What happened this year? Mainland TV dramas are competing with Shanghai TV series. At the beginning of the year, CCTV's big hit " Blossoms " tells the story of businessmen in the early days of Shanghai's reform and opening up;
The spy drama "Storm Chaser", which just concluded in the past two days, is also set in Shanghai around 1930. Moreover, the male protagonist lives in a Shanghai alley, and the play also shows a lot about the life of ordinary people in Shanghai alleys.
No, in the past two days, CCTV 8 has launched a blockbuster urban emotional drama " Cheng Huan Ji ". The heroine is an ordinary child born in a Shanghai alley. The heroine's mother speaks Shanghai dialect, which makes people instantly dream back. "Flowers" and "Wind Chaser".
"The Story of Cheng Huan" is adapted from the novel of the same name by the well-known writer Yi Shu, starring Yang Zi, Xu Kai, and a number of powerful actors such as He Saifei, Niu Junfeng, and Gong Beibi.
has just aired 2 episodes, and it has already ranked first in the country in real-time ratings for the same time period. The popularity of the
webcast has even reached the top spot on the entire network, which shows the strength of the show.
So why did "Cheng Huan Ji" achieve such good results and gain such high popularity as soon as it premiered?
After watching 6 episodes in one go, Qiqi found the answer.
1. The two major contradictions at the beginning firmly caught the audience's attention.
It is indeed an adaptation of Yi Shu's work. From the very beginning of "The Story of Cheng Huan", it firmly caught the audience's attention with the two major contradictions in the workplace and emotions.
The first conflict is between the down-to-earth and enterprising female protagonist in the workplace and her shady male boss.
In "Cheng Huan Ji", the heroine Mai Chenghuan (played by Yang Zi) is an ordinary girl with an ordinary background, and she got her job through the help of others. Because of this, she has been working diligently for seven years and done an excellent job. She is also a star employee in the hotel marketing department.
Unfortunately, everything changed when airborne director Yao Zhiming (played by Xu Kai) arrived.
First, because Mai Chenghuan mistakenly placed a cake she made on the conference table to welcome the director (actually it was done by someone else), the director felt that it was not professional enough and immediately asked her to leave.
Immediately afterwards, Yao Zhiming discovered that the heroine was the girlfriend of the son of the boss of Deshan Home Furnishings, a large supplier of the company.
So he immediately changed his mind and not only kept her, but also promoted her to be his secretary. The purpose is of course very obvious, which is to use the relationship between Cheng Huan and the Xin family to deal with the Xin family.
Then Chenghuan embarked on the path of taking the blame. She used to be a star employee, but she made many mistakes since then. Little did she know that many of them were set up by her director.
In this way, Mai Chenghuan used his pure and honest mind to deal with the big bad wolf director and the aggressive father Xin, until he finally became the biggest scapegoat and finally left his favorite marketing department and his relationship with her boyfriend. Also in danger.
The second contradiction is the huge conflict between rich people and ordinary people on the emotional line.
Mai Chenghuan's boyfriend Xin Jialiang is a rich second generation whose family assets exceed 100 million. Because he was afraid that his girlfriend was greedy for his own property, his boyfriend listened to his family and kept telling Mai Chenghuan that he was just a poor man living in Shanghai.
Mai Chenghuan believed deeply in her boyfriend. She helped him pay his phone bill, bought him this and that, helped him repay his loan, and lent him money. It was only later that I realized that I had been deceived like a fool.
Of course Mai Chenghuan was very angry and almost broke up because of it.
But her boyfriend really loved her, and coupled with the three-year relationship between the two, the two finally reconciled.
Before, Mai's mother had always disliked Xin Jialiang's poor conditions. Now that she knew that the Xin family's conditions were so good, she hoped that the two could get married smoothly. Who knew that the problem would come out of the Xin family again.
At the family dinner where the two families met for the first time, Xin Jialiang's sister called her a "longtang princess" and was picky about the Mai family's background. The huge class conflicts were almost irreconcilable, and the two families eventually broke up on bad terms. Whether Mai Chenghuan and Xin Jialiang can continue their relationship has become unknown.
At the beginning of the series, the two intractable conflicts between the workplace line and the emotional line firmly caught the audience's attention. It can be said that the beginning of the series was very successful. At least there is the desire to attract people to keep chasing.
2, cast: Yang Zi + Xu Kai + a group of powerful actors, the lineup is very strong.
"The Story of Cheng Huan" has gathered together Yang Zi, Xu Kai, Niu Junfeng, He Saifei, Gong Beibi, Xu Yajun, Yao Anlian and other powerful actors, and the lineup is very strong.
ranks first, Yang Zi.
Among the actors who transformed from child stars, Yang Zi can be said to be the most successful one. I remember when she starred in Xiaoxue in " A Family with Children ", Yang Zi's face was plump and round, and she couldn't imagine what she would look like when she grew up. Who would have imagined that as an adult, Yang Zi grew into a graceful beauty overnight. Many viewers who watched her grow up have an extra layer of intimacy with her.
"Family with Children"
Since then, Yang Zi has starred in many hit dramas " Zhu Xian Qing Yun Zhi ", "Sweet Honey", " Dear, Beloved ", " Sauvignon Blanc ", and has grown step by step into the mainland Top actresses. Yang Zi's elegant appearance and excellent acting skills have played an important role in getting to where she is today.
In "Cheng Huan Ji", Mai Cheng Huan, an ordinary Shanghai alley girl played by Yang Zi, is optimistic, positive, tenacious, and born for the sun, which makes people feel sad.
second place, Xu Kai.
Many people know Xu Kai, probably from Fu Heng, the rich man in "Story of Yanxi Palace". He waits affectionately, but in the end cannot love him, which has become a difficult thing in many people's hearts.
"Story of Yanxi Palace" Fucha Fu Heng
After that, Xu Kai starred in dramas such as "Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain" and "Swagger", each of which received good response. However, it was the fairy tale drama " Eternal Jue Chen " that really made Xu Kai popular.
"Eternal Jue Chen"
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Xu Kai plays the sinister and realistic businessman Yao Zhiming. The first time the heroine met him, she was almost fired. However, as the contact deepened, he was gradually changed by the heroine.
I didn’t expect that such a sinister and sinister boss would be quite suitable for Xu Kai.
ranks third, Niu Junfeng.
is Yuan Song in " The Legend of Chu Qiao ", Hu Youyu in "Go Where the Wind Is",
Yuan Song in "The Legend of Chu Qiao"
In "Cheng Huan Ji", Niu Junfeng plays the ex-husband of the heroine Cheng Huan The boyfriend loves the heroine very much, but because his family background is so good, he is a rich second generation with a family asset of over 100 million. In the end, the disparity in strength between the two families is too great, and they are disturbed by the family and regretfully break up.
Niu Junfeng is very good at playing the role of the silly son of a landlord. He made this ex-boyfriend look like a type of person he often sees in life, and it was so real.
ranked fourth, He Saifei.
He Saifei, who was born as a Yue Opera actor, is an experienced actor and is also a national first-class actor. In her early years, she let the audience see her acting skills with Mei Shan in "Raise the Red Lantern" and Yang Jiuhong in "Mansion Gate".
"The Mansion Gate" Yang Jiuhong
This time, in "The Story of Cheng Huan", He Saifei plays the heroine's mother Liu Wanyu. As a foreigner, in order to stay in Shanghai, I married Mai's father, who was not in a very good condition.
He Saifei vividly portrays an ordinary mother who dislikes poverty and loves wealth, who is hard-spoken and soft-hearted.
ranked fifth, Yao Anlian.
Veteran actor Yao Anlian has played many classic supporting roles since his debut. The ones that impressed the audience the most were Qi Mu in "Meng Hua Lu" and Uncle Hai in the spy drama "Thin Ice".
In "Cheng Huan Ji", Yao Anlian plays the father of the heroine Cheng Huan, an ordinary driver who drives for the company boss. Honest and simple, without too much scheming.
ranked sixth, Wu Yanshu.
86-year-old national grandmother Wu Yanshu started acting in Beijing at the age of 73, and won the Best Actress Award at the age of 84. Her inspirational experience tells us that it is never too late to start life. Although Wu Yanshu is now in her eighties, she has a really good temperament and her acting skills are also great.
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Wu Yanshu plays the hero's grandmother, an old man who lives alone in a nursing home. People around her thought she lived on her pension and had little money. Who knows, her true identity is a wealthy old lady with her own hotel business in her name.
Wu Yanshu played this character's elegance, calmness and transparency very well.
ranked seventh, Xu Yajun.
Xu Yajun is also an experienced actor. In the 1990s, he became a smash hit with "Finding the World Back" and "Beautiful Lady". In recent years, Xu Yajun, who is in his fifties, has made his debut again with Qi Tongwei in "In the Name of the People" and Zhao Mingqi in " Staying Married Like a Jade" .
"In the Name of the People"
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Xu Yajun plays the father of the heroine's boyfriend, an entrepreneur with a net worth of over 100 million.
In the play, he vividly portrays the image of a businessman who is arrogant, dislikes poverty and loves wealth, and puts profit first.
is ranked eighth, Gong Beibi.
is Lu Yining in "I'm Very Good in a Foreign Country", the Snow Girl in "Qin Shi Mingyue",
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Gong Beibi plays the role of Zhang Peisheng, the male protagonist's company executive, who joins forces with the male protagonist to try to get a higher position in the company First in command. Therefore, she has nothing to do with the plot against the heroine.
is ranked ninth, Qian Yi.
is Chen Siming, the narrow-minded boss in "Ideal City" who keeps putting small shoes on the heroine.
In "The Story of Cheng Huan", Qian Yi plays Yao Renfu.
In addition to the nine mentioned above, drama also has Xu Lingyue, Zhang Yao, Deng Ying, Lu Zhaohua, Wang Ziwei, Qu Zheming, Chi Peng, Cai Gang, Wang Yuning, Yu Xiaodong, Li Xiaoning and many other powerful actors joining the cast. , Qiqi counted a little, and there were no less than 13 powerful factions.
3 and two major highlights make this drama another dark horse in 2024.
Overall, the reason why "Cheng Huan Ji" gained such high popularity as soon as it was aired is mainly due to the following two reasons.
The first one is an unconventional character.
Over the years, there have been quite a few romance dramas about the boss and Cinderella, but most of them are the same. I remember the most refreshing one is the 2021 movie "Just a Marriage Relationship".
By 2024, the story of Boss and Cinderella has actually no market.
A big reason why this drama can successfully break out in such a background is that the male and female protagonists in the drama are very novel and unconventional compared to previous prince and Cinderella stories.
The heroine Cheng Huan is an ordinary girl born in a Shanghai alley.
But what is valuable is that she is independent, strong, sober, and neither pretentious nor silly.
I don’t know why, seeing Gu Chenghuan like this always reminds me of Jane Eyre, who is also independent, sober and poor.
The character design of the male protagonist in the play is also novel. As an airborne director with a rich background, he did not fall inexplicably in love with the heroine as soon as he arrived, nor did he deliberately act handsome and cool. Instead, he was very sinister and even very practical and utilitarian.
In the beginning, he only used and calculated against the heroine. Originally he wanted to fire the heroine because she made a mistake, but when he heard that she was the girlfriend of the company's supplier's son, he immediately changed his mind and kept her, and specifically designated the heroine to contact this supplier in order to provide services for the company. Strive for maximum benefit.
Even if he was kind to the heroine later, it was because the heroine was the most important person to grandma, and when he came back this time, he was planning on grandma's business.
Such a male protagonist who only sees profit is not annoying at all, on the contrary, he is very real.Isn’t this the reality? The reason why people can cooperate well, and even marriage between men and women, most of the time is not based on the strength of both parties.
Looking at it this way, this male protagonist feels very reliable because he is real and does not pretend.
On the contrary, the heroine's rich second-generation boyfriend who only has feelings in his eyes is too childish for people to like because he is too love-minded.
The second one is a plot full of ups and downs.
In addition to the novel characters of the male and female protagonists, the plot of this drama is also very compact, bright and fascinating. At the beginning of the
series, the heroine, Mak Cheng Huan, landed as the director of her company. Unfortunately, Cheng Huan had an embarrassing incident in the elevator and happened to be bumped into by the new director.
Cheng Huan came to the company and found that the new director Yao Zhiming was the person who just soiled someone else's clothes in the elevator. Then, the cake made by Cheng Huan appeared out of thin air on the table in the conference room, which made Yao Zhiming furious. He felt that Cheng Huan was too unprofessional. If guests saw it, it would affect the image of the hotel, and he would immediately ask her to pack up and leave.
Of course Cheng Huan had to fight to keep her job, so she made a lot of efforts. Who knew that in the end it would be a phone call about her identity that made Yao Zhiming change his mind and decide to keep her.
Then, the male protagonist began to use the female protagonist openly and nakedly.
Overall, this drama has a compact and lively pace, with constant conflicts and conflicts, making it easy for people to keep following it.
Based on the novels of the well-known writer Yi Shu, popular young actors and a cast of powerful actors, and the broadcast platform of CCTV8, it is not unreasonable for this "Cheng Huan Ji" to be so popular when it first aired.
As for whether the follow-up can create another masterpiece of urban emotional themes, we will make a conclusion after the series is aired halfway.
