I am writing this without finishing the watch bec although I was cut off about 2/3 of the way through by its removal from viki's list in my area, I still wanted to record the powerful impressions it left me with before they fade. Therefore I can only recommend it provisionally, but since it is a very literary adaptation of a novel with amazing actors and fascinating visual detail, I can do so with confidence.

It is the first cdrama I have seen set in the 19th century/Qing dynasty. It is set in Suzhou, one of the largest non-capital cities in the world in the pre-modern historical era prior to this story, just south of Shanghai now, whose production of silk fabric boomed in the 19thC (although foreign export was still banned) along with huge family businesses devoted to it. Although this show may superficially resemble Blossoms in Adversity it is of an entirely different genre. It is not episodic, not light entertainment and definitely not set in a generic fantasy-ancient china, so it supports much less anachronism of the simple and clear sort found in fantasy.

The drama starts at the central cause of the story, the disappearance of the titular head of a silk-producing family business. The main characters are vividly established at the very beginning. Events leading up to that moment are flashed back to as each character comes into focus at different points, and character development unfolds beautifully in sequence.

Appropriately for a family engaged in the fabric trade the costuming is awesome. Natural fabrics, cotton, linen and raw silk with woven and dyed patterns in loose rather baggy combinations of vests, overcoats and over tunics look very chic and modern in the present moment. The long undertunics, often of raw silk, have nice neck detailing in their closures. I also have never seen such a flock of handsome men careering about in Manchu tonsures and beautiful long queues (although closeups of the artificial hairpieces on backs of their heads should have been avoided).

I was struck in particular by some shared trends with western female dress of the 19C because it dovetailed with my impressions of literary concerns held in common. The detachable stiffened collars with embroidered or starched points radiate out from the neck to emphasize that middle parted and flattened hairstyle with a low bun shared also with women in this hemisphere at mid-century. So often in literature a woman's nobility of character is described in common with a 'noble brow' (forehead), and calm radiant expression, both of which were sought after by women and enhanced by similiar costume details.

The importance of the needs of an individual's soul is considered now to have first been extended via literature to women and children of this time period, and Marvelous Women uses a similiar focus on two major female protagonists who work towards a personal self-realization within the extreme pressures and responsibilities of their family crises. The very simple Rousseau-ean set-up of natural personal feelings opposing those dictated by an artificial society clearly informs the struggles over the young son born to a concubine who is technically the 'son' of the matriarch by custom.

I need to mention the incredible interpretation by Mao Zi Jun of a tragic man whose love brings one of the protagonists alive psychologically. He and Jiang Qin Qin (who plays Shen Cuiu Xi to his Wei Liang Gong) exchange true soul-to-soul glances as they fall in love. His (and others') aesthetic interest in operatic singing and painting are important to the story as all of these characters essentially 'paint' using embroidery or a brocade weaving technique. More time is spent on these aesthetic productions in the first third of the show, but as events move more swiftly in the central section the exposition of these recedes and I was sad.

I suddenly realized last week that the gardens in the show were not generic sets but parts of (or imitations of?) the real Suzhou Ming-era classical gardens, some of which remain today. I will just have to wait for the show to return to see which gardens the rockery and the waterfalls belong to.

So, there it is. This show is a feast for the senses in so many ways. The soundtrack is excellent, and although for westerners the style of chinese operatic singing is very unfamiliar, I think that listening with attention to it produces a provisional comfort and familiarity which one must needs cultivate as a matter of respect to such an important world cultural production. The acting is amazing, absolutely amazing. I feel like a reader/listener of Dickens anxiously awaiting a missed installment, while I wait for the rest of this great show. Hope I wont have to wait too long!

simultaneously posted on viki