#chinese bl drama

[heretherebedork]

The expression! His voice! The touch! The hearing aids! Everything is contained within this moment.

[gabrielokun]

[scorbleeo]

Drama Review: Stay with Me (哥哥你别跑)

Source: Google Images

Su Yu, a high school student who lives a simple life with his father, faces a major change when his mother remarries a wealthy man, introducing him to his step-brother Wu Bi. Despite their initial differences, Su Yu being a cold and arrogant top student, while Wu Bi is an unreasonable underachiever, their relationship takes an unexpected turn after an accident. As they gradually warm up to each other, their bond grows stronger. However, when a heated fight arises, their true identities are revealed…

Source: MyDramaList

A Swift And Fun Time

Before we begin, I did not read the novel nor did I watch the first tv adaption. And, I am not planning to do either of that any time soon.

So, regarding Stay with Me, I really appreciated how fast-paced this show was. Honestly speaking, I would have finished it earlier if not because I was not rushing to that last episode. For a drama like this, it's actually very dramatic and if not for the fast pace, I probably might not have enjoyed it as much as I did. Although (I know what I said), because of how much was happening in those 24 episodes, the drama did feel kind of rushed as well.

I understand the events in the last episode did happen in the novel too and in it, it was around the half way mark? However, this is probably an unpopular opinion but even if the events were actually the final chapter in the book, I don't hate it. Sure, I would like an ending where the two of them end up together living their lives happily but I've been hurt by sad BL drama endings before, at least the "state of Wu Bi" was ambiguous in this.

Moving on, Wu Bi's cousin. You know, I thought I would hate this character by the end of the show but I don't. Yes, his little bun is extremely infuriating (it plays no part in anything at all except annoy the hell out of me), and he needs serious help with his possessiveness if we have to label his issue. However, forgo those flaws, he really does love Wu Bi a lot and seriously, if you look at Wu Bi objectively, this boy makes it so hard for his family to love him. I don't know what will happen to the cousin if the second season gets made but I will not be mad if he has a redemption arc. I mean...if he doesn't have one, I am fine with that too.

Last but not the least, I am still very confused with how much I like Su Yu. I guess because I'm more of a Wu Bi person, Su Yu did piss me off a couple of times. Especially when being such a smart person, he's not very smart when it comes to Wu Bi. Like think about it, if he was smarter, he would have listened to Wu Bi's warnings about his family and never go for that appointment because come on, Wu Bi or his stepfather could very well help him find another doctor and make another appointment.

At the end of the day, as much as I have some issues with Stay with Me, ultimately, I still enjoyed watching the show. I've heard that a season 2 has been confirmed so now I guess we just need to pray nothing happens to stall and/or stop production.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

P.S.: If and when season 2 comes, we need more Han Bo Kuang scenes and because I do not know what's in the novel, I am just going to sit here and hope there's a Mao Chong-Bo Kuang pairing even if it's just bromance.

[maxlequeer]

Man this show 🥹

[happypotato48]

This Is A Gay Asian Rant About BL Comments Made By Some Queer Westerners I See Sometimes.

So you know of those gays (usually white) that made dumb tiktok dancing to list of countries that legalized same sex marriage and list of countries that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ poeple as a way to say something racist. yeah i kinda got the same vibes from some comments regard how asian BL is homophobic just cause they don't live up to queer western standard. look, i'm not saying that some BLs and their creators don't deserve criticism regard how they capitalized/exploited queerness for an easy cash grab.

But people need to understand that Asian countries despite recent progress are still very much culturally conservatives. so when people says that thai bl is homophobic and all the characters looks like bunch of straight guys, which is true for some olders thai BLs i'm not gonna denied that. but after all this time and newer BLs generally being very queer and most of creators being out queer themself and poeple still making these comments, i'm annoyed.

And don't get me start on the actors. you don't know them! why are you making assumption and calling them queerbaiter just cause they acts in bl. like maybe they're straight, maybe they're not but what they're definitely doing is making queer content for you know, queer people here. so when you made halfass comments about their sexuality what do you think that made other queer people who still in the closet feels. and when you add the nationality to that, "these thai bl pair are this and that, this korean actor is so ungrateful for his bl past", etc. when our societies are still very much still in progress regard LGBTQIA+ acceptance. it make us living here feels fucking awful like somehow we're lesser queer than people in the west just cause we don't have citibank at pride or some shit.

And the shittiest in my humbled opinion are comments regard censored chinese bls. people do know like, that the creators making these bls are risking their livelihoods for this. that these shows getting make at all are miracles. yes it sucked that they're censored but they're still very much queer shows making by queer people who want to express thier queerness despite the chinese government being the chinese government. when people dimissing these shows as not belonging in queer media, you're also dimissing their creators and audiences as not belonging in the community.

Look what i want to say is that we're trying our best over here, and maybe our best are not up to your liking. the ways we talk and express our queerness maybe still can be perceived as problematic by western queer standard. but these media are our house and you're the guests. for people aren't shitty we appreciated that you're here engaging and loving our media, this is your home too and you're welcome in it. i can speak for myself that i very much love being here on tumblr and interacting with people from all over the world who love BL. but for people who are being shitty sometimes about asian bl.

YOU'RE THE GUESTS, BEHAVE!

[just-naemi]

Reply with the best line you heard in BL 😁 (let's have fun )

[aliceisathome]

I missed this article about the Chinese government, censorship and fandom (with a little insight into why some fans are so batshit crazy*) when it came out.

My very favourite quote:

'The CCP’s attempts to control fandom feel, to some degree, like Wile E. Coyote trying to outwit 100 million Road Runners — many of whom are also trying to outwit each other.'

Fabulous.

tagging some folks who might find this interesting if they haven't already seen it: @absolutebl @heretherebedork @respectthepetty @waitmyturtles

*SOME. I said SOME.

[zhaozi]

Let‘s dance LOVER together!☺️🫶🏻✨

[save-the-data]

Meet You at the Blossom | S01E12

Chinese Drama - 2024, 12 episodes

Episodes | GAGA |  YouTube | iQIYI | WeTV | Viki | Youku | Catalogue

Native Title: #花开有时颓靡无声

A: “Hua Kai You Shi, Tui Mi Wu Sheng” (花开有时, 颓靡无声)

Genres: #Romance #Historical #LGBTQ+

Tags: #Adapted from a Novel

Cast: #Li Le #Wang Yun Kai #Li Jun Liang

[red-hibiscus]

He sounded so distressed as if he thought the aphrodisiac needles somehow made the titties disappear

[heretherebedork]

The intimacy of placing a hearing aid in his ear and being the first voice he heard, of being the first one to see his eyes widen and his little nod.

[gabrielokun]

[dykealloy]

this man is. embarrassingly transparent

[ineffable-opinions]

A Banned BL Series and A Banned BL Sub-genre

GaoGan (High Cadre, 高干) is a sub-genre of danmei, unique to BL from Mainland China. It involves characters who directly hold high position within the Communist Party (be it the political wing or the People’s Liberation Army) or are related to such characters.

Works belonging to this sub-genre was fairly common in the first decade of 2000. Now it's a banned sub-genre and we will get to the specifics of it and how that works.

A little bit about the society in which this sub-genre was created. Back then both Communist party members as well as military members could get away with pretty much anything. Society back then was a little bit more open to such practices and consequences for their actions were very limited. There was very little civilian oversight, so to speak. This meant that not only sons and daughters of high cadre but relatives including extended kin, held positions of power.

Naturally, it became a problem. For the State, I mean.

A lot of leaders now are kids of leaders from the past. They also hold in immense sway in all fields, both business and bureaucracy.

They can bag tenders and participate in those public private partnership projects and reap profits while outsiders would struggle. Laws could be bent and broken and no one could do anything to them. People suffer because of that. But you cannot really go to the police against them. Yeah, pretty messed up.

It is in this context that Addicted (你丫上瘾了) by Chai JiDan (柴鸡��) was first serialized. But it is in no way an extreme or a quintessential gaogan danmei. It's basically campus story in the first half with basic coming of age elements, highschoolers falling in love and lot of it is smut too.

But the threat of what their futures hold because of who they are especially Gu Hai, being the only son of his father who is a General, looms large even in first part. This is underplayed in the series compared to the novel.

Gu Hai grew up in that environment of power and reach. A lot of his rough nature is a product of such unbridled power that followed him from the cradle. His father is domineering. He is similarly domineering but with a holier-than-thou “kind” heart. He rebels against his father’s nature. He doesn't want to be the kind of person his father is. He is at the risk of becoming the monster he is fighting. He is extreme in his means, just as his father (and his late mother) and a bunch of other people such as Gu Yang and Gu Hai’s maternal uncle.

It is contrasted with how gentle and amicable Bai LouYin’s father and stepmother are, and how their lives are completely different. They don't really take any extreme steps and always pave path to reconciliation.

While Addicted sort of shows the contrast, it is not the highlight. There are novels which were written in the beginning of the millennium that showed extreme versions – focused on showing how bad it could get - be it of people getting away with that they should not get away with ideally and all sorts of bad things happening to people who have no control over their lives when it comes to people with power.

Corruption, nepotism and exploitation of power is clearly not a good practice at all. Its critique in Addicted is not on the face. It's very subtle. You need to understand what exactly is going on to understand the politics of Addicted. It is not just a random parent being despotic parent. It is because of very specific social setups. Gu Hai can coax, coerce and buy his way into changing public schools in the middle of semester, get Bai LouYin’s father a good job, treat officers on lower rungs as his personal servants and get things to work in his favour all because of the power he holds by just being General Gu’s heir. No one would dare to report his overreach because no one wants to offend General Gu lest he is less favorable to them in their time of need. Bai LouYin can avail benefits of switching schools and such since he is Gu WeiTing’s step-son.

What would give Gu Hai more power than being General’s son? Being a high cadre member himself. But doesn’t want that. From the beginning of the novel, Gu Hai rejects the military environment he grew up in. He doesn’t want to pursue his father’s footsteps.

Bai LouYin learns this when he pries into what Gu Hai wants to do with his life. Gu Hai makes it clear that he wants to pursue business. Bai LouYin dedicates his life to make that possible for Gu Hai. He does so by means joining PLA and thereby becoming his step-father’s protégé. In exchange, Gu Hai is free to live a free life. When he sets up his own manufacturing business, it is directly linked to supplying to the military and thus the exploitation of his connections that gives him a definite edge over his competitors from less privileged backgrounds continue – now as Bai LouYin’s brother too. So, he actually gets to become a rich man at a young age in his own right. It's not just Gu Hai whose business flourishes thanks at least in part to influence. Gu Yang and Gu Hai’s uncle (who seems to be powerful in his own right) too benefits from their connections.

It's something that Chai JiDan explores in a lot of her other works too, even though Counterattack and Advanced Bravely live action adaptations removed gaogan elements from turning characters into civilians.

That brings us to the de facto ban on gaogan. State doesn't want to encourage such kind of practices. It totally doesn't want it to be an aesthetic or a glorified romantic trope, especially in danmei.

Danmei actually have a mixed history with the State. Chinese government is notorious for crackdowns, jailing authors, shutting down websites, forcing self-censorship and purges that throttled danmei production and distribution.

Lesser known is the part where State benefited from it. There was the shipping of real-life high cadre politicians.

There were also the Little Pinks - groups of presumably young women who are nationalistic verging on jingoism, who would endorse Chinese government and its policies on various platforms. They are called so because their brand of rhetoric first started in the danmei forum of JJWXC, a popular web-publishing platform. Little Pinks started out on this platform, scolding authors and readers who wrote what they didn’t agree with. They have pervaded other social media sites and are compared to the Little Reds of Cultural Revolution. Little Pinks captured public attention. They became quite an eyesore for the general public and other BL fans. But State machinery especially its media have showered them with praise on occasions.

State of things have changed over the years and there have been understandable public anger against the sort of behaviors high cadre politicians and their kin engaged in as well as the unfair advantage they enjoyed. The State had to curb nepotism and accumulation of power in the hands of those from political families. Exploitation of power couldn't explicitly depict or endorsed on media.  

The new rules are imposed through censors, self-censorship and editorial overreach and what not. Compared to earlier days of danmei, today’s BL production space looks very difference since sites have disappear. There used to be revolutionary potential, not just in terms of furthering the rights of the queer community but also in many other aspects of society. It has disappeared over the years through purging and authors growing tired. Popularization and commercialization of danmei actually did not benefit the way one would imagine. As BL fans’ grip over what they could say disappeared, a lot of new authors came in who from the very beginning were willing to adjust to these demands from the State and were writing to accommodate, if not outright support, what the State willed.

So, before the ban on gaogan, there was period where fics were written praising the high cadre and highlighting their goodness, generosity and patriotism while being perfect gentlemen, paragons of virtue, upright citizen who valiantly fought enemies of the State, both internal and external.

When it aired, Addicted was fairly popular. By his own admission, Andy Lau was watching it. While exact reason for the ban is not known, there is a lot of speculation. One of the most cited reasons is simply its popularity and how that attracting attention to queer people (through the pairing of a very masculine men who were unlike the stereotypical “sissies”) and queer rights.

Another was the substance abuse related words in title and ship name such as shangyin and hailouyin which is another topic that State scrutinizes. But then A Round Trip to Love had multiple criminal elements including spiking, confinement and sexual abuse that aired.

It's not like gaogan genre just died. Authors went interstellar on their stories. So now when you open Addicted in LCRead you will be greeted by an intro page which claims that the story is not set on Earth and is set in another galaxy blah blah blah. Lot of later authors actually decided to pursue the safe, sci-fi route and decided to stick to lanes that would let them tell these stories without actually irritating the State.

This work around method will last while it can.

Quite frankly, Addicted couldn't have been made in other countries with its very specific political setting. Its essence lies in Bai LouYin joining PLA to help Gu Hai forsake the path laid out for him and Gu Hai repaying with devotion while alternatively sinking and floating in high cadre life as son, brother and husband. This won’t work in countries with mandatory military service or where military and politics interweave in a dangerous manner.

Honestly, I am not knowledgeable about Thailand to interpret what it means for Hero to walk out of ror dor (army cadet) exam (thank you @pharawee for the explanation). Also, Thai government is fully dedicated to their plan of using BL as a soft power tool. I am not sure how to feel about the Thai adaptation, Heroin the series, given the production chose to situate the beginning of the story in 2018* (four years after 2014 coup d'état). Addicted becoming a propaganda tool in favor of military at the hands of any State is a disturbing scenario to say the least.

*There is a eight year break in the relationship between the main couple in the original novel.

Seems like second season isn't happening. Makes me wonder...

-

Link to novel translations.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Little Pecks 🥰