Women in Chinese Drama

[RebelAzn]

Ok this is like the first historical drama I have seen from Asia. It was interesting. I watched it partly to improve my Chinese, part to learn more about the history and just to be entertained.

This is a Chinese drama about fall of the Ming Dynasty and beginning of the Qing Dynasty. The story got many interesting characters. I had a hard time understanding the Chinese because it is probably old Chinese but I had no problem reading all the subtitles on the bottom. The story was interesting and there are plenty of Chinese style martial arts. There are plenty of action.

The most interesting thing I walked away from is how they portrayed Chinese women in the drama. I mean the women here are usually portrayed as strong yet feminine. Women in the drama are regularly excellent fighters who beat up plenty of men and fought along men in battles etc. Some are leaders of their sects and some are just regular women. Most of these women kicked butt. Now compare to how they portray them in Hollywood, it is a total 180. Chinese men were just men in this drama with flaws and different personalities.

The drama is called Sword Stained with Royal Blood. Here is a link to the general English description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Stained_with_Royal_Blood

Here are some characters and pics of the show: http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/v/bxj/index.shtml

I walked away learning a thing about Chinese history. It is actually very interesting. Anyone got any other recommendations?

[ZhuBaJie]

that's based on a novel by Jin Yong. he's probably the most renowned wuxia writer ever, and he has a habit of writing strong female characters. his most famous writing is probably the Condor Heroes trilogy.

actually prior to Bruce Lee, a lot of HK martial arts movies were based around heroine main characters.