27th Magnolia Awards

The Magnolia Awards are here, and it’s another year of wishing that my favourite shows, or at least recipients deserving of the accolades, take home the awards. It’s always a delicate balancing act when it comes to giving out the awards, but I’m happy to report that there were no major surprises tonight (apart from the fact that Liu Lin didn’t win…again). Best Actress was the closest race this year, and Tong Yao edged out Reyizha to take home the award.

Judges include director Liu Jin (White Deer Plain), director Fu Dongyu (The Thunder), Tao Hong (A Little Reunion), Tong Dawei (A Love For Dilemma) and screenwriter Zhang Lei (Chinese Style Relationship).

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Huang Xuan’s poverty-alleviation drama Minning Town releases trailer

Minning Town 山海情 is the first of a slew of government-endorsed dramas celebrating 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party. Starring Huang Xuan and Reyizha, the drama will focus on the resettlement of entire village communities from poorer areas to more developed lands.

Directed by Kong Sheng and Sun Molong and written by Wang Sanmao (If There Is No Tomorrow), the 24 episode drama is slated to air soon.

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Friday Photos

Magazine spreads, posters and stills that recently caught our eyes.

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Mid-series review: The Longest Day in Chang’an

The first half of The Longest Day in Chang’an is mesmerising, and has a very meaty setup – Zhang Xiaojing (Lei Jiayin), former police detective (buliangren) and currently a prisoner on death row, is given the near impossible mission of uprooting a terrorist group within twenty four hours. He sacrifices close friends and subordinates and willingly puts himself in mortal danger in order to save the people of Chang’an, yet is easily thrown under the bus by those in power when things get out of control.

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The Longest Day in Chang’an is now available for streaming

There are so many new dramas I don’t even know which one to start with.

Within minutes of  The Untamed airing, historical suspense drama  长安十二时辰 released twelve episodes without any warning. You can watch it here (update: now region-blocked;  update 2: it will be up on Amazon, Youtube and Viki sometimes in July). Only the first four episodes are available for non-VIP members. I’m not sure when/if the rest will be available for non-VIP members.

Like The Untamed, there’s no new promotional materials other than the previous poster and synopsis here and trailer and stills here.

Trailer below, BTS here and here

 

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Trailer and stills for Lei Jiayin, Yi Yangqianxi’s upcoming period drama

I already love the trailer for The Longest Day in Chang’an, and despite director Cao Dun’s terrible track record in controlling the pacing of a show, I’m still hoping this will turn out to be a solid mystery drama. Lei Jiayin plays a former officer turned prisoner on death row who is hired by Yi Yangqianxi to find the culprit behind a terror plot within 24 hours. [Extended Synopsis]

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Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy unleashes female character posters

I feel like there’s more variety in the female costumes here than the male ones

Tribes and Empires:  Storm of Prophecy 九州·海上牧云记 has released character posters for the female cast.  Starring Shawn Dou, Huang Xuan, Zhou Yiwei, Janice Man, Wan Qian, Xu Lu, Zhang Jianing,  Jiang Qinqin, and Wang Qianyuan, at least these costumes seem to show more color than the male ones…

More below the cut.

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Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy unleashes character posters

Male period costuming… getting just as possibly ridiculous if not more so than the female counterpart…

Tribes and Empires:  Storm of Prophecy 九州·海上牧云记 has released character posters for the male cast.  Starring Shawn Dou, Huang Xuan, Zhou Yiwei,, and Wang Qianyuan, I have to say I am not exactly impressed nor am I exactly disappointed either…

More below the cut.

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