that she isn’t super beautiful or in flattering style in yanxi makes the character better. Like you can see that her outer appearance has little to do with how she gains favour.
You know she is pretty but she isn’t complete breathtaking
Lol Thanks for the laugh. She looks pretty in lavender ancient costume.
IMO, Wu Jing Yan lacks the traits it takes to carry forwards the momentum of 延禧攻略. She got really lucky with the drama, in the sense that the Wei Ying Luo character was such a breath of fresh air in c-drama-land that the character could carry the actress, instead of the other way around. You could’ve swapped in another actress and the drama would’ve done as well.
I thought she and Xu Kai were the weakest links of the drama. The best acting was by the Emperor and the Empress.
I rank Ruyi>Zhen Huan>Yanxi (如懿转>甄嬛传> 延禧攻略).
I for one didn’t find her look weird in Yanxi, in fact I became a fan after that, I kept watching solely because of her. Her character was interesting and her acting was superb. However, she does look better in these stills, time does change things.
Although I avoided Yanxi for the longest time, I have to admit that it was a good and interesting drama, but I did lost interest when her and the second ML split. I just couldn’t stomach the male lead, the king’s character, um just no.
Totally agree.
BAHAHAHA… can’t unsee the similarity… hilarious!!
But she does look pretty in the latest xianxia mug shots. The Chihuahua does well with a makeover.
I find her pretty in Yanxi Palace. Sh is more of cute not the beautiful one like Wang Churan. But Jinyan is a good actress, she acted good in the drama but the latest one I have never finished it coz the plot is a little draggy for me. But, in fairness, yeah, I think it is the way how the hairstyle is done. She is prettier here in pink.
I’m the opposite. I find her pretty, but not cute. To me she was amazing in Yanxi Palace.