Chinese drama: 四喜 (Si Xi) officially announced

  #TongYao #童瑶 #四喜 #CDrama #黄明昊 #HuangMinghao #蒋欣 #JiangXin

A day after I wrote the previous post, "Si Xi" was officially announced and an official Weibo account was step up.  When the project was announced some time ago and no actors had been attached to it yet, the working title was “Those Days” (十月人生). The Chinese title has since changed to 四喜, and there doesn’t seem to be an official English title for the drama yet.

Chinese drama: 四喜 (Si Xi) begins production

 #TongYao #童瑶 #四喜 #CDrama #黄明昊 #HuangMinghao #蒋欣 #JiangXin

While this has yet to be officially announced, it seems pretty confirmed that Tong Yao will be taking a leading role in this series. I’m basing this on a few Weibo posts that featured Huang Minghao at the ceremony marking the start of production for this drama series.

According to this article, the series is based on the novel “有喜” (You Xi) by 清扬婉兮 (Qing Yang Wan Xi). Tong Yao will play Shen Mingzhu. Mingzhu lives in the old town of Nanxi with her adoptive parents, who run a small restaurant. Mingzhu’s boyfriend, Feng Jianqi (played by Fu Xinbo), comes from an affluent family and faces opposition from his family due to their different social statuses. The two lovers end up getting married due to an unexpected pregnancy.

Hong Kong movie: Cesium Fallout 焚城 release announcement

 #TongYao #HongKongCinema #CesiumFallout #焚城 #AndyLau #BaiYu #KarenMok

Tong Yao’s management officially announced via Weibo today that she will be making a guest-starring appearance in the film.

The trailer actually looks more than decent, which makes me hopeful that it might be a fun movie to watch. I’m likely to watch this in the cinema simply because Tong Yao is in it. She hasn’t appeared in a film in years, and there is no clear indication that she’ll make a return to it. So I wouldn’t want to pass on an opportunity to see her on the big screen.

The Night Belongs to Us 属于我们的黑夜 - 对立面 Face's a Verb short film anthology - update

#TongYao #童瑶 #SongYang #宋洋 #ZhouYiwei #周一围 #MarkChao #趙又廷 #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜 #FIRST训练营影片 

I was wrong, #对立面 (Face's a Verb - click me to read why I have decided to go with this English title for now) is not region locked, at least Singapore isn't locked out.  This makes things easier because it means that you don't need a VPN to watch this short film anthology.  I took some time out two nights ago to figure out if I can buy a ticket to watch this anthology and I managed to do it.  It did take me some time to figure it out but it also means that it's not impossible.  I encourage those of us who are interested in Tong Yao, Song Yang and short films to buy this ticket if this is within your means and if you can figure it out.  It's just 12 RMB unless you have a VIP membership for iQiyi's China site which would make this cheaper by 6 RMB. 

The Night Belongs to Us - released as part of 对立面 short film anthology

#FIRSTFilmFestival #FIRST训练营影片 #TongYao #童瑶 #SongYang #宋洋 #ZhouYiwei #周一围 #对立面 #ShortFilm #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜

(amend: I was unwilling to call this anthology by the English title "Face's a Verb" since I wasn't sure if I was reading it properly but it seems like some websites are calling it that so I will too for now.  I might change this in the future if this turns out to be the wrong title.)

  

The FIRST International Film Festival released a trailer promoting the debut screening of an anthology of short films a few days ago (21st June). This anthology of short films, titled 对立面 (literal translation: Opposites), consist of a collection of films from the 15th FIRST Training Camp. The films were first screened at the festival last year but will not be released for public screening till 29th June this month.

Madame Figaro April 2022 - #TongYao #童瑶 - Interview Translation

 #心居 #LifeIsALongQuietRiver #微暗之火 #PaleFire

I still don't intend to prioritise interview translations over reviews but this article contains some interesting information on two drama series, with information on 微暗之火 (Pale Fire) being particularly interesting. The production of this drama has been shrouded in mystery and, to my knowledge, up till this point, Tong Yao had not yet officially talked about it except for a few cryptic references on Weibo. This is the main reason why I decided to translate this interview. There is at least one more interview of interest with regards to Pale Fire. I may translate that in the future, if I do, I'll link it on the Page (Click Me).

First, some disclaimers, my Chinese isn't the best and some of what was written in this article have no direct equivalent in English or have nuances that were hard to translate easily so I just did the best I could. I will place a link to a copy of the article in Chinese on this page so that those who can read Chinese can also read the article in the language it was originally written in. (CLICK ME) 

Also, please note that for ease of reference, I will refer to 微暗之火 as Pale Fire in the article even though I don't think it's the official English title.

封面时装A 

经典款连衣裙 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE

Documentary (极境所在) ~ behind-the-scenes of 属于我们的黑夜 The Night Belongs to Us

#TongYao #童瑶 #BoHanxiong #薄汉雄 #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜 #FIRST #TrainingCamp

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

NOTE: Edited 22nd June 2022 to reflect the name change of the official English title from Night Night to The Night Belongs to Us.

At first, I thought that I would just do a short write-up of some bits but I ended up translating most of the interview in this video.  😅 

I think the reason why the production company Bobosnap called this a documentary rather than just a regular behind-the-scenes video is because they proposed a “thesis question” so to speak and are attempting to answer it. They are trying to answer this question by documenting Tong Yao as she participates in the making of the short film The Night Belongs to Us.

Review ~ Happiness as Flowers (2005) #幸福像花儿一样 (#孙俪 #SunLi)

This is the first time real life couple #SunLi (#孫儷) and #DengChao (#邓超) have worked together.  When they made this drama, they were only a reel life couple and only became a real life couple some time after this series and before the 2008 series Tian Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜).

I actually finished most of this review in Dec 2018 and hoped to publish it before the year turned because last year happened to be the 30th anniversary of China's Reform and Opening Up which would be kind of fitting since this series has something to do with it.  However, lots and lots of things got in the way and, in the end, I can only call this just one of many missed opportunities.

This is part of my ongoing effort to watch all of Sun Li's work and honestly, when I first decided to try this series, I was a little worried that it might be a difficult watch.  I don't particularly like idol type dramas, nor do l like generic sappy love stories that are designed to draw as many tears out of the viewer as possible.  As I was under the impression that this was a generic teary romance, I approached the series with a little caution.  However, it turned out to be a surprisingly interesting series, albeit with some caveats.

Review ~ Fearless (2006) #霍元甲 (#孙俪 #SunLi)

This is #SunLi 's debut film, although by the time she did this film, she's already had a few drama series under her belt.

I actually watched Fearless back in 2006 when it first screened which is why my memory of Fearless was a little hazy till I recently re-watched this for Sun Li's sake.  I thought that I liked this film enough but after watching it a second time, I realized that I probably didn't like it as much as I remembered which is why it's one of the few Jet Li films I have never watched again till recently.  This has nothing to do with Sun Li or even Jet Li.  I think I just didn't like the story that much.

I get what this pretty inaccurate biopic of Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲) is trying to do and say but I don't know if it really works that well.  The fighting scenes were cool but maybe I'm tired of the "man makes massive error → falls into depression and self destructs → only to have his soul saved after he is physically saved by native tribe / simple kindhearted girl / simpler way of living etc → thus finds redemption by the end of the film" type of story-line.  I think the story is pretty simple and kind of cliche to the point that I'm not really bothered about possibly giving any spoilers away because I don't think it's that hard to guess what would happen next. 

Beijing Afterthoughts 1.

Beijing After Thoughts 1. It's back to work after 8 days in Beijing. In spite of a few less than happy experiences, i really did have a good time in China. Beijing is so far the most crowded place i've visited ever and sadly the magnitude and awe of some of the historical sites are marred by just how many people there are. Mainland Chinese also have a very long way to go in terms of courtesy and consideration. While most of the people who reside in Beijing itself were nice enough and are even nicer than those in Shanghai, it was many out of town mainland visitors who took a little getting used to. Anyway, i hope to post more tonight when i get back from work. For now, take care. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 8 Part 3.

Beijing Day 8 Part 3. We're at the airport now. About to leave Beijing. Lot's of photos and lot's of experiences. See you all when I get back. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 8 Part 2.

Beijing Day 8 Part 2. The second place we visited today is the Big Bell Temple. The temple serves as a museum of many ancient bells and if you're there at the right time, they even have a life performance. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the performance. I quite like this place. It's quiet and has lots of trees and flowers. The weather was also nice and cool and added to the experience and made this visit feel like a quiet walk in a small park. The bells were really cool too. Some were really big and all of them looked really rather old of course. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 8 Part 1.

Beijing Day 8 Part 1. This is our last day in Beijing before we return to Singapore. Our flight is in the late afternoon so we will do some sight seeing today. We got up early this morning and made our way to the Lugou Bridge which has a long history dating back to the days of imperial glory. It's also got some significance in the Sino-Japanese War. I couldn't catch it all so will need to go read up. Next stop a museum. Later. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 7 Part 3.

Beijing Day 7 Part 3. After lunch, it was another two hours to Tianjin. By the time we reached the city it was about 3pm and the first place we visited was WenHua Street. It's a street that they built in the old qing style. The shops were filled with all kinds of cultural items and tourist souvenirs. After that we visited Snack Street and had dinner before we returned to Beijing. The hotel we're booked to stay the night in is really nice and the best we've had all trip. K. Am off to enjoy my stay in this hotel. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 7 Part 2.

Beijing Day 7 Part 2. Before we reached Tianjin today, we made a stop in Beijing for lunch. It was in a restaurant that specialized in Shanxi food. The dish you see in the photo above is called Dao Xiao Mian and it's a kind of noodle made by the chef shaving bits of dough into a boiling pot of water. We also had other Shanxi specialities like their salad which was really heavy on vinegar and a egg white sweet corn dish which was sweet and quiet good. I'll tell you about Tianjin later. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 7 Part 1.

Beijing Day 7 Part 1. We leave the city of Chengde today to visit Tianjin. I like what I saw of Chengde. There is a large river that runs through the city and at night, when all the buildings are lit, it reminds me a little of Shanghai by the banks of the Huangpu River. I took a few shots but they're in my other camera. It is quite cold in Chengde and the temperature varies vastly between the day and night. Yesterday afternoon it was about 19 or so degrees but by nightfall it was 0 degrees. It was still rather cold this morning too and we hustled onto the bus to get out of the cold. The photo above was taken from the bus as we made our way out of the city to Tianjin via Beijing. This is a 7 hour bus-ride so i'm of to get some shut-eye as we had to get up rather early this norm. Later. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 6.

Beijing Day 6. This morning we woke up really early to start our journey to Chengde. It's about 5 hours from Beijing by bus. The city is much smaller than Beijing and it's also at a higher altitude, hence colder. We visited 3 places in Chengde. The first place we visited was a temple which housed a huge 1000 hands1000 eyes Guanyin. We also visited the Small Potala and the Qing Emperors' Mountain Resort. I really like the resort. It's really huge and has a beautiful lake, a hot spring, large plains etc. It's lovely and I think part of the reason why we liked it so much was cuz the place has far fewer people than the places we visited in Beijing. We've got to be up early in the morning to make our way to tianjin. good night. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 5 Part 2.

Beijing Day 5 Part 2. Today was a relatively relaxing day. After our visit to the Temple of Heaven we made our way to the Yuexiu Market to have lunch. This was everyone's favourite lunch to date. We had mini-hotpot for lunch. All our meals before this was oily and salty except for this meal. We cooked our own food in little pots of boiling water and my friend and i ate mostly vegetables. Yummy! The rest of the afternoon was filled with shopping before our early dinner and return to our hotel. K. That's it. Good night. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 5 Part 1.

Beijing Day 5 Part 1. Today we woke up to a beautiful and warm day, the perfect day to visit the Temple of Heaven. When we first entered the park, we saw a lot of locals singing, dancing, playing musical instruments etc everywhere, including along the entire stretch of the Long Corridor. This is quiet a lovely place and I rather liked the history and culture that made this place. The buildings are really gorgeous. Unfortunately, there are just way too many people and that spoiled the experience somewhat. :-(

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

Beijing Day 4 Part 2.

Beijing Day 4 Part 2. After lunch we visited the Yonghe Palace Lamasary. I think it's the largest in beijing or maybe even China. The temple is really big and houses many gods. Right at the end there is a large buddha that is carved out of a single tree. Kinda cool.

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.