Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

The tragic and devoted poet of the State of Chu during the Warring States period – Ma Ke! Last time, you saw half of his face, along with the other cast members, and now he is revealed to us all. I guess I expected darker colored robes for the poet and official, but he does look good, not as good as Sha Ji Jie. hehe.

Stills:

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There are quite a few legends about the origins of the Dragon Boat Festival and one of them is related to the death of Qu Yuan. Taken from ChinaHighlights: Qu Yuan was born in a ruling family and served in high offices. He was the number one advisor of the Kingdom of Chu, and dedicated his whole life to assisting the king to build the State of Chu stronger.

He advised the King to ally with the State of Qi (one of the seven warring states: Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin) to fight against the most powerful State of Qin. However, he was slandered by jealous officials and accused of treason, and the King dismissed and exiled him.

During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of enduring poems showing his love and passion for his country, some of which are still very famous in China.

In 278 BC, the Qin State conquered the capital of Chu. On hearing of the defeat, Qu Yuan in great despair committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.

The rest is legend… When they heard of Qu Yuan’s death, the local people were very sad, and rowed out on the river to search for his body, but were unable to find him. To preserve his body, the locals paddled their boats up and down the river, hitting the water with their paddles and beating drums to scare evil spirits away. They threw lumps of rice into the river to feed the fish, so that they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body.

An old Chinese doctor poured realgar wine into the river to poison the monsters and to protect Qu Yuan.

Since then, people in the Miluo River area (about 50 km north of Changsha in central China’s Hunan Province) have followed similar practices to commemorate Qu Yuan on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Gradually, rowing boats developed into dragon boat racing, the lumps of rice became sticky rice dumplings (zongzi) traditionally eaten during the festival, and realgar wine is now drunk in commemoration of the great patriot Qu Yuan.

Via: 01

  1. 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

    Looks interesting and Kappy I have been meaning to say in addition to awesome Blog and Posts you sure have awesome banners each time ! High Five to you

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      Uh oh. You just reminded me that the new year is here and I need to put up new banners. But I don’t have any! >.<" Thank-you!

  2. 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

    Interesting bit of history! Honestly, I’m not as much of a history buff, at least not of the gentle scholar reformist type (I’m more of a warrior/general/classic hero history addict), and I’m not a huge fan of Ma Ke either (I mean I don’t DISlike him, either), so I’m actually not as into this as other people are. Nevertheless, I’m not against it either. Sort of…neutral and don’t-really-care. I mean, I have a hard time imagining what I would like about this. It’s not really wuxia, probably doesn’t have much fighting given Qu Yuan’s character, I’m not interested in the romance, so it really just leaves some sort of period political thing. With Nirvana, it worked cuz first of all it was awesome on all accounts, but secondly, the political plot had a clear sort of goal purpose — everything is to get Jingyan on the throne and clear the innocent names. There’s some sort of apex the political maneuvering and plotting was driving towards. Each cause-and-effect was very easy to follow. With this though, it seems like more of a biography of sorts. Like there’s no grand goal all of the politics will be gunning for, so…like what’s the point. Sorry, sounds harsh, but really I’m just indifferent towards this drama right now. I thought Sha Jie Jie was incredibly likable, but I don’t really see Ma Ke as an acting prodigy or anything, so, it’s like, with the amount of work and energy and history put into this, this COULD be great, but it’s starting out on a whole different level from something like Nirvana.

    Sorry. I can’t help but compare this to Nirvana. I mean, from the promo vid, they’re gunning for a high-quality production right? So I’m holding it to Nirvana standards. Except it’s just starting on the wrong foot already. Ma Ke’s styling doesn’t give the right court-official feel, the stills are seem so bright it just reminds me of yumama (Nirvana’s proven that colors and settings can be muted while still retaining high quality and resolution and general grandiose without the flashy bling bling), and the actors/actresses don’t really inspire confidence in me. Qiao Zhen Yu’s like the only one I view as something of a veteran and awesome actor. Not to demean Ma Ke, but honestly I just see him as another up-and-coming idol. Maybe better than some, but he’s not really proven himself yet in a concrete consistent way. Viann…sigh. Idk. She’s decent acting wise, but she just comes off as really sharp, harsh, brash, overbearing, mean almost. It doesn’t help that most her roles have been re-inforcing that image of hers. I just…I’m just not that interest in her. Thus. In conclusion, this drama basically has nothing to pull in me in aside from Qiao Zhen Yu, and I don’t love him enough to watch this for him unless someone tells me it’s awesome.

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      Nirvana in Fire has raised the bar on all levels for period dramas. Too bad it’s not the same magnificent team producing this drama about Qu Yuan which from all appearances resembles the usual idol drama.

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      lol… juli is setting herself up for disappointment already!! can’t compare everything to nirvana or else you will cry all day every day!!

      ma ke is not by any means an acting prodigy… i don’t think i can use that term on any of the rising actors and actresses. sha jie jie is just a lovely character and he’s lucky to be handed the role! he’s likable in real life, so it’s easy for fans to like and adore him, from what i see.

      • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

        there are many bloggers on china and taiwan forums who are saying the same thing as Julianne – after NIF, they won’t be able to watch any other dramas without making comparisons.

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve separated Shanying with the rest of the industry. I’ll compare Shanying with Shanying, but not Shanying vs other companies. Otherwise there’d be nothing left for me to watch. 🙁

      I would say this is Ma Ke’s biggest role after SJJ so I think we’re all holding high expectations of him. For me, I haven’t watched him in anything else so I don’t want to write him off just yet. Besides I’ve never watched a drama with Qu Yuan as a character so I have nothing to compare it to. Ma Ke is on a clean slate with me.

      Juli, I agree with you on Viann. I loved her portrayal of Liang Hongyu in Yue Fei, but it looks like she’s going for the same types of roles. I’m looking forward to see how she’ll change it up in The Border Prodigal…if she does.

      • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

        Nirvana in Fire is arguably the best C-drama in 2015. But to say that it raises the bar for any period drama is a little stretching. I find The Three Kingdoms (which I’m still currently watching — 95 episodes, peeps!), for instance, excels NiF in terms of production, acting, and writing. I haven’t watched All Men Are Brothers but I hear praises for that as well. Don’t discount the possibility that there are high quality period dramas flying under the radar.

        As for Shanying, I agree it produces more quality dramas compared to other production houses. But Love Me If You Dare is underwhelming for me. There’s also another drama of theirs, Yangko (?), starring Andy Yang, which isn’t really highly praised. But I hope pray that the drama with Jiang Xin and Liu Tao will deliver.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          I agree with you, lenje, on Shanying’s own productions. LMIYD is definitely underwhelming.

          I’m sure there are other high quality period dramas out there that hasn’t had the same kind of treatment as NiF. Like that one that shared an award with NiF. The name escapes me right now (something to do with the Qin dynasty? Or somewhere around that period) but it seemed like another great production. But let’s be real, it’s not popular as NiF because there aren’t any young faces to attract the audiences. Such as the case for past Shanying productions. It makes me wonder what would have happened if Shanying never invited the younger generation actors like Hu Ge and Wallace to join in on their productions.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          To be honest, I think part of the attraction, aside from Hu Ge’s face and the quality, is largely the book as well. The plot is inherently something I would have a large interest in, because it really lends itself to the qualities that attract me to wuxia dramas, the heroism, the patriotism, the selflessness, the larger-than-life main character that influences everyone around him, while still retaining the intricacies of a political plot as well. It’s a fantasy grounded in reality. I’ve never been able to finish large productions like Three Kingdoms regardless of quality because I’m less interested in the plot that history provides. I’m just simply not interested enough in the history and the inherent plot that comes with the production to fully enjoy those dramas the way I have Nirvana. Though I don’t deny Hu Ge’s influence. I can’t say whether or not I would have loved Nirvana without Hu Ge, cuz he was undeniably part of it and I can’t predict something that will never happen. However, I can say that while Hu Ge’s presence drew me to check out the show, he was definitely not the sole factor in me continuing to chase the show the way I did. As we can see with Good Times, I watched a significant portion of it for Hu Ge, but in the end, I couldn’t get past ep 26 and dropped it. If Nirvana wasn’t what it was, I wouldn’t have continued watching it with or without Hu Ge.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          I actually like Ma Ke’s look here better because he looks more like himself. I love Sha Jiejie to bits but Hua Qiangu’s styling team really did him an injustice with the layers and layers of warpaint on top of the Marilyn Manson look. It’s only cuz Ma Ke’s so good-looking and such a great actor with an awesome aura that he pulled off the look they gave him for Sha Jiejie.

          Anyway, the introduction video from the production team explained that they wanted to tell this piece of history (Qu Yuan’s story) using an idol drama format to attract more viewers. I actually agree with them because let’s face it, the general audience (particularly younger audiences) prefer pretty faces. I mean, I love All Quiet in Peking cuz the script and acting are EFFING AWESOME, but the fact remains that the TV ratings for this drama wasn’t good because the cast is mostly old guys who are awesome actors but not pretty. I mean, yes, it got heaps of awards and stuff cuz production quality-wise it’s one of the more superb dramas of Shanying (yes, even better than Nirvana and Disguiser), but it’s Nirvana and Disguiser that got the all the hype and popularity because of the good-looking cast who can also act.

          Even so, if we’re going by script + acting, then All Quiet in Peking wins over Nirvana and Disguiser. But entertainment-wise, Nirvana and Disguiser are more enjoyable.

          As for the draw of the actors themselves … I like Hu Ge but I won’t watch a drama just for him. I need a good story + good supporting cast as well. The Good Times drama sucked balls in my opinion and I couldn’t even sit through 1 episode of it. Nirvana and Disguiser was great because the scripts were good and the whole cast + directing was good. TBH Mei Changsu was such a Gary Stu that if it wasn’t for the awesome supporting characters I wouldn’t have enjoyed Nirvana nearly as much.

          With Disguiser it was actually the supporting characters like Ming Lou, Ming Cheng, Ming Jing, Liang Zhongchun, Wang Tianfeng, Yu Manli, Wang Manchun that I liked the most. I actually thought Ming Tai and the girl he loved were the most flat and uninteresting part of the whole series. Hu Ge was obviously much more natural with Mei Changsu than he was with Ming Tai, because I could see him trying to act as Ming Tai (instead of actually becoming the character onscreen).

      • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

        As for Ma Ke, I actually have faith in him because this guy has been acting since 9 years old (which is like 16 years now) and graduated from the famous Central Academy of Drama. I mean, if he could ace a small role like Sha Jiejie to become recognized by audiences and critics with only so little screen time, kicking ass and taking names with beauty, charisma, and awesomeness, then it’s about damn time we see him have a significant role like Qu Yuan 🙂

        My biggest complaint of Hua Qiangu (apart from the epic mess, etc.) was that Ma Ke had WAY TOO LITTLE SCREEN TIME!

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          YES EXACTLY. I was looking to every moment SJJ would show up on my screen.

          I actually agree with them because let’s face it, the general audience (particularly younger audiences) prefer pretty faces. I mean, I love All Quiet in Peking cuz the script and acting are EFFING AWESOME, but the fact remains that the TV ratings for this drama wasn’t good because the cast is mostly old guys who are awesome actors but not pretty.

          Which is probably why Shanying brought on younger actors who are also pretty to look at. At least in the case of NiF and Disguiser, that definitely helped boosted the ratings. Well also because Disguiser aired on Hunan.

          I have to make time for All Quiet in Peking sometime. I’ve enjoyed Liu Ye as a film actor so I’d really like to see him in a drama.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          Actually when Hou Hongliang left Shanying mothership to form his own company, it’s pretty obvious he had this in mind: to develop younger actors who can star in idol dramas to attract younger audiences. Wang Kai is one of the younger actors who was handpicked by HHL back in the day and one of the younger actors they’ve been developing. Along with Wang Ou, the actor whole played Yujin, and the young actress who played Yuwen Nian, these are some of the younger actors of the company (with the rest being veterans like Liu Yijun, Liu Mintao, Jin Dong, etc.)

          While Shanying dramas have good critics reviews and win awards, etc., the fact is that they don’t make that much money. It’s the idol dramas that general populace and younger audiences like to watch, which means it’s those dramas that will get the TV ratings and earn money.

          For years Shanying have been forced to hire young popular actors from other production companies to headline their dramas, which means they’ve been losing a lot of profit and aren’t getting the popularity for their own actors who they want to develop.

          With the success of Nirvana and Disguiser, finally the effort HHL and his team have been making are starting to pay off. They’ve won the love of the general populace as well as the critics and their young actors (with Wang Kai being the most obvious example) being well on their way to making a splash in the young/general audience market.

          Hence the unending waves of bad scandals targeting them, because they are now threatening the profits of their competitors.

          But judging from the latest goss it seems that the scandals actually made Shanying actors (Wang Kai + Jin Dong) even more popular … you know what they say: no publicity is bad publicity 🙂

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          I haven’t heard any rumors about Jin Dong but those of Kai Kai made a huge splash on weibo, and they were all very, very stupid. In a way, I guess he got a taste of his popularity, but still.

          Is the actress who plays Yuwen Nian in any other dramas?

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          With Nirvana + Disguiser, the rewards are two-fold: great word of mouth/reviews + MONEY$$$

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          The actress who plays Yuwen Nian is in the Fox Hill Legend drama. Her and Wang Kai’s participation in that drama was part of an exchange deal in return for Hu Ge starring in Nirvana.

          Yeah Wang Kai’s “scandals” was like everywhere, and not just on Weibo. I was bombarded with them and I was just like “OMG WTF *SIGH*”

          Well at least it proves that he really is famous cuz otherwise there’d be no point in all the hate directed at him. Clearly he got in the way of some competitors’ profit…

          But hey, he’s got all these endorsements now and he’s gotten lots of drama/movie role offers so he came out of it all right 🙂

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          Haha thanks for the info; I’d never heard of or seen Ma Ke’s work, so I can’t say I have nay particular faith in him or whatnot, but at least, I can keep an open mind. As for Ming Tai, yeah, not Hu Ge’s best work by a long shot. The biggest plus wasn’t JUST the other characters (personally I feel like Ming Lou was more of a main character than perhaps Ming Tai even thought that’s what they like to promote), it was the relationships between the characters, supporting and main that really made the show so enjoyable. Ming Tai alone wasn’t great, but Ming Tai’s tensions yet underlying care for his brothers, that was worth watching. In one particular interview, Hu Ge did say he wasn’t completely comfortable playing Ming Tai; he only continued through with it because after Nirvana, he wanted to keep working with such a talented crew of actors and staff. He said that originally Ming Tai he felt was too young for him, and even after aging the character for Hu Ge, he still felt like he was past the age of playing someone like Ming Tai. Ming Tai as the youngest is someone with a mischievous side, who likes to 撒嬌 and 賣萌, someone who is like a little boy. Haha. He said himself that he felt very uncomfortable and wasn’t too happy with the result because he’s someone who, despite his naturally quirky hilarious personality, isn’t really someone who can play the 傻白甜 character, which is essentially Ming Tai.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          And as for MCS’s Gary Stu-ness, I totally agree. BUT I’m more of a romantic sometimes. Despite my harsh critiques and rates of dropping crappy dramas, I actually really like some classic tropes and unrealistic fantasy-ism. I like (to a certain extent at least…nothing too blatant and over please…looking at you tdramas and Yumama) Gary stu-es and ridiculous plots and crappy angst and occasional needs of rescuing, provided that there’s something worth watching like quality, characters, actors, something. If it’s just plain crap, then forget it. But I’m actually rather tolerating of classic drama tropes. Or tropes in general (hence why’ve I put up with the numerous crappy fanfiction I have to sift through to find a good one or two). I guess you can attribute it to some unrealistic, naive, immature little girl side of me, but hey, can’t help it. Which is why Nirvana was so IT for me. It had enough romanticism and unrealisticness, while still being of high quality in both plot and production. That’s just so perfect for me. Like Nirvana is too serious for some people who stick with idol dramas, and a tad too not-quite-there for other who stick with high quality historically accurate epics like Three Kingdoms, but for me it’s sort of the perfect medium.

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          i totally agree with you! Ma Ke is an amazing actor Sha Jie Jie stole my heart in the Journey of Flower.
          im really looking forward for his role in this drama. I heard that Journey of Flower season 2 has been release and in this season Jie jie has a love interest!?!? has anyone one seen it?

        • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

          I haven’t seen the modern sequel version of Hua Qiangu so I can’t comment on it…

          As for Ming Tai, honestly the age thing is NOT an excuse (if you’re a good enough actor). Thing with Hu Ge is that he’s working hard to change from idol actor to serious actor and I appreciate his effort, but honestly he’s still got a long way to go. Watch the “2 young beauties” of All Quiet in Peking and you’ll notice that these age 30+ actors are playing age 20+ characters with no obstacle or unnaturalness, none of the AWKWARD characteristics that Hu Ge very obviously had while playing Ming Tai. TBH I felt uncomfortable just watching his Ming Tai because his discomfort with the character was broadcasting to me through the screen!

          Not to compare but Wang Kai is such a manly dude in real life and he played the gay fashionista so naturally that everyone thought (and many still do think) he’s gay. Wang Kai was 30+ when he played Fang Mengwei in AQIP, a 20+ hot-blooded idealistic young 少爺 (quite like Ming Tai’s character) and his performance was SO GOOD that even with such little screentime he made deep impressions in audiences and critics’ minds. It was his great performance in AQIP that landed him the role of Jingyan in Nirvana and the rest is history.

          Just like Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, his performance as a developmentally disabled young lad was SO CONVINCING that people seriously thought he was actually disabled (when he’s not), and Leo was only a teenager at the time. Just like Eddie Redmayne’s Oscar winning performance as Stephen Hawking, he played Stephen Hawking’s life story from a 20+ young genius to an old man, going from a healthy young man to gradually becoming more and more disabled, his psychological and physical difficulties being conveyed with action instead of words. He was so natural in the role (and prepared very much for it by going to clinics to observe sufferers of the disability and speaking with the health workers and spending time with Stephen Hawking + family) that Stephen Hawking was moved to tears after watching the film.

          My point is that as an actor, it’s your job to be fully immersed and comfortable in the role you’re taking up. Being “different” to the character you’re playing is NOT an excuse because hello, you’re an ACTOR. Your job is to ACT and portray vastly different people from all walks of life and be CONVINCING while you’re playing pretend.

  3. 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

    I have a great feeling about this one. Of course, I like Ma Ke. So I search and watch some of his previous wotks. I am impressed with his acting in the movie when he palyed as an HIV patient. So I think that he will be able to pull this off. Besides, he will act against Qiao Zhen Yu who is a good actor, so both of them can compliment each other in term of acting. I am into the history, so it is a fresh take on the part of history that I did not know before. i am impressed with the ambition of the production team. They are, to me, like a bunch of scholars who wish to make this story available for younger generation. From the interview, the writer would like to introduce the story of Yonger Qu Yuan, not only the despair life that becomes the dragon boat legend. So I will wait to see.?

    PS: Ma Ke looks very handsome. ??

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      totally agree with you which is why I’m very much looking forward to this drama! 🙂

  4. 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

    He looks really good in those pics! For some reason he reminds me of a young Gilbert Lam.

    • 25 thoughts on “Sneak Peek of Ma Ke as Qu Yuan in Song of Phoenix

      It’s the bottom half of the face 🙂

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