2013 is going to be the year of the Tong Hua novel-to-drama adaptations, with three of her novels ranging from currently being filmed to being cast, all aiming for a 2013 broadcast. All three are being helmed by different production companies, so it’ll be a competition to see who did the best with the casting to the filming. Da Mo Yao has the lead out of the gate, being halfway into filming. Yun Zhong Ge will take up the rear, not starting its filming until the end of the year. In between will be Tong Hua’s modern novel Secrets Hidden in Time, which has just confirmed its four leads this week.
Wallace Chung (not White Tofu Wallace Huo) will be playing decisive and confident male lead Lu Li Cheng (Elliot), Janine Chang is lead actress Su Man (Freya), Jia Nai Liang is the other male lead Song Yi (Alex), and finally Han Xi Ting will be rounding out the cast as second female lead Xu Ling Shuang (goes by nickname Ma La Tang – spicy soup – in the novel). Filming will begin shortly, which means I need to be reading this novel now. Sigh, so much reading, not enough time.
I think this will finally placate Wallace’s rabid fans who have been stewing since the Bu Bu Jing Xin casting debacle of two years ago, when Ladyboss of Tangren dropped hints that Wallace would play 8th Prince only to have it end up being someone else. Now he finally gets to be a lead in a Tong Hua novel, and playing a very confident and assertive male character rather than a placid and gentle one. I like Janine a lot, and I’m pleased she gets to play a Tong Hua female lead. I’m not familiar with either of the other two actors so I’ll render my impression of them after I see them in action. Fans of Tong Li Ya are pretty miffed that she’s not the female lead, but I have to say I personally prefer Janine.
I have to say that rumors for all three of the currently scheduled Tong Hua drama adaptations will supposedly have a different ending than the novels. That is not surprising, since BBJX had a completely different drama ending than the novel ending. For Da Mo Yao, the drama ending supposedly needs to get changed to conform to strict Chinese political guidelines for not screwing with real historical figures. Tong Hua has said the drama ending for Yun Zhong Ge will be the original ending she had in mind when she wrote the novel, but ended up not using. And if Wallace is playing Lu Li Cheng in Secrets, I am placing my bet 100% right now the ending will be changed. There is no way he’s not going to end up with the girl.
Filming starts in April so will bring more news, plus my impressions of the story once I read it. I still have to write about Once Promised, which is Tong Hua’s take on epic love story Chinese mythology style.
Yay!!! I like Janine and Wallace… definitely tuning in for this one… thanks for the updates Ms. Koala! 🙂
i don’t mind seeing different endings from the novel, i just don’t like open endings.
Sadly, it’s really an open ending we had watched..Sigh..
on the top pair of photos, it looks like janine’s hand is headed for some place that should not be named…
i’m gonna go disinfect my brain now…
I didn’t see that until until you pointed it out, and then I scrolled up and promptly snorted my chocolate milk up my nose… brb, disinfecting my brain too now…
Hahaha…. I did that too!
Me too..haha
You guys have such dirty minds. Now I feel like I did something on purpose when it was completely inadvertent.
Wow. How does that happen even by accident 🙂
I don’t know. *twitches*
Yay, more TH drama! I love wallace and really like Janine, so I’m really looking forward to this one. I bet Wallace would rock the role of 8th prince as well However, to be fair, so did Kevin Cheng. I have no complaints. But I really love DMY, so I’m especially looking forward to that one. EP is not my ideal HQB, but I’m going to wait until I watch the drama before I judge him. After all, many people was very doubtful about Kevin and Nick’s portrayal of 8th and 4th, but they rock those roles and give it so much more life than just the character.
As a rabid Wallace fan, I am so excited for this!!!! I need to start reading this novel ASAP. I love seeing him in assertive male roles, he pretty much fried my computer screen with his hotness as Murong Feng in 来不及说我爱你 (Too Late to Say I Love You) and Yang Mu Ci/Rong Chu 一触即发 (Imminent Crisis). Ms. Koala, you have made my day! 😀
omg omg i literally scream in excitement and happiness. I love all four leads. This has just made my day. Thanks koala for sharing the awesome news
YES!! Wallace was so freaking amazing in Too Late to Say I Love You! And Janine…love her! It feels like ages since Wallace has paired with a Taiwan actress. Count me in for another epic love story!
Ms.Koala, when you said the drama ending will be different from the novel ending…does that mean it will not be a happy ending for HQB ? 🙁
OMG, I like this cast. Since Wallace is cast as my dear Lu Li Cheng, and they said the ending will be different from the novel, I’m SO HAPPY. I think this means LLC will get the girl in the end. I hated the novel’s ending, LLC was soo amazing and he got treated like crap by Tong Hua ><
I totally agree with you. I really like LLC and was disappointed he didn’t get the girl so I’ll be looking forward to watching the drama version. Before I didn’t plan on watching this drama, but now it’s a must watch XD
May I ask for some spoilers? or at least a summary of what happened in the book?
Su Man/Amanda/Freya is a “left on the shelf” girl, living in Beijing. By chance, she found that her first love is back working in Beijing, so she quit her job to stalk him by working at his company. The circumstance in which she found this out was quite funny – she was supposed to go on a matchmaking date which she intentionally sabotage, not realizing until too late that the guy she was set to give a bad impression was her dream guy since collage. Throw in her good friend, a shrewish Ma La Tang, and her scary boss Lu Li Cheng, what happens next is a typical TH tale spinning 2 charismatic men and 2 women caught in between.
hope there’s plenty of kissing scenes b/c wallace is one of the few actors who truly kiss his female co-star =DD
when did tong hua started writing her stories?
i’ve never heard of her until bu bu jing xin (granted i can’t read chinese very well so maybe that’s part of the reason) but it seems like now her drama adaptations are all happening at once.
BBJX is her first book and it was first published online in 2005 and published in print in 2006. I’d guess it was a big hit when it was online considering she decided to have it printed.
I AM EXCITED FOR JANINE.
Though, what is plot of the book? I want to read it, but I can’t read Chinese.
I couldn’t bring myself to try to read the book, so I’m not sure why the drama would be interesting? It’s about a woman who feels that’s she’s past her prime. She sees this guy she’d been in love with years ago, so she gives up her career and forges her resume to get into his company and be close to him. They seem to click, but he gets together with her good friend.
That sounds kind of… sad.
After finishing reading Yun Zhong Ge (through Google translator, mind you!), I’m depressed. You were right when you said that all the main casts in YZG lead shitty lives. My question is: Why oh WHY? Your article here has given me hope that there is a chance for a happy (even though however slightly) ending of YZG. You are also right in that YZG imprints itself on your mind …. I can’t help thinking about the story over & over & over again …..
I like “Secrets” and although I don’t know the cast, they look very pretty to me. Unless the producers does a major rescript, this should be another winner.
My god, another TH drama? 曾许诺 shouldn’t be too far behind then. I have spent the past week reading and re-reding 曾许诺 and the week before, I was on the same train as “Secrets”. “Secrets” is a bit short for me to get totally involved although Lu Li Cheng, Su Man and Ma La Tang are sufficiently well-crafted and realistic. 曾许诺 on the other hand, is longer and pack more punch. However, that show will require quite a bit of CG (and higher cost) to produce so maybe it will be a while more before it gets snagged.
If there is a “Secrets” expert here, please enlighten me on the epilogue. Despite multiple readings, I am still unsure if Ma La Tang is onto Lu Li Cheng’s secret and her choice in deciding who to side.
Thanks for the summary. I’m still a little confused though. Is Lu Li Cheng or Su Man the guy she a had a crush on in college? Who is the male lead? Also, do you mind if I post your summary on the spcnet forums? I will credit you. 😀
Sorry for not being clear. Su Man is the female lead aka Amanda/Freya. She liked Song Yi aka Alex since young and followed him to the same school. Having missed her chance to get to know him (university & matchmaking date) she decided to give her all to pursue her happiness so as not to have further regrets. Lu Li Cheng aka Elliot, sort of stumbled into her path during her pursuit, and is the male lead. Both Song Yi and Lu Li Cheng are fighting for the top post in MG – the financial company which all worked in.
Song Yi is a little like Ling Ge Ge & Jiu Ye mixed into 1 – elite, talented, scarred. Lu Li Cheng reminded me of Meng Jue – determined, willy, and (don’t laugh) with eyes that . I think TH used similar descriptions about his eyes as Meng Jue… anyway, I love him to bits and I think most people will too. Actually I thought Wallace look very much like the LLC in my mind.
Umm…didn’t Tong Hua say that the original ending she was going to give Yun Zhong Ge was so cruel that she the current ending, still tragic, is the NICE ending she came up with?
That is not reassuring at all.
Also…wasn’t the ending of the modern one terrible? I keep hearing odd things about it.
Ms. K…
please let me share my thought and mind about whole this TH’s novel. Don’t get me wrong about it, ok? and no offense..
1st… I was underestimate all these C-book translation in your blog…honest.. first thing pop out in my mind is.. “why Koala doing this?? where’s my Korean ??” then i remember, you also love all the asian’s dramas..whether it’s C-land, J-land or K-land.
I like C and J’land but not as much as i like K-land…
then…one day, one of my GG (gutter gals) from soompi shared about the Da Mo Yao…they rant me by keep mentioning about how sexy and hot and “bad ass” HQB is…so I decided to give it a try. and after struggling in the 1st chapters, then HQB is came out and I read more faster than before…^.^
at the end I got CRAZY over DMY… I CRAVED and MADLY IN LOVE with HQB and now I’m sooo anticipating the novel to be on TV screen.
HQB …how could a man be this bad and sadistic, could be so damn sexy at the same time?
everything about him is full of lust!! hehehe
I’m still have a withdrawal syndrome of DMY…..it’s too hard to say goodbye with HQB…
Thanks a tons for your great effort to translate the whole chapters from the novels… Ms. K
forgive me for doubting you in the beginning…
Wallace Chung!! OMG !! SO HAPPY!
omg. I’m die happy. What is this? TH heaven lately? Everything TH makes seems like it’s getting drama adaptions?
There’s no audio book for Tong Hua’s 2 modern books so I sadly don’t get to read it, so this is like news from heaven.
With this trending, I just cross my fingers that they won’t make Promise Me a Forever into a drama or movie though. If TH wants to sell that, hopefully she’ll sell to a more CGI experienced producer though.
Can I read the novel by Tong Hua in English? I mean, are there transaltions?
I’m so happy seeing the news. I like the pairing, Wallace Chung and Janine. Wow
Hi guys Im just new here, I dont know if this page still available. But Im really a big fan of Wallace Chung, and Janine Chang, I love this two loveteam they really have a good chemistry. I hope they can make more projects together in the future. This Wallace Chung really looks my childhood crush hehehe, lol.