[Ver. 34.1.0 - 12th May 2024]
Introduction: After watching #TongYao #童瑶 put in a sublime performance
in Nothing But Thirty 三十而已 (2020) followed by an equally strong performance in Like a River Flows 大江大河 (2020), I have fallen well and truly in love with her as an
actress. As is typical of me when I fall hard for an actor or
actress, I want to watch them in as many things as they have done in the
course of their career because I'm interested in where they came from and
how far they have come. It's not an endeavor I undertake easily
because there is often a very large backlog of material and there is also
a very strong likelihood that there is some difficult to watch material
especially in the earlier part of their career. This is especially
difficult for me to do for Mainland Chinese thespians because their series
tend to be longer and the pacing slower than similar series from the West
or from Hong Kong. Also, Mainland Chinese series will often have
military and historical themes and settings that are very unfamiliar to me
which can make viewing them a little slow going.
I have only attempted to watch everything that Lau Ching Wan, Ada Choi and Sun Li have done previously. The only one that I've come close to success with is Ada Choi but that has not deterred me from trying to do the same for Tong Yao. So like with Sun Li and Lau Ching Wan, I expect that I'm not going to succeed with Tong Yao either but I'll still try. 😅 Haha!
Tong Yao is actually a pretty low key actress and has a minimal presence online. While she has a Weibo account, a Douyin account and a Xiaohongshu account, it seems like she only updates them occasionally and may update them more often when a series or film that she's in is airing or screening. She's been in the industry since 2002 when she first appeared in Tracks in the Snowy Forest 林海雪原 (2004) and has had a consistent amount of work since that series but she's not what you would call "hot" (红), at least not the ultra-popular kind of "hot".
Interestingly enough, Tong Yao herself has expressed no interest in being
popular. She once said in an interview that with regards to her
career, she's satisfied as long as she has good shows to work on, money to
earn and that she's NOT popular. She further explained this unusual
attitude by saying that she doesn't really like being the focus of
attention. She feels that in life, she prefers to be comfortable and
that to her that is a good way to live life. I found her outlook on
life quite interesting.
Not all English sources of information regarding her work are accurate
but this
d-addicts wiki's
filmography is more or less accurate. I don't intend to provide
the most comprehensive guide for the actress but I certainly hope to
give either capsule reviews or full reviews of as much of her work as
possible. I'm not actually interested in her personal life unless
it has something to do with her views on work or views of specific shows
she's worked on. So, I'll mostly concentrate on her work but it will be very
slow-moving.
NOTE: I've also decided to move change the longer
capsule reviews into their own posts & convert them into short
reviews. That's because I think the page is getting a little
unwieldy. It make take some time but after I finish this page,
I'll probably do the same for the Sun Li page.
This is of course a WORK IN PROGRESS. Enjoy. 😅
FILMOGRAPHY (jump links)
TV DRAMAS
2006 - 我的太阳 aka 我想更懂你 - My Sun aka I Want to Know You More
2006 - 行走的鸡毛掸子 - Walking Duster
2006 - 龙虎人生 - Life of Tiger and Dragon
2006 - 少年杨家将 - The Young Warriors
2007 - 一错再错 - Repeat an Error
2008 - 伤情 - Wounded Love
2009 - 风起第一关 - Wind up the First Pass
2010 - 家常菜 - Simple Dish
2010 - 军人荣誉 - Military Honor
2011 - 桥隆飙 - Qiao Long Biao
2011 - 雷锋 - Lei Feng
2012 - 民兵葛二蛋 - A Unique Militiman
2013 - 独生子女的婆婆妈妈 - Single Child's Grandmother and Mother
2013 - 大掌门 - New Year Picture
2014 - 新闺蜜时代 - Three Bosom Girls
2015 - 爸爸快长大 - Boys to Men
2016 - 后妈许多多 - Stepmother Xu Duoduo aka 重组家庭 The Blended Family
2016 - 转身遇到你 - My Spicy Girlfriend
2016 - 定制幸福 - Customized Love
2016 - 神犬小七2 - Hero Dog 2
2018 - 如懿传 - Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace
2018 - 乔家大院之光明之路 aka 诚忠堂 - Qiao's Grand Courtyard 2 aka The Road of Light
2018 - 大江大河 1 - Like a Flowing River 1
2018 - 将夜 - Ever Night
2020 - 不完美的她 - Imperfect Love
2020 - 清风明月佳人 - Moonlight Lady
2020 - 我不是结不了婚 - Get Married or Not
2020 - 三十而已 - Nothing But Thirty
2021 - 叛逆者 - The Rebel
2022 - 超越 - Beyond
2022 - 心居 - Life is a Long Quiet River
2022 - 天才基本法 - The Heart of Genius
2024 - 小日子 Simple Days
2024 - 微暗之火 Tender Light (previously known as Gone with the Wind)
NOTES
2008 - Afraid to Say Love You - 不敢说爱你
2009 - Snow Fall in Taipei - 台北飘雪
2009 - Nine Dragon Jade - 九龙佩
2010 - Snapper - 食人草
2011 - A Big Deal - 巨额交易
2012 - Wings - 最长的拥抱
2012 - The Second Half - 另一半
2013 - Day of Redemption - 早见,晚爱
2014 - The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom - 白发魔女传之明月天国
2014 - To Love Somebody - 求爱嫁期
2016 - The New Year's Eve of Old Lee - 过年好
2021 - The Night Belongs to Us - 属于我们的黑夜
2021 - (no official English title) - 极境所在
2021 - We Will Grow Old Together - 爱情回想
NOTES
TV DRAMAS
2004 - 林海雪原 - Tracks in the Snowy Forest
2006 - 我的太阳 aka 我想更懂你 - My Sun aka
I Want to Know You More
2006 - 少年杨家将 - The Young Warriors
2008 - 伤情 - Wounded Love
2013 - 大掌门 - New Year Picture
I've finished watching this under-the-radar and underrated drama
series. Not much is known about the series online and there doesn't seem to
have been an official Weibo account for the series or officially
released images. It's a light and easy watch that's held up by a good to
competent cast, a consistent tone and creative comedic scenes.
That's not to say that the series doesn't have its more serious and
thoughtful moments. It does but they are handled with a very light
touch because it doesn't want to be heavy on
melodrama.
2016 - 转身遇到你 - My Spicy Girlfriend
2018 - 大江大河 1 - Like a Flowing River 1
2018 - 将夜 - Ever Night
2020 - 不完美的她 - Imperfect Love
This series is based on a Japanese drama called "Mother" and I watched it a long time ago so I can't make a good comparison. The original drama stars Matsuyuki Yasuko and Ashida Mana with Machiko Ono, Ayano Go, Yamamoto Koji, Takahata Atsuko and Tanaka Yuuko etc in support. The Japanese cast is strong and this series made little Mana-chan one of the hottest child stars in Japan for a while.
2020 - 清风明月佳人 - Moonlight Lady
Lensed in ___ and was only just released in 2020
2020 - 我不是结不了婚 - Get Married or Not
2020 - 三十而已 - Nothing But Thirty
2021 - 叛逆者 - The Rebel
FULL REVIEW
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS 1
I've finished this series and enjoyed it. Have written a Full
Review and an Additional Comments 1 post which I have already
published, the link is above the image. Am also working on an
Additional Comments 2 post. I Will link that when it's
done. May write up a capsule review later too.
2022 (9th Jan) - 超越 - Beyond
Tong Yao has a special guest-starring role (特别出演) in this series
starring Teresa Li Gengxi (李庚希) and Hu Jun (胡军). This is a
drama about short track speed skating athletes, with the focus on
Teresa Li's character Chen Mian. Hu Jun plays her father and Sha Yi
(沙溢), who played Teresa Li's character's father in
The Little Reunion, plays her coach this time around. Tong
Yao plays Li Min. She plays the wife of Sha Yi's character.
I'm not a big fan of sports dramas/movies but I'll probably check this out for a few reasons. The biggest is of course because Tong Yao is in it, although her screen time is almost certainly going to be pretty small. Also, I actually have a very good impression of Teresa Li after The Little Reunion. Although I'm not a fan yet, she's probably my favourite Chinese actress of her generation right now. This is also by Linmon Pictures who also did Nothing But Thirty and The LIttle Reunion, which I enjoyed. It's not like everything they do is great but I think they are big enough to be able to get a good budget. It's probably why there is a small list of notable guest stars for this drama.
2022 (17th March) - 心居 - Life is a Long Quiet River
2024 - 微暗之火 Tender Light (previously known as Gone with the Wind)
2024 - 球状闪电 - Ball Lightning - in post
2024 - 有你的时光里 With Love With You - in post
NOTES
FILMS
2008 - Afraid to Say Love You - 不敢说爱你
2009 - Snow Fall in Taipei - 台北飘雪
2009 - Nine Dragon Jade - 九龙佩
2010 - Snapper - 食人草
2011 - A Big Deal - 巨额交易
2012 - Wings - 最长的拥抱
2012 - The Second Half - 另一半
2013 - Day of Redemption - 早见,晚爱
2014 - The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom - 白发魔女传之明月天国
2014 - To Love Somebody - 求爱嫁期
2016 - The New Year's Eve of Old Lee - 过年好
2021 - The Night Belongs to Us - 属于我们的黑夜
2021 - (no official English title) - 极境所在
2021 - We Will Grow Old Together - 爱情回想
NOTES
TV DRAMAS
2004 - 林海雪原 - Tracks in the Snowy Forest
This is Tong Yao's debut series. Production for this series
began in the winter of 2002 and the series first aired in Jan
2004. The location of the shoot was in Heilongjiang.
Tong Yao was 17 or 18 years old then and was in the first year of
her studies at the Central Academy of Drama. I'm not sure how
much screen time she has but I know that she makes her first
appearance in the first episode.
Baidu lists this series as 我的太阳 My Sun although I did find it listed
elsewhere with the alternate title too. I'm just going to go
with My Sun since I think that's the original title.
Her name is listed second after the male lead Chi Shuai which I
guess probably makes her lead female. I suspect that it's
more likely that she shares almost equal screen time with the
other female lead but I'll have to watch to be sure. I
haven't seen much of this series, just zipped through the first
episode to do a screen capture. The story is centred around
Chi Shuai's character so I'm not sure how much screen time and
focus etc the female characters get. For those of us who
like trivial, the actress Xu Di who plays Tong Yao's character's
mother played her mother-in-law in Single Child's Grandmother and Mother. Also, Tong
Yao isn't dubbed here.
I'm not sure if this story is my cup of tea. It's probably
closer to the bottom of my list. So we'll see if I ever get
around to watching this. 😅
2006 - 行走的鸡毛掸子 - Walking Duster
2006 - 龙虎人生 - Life of Tiger and Dragon
Tong Yao only has a supporting role in this series and is the
eighth name to appear in the credit roll at the end of the
series. I zipped through the first couple of episodes to
check when she first appears and if I'm not wrong, she appears in
episode 5. I have no idea how much screen time she has, even
so, I might watch this if I have time, it looks like it might be
interesting. Sadly, she's dubbed in this series, I
usually prefer it when they use the actor's real voices.
This is set in the early years of the Republican Era and the story
is centered around the trials and tribulations of the Geng
Family. They are famous for making high-quality dusters from
chicken feathers.
I've watched this drama and it's surprisingly watchable and I dare say even quite good with some caveats. I really hope to getting around to writing a review of this series when I have time.
2006 - 龙虎人生 - Life of Tiger and Dragon
Tong Yao is the sixth name to appear in the credit roll at the
end of the series. Again, I'm not sure how much screen
time she has in this series but she does make an appearance in
the first episode. This time they used her real voice in
this series. The male lead in this series is Wang
Zhiwen. For those of us who only started watching Tong Yao
in the past few years, this is an interesting titbit because
Wang Zhiwen was Lao Gu (aka Postman) in The Rebel which
means that The Rebel isn't the first time she worked with
him. Although, I don't remember them having any scenes
together in The Rebel. Also, while looking at the credit list, I realise that Zhang
Xinyi is also in this series, she also co-starred with Tong Yao
in Three Bosom Girls.
Tong Yao plays a young nurse who aspires to be a doctor in this
series. This is set during the Second Sino-Japanese War in
Yucheng, Sichuan, China. I'm not sure if this is a
fictitious place, I did a quick search and couldn't find it but
this doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means that I will
need to do a more in-depth search to be
sure. I zipped through parts of the series while looking for a scene to
make a screen capture for this page and looks like Tong Yao plays
a fairly feisty character which has piqued my interest. 😁
I'm likely to try this series but it won't be anytime soon. 😅
2006 - 少年杨家将 - The Young Warriors
This is Tong Yao's first period/wuxia drama. There are a few
big names in this drama. There's Hu Ge, Amy Chan, Eddie Peng
and Peter Ho etc. It looks pretty male-centric too.
Tong Yao was pretty much unknown then and comes in 12th on the
credit roll at the end of the drama so I won't be surprised if her
screen time isn't a lot in this 43 episode series. Tong Yao
plays a character called 潘影 Pan Ying and from what I've read,
she's one of the antagonists which automatically interests me
since I believe this would make it the first time that she's
played one of the antagonists. Pan Ying likes Hu Ge's
character Yang Liulang but as we all know, in Chinese dramas, if
you're just a support character, the lead actor's love interest
won't be your character. It seems like Yang Liulang doesn't
love Pan Ying but that won't stop her from unscrupulously trying
to gain him anyway.
Unless I made a mistake, it seems like her first appearance in the
series is in ep17 of the series. The circumstances under
which Yang Liulang meets her are quite interesting. I might
actually try and watch it from ep17 instead of watching the whole
series because it's kind of long and I'm not sure if I'll enjoy
it. 😅 Sadly, she's dubbed in this series, I usually prefer it if
they use their real voices but it seems like a lot of them may
have been dubbed in this series.
2007 - 一错再错 - Repeat an Error
Although Tong Yao's name is the 5th name to appear in the credit
roll, from several articles that I have read, it seems like she
plays a pivotal role in the series. She plays university
undergrad Fang Xiaorui 方小蕊. Fang Xiaorui wins the
leading role in a play. Both Zhang Yang and Zhou Lisen
like her and fight to win the leading male role in the same
play. Their tussle will somehow stir up a 20-year
grievance involving their parents. I only managed to find
a pretty crappy quality version of this drama but it's good
enough for viewing. She's not dubbed in this series which
is my preference. The story looks promising but I'm not
sure how good the production is. It's something that I
think I might try but not anytime soon.
I could not find a version of this series with an ending credit roll
but Tong Yao's name is in the first group of names of actors that
appear in the opening theme song. It's probably the fifth name
on that title card. She's almost definitely a supporting
character in this series because although she made it onto the cover
image on the boxset release of this series, her face is one of the
smaller ones and in the corner. Once again, like
Repeat an Error I only managed to find a pretty crappy
quality version of this series. It's hard to find better
quality copies of these older, more obscure dramas.
Like Repeat an Error, it's another story that involves
two generations of people. The story is about a pair of
lovers, Ning Peiwen and Yao Zihan, who met in the 1920s at Qinghua
University and who separated because of social and family
pressure. Ning Peiwen leaves for the US where he eventually
becomes a lawyer. Twenty years later, he returns to
Nanking where a murder case brings the two former lovers together
again. Tong Yao plays Zhang Zixuan 章子萱. She's
not only Yao Zhihan's daughter, it's her father who is being accused of
murder.
Tong Yao makes her first appearance in the first episode of
the series and, happily, isn't dubbed. I watched part of the
first episode from when she first appeared and it's quite an
interesting opening scene for her. Apparently, she plays a
nurse here too, like in Life of Tiger and Dragon. I'm
not sure when I'll get to this but am curious to watch
more.
2010 - 家常菜 - Simple Dish
2010 - 军人荣誉 - Military Honor
2011 - 桥隆飙 - Qiao Long Biao
2011 - 雷锋 - Lei Feng
2012 - 民兵葛二蛋 - A Unique Militiman
2009 - 风起第一关 - Wind up the First Pass
I haven't been able to find any video of this drama series at all. So I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch it. This is probably a supporting character as far as I can tell.
I haven't been able to find any video of this drama series at all. So I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch it. This is probably a supporting character as far as I can tell.
According to the synopsis of this drama, this series is set in
1644 and uses the Battle at Jiashen Shi River
(甲申石河大战) as the backdrop. The protagonists of the series are
the local gentry that lives in the Shanhai Pass area. Tong
Yao plays a character called
Chen Yuanyuan
(陈圆圆) in the drama and if I'm not wrong, that would mean that
she plays
Wu Sangui's
concubine.
2010 - 家常菜 - Simple Dish
I've finished this series and would like to write a review about
it eventually. There are some interesting things about the
series but I also have issues with some of the character and
plot progression. Tong Yao plays a character called He
Wenyuan. Although the story centres on Wenyuan's
brother-in-law, Wenyuan is a significant character in the series
and turned out to be my favourite character. In case
you're wondering, it's not because I like Tong Yao that Wenyuan
turned out to be my favourite character. I really like her
character's progression. Among the female characters,
Wenyuan goes through the biggest change. It's also a
fairly logical and well-explained change for the most part
except for some weird shift at the end. This is also why
she's the most interesting character for me.
If you're a Tong Yao fan, I do recommend watching this
series. She's amazing in the series. I was
pleasantly surprised because this being an older series, I
wasn't expecting that she would be this good. Her
performance in this series is part of the reason why I would
like to write a review on this series so that I can talk
specifically about her performance as well.
Her character's screen time isn't a lot in the first half of the
series so you will need to be patient if you want to see more of
her but once you get to around about episode 20 (I will need to
check) her character's story will become quite
significant. Also do note that Wenyuan isn't exactly a
likeable character although she's an interesting one.
However, I do feel that after she changes she also became
likeable to me.
2010 - 军人荣誉 - Military Honor
2011 - 桥隆飙 - Qiao Long Biao
2011 - 雷锋 - Lei Feng
2012 - 民兵葛二蛋 - A Unique Militiman
I have a feeling that whoever gave this series its English title
made an error in the spelling and that "militiman" should actually
be "militiaman". Since I'm not sure if this is an official English
title and I'm uncomfortable with using the wrong spelling, from
henceforth, I will refer to this series as "A Unique
Militiaman".
I've actually watched part of this series but haven't finished it
yet. When I have some time I will try and finish it and write
some thoughts about it.
2013 - 独生子女的婆婆妈妈 - Single Child's Grandmother and Mother
2013 - 独生子女的婆婆妈妈 - Single Child's Grandmother and Mother
I've finished this series and quite enjoyed it. Will do a
small review when I have time.
2013 - 大掌门 - New Year Picture
2014 - 新闺蜜时代 - Three Bosom Girls
I have to say that this is a somewhat intriguing series. I was under the impression that the rise of female centric series that is centered around a group of women friends was a direct result of the critical and popular reception to Ode to Joy. Then I watched this series which was released about two years before Ode to Joy and I have to say that some of the things critics apparently found refreshing about Ode to Joy were already apparent in this series and that kind of surprised me.
I have to say that this is a somewhat intriguing series. I was under the impression that the rise of female centric series that is centered around a group of women friends was a direct result of the critical and popular reception to Ode to Joy. Then I watched this series which was released about two years before Ode to Joy and I have to say that some of the things critics apparently found refreshing about Ode to Joy were already apparent in this series and that kind of surprised me.
Three Bosom Girls is a story about three rather
unconventional modern female friends who have vastly different
personalities but are still able to remain fast friends by the end
of the series. They seem to be living in a time of transition
where they want to live modern lives but are still unable to be
fully free from the traditional expectations that their families,
society and even themselves have placed on
themselves. There is certainly nothing cookie-cutter about these characters.
Interestingly enough, they aren't even outrightly likeable.
What they are is that they are definitely intriguing and
different.
While Three Bosom Girls has many flaws, what I liked about
the series is just how unapologetically unorthodox these girls lived
their lives for the most part. One of the best parts of this
series are the actresses. Tong Yao, Zhang Xinyi and Jiang
Xin have a great deal of chemistry. Their comic timing is also
impeccable and their dialogue is really well written and skillfully
delivered by all three of them. The scriptwriter was
quite assiduous because the dialogue for each of them had a
unique tone that suited each character perfectly.
Sadly, in the end, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this series not
because I think it's bad but because it can be quite hard to
appreciate the three main female characters. There are also
certain issues with plot and character progression. These women
are so unconventional, they should have more unconventional
conclusions, especially Zhang Xinyi's character, but the script didn't
dare to go that far. Pacing in the last third of the series
could also have been better. BUT, that said, if you are the kind
of viewer who can appreciate the good parts of imperfect and unusual
series, then this is a series that you might find engaging to some
extent. If you're a Tong Yao fan, then I think it's worth at
least one look to see if you might enjoy it.
2015 - 爸爸快长大 - Boys to Men
2016 - 后妈许多多 - Stepmother Xu Duoduo aka 重组家庭 - The Blended Family
Tong Yao is Xu Duoduo, a scriptwriter who ends up marrying Wen
Shuping (Wang Zhifei 王志飞) , a man who is much older than her. He comes with a lot of
baggage because he has twin daughters, a nosy ex-wife who has a
family of her own and also he lives with his mother who is his
step-mother. Tong Yao is GREAT in this series and she's very natural and I recommend that
Tong Yao fans try this series. If you've only watched her in
her later series where she generally plays more nuanced characters,
this would be a refreshing change.
I've finished the Short Review,
CLICK ME
to read.
2016 - 神犬小七2 - Hero Dog 2
Some web pages indicate that this is a cameo but after zipping
through the entire series, I can pretty much confirm that this is
without a doubt a guest-starring role. Even the opening
theme song indicates that. Although she is the fourth name
to appear in the end credit roll, she doesn't appear a lot in this
42 episode series. As far as I can tell, she appears in five
episodes. They are episodes 27 to 29 and 36 to
37.
Tong Yao plays 路晰 Lu Xi, a guest at a resort hotel.
Xiao Qi, the hero dog named in the title of the series, senses
that something is troubling her attempts to help her.
Honestly, I'm not really that keen to watch this series.
Even in fast forward, the overall story looks kind of lame.
It has this made-for-tv look and I don't mean it in a good
way. There are several dogs and animals used in this series,
maybe the money that should have gone to a better production team
went to paying for the animal "actors" since, to my knowledge,
they are usually one of the most expensive "actors" to have on
set. Also, Tong Yao is dubbed in this series which is
something I usually don't like.
I might one day get around to writing a small capsule review of it
because it is only five episodes so shouldn't be a huge time
investment. I'm just not rushing to do it because the story
doesn't look that interesting. 😅
2018 - 如懿传 - Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace
2018 - 乔家大院之光明之路 aka 诚忠堂 - Qiao's Grand Courtyard 2 aka The Road of Light
I've finished part of this series and enjoyed parts of
it. Will do a review when I have time.
2018 - 乔家大院之光明之路 aka 诚忠堂 - Qiao's Grand Courtyard 2 aka The Road of Light
Sadly, I have to say that I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this
series. While it started out interesting, it got meandering
in the middle and the last few episodes were pretty rubbish.
Characterization in the middle of the series started to become
inconsistent and character progression was not always well
explained. Plot progression was also abrupt at times
Tong Yao is the leading female, in the sense that her name is
the second name in the end credit roll, just below the male
lead’s. However, it’s in general a male-centric series
and revolves mostly around a main male protagonist, Qiao
Yingji (actor: Zhang Bo), hence she doesn't get the amount of
screen time that a proper leading female lead should get.
She plays a revolutionary soldier, Lian Hua and she shows up
quite quickly in the first episode and has a decent amount of
screen time for about 10-15 episodes. However, when the
series moves away from the revolution to the banking industry,
she recedes into the background. She’ll make sporadic
appearances and will only come back proper in the final arc when
the topic returns to the revolution.
I actually thought that I might write a full review when I first
started watching the series because the historical background
was interesting for me. However, after finishing it, I’m
not so sure I would like to invest so much time in it, although,
I may still write a short review sometime in the future to
address this series’ shortcomings.
2018 - 大江大河 1 - Like a Flowing River 1
I finished this series and loved parts of it. Will do a
review when I have time.
2018 - 将夜 - Ever Night
I actually don't like xianxia dramas and I know she's only a
support character. I'm not sure if I will ever watch
this. I saw some clips and I've a feeling that this series
isn't my cup of tea so I may have to skip this and never write
anything more about it. 😅
Tong Yao guest stars in this series. It's not a big part nor a
particularly significant part since she doesn't have a huge impact
on Zhou Xun's character's decision making. However, Tong Yao's
character does have one important function and that's to illustrate
Zhou Xun's character's progress and change. Also, she has quite a
bit of chemistry with Zhou Xun and both are strong character actors
with expressive eyes so quite a few people online, including me,
were shipping both their characters.
This series is based on a Japanese drama called "Mother" and I watched it a long time ago so I can't make a good comparison. The original drama stars Matsuyuki Yasuko and Ashida Mana with Machiko Ono, Ayano Go, Yamamoto Koji, Takahata Atsuko and Tanaka Yuuko etc in support. The Japanese cast is strong and this series made little Mana-chan one of the hottest child stars in Japan for a while.
2020 - 清风明月佳人 - Moonlight Lady
Lensed in ___ and was only just released in 2020
2020 - 我不是结不了婚 - Get Married or Not
I've finished this series and quite enjoyed it. Will write
up a review when I have time.
I've finished this series and LOVED it. Will write up a
review when I have time.
I'm not a big fan of sports dramas/movies but I'll probably check this out for a few reasons. The biggest is of course because Tong Yao is in it, although her screen time is almost certainly going to be pretty small. Also, I actually have a very good impression of Teresa Li after The Little Reunion. Although I'm not a fan yet, she's probably my favourite Chinese actress of her generation right now. This is also by Linmon Pictures who also did Nothing But Thirty and The LIttle Reunion, which I enjoyed. It's not like everything they do is great but I think they are big enough to be able to get a good budget. It's probably why there is a small list of notable guest stars for this drama.
2022 (17th March) - 心居 - Life is a Long Quiet River
PREVIEW WRITE-UP
SHORT SPOILER FREE REVIEW
COMMENTARY (With Spoilers)
I'm honestly not sure what the series is about yet except that I think it's about parallel timelines or something like that. I've been quite busy lately and I didn't even watch the trailers. I knew that Tong Yao has a guest role in this series because months ago when Zhang Xincheng did an interview around the time of the release of the Vogue short which starred both of them, he mentioned that it wasn't the first time that he had worked with her. He said then that he had worked with her when Tong Yao had a guest starring part in The Heart of Genius which he stars in. I didn't put it in the blog then because it was just a screen capture of an excerpt from an interview and I couldn't find the source to confirm it for sure. But that was one of the main reasons why I had my eye on this series for some time. I do like Zhang Xincheng so I'll probably check it out. But time skips and parallel timeline stories can be tricky so here's hoping it's at the very least decent. I'm almost certain that Tong Yao's part is very small, possibly even just a cameo and likely to have even less screen time than her part in Beyond but we won't know till the series actually screens. When I know more, I'll rewrite this bit.
2024 (27th April) - 微暗之火 - Tender Light (previously known as Gone with the Wind)
2021 - The Night Belongs to Us -
属于我们的黑夜 (released as part of a short film anthology 对立面)
This was a short film made during the 15th FIRST Training Camp for the 2021 FIRST International Film Festival in China. This is the first time that Tong Yao has participated in the Training Camp. She collaborated with director Bo Hanxiong 薄汉雄 and actor Song Yang 宋洋. The short film was shot in Xining in three days and post-production took an additional ten days. Production stills from the set look interesting. I have done a little write-up about the announcement of the release of this short film as part of the 对立面 (Face's a Verb)which is an anthology of all the short films made during the training camp. I'm unsure if I will be able to watch it yet but if I do, I'll write and do a small review.
2021 - (no official English title) - 极境所在 FULL WRITE UP
This is made by a company called Bobosnap and is supposed to be a documentary on the making of The Night Belongs to US, the film mentioned above. It’s essentially a 12-minute behind-the-scenes video with an interview with Tong Yao. It also seems to be sponsored by Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv and Tong Yao is one of the spokespersons for the brand so there is a little bit of product placement. The documentary itself is interesting if you understand Chinese and like Tong Yao. To watch it, please CLICK ME.
I have finished the full write-up for this documentary, the link is above (next to the title) or you can CLICK ME too. I still need to revise my capsule review for Qiao's Courtyard II. Will do that another day. Am still not sure if I will ever get around to writing a review of Sun Li's The Ideal City. I would like to watch it at least one more time before I decide if I would like to write a full review.
- talks about
Life is a Long Quiet River
Life is a Long Quiet River is a thought provoking series
and it may not appeal to all. However, that's not to say
that it's not worth a watch. The narrative structure is
interesting and the performances of the cast is top notch.
I think Tong Yao fans should at the very least try this series
because she is one half of the two protagonists that hold this
story together. Tong Yao plays Gu Qingyu and I really
liked this character and Tong Yao's performance
here.
Also, she looks stunning in this series. Gu Qingyu is a
very successful and wealthy person and her wardrobe really
accentuates this aspect of this character. Pretty much
everything she wears is from a luxury brand and she manages to
make it all look good too. So if you're a Tong Yao fan,
even if in the end the story doesn't appeal to you, there's
always Tong Yao eye candy for you. 😁
It took a lot longer than I hoped but here is the short spoiler
free review, (CLICK ME). Here is the link to the Long Commentary (CLICK ME), note that this has spoilers.
Tong Yao also talks about the series in the Madame Figaro Apr
2022 article (CLICK ME).
2022 - 天才基本法 - The Heart of Genius
I'm honestly not sure what the series is about yet except that I think it's about parallel timelines or something like that. I've been quite busy lately and I didn't even watch the trailers. I knew that Tong Yao has a guest role in this series because months ago when Zhang Xincheng did an interview around the time of the release of the Vogue short which starred both of them, he mentioned that it wasn't the first time that he had worked with her. He said then that he had worked with her when Tong Yao had a guest starring part in The Heart of Genius which he stars in. I didn't put it in the blog then because it was just a screen capture of an excerpt from an interview and I couldn't find the source to confirm it for sure. But that was one of the main reasons why I had my eye on this series for some time. I do like Zhang Xincheng so I'll probably check it out. But time skips and parallel timeline stories can be tricky so here's hoping it's at the very least decent. I'm almost certain that Tong Yao's part is very small, possibly even just a cameo and likely to have even less screen time than her part in Beyond but we won't know till the series actually screens. When I know more, I'll rewrite this bit.
2023 (14th March) - 小日子 - Simple Days - WRITE UP
Set in contemporary Shanghai, Simple Days tells
the story of a young married couple with a child.
Their bustling lives become increasingly
complicated and unbearable as their in-laws start to interfere more and more in their daily affairs. Yearning for simpler times,
the couple takes a bold and radical step. This
decision, while intended to bring simplicity, instead
exposes vulnerabilities in their relationship and
tests their bond. They had hoped this move would
lessen their in-laws’ involvement, but they hadn’t
anticipated it also providing an opening for others to
intrude on their relationship. Simple Days is a
thought-provoking exploration of love and family,
where a young couple’s pursuit of simplicity amidst
modern life’s complexities leads to unforeseen
challenges, testing the resilience of their bond.
I have finished the series and I think it's not a bad
watch even though there are some issues. Time
permitting, I hope to write a spoiler free review and
a longer commentary with spoilers. But we'll
see. As you can probably tell, I have been very
busy because I have not updated the blog for a
year. Hopefully, I will get to these sooner
rather than later and when I do, I'll place the links
there and delete this paragraph.
I have written a write-up about the cast, production
and the novel it was based on prior to the release of
the series. Some of the information in the
write-up is no longer accurate but, if you wish to
read it, please CLICK ME.
2024 (27th April) - 微暗之火 - Tender Light (previously known as Gone with the Wind)
Finally! After a flurry of activity in the first and second quarters of last year, there had been no further movement regarding this title until today, 21st April 2024. The official Weibo account for this series has released a second trailer, a new poster, key visuals, character images, and more. On the 22nd April, they also announced that the series will be released on the 27th April.
This has been two years in the making. The series began and wrapped up production in 2022, and several interviews and collaborative videos were made and released a year ago, only for it all to come to a resounding thud.
This is based on Jiu Yuexi’s (玖月晞) novel, Xiao Nan Feng (小南风). Tong Yao plays the main female character, Nan Ya, and Stevan Zhang Xincheng, the male lead, plays Zhou Luo.
The story is about a high school student who falls in love with a married woman trapped in a troubled marriage. Murder ensues.
All posts related to the series:
Youku Announce (not directly about the series though)
FIRST TRAILER - write up
(Amend 11th Feb 2023 - related posts CLICK ME & CLICK ME)
(Amend 11th Feb 2023 - related posts CLICK ME & CLICK ME)
CLICK ME (posted 18th Mar 2022) - confirmation on the
series
CLICK ME (posted 5th Jun 2022) - translated interview with Tong Yao about the
series.
2024 (??) - 球状闪电 - Ball Lightning - in post
This series is based on Liu Cixin's 刘慈欣 novel Ball Lightning
and stars Tong Yao who plays researcher Lin
Yun. The male lead is Wang Anyu 王安宇 who plays Chen. Production on the series officially began after
the opening ceremony on the 25th April 2022 at
Hengdian. The other cast members that were revealed
on the day of the opening ceremony include Zhou
Yiwei 周一围, Yang Lixin 杨立新, Wang Yang 王阳 and Yang Le 杨玏. Liu Cixin is a Chinese Sci-fi novelist of
some renown. Some might be more familiar with his
more famous work the The Three Body Problem which is part of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy of novels.
As production just began, the likelihood of a 2022 release
is low because post is likely to take more time since this
is a Sci-fi series. I'm guessing that they are aiming
for a 2023 release.
I'm honestly a little apprehensive about this. Chinese
dramas tend to have a lot of misses when it comes to
Sci-fi. The quality of the VFX for Chinese TV dramas
are often a little iffy as well. Also, as far as I can
tell from the synopsis, the main protagonist should be Chen
and usually I prefer it if Tong Yao gets more screen time as
opposed to less. Yes, I'm bias. :)
Anyway, there is not much more information that has been
released yet. If more is released, I'll edit this
section.
2024 - 有你的时光里 With Love With You - in
post WRITE-UP
Production for this series began in January
in Shenzhen, China and production wrapped in May 2024. That announcement was made on the 7th of May. New visuals and a wrap-up special video were released. I intend to do a second write-up on it but it won't be that soon because I'm still trying to complete a review of Simple Days and I'm so in love with Tender Light right now that I will probably end up watching it again. The
series boasts a seasoned cast of
accomplished actors and reunites Tong Yao
with Li Zefeng, who played her husband in
Nothing But Thirty. Other cast
members include Zhang Zixian whom I really
enjoyed watching in The Rebel and
Zhou Yiran whom I have watched in Song of Life and Nobody Knows.
The story centers around two sisters, Wang Yan and Wang Lingjun, who are very different in character. Tong Yao portrays the older sister, Wang Yan, while Zhou Yiran plays the role of the younger sister, Wang Lingjun. Wang Yan is a highly successful professional suffering from congenital anemia, while her younger sister is rebellious and willful. Against her family’s wishes, Wang Lingjun moves to Shenzhen, where her sister resides. This disrupts Wang Yan’s seemingly peaceful life, creating chaos and conflict. However, as time progresses, the sisters’ relationship evolves and becomes harmonious. When Wang Yan’s illness recurs, Lingjun chooses to stay by her side to help her weather the storm.
According to Douban, this should be a 32 episode series and should see a 2025 release.
NOTES:
Some sites indicate that she was also in another series
called 大河儿女 A River Children (2014) but the only information I managed to find
about this series is an article accompanied by a photo of
her. She apparently made an appearance at the 开机
ceremony but after that, I found no mention of which
character she played in the series. I also found the series
and looked at the credit list of the first episode and I
could not find her name. So I'm not sure at all if she ever
appeared in this series. She may have a cameo but I don't
really want to scroll through 43 episodes just to try and
find her because if it's really a cameo, it could just be a
short scene or even just a shot or two and we're done.
That's just too much effort for me especially since I don't
even know if she's really in this series.
FILMS
2008 - Afraid to Say Love You - 不敢说爱你
2009 - Snow Fall in Taipei - 台北飘雪
2009 - Nine Dragon Jade - 九龙佩
2008 - Afraid to Say Love You - 不敢说爱你
2009 - Snow Fall in Taipei - 台北飘雪
2009 - Nine Dragon Jade - 九龙佩
2010 - Snapper - 食人草
I cannot find this film anywhere at all. To be
honest, I'm quite curious to watch it but don't know if I
will ever be able to find it.
2011 - A Big Deal - 巨额交易
2012 - Wings - 最长的拥抱
2012 - The Second Half - 另一半
2013 - Day of Redemption - 早见,晚爱
2014 - The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom -
白发魔女传之明月天国
2014 - To Love Somebody - 求爱嫁期
I finally got around to watching this in part to see if
it's any good and in part to check out Tong Yao's cameo in
this film. It's not bad but it's not great
either. It's a relatively generic story about an
elderly man, Mr. Lee, who's suffering from Alzheimer's
disease. His daughter Yang Duo just found out
about it and returns immediately with her daughter Zhu Li in
tow to celebrate the Spring Festival. The simmering
grievances and resentment surface during this short visit
and given that this is a Lunar New Year film, you can expect
a happy ending. Which means, in a film like this, the
journey is more important than the conclusion. And in
this film, the journey's nothing special and I don't really
recommend it. If you wish to see a video clip of Tong
Yao in the film & read more about it, CLICK ME for the short review.
This was a short film made during the 15th FIRST Training Camp for the 2021 FIRST International Film Festival in China. This is the first time that Tong Yao has participated in the Training Camp. She collaborated with director Bo Hanxiong 薄汉雄 and actor Song Yang 宋洋. The short film was shot in Xining in three days and post-production took an additional ten days. Production stills from the set look interesting. I have done a little write-up about the announcement of the release of this short film as part of the 对立面 (Face's a Verb)which is an anthology of all the short films made during the training camp. I'm unsure if I will be able to watch it yet but if I do, I'll write and do a small review.
2021 - (no official English title) - 极境所在 FULL WRITE UP
To be honest, I know this doesn’t qualify as a film but I like
the posters and I wanted an excuse to post at least one of them.
The advertising this documentary have a very indie, gritty film
feel which I really like.
This is made by a company called Bobosnap and is supposed to be a documentary on the making of The Night Belongs to US, the film mentioned above. It’s essentially a 12-minute behind-the-scenes video with an interview with Tong Yao. It also seems to be sponsored by Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv and Tong Yao is one of the spokespersons for the brand so there is a little bit of product placement. The documentary itself is interesting if you understand Chinese and like Tong Yao. To watch it, please CLICK ME.
I have finished the full write-up for this documentary, the link is above (next to the title) or you can CLICK ME too. I still need to revise my capsule review for Qiao's Courtyard II. Will do that another day. Am still not sure if I will ever get around to writing a review of Sun Li's The Ideal City. I would like to watch it at least one more time before I decide if I would like to write a full review.
2021 - We Will Grow Old Together - 爱情回想
REVIEW & Link to Video
This is actually another short film but this time produced as a
part of a series of short films for Vogue Film, which I think is
part of the Vogue fashion and lifestyle magazine family.
This isn't the first time they've produced a series of short
films, I've watched at least one previously and it was on the
artsy side which I don't mind at all, as long as it's well done
and interesting.
Tong Yao stars in this with Steven Zhang Xincheng who is an up
and coming young actor in China. I'm actually quite
pleased with this partnership because I have a good impression
of him. I watched him in
Go Ahead, which was a series I didn't particularly like
but I thought he was good in the series. I also saw him in
The Justice, which was a series that had several flaws
but was an overall good watch, and he was good in that again.
I finally got around to watching this in Mar 2022 and wrote up a
simple review and provided a link to the video on YouTube too
(CLICK ME). It's only approximately 10 minutes long and isn't bad
at all. Definitely well worth the watch if you are fans of
either stars or if you like short films.
NOTES:
none for now
INTERVIEWS:
I don't actually plan to do a lot of interview translations because I won't
actually have time for it but if I feel like it and do
do them, I'll collate the links to the separate blog
posts here.
2021 - Giorgio Armani Crossroads Podcast interview with
Tong Yao (LINK)
2022 - Madame Figaro Apr 2022 - Cover Story (LINK)
- talks about 微暗之火
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