corneilius_uk

Xu Hong Dou is career orientated, she is front desk manager at a 5 star Beijing Hotel who has not had a holiday for 3 years because she wants advancement. She is devoted to her job has no relationship, answers her phone at all hours to deal with problems and shares a flat with her college friend who also works in the tourist industry and spends a lot of time travelling. A tragic event in the first episode jolts her out of her mindset and she realises she has nothing more to give so quits her job and honours a promise to travel to Yunnan province for a holiday.

She ends up in a farmstead with several other quirky characters who are also lost and healing and she forms an immediate support group helping each other through tough periods and forming lifelong friendships.

Hong Dou relaxes onto the slower pace, and begins to realise what is important in life, not advancement and strict routine but friendships, relations and enjoying the moment.

Xie Zhi Yao has returned to the vilage after graduating and quiting a job in Bejing in finance, he hates to see his childhood friends struggling and having to leave the village for a better life in the city so has suported several ventures. Internet store, tourist attractions and craft workshops to make the village a desirable destination and build employment.

However the main character here is the environment, shot in a beautiful rustic setting, the side characters are all engaging. The internet web novelist struggling for inspiration, the rich girl who is hiding a secret, the musician living in fear of his father or the tea guru spending his days practising Yoga. And thats just the farmstead. The grannies with their traditional head dresses and the village kids make this the drama you need to watch if you need to chill out, wind down and relax.

This drama focuses on 3 daughters of a prime minister under an emperor who is cruel and ruthless, the oldest daughter, Hunyan has been the surrogate mother to the other 2 daughters after their mother died. 2nd daughter is Wungili who is flighty and fantasies about marrying all the time. The 3rd daughter is Yanyan who is the main character, a willfull and self confident young woman played by Tiffany Tang who might just be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The 3 sisters become embroiled in the power struggles of the country and get drawn into marriages which destroy their their own relationship. This is a story of arranged marriages and dangerous intrigues which results in the sisters being dragged into rival factions and being used to gain power. Yanyan meets her soul mate in Han Derang but they seem destined to be thwarted by the trials and political infighting. This is a high quality production with fantastic cinematography, costume and set design which gives a great insight into the early period of Chinese history between 950 and 1,000 AD.