<p>Whoa. I missed out on a lot of convo. But, here, I'll just jump right in. </p>
<p>I love chinese drama/soap. I didn't like Huan Zhu Ge Ge, way too overblown. When it comes to ancient tv shows, I lean toward "She Diao Ying Xiong"(LOVE THE FRIGGIN' BOOK TOO...) and "Yong Zheng Huang Chao" (marvelous). I watch a lot of soap from TVB (cantonese)...the modern ones are AWESOME.</p>
<p>I did the triple science thingy...Liked AP Physics the most.</p>
<p>hao^2 - I know I LOVED the first two HZGG series but the third one really really sucks, it basically blew everything. The actors are not only ugly, they can't act period, lol. Do you like to watch the modern ones like Meteor Garden? hehe I loved that one. </p>
<p>Canadia1 - lol I know what you're talking about, it's so annoying. Most of the English stuff don't even make sense, you can def tell that English-illt ppl wrote them lol. </p>
<p>afaforce - hehe its a complement though.</p>
<p>catch 22 - yeah HZGG does seem a bit unreal at times but there were alot of good plot though. I watched Yong Zheng Wang Chao too! It's was AWESOME. I want to know the mystery of how he got throne lol. This series just gave a fifth perspective but it was good though. I like reading the books too =) How many years did you live in China?</p>
<p>He got it the "right" way. It was finally proven in the past ten years, like, it was KangXi's intention for YongZheng to get the throne, didn't mess up the letters or nothin'...</p>
<p>I lived in China for like 9 years +....go back almost every year...You?</p>
<p>Oh really? That's good to know, cuz I have heard so many different versions like Yong Zheng killed Kang Xi or something lol</p>
<p>I lived in China for around that many years too and I have been going back every summer except for last year. Where in China are you from?</p>
<p>HAHA. I know, the HK soaps and stuff, and the mainland soaps made it resemble a huge controversy, but the actual history itself actually mirrors the plot in "YongZhengWangChao"...The book's really good. But, the difference in history is about "Ba Yei"...Yong Zheng actually had him killed on purpose after a few years of becoming king...forgot what the reason was...meh. My fav. character was Ba Yei (even though he was kinda bad)...Yong Zheng just started to irritate me after a while. </p>
<p>I come from GuangZhou. But I speak mandarin really well (no weird accents...thank god). Cantonese too, obviously...you?</p>
<p>HK and Mainland ppl are like so different in their movie productions. Have you seen "Wu Zhe Tian" (only woman empress)? I saw both versions they were SO different. </p>
<p>haha you liked Ba Yie? He was cool but kinda cruel though. Man, family stuff were so messed up, brothers all killing one another lol</p>
<p>yeah I like Kang Xi and Qian Long better. Have you seen Xi Shuo Qiang Long? I haven't seen it yet but I seems interesting. I saw a few about Kang Xi though.</p>
<p>BTW, I'm from Tianjin and don't know any Cantonese. I like have a bunch of Cantonese CDs though. I tried to have a friend teach it to me...didn't get very far haha. At least we have a common written language.</p>
<p>Ba Yei was awesome, cruel...but awesome. Haven't seen Xi Shuo Qiang Long...hehe. When it comes to historical drama, I prefer mainland productions a lot better. I used to like HK's stuff a lot when I was a kid, because I was very much amused by the ppl flying aroudn and using their fingers like AK-47s...now...it's just ridiculous when they try to portray something in history in fantasy style. I love TVB's "modern" drama though, funny and great as hell...only us Chinese ppl can think of plots like those, love it. </p>
<p>I have seen Wu Zhe Tian, lol, totally know what you are talking about...lol. The China one was so serious in a way. I like the classics a lot, like "Xi You Ji" (seen it at least ten times when I was a kid), "Shui Hu Zhuan," and "Hong Lou Meng"(read the book, the drama was just too old...). Have you seen "Da ZHai Men?" The drama wasn't as good as the book, maybe because the actors in it annoyed me. How about "Da Ran Fang" (great). </p>
<p>This is awesome. We are doing so great at bonding...hehe.
MOvies: My fav: Wu Jian Dao (I, II, III)...loved it.</p>
<p>Do you watch Taiwanese soap/drama? A few of it is pretty good. Korean drama is pretty good too (I don't know korean, I watch...in translation...hehe).</p>
<p>haha wow Catch-22 we have a great common interest. I love how this Penn application thread turned into this convo lol. Anyways, I have seen all of those! I LOVE Xi You Ji, I remember watching it at least ten times. Xiao Liu Lin Tong rocks lol. I never got a chance to see Hong Lou Meng, but I did read parts of the book. It was pretty sad. Da Zhai Mei was great until the ending. I absolutely hated the ending. I don't think Jing Qi should have married that third wife, she like messed up everything. Did you see part 2 of it? It was even worse. </p>
<p>Taiwanese drama are great too, the modern ones of course. Did you see Meteor Garden? I loved that one. I haven't seen many Krn ones, just part of Winter Sontana and Stairs to Heaven. </p>
<p>haha I want to see Wu Jian Dao, everyone said it's good =) You plan to take some Chinese history classes in college?</p>
<p>HAHA. I think Huntsman forces me to take classes in "Asian Studies" so I would say yes. Where are you heading for college? If Penn, we totally have to bump into each other...hehe. </p>
<p>"Liu Xing Hua Yuan" I didn't watch...I personally don't like F4 that much, guys w. long hair...turns me off...a lot. Stairs to HEAVEN!!! OMG! That thing is soooo sweet. The actor that plays Che Cheng Jun is cute...hehe. </p>
<p>Hong Lou Meng: What makes me mad is that the end was so..frustrating. Not one character has a happy ending, what's up with that? What makes me more mad is that Hou Lou Meng is an unfinished novel, did you know that? The author died before she could finish it...<strong>shakes fist</strong></p>
<p>Wu Jian Dao is AWESOME. All of the actors I like are in it...hehe. </p>
<p>Who do you listen to? (music).</p>
<p>Xi You Ji is the best, it's so old school. Hong Lou Meng made me cry so hard that I banned it from our house. Plus, my chinese isn't as good as your chinese because I came over when I was four. So I have to watch everything twice before I catch every nuance. hence, i cried twice. </p>
<p>princess, I'm so glad you mentioned Korean soaps. They are my absolute favorite. All About Eve with Zhang Dong Jian (chinese pronunciation) is quite possibly the best romantic soap EVER. It was tied with Meteor Garden until those jerks blew it with MG2. The first one it was so obvious that Jerry Yan's character was the right one for her. Then he grew long hair, fell in love with that clingy princess, and all of a sudden, Lei became the better choice. The ending was so incomplete that I'm not even sure they've sorted it out completely. If they don't make a third one, they've forever trashed the great romance of it. WuJianHao's mini love story was cute though...the only bright part in that travesty.</p>
<p>wow, i missed out on a lot... about the soaps... altho i am mostly a fan of korean ones dubbed over to chinese... better screen play i say... but any more opinions... on easiest to get into? columbia seas vs penn seas vs cornell seas</p>
<p>ok, i'll just jump in here and contribute. i'm originally from shanghai... and i have nothing to say about the soaps and shows because i don't remember any names of the ones i saw while i was back 2-3 summers ago.</p>
<p>ummm....cornell? only because it has such a high overall acceptance rate and I know way too many people who got in and didn't get in anywhere else.</p>
<p>ooh, canadia, do you speak shanghaiese??? i've heard chinese people say that it's the only dialect that's angrier sounding than my city's. i love it so much...it's incredibly beautiful to listen to because of the harsh tones.</p>
<p>to add on to my response,
I heard PartII of Da Zhai Men blows...I thought the beginning was WAY BETTER than the ending...</p>
<p>Have you seen "ai qing zi wei"...:) Really good.</p>
<p>catch 22 - I applied to Penn RD so I'm just waiting for my decision as well as my other college decisions. Are you an ED? haha if we both go we should start a Chinese drama club.</p>
<p>About Da Zhai Men, I think they forced the story because it was coming towards the period when Communists took over China and the Communisms of course wanted their party to keep a good reputation, unfortunately. That's why Bai Jia gave all their medicine to the communists. That was really disappointing. </p>
<p>Hmm music I listen to alot, I like Jay Chou, SHE, Andy Lau, Twins, David Tao, Edison Chen, Elva Xiao..etc what about you??</p>
<p>Hao^2 - Yeah the only thing I hate about Meteor Garden was that girl, she was so annoying and had such bad character. Do you like F4? I was really into them but now they're old, broke up, and changed their hairstyles and everything. I think they look better with short hair though. </p>
<p>I went to Shanghai last summer and the first time I heard Shanghai dialect was when two ppl on the street were fighting...</p>
<p>I wish I'd applied to the College now because I was so undecided between Wharton and the College...then I heard all these horror stories about Wharton and now I'm freaked. </p>
<p>I listen to Daid Tao and Elva also! I used to buy all these CD's of specific artists but now I just get the mixes since I never seem to like more than 50% of an artist's songs. Though I really like the traditional instrumentation and folksy songs as well. Right now, my dad is being so weird. All he listens to and makes us listen to in the car is Dao Lang, some guy whose songs all sound identical.</p>
<p>As far as that stupid girl in MG, she was so irrational. I wanted to jump into the movie and slap some sense into her. F4 was okay but I didn't like the fact that it had been created from the movie. It made their "friendship" seem less genuine.</p>
<p>yes, i do speak shanghainese although i'm can understand better than i can speak it. i know mandarin better than shanghainese though. i seriously need to know how to learn and right.</p>
<p>hmm what did you hear about Wharton? I guess you can switch schools once you are in. </p>
<p>Yeah every CD has a few good songs and the rest sucks. I download a lot of songs too so I can burn my own CD. I need to go back to China this year and get more. The CDs in China are so cheap since most of them are illegally copied even though they don't admit it lol. Hehe MG was def pretty Taiwanese style, maybe that's why they banned it in China. </p>
<p>Have you guys seen "she wai bao mu"? It's was pretty funny =)</p>
<p>just that the people there were crazy competitive, how hard it was to have a decent gpa, how much math there was (i should have been prepared for that one), and the lower acceptance rate. the main problem for me is that i don't want to go to a school where the competitive atmosphere is so high that i can't make friends or have study buddies. my hs has some of the most backstabbing people ever and i hate it. i like the more, let's all work together to learn and get good grades approach. not the "i must be better than you" mentality. hence, i did not apply to berkeley. :)</p>
<p>and how do you download? i can never find a decent place...or maybe all the good ones are in chinese and i can't read them so it may be excellent and i just don't know</p>