u/ImpossibleDawn

Here’s a few ships that I think would perfectly suit a Wuxia enemies to lovers between a sunshiny martial arts hero and a morally grey antihero/ villain character. I also just love me some “touch him/her and you die” plots…

If it were up to me, I’d cast:

1. Dylan wang for the unhinged villain and Lu Yuxiao for the “chosen one” hero— I think their dynamic would be so compelling.
2. Bai lu for the anti-hero (thinking Li Peiyi from Unveil: Jadewind if she was morally gray), and Zhang Linghe as the sunshiny hero
3. Li Yunrui and Meng Ziyi… but I want Meng Ziyi with her sharp bows, dark makeup, and smirks as the villain-esque character and Li Yunrui as the somber/ righteous hero
4. Zhang

Ruonan

1. as the righteous Jianghu hero who helps everyone in her path and Cheng Lei as a tempting tortured poets sorta antihero.

Would love more ideas on casting…. Someone make these pls!

Something I liked was Generation to Generation… the dynamics there in all the main and side-characters were top-tier! The “chosen-one” hero, who then gets ostracised and the constantly loyal anti-hero were definitely something to behold.

Cheng Lei and Lu Yuxiao in My Journey to You were also a similar vibe to what I just described … especially towards the end of it when >! LYX wants to leave, and CL puts his morality and his duty aside to just plead and then gives her a chance to leave !<

What dramas have y’all watched with plots like this?

Chen Xiangmei, also known as Anna Chenault, shows up in a lot of different places in US-China relations. Part of informal diplomacy in ending the Vietnam War, cross-strait normalisation between the KMT and the mainland, and even in facilitating Nixon to win the presidency and then in his visit to China. Reagan sent her as his goodwill ambassador/special envoy to China in 1980 and 81, and Deng Xiaoping personally met her in Beijing. At the welcome banquet, Deng offered her the first VIP position over the US Senator who was also visiting apparently quoting, “there are more than 100 senators in the United States, but only one Chen Xiangmei in the world.”

She was one of the 70 most influential people in the US in 1972, aided 8 US presidents, and was awarded for the anti-Japanese War by Xi Jinping himself.

For someone who has somehow been everywhere and met almost every important person on both sides of US-China relations for almost a whole century, Chen Xiangmei is fairly shrouded in mystique.

What did she do to facilitate all these diplomatic relations? Where can I find out more about her?
Does anyone have more sources on her and her life?

Here’s some sources that may be relevant:

1. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/30/anna-chennault-obituary-vietnam-back-channel-nixon-1968-223299/
2. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/anna-chennault-affair-south-vietnamese-side-wars-greatest-conspiracy-theory
3. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/public/anna-chennault-formidable-washington-hostess-and-secret-emissary-dies-at-94/article\_bbc98344-8ca4-5dd4-9ece-6df403a27337.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna\_Chennault
5. https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/04/WS5ac4e558a3105cdcf6516567.html

Here's some I will be dropping everything to watch, in no particular order:

1. Overdo (Zhang Linghe, Wang Churan)

2. Mo Li (Bai Lu, Cheng Lei)

3. Eternal Fragrance (Ju Jingyi, Song Weilong)

4. Chasing dreams (Zhang Jingyi, Chen Zheyuan)

5. Spring of the Blade (Xu Kai, Zhou Ye)

6. Love Has Fireworks (Tan Jianc, Wang Churan)

7. When I Meet the Moon (Lu Yuxiao, Lin Yi)

8. Love in Red Dust (Wang Xingyue, Xu Ruohan)

9. Key to the Phoenix Heart (Hou Minghao, Ai Mi)

10. The Melody of Love (Li Yi Tong, Chen Xinhai)

11. Hidden Shadow (Wang Churan, Li Hongyi)

12. The Road to Splendour (Ding Yuxi, Ancy Deng)

13. Live Long and Prosper (Dylan Wang, Li Qin)

14. Yun Chu's Vengeance (Esther Yu, Zhang Yunlong)

15. Ashes to Crown (Zhou Yiran, Chen Duling)

Can someone please recommend dramas like the Story of Kunning Palace? Have the hugest drama hangover, nobody except Pei Wenxuan from the Princess Royal and maybe Duke Su from the Double came close.