I think I’m going to get an overdose of the 1930’s Shanghai era once the one-two punch of period C-dramas Cruel Romance and Lady and Liar when both hit the airwaves. It’s not just the setting that I love, I’m interested in both stories and following Cruel Romance with Chen Qiao En and Huang Xiaoming releasing a teaser last month, Lady and Liar with Tang Yan and Hawick Lau followed suit last week and it’s a winner in my book. Lady and Liar comes with a high price tag and high expectations since its from the production team behind last year’s blockbuster period drama King of Lan Ling with Ariel Lin and Feng Shao Feng. The story is cribbed right out of the pages of a 1980 manga by Hosokawa Chieko called The Earl’s Daughter and has all the ingredients for a juicy romance thriller. Leading lady Tang Yan plays Jiang Xin, a plucky orphan who discovers she the lost long daughter of a rich and prominent family. Her life seems to be on the up and up and she also had a sweetheart Sheng Jian Wen played by Tong Yan, who is blind but had given her his heart. On her way to reunite with her family, she pardons and befriends a female thief Du Xiao Han played by Yang Rong that she catches stealing from her. The train derails and Xiao Han uses the accident to get rid of Jiang Xin and assume her identity. Jiang Xin survives but loses her memory, but thankfully she’s a man magnet and Shanghai gang boss Bai Zheng Zi played by Hawick Lau finds her and takes her under his protection, lying that she’s his fiancee. Jiang Xin falls for her fake fiancee for real while Xiao Han tries to cling onto the rich new life she’s assumed. The four leads get mixed up in a convoluted I-love-you-but-you-love-him-and-he-loves-her love square along with dealing with requisite political intrigue and personal conflict. I loved the first teaser which lays out the story succinctly and shows off a fantastic looking drama with a very pretty cast that fits their roles and appear to have great chemistry all around. I’ve been interested in this drama since I first heard about it last year and now that the first look is out, it hasn’t disappointed me in the least. Now comes the hard part of waiting for it to arrive, likely in early 2015.

Trailer for Lady and Liar:

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