Actress Zhang Jiani recently did a splendid photo shoot with a spectacular dress. She is currently filming Hua Kai Ban Xia (花开半夏) with Li Qin, Li Shen and Yang Yang, and has three other dramas (Allure Snow, Gong II, and Separate Love) to be broadcasted.
Zhang Jiani as the Dark Queen
Hua Kai Ban Xia blossoms in half as production begins
A love half blossomed, a pair never matched, Yang Yang and Li Qin seems to always play one-sided loves, both in Dream of Red Chambers and in here.
Idol drama Hua Kai Ban Xia held its press conference a hour ago. Starring Dream of Red Chamber’s Li Qin, Yang Yang, and Kan Qingzi as well as Dreams Link’s Zhang Jiani, the drama is directed by the master Li Shaohong (Da Ming Gong Ci, Dream of Red Chambers) and produced by Hunan TV’s Mango Films. Three of the five leads are born after 1990.
The “pure love” story, based on the popular book of the same name, tells of two orphaned child who grow up to love each other, but gets unfortunately involved in a dangerous gang. Plot/character intros below the cut.
Picture spam from upcoming drama Separate.Love
Upcoming Hunan TV stars Zheng Kai and Li Sheng (New HZGG) pair up in Separate.Love
No drama’s as lucky as Separate Love. Featuring talented and good-looking artists who rose to fame only after the drama has filmed, Separate.Love gained an all-star cast on a low budget, and an amazing photographer. Heaven Eternal, Earth Everlasting’s star Huang Ming, the New Huan Zhu Ge Ge/My Fair Princess Li Sheng, , upcoming Journey of the West Chamber lead Zhang Xiaochen, Hunan TV’s upcoming red star Zheng Kai, singer Tian Yuan, and Dreams Link/Strands of Love star Zhang Jiani all join together to form a cast that I adore.
Watch the trailer below, and see more pictures of the drama below. It’s rare to see a modern drama with such good photography, so eat up the eye candy.
Chen Qiaoen, Mingdao, Dong Jie and Zhang Jiani star in Yu Zheng dramas
Chen Qiaoen plays Empress Lv Zhi in a tragic story of the choice between love and power.
Production begun on two new Yu Zheng (Mei Ren Xin ji/Schemes of a Beauty, Gong/Palace) productions. Beauties of the Emperor 王的女人 brings back together Prince Turns Frog couple Chen Qiaoen and Mingdao, along with Kym Jin Sha (why is she never the lead?!) and tells the story of the fall of Qin and the rise of Han through the lives of the Empress Lv Zhi and Concubine Yu Ji. Meanwhile, Qing Cheng Xue 倾城雪 stars Dong Jie, Du Chun and Zhang Jiani and focuses on a Tang – dynasty tale of an embroiderer.
Although Qing cheng Xue is not scripted by Lu Zheng but Golden Bell winner Li Shunci, both dramas should gain the benefit of having Yu Zheng’s high-qualitied production values that includes gorgeous, often authentic costumes and sets. Qing Cheng Xue begun filming this week, and Beauties of the Emperor begins filming in mid-April.
Strands of Love promises romantic scenes and beautiful hair
Screen caps from the opening of Si Si Xin Dong
In the recently released trailers for new drama Si Si Xin Dong/Strands of Love (丝丝心动) , the beautifully romantic scenes immediately won accolades from fans. The drama, the first new script by romance queen Qiong Yao (Huan Zhu Ge Ge, Romance in the Rain, Dreams Link, etc) since Huan Zhu Ge Ge 3 in 2003, stars Qiong Yao favorite Zhang Jiani and actor Blue Lan and will air on Hunan TV in July.
The cinematography for the drama is one of the most romantic for an Asian idol drama I’ve seen in a while, as fitting for a Qiong Yao drama.
Unfortunately, I can’t get it on YouTube, so here’s the Tudou version:
Si Si Xin Dong tells of a love that really begins with using the right shampoo. A country girl who followed her dreams of being a TV host to Shanghai, Zhang Xiaorou (Zhang Jiani) moves in to her new rented home with her best friend. Except it turns out that their new home was actually rented out secretly by the actual owner’s goofy friend (Super Boy Lu Hu). Still recovering from the disappearance of his love Lu Tian’er (Ying’er), the real owner, Ouyang Chen (Blue Lan) , returns home to see Tian’er’s room lighted. The familiar glossy hair and scent (of shampoo) makes him think Tian’er has returned, and he goes forward to hug the girl facing away from him, only to find a half-naked stranger in his embrace. …
In the whirlwind of Shanghai, Xiaorou is caught between her pursuit of her dreams as a star and the wishes of her father for her to inherit the family restaurant as well as between the tender support of her coworker Andy and the insecure romance that blossoms between her and Chen.
Beside the prettiness of the drama, I’m highly impressed by how well Hunan TV is doing with product placements. Despite Meteor Shower’s awkward commercials, both Ugly Wudi and this seem to have successfully used the product to enhance the plot of the story rather than deter from it. After all, if the main character has to make a commercial for something anyways in the series, why not make a shampoo commercial?
Main cast for new Huan Zhu Ge Ge released
Currently revealed leads of the new remake
Eleven years ago, the story of the commoner mistaken for a princess catapulted its actors – Vicki Zhao Wei, Alec Su, Zhou Jie, Ruby Lin and Fan Bingbing – to fame while capturing the heart of most of Asia. South Korea even banned Chinese dramas due to the over-dominance of HZGG over its domestic market. As Hunan TV goes HD, they also want a new version of the show to match the quality of the channel. The new remake begun filming in June, and part of its cast has only recently been unveiled. The remake has three parts and will encompass all three seasons, with each about 30 episodes. (more…)
Blue Lan and Zhang Jiani for “Si Si Xin Dong”
Zhang Jiani and Blue Lan posed for Xingrui for their upcoming Hunan TV- drama Si Si Xin Dong. Si Si Xin Dong will air in March, probably following the Ugly Wudi Finale.
The series tells of Zhang Xiaorou (Zhang Jiani), a Qingdao girl who goes to Shanghai to work for a TV station. There, her beautiful hair (be ready for Meteor Shower-esque shampoo commercials) catches the eye of Ouyang Chen (Blue Lan), a romantic and sweet cafe owner. While drama occurs in the TV station, where Xiaorou’s talents brings her to the front of the camera and brought her the love of her boss and jealousy of another host, trouble occurs at home as Hou Qisheng (Super Boy Lu Hu) secretly rents out Ouyang Chen’s apartment to Zhang Xiaorou.
And all this trouble could’ve been avoided if only she had tried out for Hunan station instead of a Shanghai one.
Zhang Jiani and Mingdao reminds you to Always Smile!
Even if Meteor Shower fails, which it might or might not since eeMedia is Hunan TV’s most unpredictable segment, Hunan TV is sure to keep up its quality of self-made dramas with Always Smile! Starring Zhang Jiani in her second Hunan drama lead, Mingdao in his nth drama and Ma Ke in all his funniness, Always Smile! will air on June the 27th on, surprise, Hunan Satellite TV!. You can read the synopsis here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFg1aaREzLU]
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The New, Musically Talented, Meteor Garden Cast?
Ma Xueyang...the potential Huaze Lei/Rui.
Okay, so there’s been rumors going around about the new cast of F4, and while I don’t see any hard cold facts, it does seem legit that these four will be playing the Chinese F4, as leaked by a Hunan TV employee. I don’t usually like to post rumors but the final announcement is a month away, and I just wanted an excuse to post pictures and videos of these boys playing instruments. Despite my initial unwillingness to see the Chinese F4 be all from EE/Tianyu’s Superboys, since they aren’t exactly professional actors, and I wanted to see new faces, I think somwhere along the “casting process” I became resigned to the fact that they were going to use people from their own company and this is probably is as good as it gets if it does come to that. I trust Hunan TV to some degree. They’ve made very little misteps in their excellent series, choose people right for the parts, and have great scripts. They said the script was actually already completed so I’m guessing it’s good for this one as well. (more…)