Ancient Love Poetry (2021)

Who can the gods pray to when in difficulty?

Visually, Ancient Love Poetry was the most stunning Chinese drama I've seen so far. Philosophically, it was the weakest. Regardless, it was quite intriguing and awe-inspiring at times.

Ancient Love Poetry is an epic that traverses the time from the beginning of the gods to their later fallen state of weakened reincarnation, all the way to the restoration of their status as top gods. The male lead, named BaiJue, is a top God in the highest heaven, tasked with training ShangGu, the destined-to-be top goddess of chaos. BaiJue was raised by the strict and harsh “Ancestral God” who was like a Heavenly Father of the divine realm before he disappeared into chaos. Consequently, BaiJue embodies the temperament of a strict disciplinarian who always sacrifices the pleasures of the present in order to maximize the greater good for the future of all creatures. ShangGu embodies the exact opposite temperament of BaiJue in how she is always living in the moment, developing relationships with friends, and having fun. She is like a big ray of sunshine that warms BaiJue’s frozen heart. For the first time, he learns how to enjoy the moment. As opposites attract, BaiJue realizes that he needs ShangGu’s influence in his life and falls madly in love. Little does he know, per the laws of the universe, every god or goddess of chaos is destined to be required to sacrifice their life to delay the catastrophe of cataclysmic entropic chaos that is constantly trying to consume all of existence. By training ShangGu to develop her mastery of chaos, he is further sealing her fate. By the time the waves of chaos begin crashing in on the divine realm and eating up their kingdom, ShangGu learns of the revelatory voice of the Ancestral God who tells them that the only way to end the rampage of chaos is if a god or goddess of chaos sacrifices themselves to it. BaiJue realizes that his love for ShangGu has flipped his philosophy upside-down. He is no longer willing to prioritize the wellbeing of all creatures. He now wants to prioritize the wellbeing of ShangGu. But it is too late. ShangGu has matured into her role as top goddess and is unwilling to let everything die because of her selfishness.

As the story goes on, the two of them reincarnate in weaker-tier divine forms, but still try to use their powers to help the weak mortals who suffer greatly at the byproducts of the actions of the gods. When the gods war against the demons, comets fall from the sky and cause great suffering and destruction among the mortals. ShangGu takes great interest in protecting them, and they promise to pray to her and worship her in return for her help. But eventually the powers of natural entropic chaos are rekindled and all sorts of natural disasters begin occurring around the universe. ShangGu tries her best to use her powers to calm down the storms so that less people will suffer, but she realizes that even occupying the status of a goddess, she still feels helpless. At this point of discouragement she says, “When mortals encounter difficulties, they will pray to the gods, but what is to be done when gods meet difficulties?” This theological paradigm highlights the lack of omnipotence in the Chinese pantheon of gods. When the gods are no longer all powerful, the philosophic problem of evil is instantly dissolves. We don’t suffer because the gods lack the compassion to help us, we suffer because natural chaos is even more powerful than the gods. This allows us as mortals to empathize with the gods and even root for them in the great cosmic battle between good and evil, order and chaos, yin and yang.

Some disappointing aspects of the philosophies within Ancient Love Poetry are a support for “ends justify the means” theft, murderous revenge for the mistake of unintended collateral damage manslaughter, and child abandonment while grieving for the loss of loved ones. These philosophic errors seem to display a pre-Kantian level of philosophic maturity. Immanuel Kant helped reveal the wisdom in deontology for negating “ends justify the means” conclusions. Kant also revealed the wisdom in nuancing out the intentions behind crimes so that intentional murder can be punished more severely than unintentional manslaughter. Kantian emphasis on morality as “duty” also helps show the immorality of abandoning one’s duty to care for one’s children.

More reviews: https://transcendentphilos.wixsite.com/website/post/the-philosophy-of-chinese-dramas

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Sooo good!

Such an amazing drama! I binged watched this throughout the whole show. I’m also watching Falling Into Your Smile right now and I honestly like this drama a lot more. This is now my top 3 favorite drama I ever watched!! I strongly recommend everyone watch this drama… mostly for people who enjoys watching xianxia dramas like me! If you enjoyed Ashes of Love, Love and Redemption, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, etc… then this is perfect for you!
I’m very impressed with all the actors/actresses! Everyone’s acting is amazing! The emotions conveyed is very realistic.

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The Universe – a battlefield of love and chaos, righteousness and wicked ambition

The title of this drama sounds like a typical love story. Still, in fact, it is about all nuances of love, betrayal, cosmic order, honor, pillars of life, self-cultivation, perfection, imperfection, sacrifes, purity, development.

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

All characters belong to the world of immortals. They live in three realms – the Gods Realms, the Nether Realm (where demons live), and the world of ordinary immortals. There is an Ancestor God, Creator of the Univers, a source of the chaos powers, and four true gods born of him. One of them is Chief God, being God of Chaos.
Under these four Gods rule thematical gods. As in every magical story, every spiritual being possesses certain powers, rules over specific energies, is assisted by a personal beast, and develops a unique magic weapon. Magic is innate, cultivated, and can be exchanged for other magic. Everything has a price. The price could be money, treasures, time, lifespan, etc.
All spiritual bodies have a spiritual core, which depends on the origin and magical genetics. Every spiritual being also has a soul that is reincarnated. Once lost, the soul can never be returned.
Every 60 000 years happens a Tribulation of Chaos, which requires a mighty god to take the energies of chaos over himself, otherwise, the three realms will be destroyed.
The drama starts precisely at the point of a new Chaos Tribulation, 60 000 years after the last one.

THE HEAVENLY CHARACTERS

THE FOUR TRUE GODS are the Chief God of Chaos, Shang Gu (the leading female character), the God of Fire and War, Bae Jue (the leading male character), the mightiest celestial being after the Chief God; the God of Heaven, Zhi Yang; the God of Demons, Tian Qi. Their title is “Master.” They rule the worlds together. In fact, at the beginning of the story, Shang Gu, being in a new incarnation, still didn’t gain her power of chaos and needed to cultivate. She becomes the apprentice of the mighty Bae Jue, an extremely cold being, focused only on cultivation, without any sense of affection to other beings. However, he can’t help himself and falls in love with the vivid naughty Shang Gu. Due to her fate, Shang Gu loses her life to save the worlds. The devasted Bae Jue spent another 60 000 years collecting her soul and creating a miracle, giving life back to Shang Gu, this time as an ordinary immortal goddess.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t tell everything, but the essential point is:
Bae Jue tears his original core and produces a new incarnation while sleeping for another 10 000 years. This incarnation, Qing Mu falls in love with the latest incarnation of Shang Gu, Hou Chi, while the essence of Shang Gu is being cared for in the body of Hou Chi. Both temporary incarnations of Bae Jue and Shang Gu die, and the fate collides again original Bae Jue with the original Shang Gu.

Of course, it is impossible to have a story without villains, so we have two main villains here – the Devil God Xuan Yi, and a phoenix beast Wu Huan, who becomes a Heavenly Empress and later cultivates demonic powers and turns into Devil Goddess.

The three magic realms are full of gods and goddesses, magical pets, demons, immortals. Rules, wars, battles.

THE PRODUCTION

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that this is the most impressive Chinese drama production I’ve ever watched. Visual effects beyond imagination create a magical scenery that is a treat for the senses. Beautiful landscapes, beautiful energy vortexes. I’m enchanted.

THE CAST

The cast was good, but some actors were better. Xu Kai, for example, was good but somehow more handsome than good. He played Bae Jue twice, and it’s interesting that the second time he plays Bae Jue, he is better than the first time. Qing Mu, the other character he impersonated, was cute but a little too boyish.

Shang Gu, played by Zhou Dong Yu, was a little too childish to me. I couldn’t feel her as a mighty goddess. On the other hand, she was, in fact, a diety girl destined to grow up early and to have a life full of hardships, so maybe she should look this way.

I liked a character that is not among the main cast – the Devil God Xuan Yi. Excellent performance of Edward Zhang, I will look for other dramas with his participation.

Another good actor is Leo Lai, a High God and he felt like a god.

And of course, the acting of Jenny Zhang, who impersonated Wu Huan, was outstanding.

Actually, there were many diety characters presented very good by the actors.

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Poetic in format

Ancient love poetry indeed exceeded my expectations. I am a very familiar fan of Zhou Dong Yu and Xu Kai’s work, so it came to no surprise to me that their acting and chemistry was indeed spectacular. I want to try and do this review while minimizing spoilers but it’s showing to be increasingly difficult. So disclaimer: spoilers are ahead.
Acting;
The acting was indeed poetic. Xu Kai was a man of shedding beautiful tears. He portrayed the ice cold Bai jue and affectionate Qingmu really well that you could indeed tell they were of two different beings. Zhou Dong Yu did the same aswell in reference to Shanggu and Houchi. Shanggu’s character was extremely soft. She’d often smile alluring brightening up my entire screen.

The makeup and the dressing of the characters also helped with their portrayal aswell. Shanggu often wore white clothing to emphasize on his goldly and poised standing. shanggu also did the same. Qingmu and Houchi, their counterparts often wore baby blue traditional dressing which highlighted their youthful nature.

Character development:
Zhou Dong Yu plays Shanggu, a quirky, spoiled, yet kind hearted young girl born as one of the three true god yet possessing little magical prowess. After thousands of years of being pampered She goes under the care of the cold true god Bai Jue to master her powers. The two grow much care for each other and fall in love.
The storyline follows the typical heroine “save the world” phenomena in which the main protagonist will have to sacrifice greatly for the greater good. What I found rather interesting is that our heroine isn’t born with the innate selflessness that has to be present in order for a sacrifice as such to be made. Rather she learns through thousands of years of cultivation, her destiny and why such sacrifices are necessary. She learns that such an action is not predetermined but rather is a a necessary choice of action needed to protect the world and those that she loves.
Shanggu’s selfless sacrifice then gives birth to Houchi, who is of separate existence possessing Shanggu’s spiritual essence. Similar to Shanggu’s, houchi also has little prowess. Houchi’s demeanor is similar to Shanggu in the sense that they are both kind hearted and quirky but Houchi’s temper showed to be much more calm. She was stigmatized as a child due to being allegedly illegitimate. Initially, I had much love for Shanggu but once the story began to unravel and I began to shed tears for Houchi. I felt like i had much empathy for her. Houchi’s character ultimately suffered a great deal more than Shanggu. The complexity of these two characters was something I loved of a great deal. It greatly held the plot. However, what dissatisfied me was that Houchi’s character suffered a great deal under the hands of others.

Another character that had great development was Wu Huan. Shanggu as a true god required a spiritual beast.
Inexplicable, Wu Huan was given the position out of kindness from Shanggu. Wu Huan would go on to serve as Shanggu’s spiritual beast climbing up the ladder from taking care of her imperial hall to becoming the Heavenly empress and the first female demon god.
Her villian origin story formulated from constant mockery due to her low status of birth in her pheonix clan. She sought to not let her status defeat her and stood out to Shanggu, earning her position as spiritual beast of a true god. Wu Huan’s character showed great jealousy for Yeu Mi, Shanggu’s best friend, envying her prestige as a goddess. At the time Wu Huan had took charge of Shanggu’a imperial hall and the little power she was able to grab a hold on threatened by Shanggu’s soon return. Her return however was short lived as a sacrifice came not too far soon. Once all the god of the immortal realm were being whipped off one by one by the chaos that came along, Wu Huan and lower ranked immortals and lord were left to take over the heavenly realm. Wu Huan seized the opportunity marrying The heavenly emperor, Mo Guang. The heavenly emperors character was that of a self righteous and courteous man. He loved Wu Huan developly and often showed a blind eye towards her scheming deeds.
Not much was said on this however, to my beliefs, she most likely had a love affair with Mo Guangs companion, Gu Jun. As they spent a lot of time together in Shanggu hall cultivating. She wanted gravely to get a hold on power and was able to dismiss her feelings before it was too late.
Wu Huan was able to enjoy her status as empress giving birth to three children and gaining respect amongst the three remaining realms. However, the return of the true gods gravely scared her. Her greed for power led her towards the demonic path. She feared as though once the true gods arrived she would face the same humbling that she had experienced in her childhood. Wu Huan also had commuted atrocities during the great battle, one of which was killing a god. So to hide this she devised many schemes which eventually caught up to her. She also decimated her entire clan to keep her status of power. I really loved the independence her character portrayed. She rarely relied on anyone, including her husband. She felt as though the only one she could rely on was her self and this attitude led to her being able to amass a lot of power as a female cultivator. Though however, her character was evil and she did end up becoming a devil. Her grit was incredible.

Overall:
This drama indeed has great rewatch value due to how dense the plot is. It gives room to further interpretation through deeper comprehension which can only be grasped by rewatching. The protagonists go through three lives together and which each life comes a different storyline surrounding a different character. Each character comes with their own unique back story and challenges which drives the plot. This drama most definitely ranks in my top 10 list of xianxia dramas.

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DON'T DOUBT ANYMORE JUST WATCH IT ^^

So like everyone else I kind a doubt the pairing though I never watch the lead drama but I'm not that positive. But I'm excited since the first day airing idk why but I set my mind I NEED TO WATCH THIS despite the hate it got (but when I start which is the last week premiere the review already got so much better). I LUVVV THIS SO MUCH AND TELL YOU THAT I'LL REGRET IF I SKIP IT

so I'm going to make it as short as possible :

- if you ever dropped this because of it slow starter please pick it up back, you'll not regret
- after re-watching I do realize ep 1-2 slow but after that it so goood!
- the cinematography is just to gorgeous thanks to ALP's team hard work !
- the sec arc was much better but the more I go the more I miss the lively of first arc :D
- No stupid misunderstanding between the lead cause by third party, it's always fate that drift them apart
- the sad scene just on-point and tear my heart out [ eg: the tribulations, Qingmu's last message and Yuanqi's scene huhuhuhu ]
- the acting of Xu Kai and Zhou Dongyu convinced me sm at second part esp during tragic scene!!
- a lot of sweet scene with angst and heartwarming scene <3
- I found so many line memorable and have so much meaning behind it

Now for some things you might need to know :

- The romance for first part might be so sudden, but I think it's fate.
- the tone of this drama is light/white so I'm bother by it ( I prefer ppl have their own distinctive color)
- For the sec part, I wish they explore more about the three left gods (Muguang, Gujun and WuHuan) which is kind a let down.
- you might hate Bai Jue later but I really hope you'll see from his perspective (tho, for me it's still hard)
- the reason for Bai Jue's plan actually make sense and Shanggu reaction to it gotta be the best.

The scriptwriter / novel is clever. You could see the difference between Bai Jue/Qingmu and Shanggu/Houchi. [A lil bit spoiler] Even though Houchi was known as one of the goddess, she have a limited ability so she never show off and know her place. She's a rather calm and cold than Shanggu. While Shanggu know her status as the most powerful person and stand tall as a graceful chief god. Even if 60,000 yrs passed when she awaken she's not afraid of WuHuan that bitches and do what she supposed to do. As for Bai Jue, even he's describe as a cold person we actually saw a lot of reaction from him thanks to Shanggu only in sec part when he comeback you could see his actual cold character and it's hurt so bad huhuhuhu. Qingmu is like another person Bai Jue wish to be, a naughty boy who can take care of his love one freely. That's why I love this version of him more but thinking about it, Qingmu only family is Houchi and his only friend is Jing Jian so he doesn't hold so much responsibility like Bai Jue. I'm still sad because Bai Jue come back at such a bad times but from what I read if he doesn't come, Qingmu will died? I understand that because he said he's in rush and only recovered 40% of his true god's power. He must have reason if not I don't think he will show up that soon. It's not in his plan to hurt her but I wish he used another method than marriage to make her hate him but maybe Bai Jue already lack of idea. He's hurting and suffering a lot already.

THE OST ARE SUCH A MASTERPIECE OMG IMAGINE HAVING LIU YUNING, MAO BUYI AND ZHOU SHEN? :D

I DON'T REWATCH THAT MUCH BUT IF I HAVE TIME AND MISS THEM I'LL SURELY REWATCH [EDIT : LMAO I CHANGE MY MIND. I ALREADY REWATCH ONCE AND STILL SO GOOD :) ]

I LOSE MY APPETITE WHILE WAITING FOR THE NEXT EP WHICH IS ONLY 3 EPS SINCE I STARTED LATE HAHAHAHA IT'S ONLY HAPPEN ONCE IN A WHILE.

[ it's happy ending !]

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The love of Gods

This is a worth watching drama, is different for many other dramas i don't know why people are giving it hate. i have watched many dramas and is defiantly a must watch form the story life to cast to the production quality which i must say i was pretty impressed by for for 49 ep drama the quality of the drama is really good.

for people saying the lead actress is not beautiful, i think i=she is beautiful and for Xu Kai's criticism then his acting isn't good and he looks fat, like what ?? he looks dammmn fine and as for his acting its good to as we know the man know hoe to act you can watch The Legends, its just the character he is playing who cold and doesn't show emotion and i think he did a pretty good job portraying that cold character.

overall, Ancient Love Poetry is definitely a drama worth watching, and despite my criticisms, the number of great scenes vastly outnumber them. Also, once you get deep into the story, you want to know what happens next! you will know once you watch it haters gona hate

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Definitely worth a watch, superb production

I've watched xianxia over the years and must say this drama is definitely worth a watch. Great CGI production, great cast, great music. I usually skip or fastforward cdramas but I didn't do it for this at all, which is really saying something. All scenes were valuable, all relationships were precious and you can't help but root for every single one of them (even the villians). I really don't understand why criticism is thrown against FL for her looks, in fact she brought such fresh air and perspective in acting to the drama that I cannot imagine who else can play this. I was here first for Xu Kai and was thoroughly satisfied with his different roles portrayal. I wish he can do more of such roles.

If I have to nitpick, I can say that there's room for improvement on acting out some major scenes. Don't get me wrong, it's great as it is and there's always things that can be perfected.

Overall, make your own judgment by watching it. I guarantee you'll be in for a roller coaster of emotions!

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This drama is too good to watch

This drama is not like rumored things. This is the best historical drama you can watch in 2021. Its your worth trying drama if not then hope you hell regret it. The effects in this drama according to their budget is far good for a drama having 49 eps .
There are many rumors that this drama is bad cast is not good and so on. But let me tell you they are manuplating your thoughts and rationality. Its not true. Xu kai is fat what?? He is just too cute with his baby face. If you think he is fat then I must pray for your eyes for being blind.
For the new coming viewers I must say this that you need to try this drama without having second thoughts . Its your loss to not giving this drama a chance without trying it.

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Best xianxia of cdrama

I started watching this because of the last immortal, but i end up falling for this and in comparison this is far better drama than the last immortal...

In terms of casting, i love everyone acting because they really know how to show emotions... I can 't even tell how much i cried while watching this .

In terms of production tencent has done a great work, because every thing is top notch like set, costume, CGI, shooting angles...

This drama has the best ost i have heard so far.. Some dramas have 1 or 2 ost which are great but in this one every ost knows how to express emotions.

For xianxia fans this drama is a MUST watch and an advice for future viewers is
THIS DRAMA NEEDS PATIENCE

I will love to watch more xianxia like this...

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Screw mean comments

I’ve seen lots of hate comments!ughhhh Which I don’t agree! Those main leads portray their character perfectly. Ahhh shangu/houchi acting skill is speechless. Both ML n FL holding back their pain perfectly. You Gotta check it out first! Trust me ! Try it first before u complaint ! I just hate how people complain that ML look fat n act Awkwardly what the heck ? His friend from drama called him ICE CUBE what do u expect him to act? ! Plus he already look handsome and he’s acting skill is amazing!
Now let’s talk about FL, zhou duoyu. people hate her for playing this type of drama; xianxia. Stated that she doesn’t have the goddess look? n she looks ugly. Dude she looks just fine. her acting skill is top notch ! ( just wondering those who complain look like? ) if u are beautiful/handsome go be a actors! N let me know if u become worldly famous just because of ur good look with shitty acting skill). Fuck haters! Hater gonna hate if those plan to watch it but read those hateful comments n decide to drop it. You WILL regret it. Try 2-3 episode first. But it started slow .. but it will get more n more interesting.
I swear people these days no longer appreciate actors/actress acting skill. Yet they tend to attract to “heavenly good look” ?.

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My VIP subscription in WeTV was not wasted.

I honestly almost dropped it after few episodes because it was a bit of a drag. I became bored after the first few episodes. Maybe because I have a high expectation since I love story of Eternal love and Eternal love of dream. But I'm so curious of what will happen next so I decided to continue and I just did the right thing. There's a lot of plot twists. It was one of the most beautiful chinese costume drama I've watched. Some episodes were heart wrenching but I'm satisfied with the ending. I just hoped there will be season 2 because I also want to know what happened to Feng Ran. Will she get to see Jingjian's reincarnation soon? Will Chang Qin be back to Sen Yu after travelling the world? Will there be a reincarnation of Yuemi for Tianqi?

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