Drama producer Chen Yu Shan must be smiling all the way to the bank, what with her expensively produced period C-drama King of Lan Ling breaking ratings records and being the most talked about C-drama of the Summer in both China and Taiwan. It’s a frothy shoujo manga in the guise of a pseudo-historical take on the famed King of Lan Ling from the Kingdom of Qi. The drama was a total rip-off of famed Japanese manga writer Hosokawa Chieko’s Crest of the Royal Family (also called Daughter of the Nile), a long running time-travel manga about a modern Egyptologist college student who time travels back to ancient Egypt and falls in love with the pharaoh and gets caught between all the rival kings that want her. It’s as classic shoujo as it gets. Now that KLL is done, Producer Chen unveiled her next drama and it’s a lavish 1930s Shanghai era tale of an long lost heiress with a stolen identity. C-actress Tang Yan (who needs to eat about 12 whole cows to weigh what a normal human girl needs to weigh) attended a celebration media event for King of Lang Ling’s success because she’s the leading lady for the upcoming Lady and the Liar. First off – I love the concept poster! Lovely and unique, and the early Republic era Shanghai is probably one of my most favorite drama backdrops. Think The Bund type swoony patriotism and romance. But then I read the synopsis for this tale and I screeched so loud my throat hurts now. Turns out ripping off Hosokawa’s famed Crest of the Royal Family isn’t enough, Lady and the Liar is a drama adaptation of Hosokawa’s OTHER famous shoujo manga Hakushaku Reijou (伯爵令嬢 translated as The Count’s Daughter). The blatant ripping off of Hosokawa’s works aside – I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE this manga. At a short 12 books it was taut and wonderfully paced, and may or may not have spawned my future love affair with Regency era romance novels. Read on for the synopsis and get ready to swoon. The leading man hasn’t been confirmed yet but the two biggest names floating around are actually Danial Chan and Feng Shao Feng, though I would cast my vote for Wallace Chung. Hhhmm, Wallace playing a mafia boss, I likes.
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