“The Legend of Xiao Chuo” is a New C-Drama Guilty Pleasure
Chinese blockbuster television series The Legend of Xiao Chuo <燕云台> has entered the chat in an explosive way. The historical epic follows the fictionalized life of Express Xiao Yanyan (Tiffany Tang 唐嫣) of the Liao Dynasty, who was unwillingly thrusted into a life of politics. She was in love with Hang Derang (Shawn Dou 窦骁), and the two were engaged to wed. But her father betrothed her to the Emperor of Liao, Yelu Xian (Jing Chao 经超). Yanyan and Derang have no choice but to separate.
Willing to give up their power for love, Yanyan and Derang plan to elope, but Yanyan’s sister Xiao Hunian (Charmaine Sheh 佘诗曼) catches up to them fast. Derang is attacked from protecting Yanyan, and bids Yanyan a bloody farewell. That scene became a key turning point of the story, and it was what helped the series break past 520 billion views in its first week of airing.
On her wedding night with the Emperor, Yanyan has determined that, from that day one, she would live on in Derang’s honor and became willing to sacrifice her happiness for the safety of her country.
Source: Ettoday
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
So sad… poor derang.
Ugh i still hope they will end up with each other at the end 🙁
They have great chemistry!!
@aktf They did, in history and novel.
@sehseh yay!! Thata good to hear!!!
I read the reviews of this drama is not great….Tang Yan acting is not impressive and the chemistry between Tang Yan and Shawn is bland and more like good friends….Is that true for those who watched?
@hohliu Their chemistry is fine, they have worked on another drama together. Just that because Tiffany is pregnant at the time of filming, her bloated face and protruded/thick waist can be distracting.
@sehseh She was expecting then……I think I remember reading a article about it. She is always so slender, it will be interesting to her her look different.
@hohliu About the bland chemistry, not true!
I don’t know what counts as good chemistry when there are some dramas from first episode to the last, ML does nothing besides putting on a cold face when he sees FL and it still counts as great chemistry. If they have no interactions at all, there’s no way they meet the bottom line of what chemistry requires. But keep in mind that those type of things passed as best chemistry of the decade.
In some cases some leads don’t even meet each other much until very late in the drama but the chemistry is still great since the beginning. Shawn here, is not a cold face, they meet from the first episode, he’s always happy around her, and they are very honest about their feelings. They declare their love for each other and clearly date fearlessly. So I must argue the chemistry here is good, it should be super good but if not, it should be good at the very minimum. Bland is just too far from describing this.
The question I want to ask is, is there still such a thing as no chemistry? Or bland chemistry?
About the acting, sure, not as if anyone else would do better for a script that goes like this and a voice that sounds like that.
Another question is, if nobody can beat this type of acting then doesn’t it means that this is already the best it can be?
@yoyo Thanks for your comment. I have yet to watch it but I just felt the negative reviews I heard was quite unfair. I enjoy a number of Tang Yan’s drama. She is not always very comfortable with her male leads thus she is very particular with picking a drama on who she pairs up with.
As for Shawn, I watch him in only 2 dramas previously, he is not bad but I dont watch enough to judge.
I will maraton this when it finishes. Looking forward to it. I am just glad they got together in the end.
@hohliu not true! Theyre chemistry is great!!
@aktf Thanks aktf…. I will look forward to watching it.
@hohliu Uhm, their chemistry is nothing amazing, in a way, pretty boring. Shawn is good, Tiffany is ok, together they do feel more like good friend than lovers. I have a feeling it’s more Tiffany’s fault, her acting is never really that amazing? She doesn’t have that sparkles in her eyes that say: I love that person more than my life. She is pretty though, especially after becoming huang Gui Fei. I love MingYi (the second male lead), his story and their life together is a lot more interesting than her with Han DeRang (no offend HanYan’s fan)
Overall, the series ain’t bad, the acting ain’t bad, the chemistry is passable, but second male lead’s story and acting is pulling the weight so worthwhile for now.
Idm her bloated face, actually didn’t even find it bothering or noticing it really. I do see the tummy but I think it’s because everyone is talking about it. The one thing that is more noticeable (but understandable and really not making a big impact on the drama) is her movements. She means to be good in kungfu (good enough), quick on the horse, a young energetic 16-18yo, yet a lot of the time, she moves a bit slow lol (again pregnancy lol). Watch it and know you will FF a lot of scenes, and maybe the leads’ scenes because it’s nothing new and pretty meh lol.
@littlefish i totally agree. Tiffanys acting was never that great. I found her acting boring lol so i think it a also her fault because shawn is doing a great job
As good as Charmaine Sheh’s acting is, even she can’t get first lead roles in the mainland antmore. I don’t think anyone presently at TVB can, nor any of her peers of her generation can either (Tavia Yeung, Myolie Wu, Linda Chung, etc.).
@anon Charmaine isn’t looking for leading roles either and she mentioned in an interview that it’s hard for HK actress to get lead role, especially for mature actresses. So far she has chosen her scripts wisely, for this drama she have a better review than the leading characters. FYI, she is billed as the main role along Tiffany and Shawn in the opening credit.
@sehseh
Good to know. Thanks!
@anon a lot of the second leads have much better story, character development than the leads. Atm, the leads of most dramas are pretty boring cookie cutter type, almost not worth watching because unless they are amazing at acting, it’s just not worth your time as you already know what will happen, how they should feel, etc. so far, Charmaine’s character doesn’t have a lot of room to showcase her acting, but the wedding scene was great, and later on, it will be great to see her showcase her acting.