Recently, Taiwan’s “drama-watching circle” has been stirred up by a newly released costume drama.
After being aired on the video platform Disney+, this mainland drama series "Lanxiang Ruyu" quickly shot to the top of the popular charts in Taiwan, leaving behind many major overseas productions that were launched at the same time.
What’s even more surprising is that starring Tan Songyun topped the Google Trend search list in Taiwan on September 22. The name of a mainland actor surpassed all the hot spots on the island that day.
This craze has only happened six months after the Chinese drama "Chasing Jade" became a hit in Taiwan in March this year.
"It's like watching a restored version of "Dream of Red Mansions""
"Orchid Fragrance Remains Like Old" does not follow the conventional ancient puppet route.
The story begins when a wealthy woman, Shen Jialan, suffers a massacre. She takes on the identity of a maid named "Xu Lanxiang" and enters the home of her former fiancé, Lin Jinqi, struggling to survive.
Taiwan's "Network Thermometer" analysis pointed out that the drama focuses on the plight of women, and the relationship between the characters presents a warm and flexible state. The "imperfect but real" character personality is the attraction of this drama. Even the villains are three-dimensional and full.
The visual presentation of this drama has also been highly praised: "The pictures are rich in oriental aesthetics", "The garden architecture is simple and elegant" and "It has a very classical charm". Some Taiwanese viewers described watching this drama as "like watching a restored version of "Dream of Red Mansions"".
Behind the scenes, the crew invested 4 months in design preparation and 8 months in construction to build a 40-acre Chinese-style real-life garden. The pavilions, courtyards, pavilions and boats each have their own style. The carvings under the corridors and the grass and trees in front of the steps are repeatedly polished. Using ancient paintings as a reference, it not only retains the dynamic charm of Jiangnan gardens, but also incorporates the lively texture of urban fireworks.
Taiwanese viewers began to “look up information”
What really caught the attention of Taiwanese media was not the viewership data itself.
After "Orchid Fragrance Remains Like Us" became popular, an interesting branch emerged in Taiwan's online discussions: after a large number of young viewers followed the show, they actively searched for a set of words that seemed "hard" - military households, Jiaofangsi, and the slave system.
What did the status of military household mean in the Ming Dynasty? What kind of organization is the Jiaofangsi that "Xu Lanxiang" was subjugated to? What were the seasonal customs, folk festivals, and traditional rituals like back then? This knowledge, which is classified under the framework of "East Asian History" in Taiwan's curriculum, has entered the horizons of young people in Taiwan because of a drama.
Some netizens popularized science in social media posts: What is the concept of military households? Generation after generation must serve as soldiers, and generations of ancestors cannot abandon their nationality. The saying, "Good iron cannot be hammered into nails, and good men cannot be soldiers" was the reality at that time.
Taiwan's "United Daily News" commented that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have spent several years "foreignizing" the mainland, inserting Chinese history into "East Asian history", and creating a so-called Taiwan history that "breaks away from the Chinese framework." However, this time, young people no longer rely on teachers to teach, but actively search.
Showing that “getting out of the middle” is a futile effort
Taiwanese media person Xu Chenpin analyzed earlier and pointed out that mainland cultural products continue to be popular in Taiwan, proving that "Chinese culture with the same origin and common resonance can overcome all obstacles."
From the "Marathon" broadcast of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" in Taiwan every New Year, to the successive crazes of "Nirvana in Fire" and "Chasing Jade", mainland costume dramas have always had a strong presence in Taiwan. One good work after another is using the most daily way to reconnect the deliberately alienated cultural connections.
As Taiwanese media commented, politics may be able to "de-Chinese" history courses, but young people have already re-centered Chinese culture through the Internet and movies and dramas.
