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Saturday 13 June 2015

Chinese Drama: 'Ming Yang Hua Gu' / 名扬花鼓 - Part 8

Hi  Dear Readers

Welcome back for a new recap of the Chinese drama 'Ming Yang Hua Gu'.  We have now reached episode 34 and the story has taken quite a dramatic turn with Hua Gu held in prison and to be executed soon upon the Emperor's orders.

After eating the food Ming Yang brought her, Hua Gu starts singing the Hua Gu song from her childhood.

As the Emperor is having a walk in the palace garden at night, he hears Hua Gu singing the song.

Looks like he also knows that song too as it stirs up past memories of him when he was a poor kid wandering the streets looking for food.

After singing the song, Hua Gu tells Ming Yang that she will be leaving him soon so forget all about her in the future to live happily after.

Hua Gu tells him that if he meets a nice girl later, he should marry her and give birth to a bunch of kids.

Ming Yang then grabs hold of her hands slowly and tells her that he knows that he loves her sincerely, so nobody can replace her in his heart.

Hua Gu tells him that he does not have to do such a thing.

Ming Yang gives her a gentle look and asks her to marry him XD (Me: Kkkyyyaaah so sweet & adorable ^^)

Hua Gu smiles sadly while shaking her head and tells him that she cannot...

She replies that she is going to be sentenced to death so she'll only give him a hard time.

Ming Yang tells her if she refuses to marry him then he'll be really having a hard time.

Ming Yang tells her that he doesn't want her to feel lonely and cry all by herself.


He wants her to know that he will always be there by her side to support her and that he will always remember her smile because he loves her.

Ming Yang asks her again to agree to marry him.

But Hua Gu shakes her head again and tells him that she'll be dying soon and might even have one day left to live so how can she marry him.

Ming Yang tells her again that she must accept his marriage proposal even if she is left with only one day or only a few moments.


Because then he will feel like she is still there besides him and he will be able to live on with the most beautiful memories of his life.  Once more Ming Yang asks Hua Gu to marry him.  
Hua Gu falls into his arms in tears again.
Ming Yang tells him not to cry because a marriage is a happy event.

The next day, Ming Yang, the King, Xiao Zhu and the Queen's brother meet the Emperor to decide the fate of Hua Gu.

Ming Yang requests the Emperor to give him half a year to continue investigating about the Princess' existence.

If he fails to bring any result from the investigation after half a year has passed, then the Emperor can decide about his fate.




Later, the Emperor goes for a walk in his garden in broad daylight and is suddenly attracted by a good smell.  By following the smell, the Emperor is brought to the room where Xiao Zhu and Qing Er are roasting sweet potatoes.

Qing Er acts insolently to the Emperor by saying what's so wrong about roasting sweet potatoes.

The Emperor is irritated by her insolent tone of voice and asks who she is.

Qing Er tells him that she is a friend of Hua Gu who is going to die soon and for whom it is useless to beg for mercy.

The Emperor asks in a surprised tone: 'Hua Gu likes eating sweet potatoes?'

Qing Er replies: Yes she does.

The Emperor tells her with sarcasm that cheap people like to eat cheap food.
Qing Er lashes at the Emperor and exclaims at him: 'So only poor people eat sweet potatoes!?'
The Emperor turns back to look at her with an angry expression and tells her: 'Aren't you scared that I sentence you to death on the spot!?'

Qing Er replies that it doesn't matter to her anyway because she has no parents and she has an incurable disease from which she'll be dying sooner or later.

Qing Er starts defending Hua Gu by telling the Emperor that Hua Gu has experienced many hardships since she was a child so she is stronger than anyone else.

Qing Er then smirks and tells the Emperor: 'In fact you grew up in the same conditions (as Hua Gu).


Hearing that, the Emperor is really furious and shouts out 'How dare you?!'
Every servant in the room and even Xiao Zhu fall to their knees hearing the Emperor's furious voice.
But Qing Er still does not back off and tells the Emperor that what she just said is true.
QIng Er adds that nobody can match up to Hua Gu who is sacrificing her life to save her mother's life.  After listening to her words, the Emperor leaves the room without saying a word.

The Emperor later orders the guards to bring Hua Gu to see him.

Hua Gu does not bother bowing down to salute the Emperor which irritates him.

He asks her how dare she not bow down to him.

Hua Gu replies that she is already sentenced to death so why would she bother bowing down; it's not as if bowing down would avoid her the death sentence.

 The Emperor then asks Hua Gu why doesn't she beg him to spare her life.

Hua Gu replies: 'If by begging you, you'll spare me then you being the Emperor would be a farce.

The Emperor asks her: 'Then why do you think I called you here for?'

Looking at the table full of various dishes, Hua Gu replies: 'To eat'

The Emperor asks her: 'Is the answer that easy?'

Hua Gu responds with: 'If there are things you don't understand, then no need to think about it.  For things that do not require thinking, then no need to think.  A person living like that will be happier.'

(Me: I like this quote of hers...it sounds so easygoing and light...just like a 'no pressure' tagline ^^)

The Emperor nods in agreement to her words, but tells her: 'Not everybody has the chance of not having to think' (He's referring to people like him)

Hua Gu replies: 'Then does that mean that you as the Emperor are not really living happily.'
The Emperor is left speechless and just tells Hua Gu to eat her fill while gesturing to the food on the table.
Hua Gu looks at the dishes on the table and immediately grabs the roasted sweet potatoes.
The Emperor tells Hua Gu that it is Qing Er who told hiim she likes sweet potatoes.
Hua Gu feels happy that QIng Er remembered that her favorite food is sweet potatoes.
She breaks a sweet potato in two and gives one half to the Emperor to eat.
The Emperor tells her that it's been a really long time since he last ate sweet potatoes.
Hua Gu tells her about the time when she was living with the theatrical troop, she was too poor to buy food so she stole sweet potatoes to roast them.
Hua Gu says it's a memory which can't be forgotten.

The Emperor also gets flashbacks of his childhood when he was so poor he had to steal sweet potatoes to eat and the villager would chase after him for stealing the sweet potatoes.

Me: Looks like the Emperor was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth...

The Emperor almost chokes while eating his sweet potato while reminiscing about his poor childhood.

Hua Gu pats his back to help him swallow better and tells him eat slowly.

The Emperor tells her that he's fine.

Hua Gu stares at the Emperor for a few seconds and thinks to herself: 'In fact, Grandpa is just an ordinary old man.'

The Emperor asks her what's wrong and if she has something to say just say it loud.

Hua Gu replies that old people should eat more slowly or else they risk choking.

Hearing that the Emperor thinks that Hua Gu is actually a kind girl.
The Emperor then asks Hua Gu to perform the Hua Gu dance with Qing Er for him.
Hua Gu agrees enthusiastically.

The next day, Xiao Zhu tells Hua Gu & Qing Er if they have understood the Emperor's intention in asking them to perform the Hua Gu dance.

Xiao Zhu tells them that if they perform well, he is sure that the Emperor will remove the death sentence on Hua Gu.

Both girls are surprised upon hearing that possibility.

Ming Yang tells them to just perform well to make the Emperor happy which is a good thing too.

Hua Gu also agrees with Ming Yang as she does not expect much.  She was just thinking about giving a good performance to make the Emperor happy.

But Hua Gu is worried that Qing Er will not be able to perform the Hua Gu dance which requires quite some energy to complete.  But Qing Er replies that she'll be fine and that she really wants to perform well to help Hua Gu get on the Emperor's good side.

As the performance starts, the Emperor smiles happily.

Watching them perform, brings back past memories of his childhood of when he was a poor kid wandering the streets to watch artists perform the Hua Gu dance.

Back then, the Emperor was mistreated by the villagers who would just push him violently aside to prevent him from watching the Hua Gu dance.

Me:  I kinda feel sad for the Emperor, his childhood was quite sad & lonely...
But because he really wanted to watch the Hua Gu dance, he still pushed his way through the crowd to get a good view of the dancers.  Just watching the Hua Gu dance would make him happy when he was a child.

Coming back to the reality, the Emperor watches in delight as Qing Er and Hua Gu perform some difficult dance moves just before completing the performance.

The Emperor claps happily after Hua Gu and Qing Er complete their wonderful performance.

Suddenly, the Emperor feels in pain and almost falls over but the two girls come to support him.

The servant is alarmed and tells the Emperor that he is sorry for not paying enough attention.

But the Emperor smiles and says he's alright.
He also tells Hua Gu that she danced very well which make the both of them smile as they head back inside.

The next day, the Emperor holds a meeting with his subjects to make an announcement.

Xiao Zhu and Ming Yang are in high spirits as they believe that the Emperor will feel lenient towards Hua Gu and spare her life after having watched her perform the Hua Gu dance.

However, the Emperor does not attend the meeting and instead sends his messenger to make his announcement.

The announcement states that on the 15th of the next month, Hua Gu will still be sentenced and the King (i.e, the Emperor's son) will be punished as well (sorry I didn't understand what his punishment consists of because the Chinese words used were too difficult for me to understand...sorry my mandarin is not that high level ^^'' )

Both Xiao Zhu and Ming Yang are shocked and disappointed upon hearing the bad news.

I think the King has also received the death sentence as Hua Gu's evil uncle from her mother's side tells the King that he must celebrate since the Emperor gave him the death sentence.

The King goes to visit his father the Emperor but the latter refuses to see him by giving the excuse that he is tired and feeling unwell.

Me: I don't understand what's going on in the emperor's head...maybe he is planning something to save Hua Gu and his son without the enemy knowing or...he is really planning to have his only two genuine successors sentenced to death for some insane reason...

This is the end of this episode.

Moving on to Episode 35,

The King (also known as Yan Wang) is really furious after being refused a visit to his own father.
The King thinks back to a conversation he had with the Emperor (his father).
He was telling the latter that he could not understand why although his eldest brother had died, he had decided to give the throne to his grandson instead of him who is his second son and his next successor in line.

The Emperor tells Yan Wang that he knows he really wants to be on the throne and allows him to take a seat on it for a while.

Coming back to reality, Yan Wang heads towards the throne while telling himself that the one who deserves to take the throne is him and not that fake grandson.

Yan Wang adds that he cannot bear it anymore.

In the next scene, we move on to Hua Gu being brought to meet the Emperor.

Hua Gu looks angrily at the Emperor and does not bow down to him.  The Emperor asks every guards and servants to leave the room.  Once alone with Hua Gu, he tells her: 'Do you think that you could make me change my decision just by performing the Hua Gu dance? Wasn't it you who said that if I changed my decision that easily, I would just become a farce.'

Hua Gu replies that she did not expect him to change his decision and of she has to die, she'll die.

She also adds that since she has only 1 month left to live then she does not have much time to waste because there are still many things she wants to do.

The Emperor asks her what are the things she wants to do.

Hua Gu tells him that it's none of his business.

The Emperor tells Hua Gu that if she doesn't tell him then he will not be able to let her out to do the last things she wants to do.

Hua Gu asks him if he is not worried that she will run away if he lets her out.

The Emperor replies that if she wanted to run away, she would have long ago.

The Emperor gives Hua Gu a golden badge which is like a pass which will allow her to enter and leave the palace freely.

He also tells her to prepare for her marriage with Ming Yang during that 1 month she is left with to live.

Me: Oh so he knows Hua Gu and Ming Yang are a couple...hum...I think the Emperor is planning to let Hua Gu escape somehow...coz he's being so nice to her...we'll just see how it turns out ^^


Date: 13.06.2015

This is today's date.  Honestly, I have put this drama review on hold for quite long because I simply could not find the time to continue watching it and now I have somehow lost track of what happened so far in the story.  I'm really sorry towards fans of this drama and people who have recently discovered this historical drama.
This review has remained in my draft list for so long and I think that I should just post it today.   I apologize but I don't think I'll be continuing the review for this drama.  I'm sorry for the abrupt end of the review but I hope that you can still watch the drama on Tudou or Youku or CCTV.

Thank you for reading my blog posts.

Kind regards

Kalin Lyfe

P.S: This drama has a happy ending :)

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