Xiamen University
For more pictures of Xiamen University, scroll down to the bottom.
Last week, SARFT put up the approved proposal of the mainland Hana Yori Dango.
According to the proposal, the following is the new synopsis of the drama, named “Meteor Shower.”
Chu Yuqian/Yuyun(there are two different pronounciations for the word) is a hardworking, smart highschool girl. Her biggest dream is to enter the pretigious Ailisitun (Aliceton?) University. With help from her uncle, she finally gets in. Yun Hai, Duan Mulei, Ximen Ruiqian and Ye Shuo are the four richest students of Aliceton. With their gorgeous looks, they became the idols of all the girls there. However, they’re unsatisfied with the lives that their parents forced upon them. In order to get the principle to kick them out of Ailisitun(Aliceton?), they performs a serious of pranks. While fighting for the justice of the victims of the pranks, Yuqian/Yuyun become the target of F4. Through fighting and arguing, they began to admire each other and became friends. Touched by Yuqian/Yuyun, F4 eventually becomes the top four students of the school. At the same time, they became loving, responsible males. Through the multiple struggles and hardships, Girl and F4 grew up. They learned to control their own lives, chose their own futures, and to strive for their dreams.
Yu Haoming as Lei
According to Sina, casting will include three newcomers, Yu Haoming as Lei/Duan Mulei and Wei Chen as Meizuo/Ye Shuo. I really hope that Lu Hu or Allen Su will also be in it so that Wei Chen can write songs with them in all the spare time he’ll have. There are rumored pictures of the new people, who are rather eye-candy, but since they’re not definite, I’ll wait until the official pictures come out.
Filming should begin this month and is planned to take three months. It will air in September.
Ye Shuo at the Bangkok airport. The most important part is the monkey, which does not represent Ltarn no matter what Wei Chen says.
Meanwhile, Ye Shuo-to be Wei Chen went to Thailand to be in two Thai shows to promote the airing of Thai-dubbed (and heavily editted) versions of Hunan TV’s “Just the Two of Us.” The show featured Thai singers Pachornpol Jantieng and Loogtarn/Ltarn, both singers from Thai Idol “Academy Fantasia.” During the competition, Wei Chen was paired with Ltarn and they won second place (with Kan Miyeon and Anson Hu winning first). True Vision TV of Thailand seems to have a partnership with EE Media as in an earlier article about Top Combine, EE Media mentioned expansion into Thailand, also.
Wei Chen and Ltarn on Thai TV:
For Thai-dubbed Anson Hu, Wei Chen, and more:
http://mv.baidu.com/export/flashplayer.swf?vid=cf46b52b94221c6ec3043392
EE Media (which owns Hunan TV) seems to have formed a bond with Thailand, as expansion to Thailand was also mentioned in an earlier article relating to Top Combine.
yelei & idarklight:
thanks!
yeah..due to the faceless nature of the internet, people can just say irresponsible and mean things, but I sincerely hope that these boys can pull it through. I think by now, they know what they need to do to prove themselves.
I guess Super boys/girls got similar response by some in the US of American Idol. They think that the show’s voters are mostly teens who can’t judge singing ability of its contestants over looks.
I think Xiamen Uni interior (black flooring) reminds me of Zhang Junning first drama that probably shot at the same place (forgot the title).
I was responding to Yelei’s comment about Xiamen students opposing the filming. Super Boys/Girls have a polarized image, so some Xiamen students are bound to disapprove of linking Xiamen University with them.
But yelei’s right, some of the news articles say that they don’t want people to think Xiamen is a school like that of F4, full of snobby rich kids.
^ haha. i love your post. totally agree with what you said.
well what’s happening at Xia Men Uni. is that some people are against the filming because they don’t want people to think Xia Men Uni are full of rich spoiled kids. On the other hand, some students support it because they believe it will bring more recognition to the school.
Can someone tell me what happen in Xiamen Univ.? Did they have a protest riot or something?
Idarklight, Li Yuchun and Zhou Binchang case was critics launched by mainland netizens only. Outside the mainland, I think only Taiwan & HK who really know who LI Yuchun is.
As for these boys, well, there are other versions that have been done by other countries, so the expectation is higher. You can accept the lacking parts of Taiwan version but it was the first, but 3 versions later, most viewers (incl. international viewers) expect better, cause they expect the newest version could be better than the previous ones. Critics are not just made by mainland netizens but international netizen as well, cause they hope China could find even better looking guys than the previous 3, besides this is an idol drama.
So, all I can say is..thank God China has 1.3 billion people in case this version becomes the mockery outside China and I feel bad for the pressures that these boys have, just to show how SHALLOW AND MEAN human being can be, judging a person solely by the look before they show their talents.
But hey, isn’t that what chinese men do to their women, including chinese companies who often hire female workers by their looks not credentials?
Despite the fact that I’m sounding more and more like a Hunan advertiser, I’ve seen the comments made. And though many are vary of it, most of the people who have made fun of it have either done it just to be sarcastic or do not seem to have an understanding of what’s going on.
With all news about EE Media, you must put it into the context of the Chinese netizen community. The Super Boys and Girls are generally criticized for anything they do. It’s a label and an image that have gone with them, mainly because Chris Lee and Zhou Bichang won in 2005. And for many people (including me for a while), the even mentioning of Super anything implies a sense of distate. But from what I’ve seen, those people lack a sufficient knowledge of them, because most of them say they dislike them, but then admit that they don’t know anything about any of them.
It’s easy to undermine their popularity given all these negative press and virulent comments. For years, I’ve thought that everyone hated Li Yuchun from the glimpses I’ve got through the headlines. But only after I went beyond the biases did I realize that her fanclub is the largest and most powerful in mainland.
^Really? Are they that against the selection of the cast?
Many of the students at Xia Men University are against the filming.
great discussion! i also think that chinese dramas can base their story from young contemporary writers within China..like the upcoming summer of bubbles, and less manga based cause I think it’s sort of overdone & the plots make each drama I saw look similar.
btw, want to know if the cutesy, kawaii factor in idol dramas is a good thing? I prefer looking at a more realistic approach instead of acting and dress like a doll/anime character..but maybe the younger audiences like that style?
wth is wrong with these dumb chinese people? when was the last time they allowed us into their korean and japanese movies or dramas? chinese are wayyyyy too friendly and i hope this stops once we become the new hollywood.
idarklight,
i have the same feeling about the collaboration drama, I remember the Hao Nan Er contestant from japan, who decided to join this competition cause his career in japan was a flop. So China is treated as a dumping ground and how mainland producers treat these ‘nobody’ first class treatment made it worse.
Even FSH, is it necessary to have an unknown K-actress in it? Actually jacky Chan and other HK&Taiwan producers r also keen to hire k-celebs in their film..wonder if there is any k-films that use chinese celebs in their movie for a role other than mafia wife.
maybe FSH is good if they shoot a suspense type drama..haha not for love story..I have to look at this Hunan tv drama you mentioned.
LOL i watched fated to love you and yeah sometimes i thought it was quite annoying.
but i agree japanese dramas make it short and gets the point across. Bloody Monday, Life = great dramas :)
yes i definitely hope China can explore areas such as thrillers and horror. The police stories seem to be for the older generation, because everything seems to be serious so I usually skipped over them. But I hope China will begin to consider younger audiences :)
and the collaboration drama. definitely. sometimes they don’t live up to its name.
right on! suspense & thriller can be explored as well…TVB r quite good with the story variety but hope they don’t end up like HK movies which focus mainly in police vs mafia story.
about the draggy dramas, yes, depending on the story, even 10 eps would be enough IMO..i read in a forum that majority prefer jap. dramas cause they’re funnier and shorter (around 10 eps) compared to the korean ones, I tend to agree.
have u watched this popular taiwan drama fated to love you, i was happy when i saw there were only about 12-13 eps at first. but as soon as the rating went high, they dragged the story by adding unnecessary plots that kinda ruin the drama as one of the least draggy & efficient taiwan dramas IMO.
There’s a new popular detective drama out. it’s suppose to be really good and one of those “surprising hits.” It’s called Shen Tan something…
and Tiny Times (which Hunan plans to make) is almost a detective drama, if it gets approved.
FSH was too dark for me. I like the cinematography for Princess Hours and Qia Tong Xue Shao Nian (which is a Hunan TV drama). Both are rich in texture, but not too moody and dramatic.
The episode thing is really misleading, though… Taiwanese dramas generally have half the amount of episodes, but each episode is like three times as long as that of a mainland drama…
I think it’s great that mainland is willing to use outside actors, but when they’re doing it only because they’re outsiders, then it’s annoying. Especially when second-rate Korean stars come to mainland and gets first-rate roles only so that the producers can call it a “collaboration drama.”
I’m really glad that Meteor Shower decided to use new people for this drama. There’s so much potential out there, they just need to be found. (plus, they’re cheaper…more money to spend on setting, clothes, filming, etc.)
^.
I definitely hope this drama will make people view China differently. From there, China can also explore other themes. And yes I totally agree with the draggy dramas. They should cut down to 20 episodes for idol dramas. I really wish to see China experiment with dramas that are detective, humour basically taking what other countries has to offer and make their own. I know tw is mainly known for like romantic dramas, and korean can be serious and idol but so far it hasn’t really explore in the area about detective stories.
lol..i hope mainland will make more quality dramas (idols & serious ones) and make them less draggy..esp. for idol dramas, shorter episodes r better IMO.. and more humor and less tears ( wasting on kleenex is not environmentally friendly!..haha )
i also hope that mainland will produce more dramas with ALL mainland actors instead of actors from outside the mainland..cause if mainland young actors don’t get the chance to act in their own country, how can they improve their acting skills and even be known abroad. It’s kinda tiring to see the same actors (from mainland & outside) play in so many movies and dramas…I wanna see fresh faces.
and yeah I also read comments in the english forums..gee..people is really mean, some will pass this version cause it’s mainland made, as if mainland version equals mediocrity ..guess these kids need to learn more about the world.
if this meteor shower cinematography is made like Five Star hotel drama, is it gonna be too dramatic? i like FSH quality..it’s rich in texture & color.
yeah. I’m pretty much going to forums that I visit defending these actors. Seriously people are bashing them because they don’t have striking looks compare to tw and kr. I haven’t even watched the korean version yet, Ive only been reading the summary at someone’s blog. The korean version have many flaws yet people still like it because of the guys.
I hope China’s version will prove people wrong and bring more successful dramas to it’s industry. One thing that China lacks right now is these teen idol dramas, so I hope with Hunan TV, they’ll be able to change that. Good luck! :) I’m practically on this website hoping to see any updated news. haha.
Hunan TV’s website is…bleh…it’s even less pro-Hunan than Sina…
as for Chinese netizens, they’re just critical of everything, to the extent of being illogical and just plain biased. There’s a group of people who basically attacks anything mainland, and some that attacks anything Hunan. and unfortunately, they’re the more vocal ones. Before I actually looked for myself, according to what I read on Chinese forums, I thought the Super Girls couldn’t sing and were all lesbians…obviously, that’s far from the truth.
I do hope Hunan doesn’t listen to everything that the netizens say. Hunan shouldn’t shy away from the drama just because of what the anti’s say, because no matter how great the drama is, the anti’s will find some reason to attack it. Hunan should learn from Chris Lee. Be herself, and prove herself to the world. Who cares what the anti’s say? She’s still as successful as ever and her fans love her.
I expect this to be far better than the prince of tennis. Despite what the netizens say about Hunan being cheap, Hunan has been the one company that has produced decent idol dramas – Qia Tong Xue Shao Nian, Dreams Link and Love Strategy.
As for failure…I doubt it. Even if HYD fails, Hunan still has the success of Ugly Wudi. And a new idol drama starring Zhang Jiani(who’s gorgeous) and Mingdao is in production right now by Hunan.
Furthermore, with the new laws allowing mainland actors into Taiwan, mainland actors have began to star in Taiwanese dramas. In addition to Huang Xiaoming in Summer of Bubbles, Jay Chou’s new drama will co-star a mainland actress, which I will do an article on when she’s chosen.
that guy hans zhang was at Hu Ling MV 胡灵-不爱拉到…he is too skinny, needs extra muscle.
i read the negative comments about the choice of the actors even at hunan tv blogs, lol some of them even said not to shoot the drama..maybe chinese mainland got different style of what consider good looking…these guys don’t have a sharp and striking beauty as the actors from other versions (esp. korean&taiwan) honestly speaking.
But this guys look more ‘guy next door’ so it’s kinda closer to reality.
I hope when these actors & director found out that the reaction is kinda bleh…they will put lots of efforts in directing, script-writing & acting to proof otherwise. these guys really need great acting skill..i’m not asking for a ‘Ge You’ , but close.
but if this version fails, do you guys think it would be the end of chinese idol drama? just like prince of tennis, even though the mainland actors were better looking than the japanese ones.
I think Chai Zhiping(tw HYD director/producer) did a great job with what she was given. You have to consider the fact that she had a very, very small budget. Yet with such a small budget, she was able to launch both the HYD craze all across Asia and essentially the Taiwanese idol drama industry, not to mention the career of six people who’re still famous now. I have a lot of respect for her.
Aaah, I really, really wanted Ma Xueyang to play Lei. I think looks and personality-wise he really fits! But yeah, he is a musician not an actor.. buhuu.
I like Yu Haoming, I thought he would be really cool as Dao Mingshi so it will take a while to get used to the idea of him as Lei… He just dont look Lei-ish? Looks more like a person with lots of energy.
The pictures of the diffrent places which will be used looks great. It will really show that the F4 and the students are rich people, which the taiwanese wasnt that grat at. But the taiwanese HYD will always be my favorite verson haha.
Im really looking forward to the chinese version. Co China!