Can you name a hundred actresses who could play the a hundred flower fairies?

Director Zhang Jizhong’s next project will be the Flowers in the Mirror 镜花缘, a rare feminist epic  that combines Gulliver’s Travels and  The Classic of Mountains and Seas with social commentary.

Written in the Qing dynasty but set during Empress Wu Zetian’s reign, the story tells of what happens when the Flower Fairy and a hundred flowers fairies are cast upon the earth as punishment. We follow the Flower Fairy’s human father,  and then she herself, as they go on a series of fantastical voyages around the world, including to Two-faced Kingdom, Kingdom of Giants, Kingdom of the Undead, Kingdom of Righteousness, etc. Throughout the voyages, they meet the other flower fairies, each brilliant in their own way, and invites them to join the main flower fairy in the first imperial examination for females under Wu Zetian’s reign. Continue reading →