Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

After giving birth, Ruby Lin is now officially back in business, producing and starring as the female lead in an upcoming Taiwanese drama My Dear Boy, alongside Derek Zhang (Prince of Wolf) and Zhou Xun’s husband, Archie Kao. That cracks me up! Wallace Huo just starred in 2 projects with Zhou Xun. Trading work partners? XD Not much of the synopsis is known except for it’s about our heroine wanting to love but always encountering the wrong people, a story of forgiveness and learning from them.

Booting Ceremony 5/31:

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Love, love, love what she wore for the press conference, the golden neckline makes a splash and is classy.

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She is glowing!

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With her leading male, Derek Zhang.

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Love Triangle.

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Directed by Xu Fu Jun (In Love, If I Love You) and written by Xu Yu Ting (Life Plan A and B, Apple in Your Eye), My Dear Boy begins filming.

Via: 01

  1. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    Indeed, she’s glowing! Nowadays, I prefer Ruby as a producer lol

  2. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    I love that Ruby is doing a Taiwanese drama for her comeback. I wish some of the older Taiwanese stars would do that once in a while. Like I know their careers are more focused in Mainland but doesn’t hurt to come back. I applaud Ruby for that!

    • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

      She is doing tiwanese drama because she wants to raise her child without flying back and forth to different locations. Motherhood is first for her. I always thought Archie was taller when watching csi. Heh

  3. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    Wooo, I really like her looks at that event. She looks so natural there, no excessive make-up and bright lipstick like everyone else now a days, hopefully she keeps that looks for her drama too, I see the drama poster is pretty good too!

  4. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    In the first few pics, the main male lead looks a little like Qiao Zhen Yu!

  5. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    My Dear Boy…the title alone tells us about an older woman-younger man love story.

  6. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    Is Archie still married to Zhou Xun? rumors were flying about a divorce.

  7. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    Ruby Lin’s never impressed me with any of the dramas she’s produced. Almost all of them were awful, and she was too old for most of her roles as well. The only ones worth watching were her short films. I honestly think she’s one of the worst actress-turned-producers.

    • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

      Like Fan BB, and sometimes Yang M, Tang Y, ABaby, LSS. A good number of other post-’80s actresses with similar level of fame. R Lin is too focused on the grandstanding aspect in her dramas. Every major plot twist revolves around her in her dramas. Especially period ones. C-dramas need to have more dramas that have a good number of interesting characters. Not just a glorified leading lady and her long list of princely admirers (ala F4 of Meteor Garden). Plus insignificant minions who sacrifice themselves – or enemies that the heroine will squash like a bug – so that she can rise to the top of the food chain. And they always tout these dramas as having such intelligent, capable and virtuous heroines. It is as if I say I am a genius all the time, then I must be one and you should all worship me. I don’t find it very palatable. I recall “Princess Weiyoung” comparing itself with Nirvana IF in its trailers and promotions. ;-P I’m waiting to see if Wallace Chung is doing something similar to this too in his upcoming dramas, just with the gender switch.

      This is one of the many reasons why I cannot help you write Cdrama blog posts, dear Kappy. People will end up not reading AVV anymore.

      • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

        LOLOLOLOL @ Anon, that was harsh but very truthful and I would read your blog because they are just what I’m thinking too, probably how most people feel too.

        But it’s sad that it’s not only Ruby’s dramas that are like that, her hubby Wallace next palace drama is following that trend too. It’s always about the main girl getting framed and tortured by some evil & overly jealous women, and then at the end of the show the audience would only like those minions who helped and sacrificed for the main gal.
        Most of all the most liked dramas out there now strictly follow that plot line. Legend of Zhen huan, Lan lin wang, princess Lan lin wang, Legend of Luzhen, Journey of flower, Wei young, 3 lives 3 world, all those only revolve around one single actress and her gangs or minions. The reason that made Ruby’s productions a bit more ridiculous than others is because of her directing a story that makes herself like…the best of the best lol, sounds quite narcissistic. If it was back then when she was still young and even more prettier than now, I kind of think she’ll receive less criticisms.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          The reason for the trend is because

          1. Most of the actresses mentioned have outgrowned their male counterparts in terms of fame and star power. You cannot find many male actors in the same age range who have greater influence and audience affinity than them. They deserve the focus, and they need to solidify their positions, that’s why they gravitate towards such roles which place more emphasis on the main female leads. Compare to Yang Yang, Li Yifeng, Lu Han and Kris Wu, I’d take Yang Mi and Zhao Liying any day. The new batch of younger actors simply don’t have the same appeal as actors. I can’t say I’m upset about that, because I like how girls get more chances to lead their own dramas since they often don’t get the same opportunities in film.

          2. A lot of the projects mentioned are adaptions of web novels, and most web authors are females. For such works to be popular, a lot of times the writer tend to fulfill their female readers’ (as well as their own) fantasies, which is why there is often a reverse harem situation. This is not unique to female centric dramas though. I mean, Jin Yong’s Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre is like the blueprint of harems. You have a bunch of insanely pretty ladies falling in love with an average-looking, super lucky but indecisive dude. At least the girls have more redeeming qualities.

          3. The point about the female lead quashing her enemies. I’m sort of conflicted about that. I like it because it just makes me feel good. Honestly, I’m not sure if I want my female leads to be more challenged because I’ll probably hurt for them if they are tripped by the minor characters. I guess it’s because I’m often frustrated by conflicts which drag on longer than necessary. It used to be that the female lead is bullied constantly, waiting for her prince charming to save her. The villains only get their comeuppance right at the end. I think dramas often go to the extremes. Perhaps there can be a balance point, but if I had to choose, I’d prefer what is trendy right now instead of the old ways.

          Finally, I agree with everything @yoyo_oy has to say about Ruby Lin’s productions. I mean, she’s always the prettiest and smartest girl in her dramas, and that is also emphasised in the drama as well. She would have perhaps convinced me 10, 15 years ago. But now? I also don’t get her obsession with acting out her younger counterpart as well. There’s no way I’d believe that she looks 15 at 40. She definitely could have found a younger actress to act out her teenage years.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          Oh. We left out Zheng Shuang.
          For actors of that generation, Hu Ge and Wallace Huo had a greater variety of roles. WH may be doing Emperor Gary Stu next, but at least he was in Strange Hero YZM; detective/thriller film/drama with Sandra Ma and Qin Hailu respectively; Tian Xia Di Yi. I am not planning on watching Wallace’s Ru Yi, so I’m not clear on the plot. Hu Ge’s acting can be very nuanced and he’s often pretty good regardless of plot. Bitter Coffee, Unbeatable, The Myth had messy plots. Huang Xuan and Chen Xiao may be from that generation too and they are as good as or better than most of those post 80s ladies. As may be Mao Zijun, Qi Ji, Han Dong. Mao Zijun may need a greater diversity in his roles. Zhu Yawen may be pretty good too. I haven’t seen much of his work. The topics of many of his dramas are not my cup of tea. Actually, Zhu Yawen’s wife seems like a pretty good actress but doesn’t get many roles, so it’s hard to say. I had a soft spot for LSS and ZLY, but there had been too many Mary Sues. I find it hard to watch every one of their dramas. The first 10-20 eps of Hua Qian Gu was ok, but the ending was particularly hard to swallow. I probably like LSS, YM their personal charm and other qualities more than their acting chops. Not everyone is well-suited for LSS’ subtle acting style.

          One aspect may be that women are judged more by looks rather than skills, while men may be more judged for their competence/wealth. The old proverb for a great matching couple, lang cai nv mao. Literally, doesn’t that refer to a lady’s looks and her guy’s talents/capabilities? Would an actress who resembles Huang Bo achieve his level of fame?

          The taste for the general public can be rather unusual, as shown by the current US political leader in the White House. The taste of the general public, democracy, and capitalism don’t always push the greatest talents to the fore. I read how producer Hou Hongliang and his colleagues used to have trouble finding a network who will broadcast their dramas before Nirvana. I have to admit my own personal taste is far enough from the general public. I cannot take nearly as many Mary Sue plots. I typically see lots of glowing reviews for 3l3w. I FF’d through some episodes. Not my thing though parts of the mythology are charming. Mark Zhao had to suffer thunderbolts for YM in both of his characters. One of the essential elements of a successful F4 love drama.
          The general public is deeply in love with F4 love plots and can keep watching F4 dramas with the same few dozen favorite actors. I suspect there may be a lot of talented actors and actresses languishing in obscurity just because they didn’t start their career doing F4 type dramas. There are other post 80s actresses like Wan Qian with potential but with non-spectacular future. (Not rivaling ABaby and ZShuang’s financial powers anytime soon.) Wang Ziwen has been improving over the years and is finally getting more popular.

          One of the things that bothers me about C, and probably K too, dramas is that they like to whitewash all the leading OTPs, making them look like the paragon of virtue amid the sea of evil palace schemers. Idk why they all have to start off being a beautiful young maiden with a heart of gold. The OTPs can have a few humanly flaws and still be endearing. I find the scriptwriters are either lazy, lacking confidence, or not skilled enough at writing more layered characters.

          Even Empress Wu and the dozens of other Empresses who had been adapted into dramas, all had to start off having a heart of gold. Surely out of those dozens of palace women, they ALL cannot have a heart of gold?

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          How many of these actors can get top billing over the actresses? Someone has the same level of influence (or popularity) in TV, yet has better acting.

          Hu Ge? Probably. Honestly, Hu Ge wasn’t considered a “proper” actor before Nirvana in Fire. NiF did wonders for his career, but I disagree that he’s a “pretty good” actor now. Better but he’s still very himself.

          Wallace Huo, on the other hand, has begun playing the second fiddle. Prior to Liu Shi Shi getting her break in Scarlet Heart, he was lead in Strange Hero YZM over her, but now? I don’t see him being lead over the ladies who now have more commercial appeal. He’s also definitely not a great actor. Even his role in Ru Yi, he was chosen by the investors for his commercial value but the director’s choice was actually Zhang Bo.

          Huang Xuan, on the other hand, can be the actor. I’m not sure what his connections are, but he’s certainly had a lot of great projects to choose from judging by the directors he’s worked with and will be working with in film. Tribe and Empires is also a huge production. If TnE is a hit, he can probably get at least equal billing with the ladies in TV. Personally though, I’m not a fan of his looks.

          Guys like Chen Xiao, Mao Zi Jun, Qi Ji have absolutely no chance. Han Dong will get roles from Tang Ren since he’s their golden boy, but I’m not a fan of him as well. The only one I actually like from the actors you’ve listed is Zhu Ya Wen. With ZYW, he doesn’t get big name female leads (other than Zhou Xun but Red Sorghum not HIS drama). I tried to watch him in City Still Believes in Love but Michelle Chen is such a horrible actress I just can’t. I need to have a lead I like and a secondary lead I don’t dislike for me to finish a drama.

          I’d admit it’s mostly just a personal thing though. I prefer the leading ladies to the leading men. None of the guys gives me more comfortable vibes than YM, ZLY, LSS and TY, so I’d rather watch all the female centric dramas nowadays. Like what you said, they have more “personal charm”. Their male leads are also mostly tolerable. I think my preferences do tend to align with the general public’s. It’s not that I love dramas like Princess Weiyoung and 3L3W. I ffwded through all of Princess Weiyoung and half of 3L3W as well. BUT, I can say that objectively that they are better and more entertaining dramas than the likes of say Old Nine Gates and Chusen. Those are probably not what you meant anyway, but my point is that in addition to the ladies having the greater appeal, their dramas tend to have the better plots as well.

          I understand that there are some actors “languishing in obscurity”, but YM and ZLY didn’t start their careers doing “F4 dramas”. It’s not an issue of whether the actresses and actors are doing these sort of dramas, but what dramas were fashionable in the generation/period that they came out in. The actors languishing are not languishing because they didn’t start their careers with such dramas. It’s all a matter of luck. Wan Qian just doesn’t have the luck, whereas Wang Zi Wen doesn’t have the qualities. Not everyone can be a Zhou Xun. With WZW’s appearance and height, she needs to be exceptional and exceptionally lucky to get a break. I’d argue that she’s doing pretty well now for herself given her limitations.

          The white-washing of leading OTPs is an Asian thing and it won’t go away. The main characters are unlikely to be evil. They can be ruthless, but their actions must be governed by morals. For China, they probably need to do that in case of censorship. For Korea, there are dramas like Devil where the main character was an antihero. You can’t get a good ending with an antihero since he/she needs to get his/her comeuppance though. I doubt that this will change in the short future, but I’d be very interested in less-than-perfect leads as well. The Empress of China changed because of Fan Bing Bing. With another actress/producer she may not have decided to portray the character in such good light. Then again, EoC never branded itself as a proper historical drama, so it’s to be expected. In a true biopic you will get your Wu Zetian, but your leading lady probably won’t be Fan Bing Bing but someone like Ning Jing instead.

          P.S. Apologies for the messy argument. Not thinking straight now.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          It is hard for us to discuss long topics like this in disorganized fashion. I was incoherent and had a lot of typos.

          Oh, even with the FF button I couldn’t watch much of Mystic 9 and Chusen. For me, it’s not easy to watch W Chan, Li YF, and plus some of the artists/singers who got very famous in Korea or wherever. There are exceptions. I tried picking up M9 about 8 times and never managed to go beyond 10 eps. I don’t find HX great looking either. But I find there’s a common bias that women are more judged for their looks. So fewer people focus on men’ls looks anyway. Look at global cosmetic sales for men vs women. That’s quite telling.

          Personally, one of the troubles in shipping the actresses is their roles. Historically and in real life, female roles and powers are much more limited compared to male ones. Look at world political leaders, scientists, economists, doctors, composers. There are more female docs now but still. For every 1 major female leader, there are lots more male ones. It doesn’t help that some of the powerful females are also daughters or wives of influential figures themselves. And then of the few that manage to be successful, there are corrupt ones like Margaret Chan, the current head of the World Health Org who spent about US$1000 a night on her hotel during her biz trip. She’s former Director of Health in HK.
          LOCH and ROCH have some great female roles. But it’s not too common in more recent dramas.
          As I’m getting older and seeing more dramas, I remember less details of all dramas. I first watched LSS in LOCH, Yang Family Saga, CP3. I didn’t have a lasting impression of her except that she’s pretty and graceful. CP3’s Long Kui was strangely clingy to brother. I’ve only watched half an episode of her Liao Zhai.
          I thought YM and LSS both became huge successes for Gong and BBJX. Almost indistinguishable plots. YM’s voice is very high pitched. I prefer Tong Liya.

          We mostly mentioned names that are in more or less in the idol genre. And mostly TV drama actors. So there are still a lot of names left out. I don’t memorize actors’ birth decades either.

          When the dramas put out a long string of female-centric dramas, it feels less realistic than the more male-centric dramas like Nirvana.
          Also, at times I ponder, if not for all the emperors throughout the years, how much do people really care about all the harem ladies? It’s just that with the deluge of Empress/Princess dramas, Tong Hua, and various amnesia, time-traveling, body-swapping dramas, with Mary Sue. It feels particularly blown out of proportion. Greater separation between drama and reality when it comes to the depiction of women.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          @anon

          It’s interesting that you point out that the female-centric dramas are more detached from reality. But why is it so? Is it really because the story is bad and plot development overly simplistic? Or is it because we are too used to men being the ones in power? Especially for historical/period dramas since we know that women used to be the weaker gender. It’s just something to ponder. I think that both are contributing factors.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          There are plenty of successful male role models for Cdramas to study from. Drama Gary’s are usually successful . So it’s easy to model a Gary after the myriad of successful real life men too.
          On the other hand, there are fewer successful female ones to choose from. It could also be that highly realistic portrayal of successful female characters could be seen as a bit threatening. If a female is so successful that it may dwarf the boyfriend’s or husband’s accomplishment. That is like…. heresy to some.
          Sorry I put some comments in the wrong spot.
          More than one possible explanation, I suspect.

      • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

        Now now, we can’t just blame the girls! The boys have their own harem when it’s hero-centered too. Lol.

        I think writers nowadays are just lazy to be creative (and to be honest, it is hard to be creative) hence they create different ways to torture the said protagonist in the hands of different villains. Rinse and repeat. Makes life easier when they are adapting novels, lifting the selected cool parts and molding it into their cookie cutter storyline.

        Find pretty faces and people will eat it UP. *repeat*

        Anon, I do appreciate honest reviews! =)

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          @kitai, yoyo_oy, Kappy,
          Please do discuss non-Mary Sue dramas on the rare occasions that they appear.

          I find it difficult to find non-MS dramas with likable leads. I often settle for dramas like Surgeons with saintly leads. Some day, I may check out Zhang Yi Shan’s Yu Zui.

          It’s hard to write up MS dramas bc when I watch those dramas, I mostly see a few types of characters. “Heroine”, “admirers”, “enemies/bugs”, “minions”. The plot isn’t that different from other MS dramas. It’s hard to be interested enough to write about it. Then if you do write it, wouldn’t it just be a cut-and-paste from other MS dramas? I cannot get myself motivated enough to write minute details of how this MS differs from all the previous ones. Majority of popular dramas are in this category. The rest you have to search hard for.

          I think Jin Yong’s Wei Xiao Bao has a bigger harem than Heaven Sword. Author Gu Long seems obsessed with dancing and singing ladies in his real life as well as his novels. My uncles and aunts watched those harem wuxia stuff. I was too young to remember details.

          While there are some powerful biz women in Asia, the position of the average lady is not that high. That also partly contributes the cravings for the Mary Sue dramas. MS dramas are the antidotes to the average working girl’s blues? Cheaper than therapy. Not as fattening as chocolates. Gender wage gap also prevails throughout the world. There are very few women in top-paying jobs. Making dramas an easy outlet for everyday blues.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          @anon

          It’s difficult to even find non-MS dramas. Is Surgeons a non-MS drama? I mean, Lu Chen Xi (Bai Bai He) is pretty MS as well. Also, MS is a gender neutral concept really. The guys are all MSs too. Strictly speaking, are any dramas even non-MS? A lot of the characters are unrealistically perfect. It’s just choosing between slightly MS, average MS, and very MS.

          Sadly with non-MS dramas like In the Name of People, I can’t get into the context. And despite enjoying the first few episodes, it dragged on as the story progressed. How do you discuss a drama you are ffwd-ing so much? I wish Chinese dramas will go back to their (sorta) standard 40-episodes length so the plot can be more tightly knitted.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          @anon, who’s a good non-Mary Sue? I chose a sassy Sharla Cheung Man all they way harhahrhar. Can’t think of anyone in recent years. I suppose Vicki Zhao’s goofy Lu Jianping and Xiao yanzi are not that Mary Sue as much although they are nice people at times. I also agree Zhou Xun is lucky like what’s mentioned earlier, she is very old too but her young looks is still advantageous, although I haven’t seen all her projects but the ones I’ve seen, she is always portrayed as a strong-minded person, and she does match them, she prob doesn’t seem to fit in Mary sue roles so it’s good not to see her in them.

          I am actually one of those who would totally complain about how actresses look, but I kinda wanna defend that it’s not exactly my requirement though, it’s those story lines fault, who told there to always be 3-4 guys fighting over a girl and if she totally got nothing good about her attitude and looks are also bad as well then it’s just a natural headache. Like, I really love Ella Chen because her character is always in line with who she is, her storylines match up with her too, but she’s not in C-dramas lol. But I am quite annoyed by Dilireba’s Li Hui Zhen bc she’s not ugly and purposedly act like a messy head person that’s also clumsy, it’s hard for someone pretty to act ugly just as much as the other way around.

          It’s ok to be Mary Sue but it just got to be done correctly, the person got to match it, remember who was an extremely good mary sue? Joey Wong all the way. Seriously, Joey played that one same ghost woman who is weak (sometimes), gentle, compassionate, womanly over and over again and there was absolutely no problem. That’s just because she really do match her roles a lot, How come Liu yifei was so beautiful and the most classic looking girl up to date in 2010 and doesn’t have her CGS done that well? IDK, I actually blame the storyline in that case, and even people looked computerized. These days technology is part of the blame for bad acting because it ruined how everything is supposed to look realistic, but then maybe that’s nature-friendly though if they don’t have to go bomb real places. I just went back and rewatch A Chinese Legend 1991 and look at how spooky-spooky extra spooky those places were, I think it was a bit spookier than CGS 1990 in a way, hard to believe how brave those people were, I would never step a foot in those places even with tons of people. The greenroom it is, the much more humane way, but quality just wouldn’t really satisfy me as much as natural places.

          But even if girls don’t play Mary Sues, they’ll still get stereotype as the big mouth annoying girl, the evil try-na-be lady, overly cutesy one, etc. I guess whatever they chose as long as they match it enough to do well on it that can leave a good impression behind.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          Thank you @@kitai, yoyo_oy for highlighting the lesser MS roles. Very interesting read.

          Although I like watching beautiful actors/actresses at times, I remind myself not to be too vain. Not to spend too much effort on outer appearance and the more superficial aspects. I read that Mark Zuckerberg typically just wears a dark/black hoodie and similarly themed simple bottom day after day. His reasonably impressive wife doesn’t try to look like a supermodel either. They are lots of people of that sort too. It’s just that people like that do not end up getting presented in dramas. Even if they did, a Mark Zuckerberg would end up getting dressed into a Yang Yang. If one spends so much time to care for hair, skin to look like Lin Zhiling, there won’t be much time left to do substantial things. Beauty is a bigger risk/barrier to female careers than male ones. The more critical we are of feminine beauty, the more it holds women back in the society in general.

          About YY, I actually didn’t mind Love020 as much. At least when the dramas talk about using principal component analysis for data reduction to increase gaming speed and that sort of stuff. The slightly technical discussions actually didn’t sound wrong. ZS needs to work on her deer in the headlights acting though. She seems to find too many opportunities to do that in many dramas that she is in.

          I know, kitai. Sometimes we just have to choose the lesser of the evils in the world. Hope for the lesser MS drama.

          Wuxin1 wasn’t too MS-heavy. At least with Surgeons I can try to remember the Chinese thoracic/surgical terms, It’s not the worst way to spend time.

          Have a great weekend!

      • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

        i would totally read ur post. I have found like 90% of Cdramas, at least the ones i know to be adapted from novel. I wonder do they have shortage of scriptwriter, screenwriters and wheres the originality. I find i couldnt watch as much C dramas as i have hoped- either they dont interest me, or a trope repeated multiple times under diff titles and diff faces. And sometimes it gets frustrating when a good actress you root for is paired up with a wooden actor- then theres so much of this connections and power play thing in casting for C dramas. so tiresome.
        Then nowadays there so much plagiarism of China lifting works from singers songwriters in Korea and pass it off as their works. I grow so tired with China fake etc. I get the finger from local koreans in korea ..oh from China from China.

        • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

          You mean local K’s flipped the bird at you while you were in K? Or is it some kind of finger-pointing like accusation? There is a lot of anti-C sentiments in many parts of the world. Including Paris, Vancouver, UK region, parts of (the US, southeast Asia, I’m sure there are others). I experienced some hostilities from K in non-K universities before. Outside of K, there are often ways to avoid K troubles.
          I agree with you. I find it hard to follow certain favorite actresses’ works too.
          Being too commercially minded has its drawbacks. A section of the C society is very commercial-driven.
          Entertainment-wise, I think many actors with greatest visibility and fame have the tendency to engage in non-original, highly commercial projects. The same formula has generated lots of money, so that trend will most likely stay until this MS formula ceases to make money.
          If good cdramas don’t have a big enough audience, they won’t make enough money. They won’t be able to make other good dramas in the future. They need funding. The taste of the general public has a great influence in determining the sort of drama tv production companies produce. Hopefully movies like Legend of Demon Cat will be good.

          There are lots of plagiarism in the West too, but may be not as many. There’s Google suing Uber. Uber’s self-driving car design diagram looks identical to Google’s except for the company logo. Uber’s s-d car division head has resigned and refused to share details with the courts this month. There was some kind of research scientist at Pfizer in La Jolla California who had to leave for adding “fiction” in her publications. She got caught using the same figure on 5 or 7 different scientific papers. All her papers had been withdrawn by now. She now works for a new small company no one has heard of. There are quite a few US companies where the CEOs/CFOs had to be replaced due to various scandals. 80 Swiss banks were implicated in another tax evasion scandal had to make deals and pay fine to the US firm. The world is often harsher to C when it comes to C scandals.

    • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

      Ruby is still very pretty but one can’t deny age and grace anymore. With her advantage as a power-wielding actress and producer, I was hoping she would branch out and cast rookie/upcoming actors as leads. The newbies need a place to shine! Still waiting for her to understand that power. Lol.

      • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

        Especially now that there is a lack of good up-and-coming youngsters in the TW drama scene, she probably could have done something. It’s not like for Chinese dramas where the drama won’t sell if you choose random leads (even her own drama with Yuan Hong had a hard time getting a timeslot). With her status and connections in TW she can probably get her drama aired regardless whom she chooses. Plus I’m sure the TW audience are more receptive towards newbies. She’s not against promoting young people though; I think she liked Mao Zijun as lot iirc. But she needs to take the bold move of making them leads since she can.

    • 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

      C-producers/directors have financial targets. C-p/d are known for having great biz acumen for predicting what dramas/movies will sell well. They and the writers, feel that women in real life are not as high-achieving as men. So they need to spice things (well, the female characters) up more when they make dramas and films. I think that leads to the excessive aggrandizing of female lead attributes. Typically, amped up female leads will have a bigger audience than the more realistic female leads.
      Sometimes public psychology also comes to play. imho, a good number of people like to believe that they are special. They indeed are by some measures, but not always so in the public eye.
      I see some minor perils in MS syndrome for the audience. I feel that it sends some people the wrong messages. “I’m more important than many other people”. For many princess/empress dramas, there’s only 1 super-Mary, and a lot of 2nd through 10th fiddles. But I suspect a lot of audience members relate more, and care more about the super-Mary than the fiddles. The world has 6+ billion people. Not every female will turn out or resemble a super-Mary. Some ladies can act out a bit more like a super MS in real life without the real-life skills to back it up. To make things sort, i think sometimes it can increase egocentric qualities in susceptible population. Confidence need to be backed by similar amount of skills. Otherwise, it could easily become arrogance. There are so many multidisciplinary collaborations in many industries these days. I’m comfortable being a good team player in a big team. I don’t have to be a Mary Sue or Gary Stu. Mary Sue and Gary Stu rhymes. So GS is the male MS in this kind of lingo.
      imho, one should try to excel or work hard in what you do best. Even if sometimes you end up second fiddle, it’s also still ok. It’s not realistic to always be the best in everything. I’m perfectly fine with actors who are in a great film or drama doing non-lead roles. I see nothing wrong with that.

  8. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    Ruby is pretty but she look old next to Derek. She should of cast an older male lead or cast a young and rookie actress as the female role lead.

  9. 28 thoughts on “Ruby Lin returns to dramaland in My Dear Boy with Derek Zhang

    I hope Ruby drama become big success. We need more and more female success.

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