banner

Ethnic minorities in Chinese entertainment: part II

January 24, 2012 | Posted in Mainland China, Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

One of them is Han Chinese, can you tell who?

Since the first post on the diverseness of China’s stars, many new artists have came out with their own unique looks and cultural flair.  Several Uyghur artists have especially been taking on more mainstream roles recently, making the face of Chinese entertainment that much prettier.

Something to note amongst these stars is that very few of them are famous because of their ethnicity, but rather due to their general abilities. It’s also something that was brought to my attention in this year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Despite the elimination of the usual group songs by ethnic minorities, this year’s gala had as many if not more ethnic minorities than usual in almost every category of performers, from host Sa Beining to singers like Jin Mei’er and Cai Guoqing and to pop performer Han Geng.

A roundup of Chinese artists who came into the spotlight (or at least my notice) since last post, per suggestion from Benji.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
(more…)

Beijing Love Story releases long trailer

December 29, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , , , , , , ,

The cast of Beijing Love Story features experienced lead actors and a variety of guest stars.

Conceived in around 2007 (when the male leads were working on Soldiers Sortie) and having been in production since the end of 2010, Beijing Love Story 北京爱情故事 will finally air beginning on January 7, 2012 on Zhejiang TV. The drama features, as the name suggests, a series of love stories set in Beijing. For a profile on the lead characters of the drama, look under the cut. The drama is produced by Li Chen and written and directed by Chen Sicheng.  Will Chen Sicheng achieve first-time scripting success like his Central Drama Academy shidi and fellow actor Wen Zhang?

A 17-minute trailer can be viewed below.

(more…)

Huayi Brothers’ “Aftershocks/Tangshan Earthquake” to be adapted into a drama series

September 13, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Movies,Television, Tagged , , , , , , ,

Faces from the main cast.

Huayi Brothers is adapting their blockbuster film “Aftershocks 唐山大地震” (there’s a beautiful post about the movie here) into a television series, with Tong Liya and Yuan Wenkang acting together as the pair of siblings. The drama adaptation will flesh out the thirty-two years between the reunion of Wan Deng (the daughter, played by Tong Liya) with her family. Also part of the case are Zhang Guoli, Zhang Hanyu, Chen Xiaoyi, and Xu Yajun. Briefly summarized, the movie “Aftershocks” tells of how a family is broken apart in the Tangshan earthquake of 1976, then re-pieced together 32 years later.

Tong Liya’s character, Wan Deng (as called in the drama adaptation) was abandoned by her mother to save her brother after the earthquake. The drama adaptation will be building on Wan Deng’s journey, telling of Wan Deng’s emotions and her life and marriage in America. The drama adaptation will also go deeper into the family history of the Wans, with a record of Wan Deng’s relationship with her brother.

Hopefully, the poignancy of the movie will be retained in this expansion.

source: sina

Gong/Palace leads Yang Mi and Tong Liya star in their own thriller films

June 14, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Movies, Tagged , , ,

Yang Mi returns to horror in her second film, this time on a deserted island.

While films have always been mainland’s strong point, genres of film have mostly been historical or realistic until recently.  With increased budgets, the areas of scifi and fantasy have finally begun to emerge in recent years.  Meanwhile, several smaller-budgeted films have recently begun to change the horror scene, also. These films casts young and rising stars in horror shots with clean scenes and a hint of romance.  Two of those include Yang Mi’s “Fright on the Deserted Island (孤岛惊魂)” and Jiro Wang and Tong Liya’s Purple House.

Yang Mi (of popular drama series “Gong”) will be starring in upcoming film “Fright on the Deserted Island (孤岛惊魂)”  as Yi Lin. Under the lead of a cameramen from a television station, Yi Lin, Jiang Pengfei (played by Jordan Chan), and six other youths head out to a deserted island, far from civilization. This is a survival game. All are strangers to one another, each harboring their own anxieties and plans, but all with the same goal- to win the one million yuan prize. A strange capsized boat, a shore heavily shrouded with fog, a forest covered in traps…With so many risks and foreboding omens, this is no game with only excitement. The danger is very real.

P.S. This is the first long post by the wonderfully efficient writer jjss08, who’s actually brave enough to write about horror. I think I had a heart attack just reading through this post.   – idarklight

(more…)

Celebrity dance show continues to twirl in its 3rd season

April 29, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , , , , , , ,

Actress Tong Liya and singer Li Wei will pair up this week for a dance

Celebrity dance competition Strictly Come Dancing (舞动奇迹) returns to Hunan TV after three years. This year, Hunan TV has opted for a more up and coming star cast rather than a mix of Hunan and TVB artist. The variety including acting talents like Palace’s Tong Liya and Fall in Love’s Jiang Kaitong, singers like singer-composer Allen Su Xing and iMe’s Liu Meihan; Hunan TV hosts Sun Xiaoxiao and Wu Yang, as well as model/Bu Bu Jing Xin actress Liu Yuxin. A few professionals, like the one-legged Cui Xiaowei and acrobatic Bai Luchen are also in the cast.

The first episode featured fun dances like Super Mario  as well as beautiful ones like Madame Lady Snake and The King’s Speech. In the first three episodes, four males will be eliminated. The male-females will then be paired up to compete together in future rounds. For the first episode, groups of three were picked by the show. At the end of each episode, the males and females try to pair up, with the male taking the initiative. Episodes broadcast on Sunday nights on Hunan TV.

Meet the contestants and watch their first performances last week, uploaded by SJZGloria, below. (more…)

News Roundup 4/1/11 – 4/8/2011

April 8, 2011 | Posted in Miscellaneous, Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Tong Liya in her film debut with Jiro Wang.

Tong Liya in her film debut with Jiro Wang.

TV
The Secret History of Empress Wu, starring Siqin Gaowa, Liu Xiaoqing, Gillian Chung and Zheng Shuang begun filming this month. Learn more about the drama on its thread here.

SinaPremium has uploaded several more legally streaming dramas on YouTube. Those include the Hai Yan Love of Life and Death Trilogy’s  How do I save you, my love 拿什么拯救你我的爱人,  sit-com iPartment 爱情公寓 2,  the drama version of Painted Skin 画皮 starring Fiona Sit, GuiGui and Ling Xiaosu, and the drama version of  The Message 风声传奇.

ALi Yifeng and Fiona Sit pair together   in a new remake of idol drama White Lies 白色谎言 opposite Fiona Sit. In it, Li Yifeng plays a socially challenged patient who falls in love his nurse, played by Fiona Sit.

Meteor Shower star Zhang Han stars in a minidrama for a video game. There isn’t much of a plot, but you get to see a lot of his gorgeous smile. Watch the first two episodes here.

Film

Branko Lustig, producer of Schindler’s List and the Gladiator and an Auschwitz survivor, announced plans for a new Chinese-American co-production. Based on the book of the same name, Milani Violin (米拉尼小提琴) tells the tale of a Jewish refugee who had escaped to Shanghai from the Holocaust.

(more…)

Beijing Love Story donates to Hope Schools

March 16, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Miscellaneous,Television, Tagged , , ,
cat

Producer - actor Li Chen, actress Tong Liya and scriptwriter-actor-director Chen Sicheng at the end of filming party with kids from the Hope School

As it finishes filming, modern drama Beijing Love Story chose to do charity work as its grand finale. The show had been filming a short episode at a school in Yunnan, and were touched by the students and saddened by the school’s conditions, so they donated 300 sets of tables, chairs, sports and school equipments. A Hope School they’ve sponsored nearby also begun construction.

So far costing 30 million yuan,  the show is one of the largest modern drama projects yet.  “If we wanted to make money, why would I be filming this drama? I can earn a lot more money doing other things. What we care about, is leaving behind a product and a few lively characters, everything else is not important,” said triple-tasking Chen Sicheng.

The idea for Beijing Love Story was first formed during the filming of Soldier Sortie, and is written and directed by one of its actors, Chen Sicheng, and produced by another one – Li Chen. Opposite them are the four female leads of the show – Gong’s Tong Liya and Yang Mi and upcoming actresses Mo Xiaoqi and Chen Xiyi. The show also guest stars Feng Shaofeng, Qiao Zhengyu, Yuan Wenkang, Wang Baoqiang, Dong Xuan, Qin Lan etc.

source: sohu

Palace breaks two-year ratings record for drama

February 11, 2011 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , ,
6fe6b187jw6dde6jnye8vj

Feng Shaofeng and Yang Mi celebrates the success of the drama in a waltz.

Dubbed the “Qing dynasty Meteor Garden,” Hunan TV/Yu Zheng productions drama Palace started with a bang as it beat Meteor Shower’s opening episode record with a viewership percentage of 8.24%. Since then, the viewership have been steadily increasing, hitting 11.79% by the 10th.

Starring Yang Mi (Chinese Paladin 3, Schemes of a Beauty), the series follows the adventures of modern girl Qingchuan as she travels back in time to the Qing dynasty. Armed with knowledge of modern technology and with the mindset of a modern independent woman, Qingchuan stirs up plenty of trouble in the palace of Kangxi as she first convinces 1st prince that she’s magical to avoid marrying him. Once the 1st prince is convince, Qingchuan quickly makes enemies of the 8th prince (Feng Shaofeng) and his followers. This results, as idol dramas requires, him falling in love with her.  A huge fan of the Emperor Yongzheng, Qingchuan instead immediately falls for the then 4th prince (Mickey He). Unfortunately, all he wants is power, and any love for him seems to be only used as a way to achieve power, as demonstrated by the status of Qingchuan’s poor best friend and spy for 4th – Suyan (Tong Liya).

Watch it legally on tudouhere or YouTube here.

Feng Shaofeng and Yang Mi Star in Scriptwriter Yu Zheng’s Followup to “Schemes of a Beauty”

September 2, 2010 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , , , , , ,
703_152256_668734

Did you know there's an arrow in your hair Qingchuan? Let me get that for you.

Famous drama screenwriter Yu Zheng, fresh off the success of his latest series Schemes of a Beauty/Mei Ren Xin Ji unveiled the cast of his newest drama, called Gong this past July, and using some of the same actors and actresses from Schemes, with Yang Mi as the female lead this time, and Feng Shaofeng (only a cameo in Schemes) as the male one. The story revolves around time traveling to the Qing Dynasty (a popular theme in Chinese literature). Yang Mi’s character, Luo Qingchuan gets transported to the time of Kang Xi, and realizing this, tries to get on the good side of the 4th son (Mickey He) since according to history he wins the throne, and the rest of the brothers…don’t. However, the playful and mischievous 8th brother (Feng) both pulls pranks and falls in love with Qingchuan, and vice versa, complicating matters and Qingchuan’s plans.

Yesterday, new stills were releasing, showing the playful, antagonistic early side of their relationship, which you can see below the cut. The drama also boasts an extremely large budget, with some pieces of jewelry alone costing tens of thousands of yuan.

Source

A/N: Yan Kuan will be guest starring in this series again, briefly appearing like he did in Schemes of a Beauty, as a “modern day person”. Can you give your old friend the lead Yu Zheng? Thanks.

(more…)

New time-traveling series stars Yang Mi

June 4, 2010 | Posted in Mainland China,Television, Tagged , , , ,
Actress Yang Mi in her currently filming series - Four Youths of Beijing

Yang Mi in her fourth series filming this year - Four Youths of Beijing. Palace makes five. Does this girl take a break?

Ever wonder why some series have ugly leads who can’t act?
Perhaps it’s because others like the Schemes of Beauties has every one of its countless roles filled with eye candy and acting ability. One reason for the near perfect cast is due to the fact its scriptwriter Yu Zheng handpicks all of his actors, as he will do for his latest palace intrigue series with Hunan TV – Palace: Heartlock Jade (宫.锁心玉).

The new time-traveling TV series will star Yang Mi as a young, cosmopolitan girl who daydreams of romance and history. Yet when her modern-day character travels back to the Qing Dynasty, she realizes that history is not the same as her fantasies. In the dangerous harem of the Forbidden Palace, she becomes a part of the struggle to become the emperor by the nine princes, and in a fight for love between the eighth prince (Feng Shaofeng) and the yet-to-be-casted fourth prince who came to be known as the Emperor Yongzheng.

Although most of casts have yet to be announced, because scriptwriter Yu Zheng is one of the few who chooses his own cast, it’s sure to be one full of acting abilities and eye candy. (more…)


XHTML | CSS    © Cfensi. Design: Free CSS Templates | WordPress themes