I have so much to say about the new Chinese drama Joy of Life 庆余年. As a fan of the original fiction as well as the author Maoni, I am satisfied with its skillful adaptation of the novel and the tight plot. The casting seems fantastic because this drama features a lot of big names such as Chen Daoming, Li Xiaoran, and Wu Gang. I would rate a 9 out of 10 based on the first ten episodes.
First, Love and Destiny 宸汐缘 has no association to Eternal Love, it just shares the same world setting. This is an original work by the production team of Eternal Love – they came up with the script for this while filming Eternal Love.
The best way I can describe this series is imagine you order a dish at some hole in the wall place that you stumble upon and it turn out to be the best dish you’ve ever eat. The ingredients do not go together, presentation is not impressive, but for each bite that you eat, the flavors just explode in your mouth and before you know it, you’ve finished the dish and you want to order more. That’s my experience with this series. This may be the best c-drama that I will have seen for a very long time, at least for this genre.
Like lead actress Ni Ni said in an interview, this series is a love journey, and we get to embark on it with our leads. There are no misunderstandings, no love triangle nor second lead syndrome. The whole series focus on our leads and their love journey and the other characters add richness to it. If our leads are not together, it’s very organic and makes sense. Issues get resolved fairly quickly and in very mature way. Continue reading
You can now submit posts to Cfensi to stan dramas or movies we might’ve overlooked and help sift through all the dramas that are now coming out!
Continue readingCfensi is currently, gradually working on uploading posts from the dramaaddicts site to our current WordPress platform (you can find these recovered posts by looking at cfensistaff posts here). Most will be filed under their original publish date, but some photo shoots are pretty enough to warrant a “re-run.”
Side note: I remember thinking that this photoshoot was gorgeous the first time I posted it, and love that I have a chance to post it again!
JUNE 19, 2012 | POSTED IN MAINLAND CHINA,PHOTOSHOOT, TAGGED YAO CHEN 
In addition to participating in a breezy summer shoot for Cosmopolitan, Weibo queen Yao Chen recently flew to Hong Kong to participate in a memorial for refugees and other activities related to World Refugee day. Yao Chen being famous for her charity work and June 20 being World Refugee day, this should be no surprise. There, she attended the opening of an exhibition of pictures of the UN Refugee Agency’s “The African Dream of Home” and renewed her contract as a spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency. (Source) Look under the cut to see the rest of Yao Chen’s shoot for Cosmopolitan. Her new movie with Mark Zhao and Gao Yuanyuan, “Caught in the Web”, is coming out on July 6. Continue reading
Cfensi is currently, gradually working on uploading posts from the dramaaddicts site to our current WordPress platform (you can find these recovered posts by looking at cfensistaff posts here). Most will be filed under their original publish date, but some photo shoots are pretty enough to warrant a “re-run.” What were your favorite stars doing 2-3 years ago?
JUNE 18, 2012 | POSTED IN PHOTOSHOOT, TAGGED JING BORAN, LI QUAN, MARK ZHAO, TIAN YUAN, ZHOU DONGYU, ZHOU XUN
After being asked what her favorite water-related activity was, Wanda replied: “Doing ballet in the water, swimming like a mermaid.”
It turns out that Sun Li wasn’t the only artist who featured in Elle’s July “water” issue. Other artists also joined the cause to promote water conservation, each artist expressing one aspect of water. Adorable sisters Wanda and the incredibly poetic Linda Li are featured above; Zhou Dongyu and Zhou Xun showed off how pretty rain is. Courtesy of Mark Zhao and Tan Yuanyuan, we were reminded of how essential water is to maintaining good hygiene. Jing Boran, is your secret to such nice looking skin drinking lots of water? Li Quan and Tian Yuan chose to enjoy the simple pleasures that water can bring, while sculptor Xiang Jing expressed the other emotional side of water, tears. Synchronized swimmer Tian Tingting was quite at home as she submerged herself in the water.
Linda Li was able to quote this phrase from Tao Te Ching on the spot (how many eleven year olds do you know who can do that?) – “The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain.” (Translation by Steven Mitchell)
Cfensi is currently, gradually working on uploading posts from the dramaaddicts site to our current WordPress platform (you can find these recovered posts by looking at cfensistaff posts here). Most will be filed under their original publish date (example: idarklight’s Starry Night post), but some photo shoots are pretty enough to warrant a “re-run.” What were your favorite stars doing 2-3 years ago?
Originally published:
JUNE 10, 2012 | POSTED IN PHOTOSHOOT, TAGGED SUN LI
Lead actress of popular Qing drama Inner Palace – The Legend of Zhen Huan, Sun Li, recently made it onto the cover of Elle. She and husband Deng Chao recently celebrated their second anniversary (the two were married on June 7, 2010). Both are presumably busy taking care of their new son, but watch out Deng Chao’s new movie with Crystal Liu Yifei, The Four Great Detectives. Look under the cut for the rest of Sun Li’s aquatic shoot.
Continue reading
JULY 15, 2012 | POSTED IN DRAMA,MAINLAND CHINA,TELEVISION, TAGGED ULTIMATE CONQUEST, YANG YANG, ZHANG JIANI
Actor Yang Yang finally gets another good lead role?
After both falling for the wrong person in upcoming idol series When Summer Ends, actors Yang Yang and Zhang Jiani come together to play a pair of lovers in The Ultimate Conquest 终极征服, a Republican period piece with a wuxia flair.
Our favorite under-utilized young actor Yang Yang plays a martial arts hero who is forced out of recluse when his Buddhist abbot is suddenly murdered. idarklight really hope they get a good choreographer who can show off the classical dance major’s grace through martial arts. Faced with the task to guard the treasures of the temple, Yang Yang’s Niansheng leaves his home in order to protect it . Zhang Jiani comes into the story when he saves the daughter of a commander, who later becomes a key player in the aiding him, along the way. Soon, the two gets involved with preventing the use of biological weapons at the onset of the Japanese invasion. The drama began filming around half a month ago.
IR.
JULY 13, 2012 | POSTED IN MAINLAND CHINA,MOVIES, TAGGED CHEN XIANG, CHEN YIFU, DL GROUP, LIU XIN, WANG YUEXIN, XU WEI, ZHOU NAN
eeMedia = pop company? Think again. Pushing the envelope with topics like condoms and school violence, eeMedia is taking full advantage of the so-far restriction-free microfilm industry.
Following the condom microfilm, eeMedia joins hands with director Zhou Nan for another edgy mini-movie that completes eeMedia’s new hardcore image set by its mostly rock-related albums out so far this year.
FREAKOUT 爆走, Part 1 of eeMedia’s microfilm series Adolescent Diaries starring Liu Xin (girl), Wang Yuexin, Chen Xiang, Xu Wei, and DL Group was released on Sohu. Wang Yuexin plays a student who’ve just recently returned from jail (I wonder if he got the role because of his crew cut or if he got the crew cut for this role) for a supposed assault, while Liu Xin plays his best friend who’s been waiting for his return. Yet what landed him in jail three years ago isn’t gone, and when his little sister (Xu Wei) receives a threat, the class mobilizes to defend themselves. Chen Xiang plays Wang Yuexin’s foil, a model student and the class president who’s determined to keep his vow of protecting his classmates .
Wang Yuexin’s new song of the same name is also featured in this episode. Joining Zhou Nan is director Chen Yifu, who has previously worked with Zhou Nan on microfilm Miejue in Love.
Watch the first half of FREAKOUT below (part 2 is delayed) and see character posters below the cut. IR
JULY 13, 2012 | POSTED IN PHOTOSHOOT, TAGGED BAO LEI, LU YI
Another C-celeb couple shows off their love in a photo shoot, this time Lu Yi (New Three Kingdoms) and his wife Bao Lei for Cosmopolitan Bride. This couple started dating in their college years and have been married since 2006; you can read their love story here. The rest of the shoot is below the cut. Continue reading
JULY 11, 2012 | POSTED IN MAINLAND CHINA,MOVIES, TAGGED JANE ZHANG, PAINTED SKIN 2, PAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION
Jane Zhang sings a re-arranged version of Painted Heart for film Painted Skin 2: The Resurrection that has so far had a box office of 530 million RMB, with hopes of overtaking Tangshan Earthquake (630 million RMB) as the top grossing Chinese film.
Watch the MV in HD below from fountainpark723@YouTube