Recently, "Mountain Flowers" came to an end, with a Douban score of 9.1, making it the highest-rated domestic drama on Douban in 2024. The play is directed by Fei Zhenxiang and stars Song Jia. It is based on Zhang Guimei and tells the story of how she founded Huaping Girls' High

Recently, "山花花天" concluded, with a Douban score of 9.1, becoming the highest-rated domestic drama on Douban in 2024.

The play is directed by Fei Zhenxiang and stars Song Jia. It is based on Zhang Guimei and tells the story of how she founded Huaping Girls' High School in Yunnan and lifted batches of girls out of the mountains. The play uses a lot of space to depict the stories of Zhang Guimei's four students. Many viewers believe that the play is "real" and that the characters are flesh-and-blood.

Lancia plays the 14-year-old student "Gu Yu" in the play. Gu Yu is the "001" student in a girls' high school. Her mother died young and her father wanted her to drop out of school and get married in exchange for a 30,000-dollar gift. With Zhang Guimei's help, she decided to study, participated in the establishment of a women's high school, and successfully entered university.

Lancia plays "Gu Yu". Picture/Still

Lan Xiya is 26 years old this year. She was born in the tea village of Enshi, Hubei Province. She graduated from the Performance Department of Wuhan University. She once attracted attention for her role as Niu Chunmiao in "The Storm Chaser". In an interview with Jiupai News, she mentioned that many local girls from Huaping participated in the play. Before the filming started, they had been training together in Yunnan for a month. The actors lived in a room with two or three people, and they had a set time to wash and simulate. Dormitory life of a female high school student. During the training process of

, she learned the local dialect, established a connection with the soil, found the commonalities of the characters, and became friends with many local girls in Huaping. She mentioned many times that the girls helped her a lot. "While performing, I found that when I looked into their eyes, I could gain strength from them."

html On September 26, she wrote a farewell letter to Guyu on Weibo. In the letter, she summarized her learning and growth while playing the role of Guyu, "Our story will continue, Guyu's story is far from over, and Teacher Zhang's story has just begun. Red plums will grow all over the mountains, because There is a group of persistent people who are watering it carefully until the rain brings forth hundreds of valleys and the mountains are blooming with flowers.”

Lancia. Picture/provided by interviewee

[1] Training for a month before the start of filming, simulating life in a girls’ school dormitory

Jiupai News: What was the opportunity to join the crew? How long did it take to shoot?

Lancia: In 2022, when the crew was preparing for the film, I participated in the interview. The official filming will be in 2023. Before the filming started, we participated in performance training in Yunnan for more than a month, and then continued filming until the end of the year.

Jiupai News: Can you introduce the performance process for more than a month?

Lan Xiya: training moved to two points in total, first in Kunming, Yunnan, and later in Huaping. The crew went to a local girls' school in advance to do homework and observe the life patterns of female high school students. We practiced on these contents and simulated the life of female high school students.

In the crew, we also live in dormitories. The actors live in two or three people in one room to cultivate the feeling of collective life. Usually, teachers from the crew will check our dormitory. During the process, we will conduct military training and have to get up and wash up within the specified time. Because many local schools have very strict rules and regulations, we want to learn their daily routine requirements in this way. The crew also hired a dialect teacher to teach us the local dialect.

Among those who trained with us, there were many local girls from Huaping who played the roles of our classmates. We developed a deep relationship during the training.

Jiupai News: Is there anything impressive that happened during filming?

Lancia: I didn’t expect so many local girls to come with us to do this, maybe they have no previous performance experience. But when I get along with them, I find that they are often the most sincere, a state that I need to keep learning to achieve. During the performance, I found that when I looked into their eyes, I gained strength from them. I am very grateful for this. I have received a lot of help from them in these aspects.

Jiupai News: Are their family situations similar to those of Zhang Guimei’s students?

Lancia: Many local girls live far away, even deep in the mountains.I heard them say that there was a preference for boys over girls in their hometown, and because of family conditions, many children of the same age chose to go out to work or get married early. They got better after they received education.

Lancia plays Gu Yu. Pictures/Stills

Jiupai News: What was the difficulty in filming this scene?

Lancia: I think it’s about finding the commonality of the characters during the training process, because this really takes time. At the beginning, I was going to learn how to connect with the soil and find some commonalities among the girls in the mountains. For example, they are very simple and sincere, may be easily shy, and may be a little afraid of outside attention. They don't have so many complex ideas and pay more attention to specific things in life. They are also very capable, just like I was when I was a child. They just do whatever comes to mind and do things very neatly. Later, we slowly started playing together, eating together, sleeping together, and became good friends, and these problems were gradually solved.

Many life details in the drama are similar to my childhood experiences, but as I go to college and work, I will forget some of them. For me, I need to find the most sincere and simple way of life and expression.

Jiupai News: How does Guyu make you feel?

Lancia: During the early training of , I didn’t know which role I wanted to play, and I didn’t even have a script. During training, we will go through some exercises to let us better understand our own characteristics, and also let the teachers on the directing team see our characteristics. For example, sometimes I am very stubborn, and the director may think that I have similarities with Gu Yu. Later, I gradually came into contact with the character of Gu Yu.

I can feel that Gu Yu has the courage to change her destiny independently in such an environment. This is very admirable. She is a little idol of mine.

Jiupai News: Seeing that Gu Yu is the "001" student of the Women's High School, does this have any meaning?

Lan Xiya: I think that from when Gu Yu saw Teacher Zhang speaking out her dream at the Congress on TV to going through the process of building the school with Teacher Zhang, she participated in almost all preparations. She told Teacher Zhang that if a women's high school was built, she would be the first to sign up. Since then, she has been a part of the women's high school. The identity of No. 001 is her commitment to the women's high school, her responsibility and responsibility, and her hope for her future.

[2] When filming, I looked at Song Jia with some distress

Jiupai News: Many people are discussing the one-minute long eye scene between Zhang Guimei persuading Guyu to go to school and Guyu. Can you share the story of the filming of this scene?

Lancia: Actually, I don’t think it was Gu Yu who changed her mind in this scene, but that she had a seed, a handful of firewood, in her heart before. Before her mother passed away, she had a habit of studying. She actually had an obsession with reading and a thirst for knowledge.

But she may have never had the courage or opportunity to do it before. It was not until Teacher Zhang appeared and said, "If you go to study, I can help you study" that the flame was ignited.

Jiupai News: During the filming, which scenes made you feel that there were many details?

Lan Xiya: Zhang Guimei’s starting point for enrolling students in the mountains is very subtle and detailed. This process uses a lot of space to specifically show how Teacher Zhang entered the mountains and what kind of children he met after entering the mountains. In the camera, each girl is different, some are herding cattle, some are washing clothes, Cooking and cutting hogweed. Some have read books, and some are illiterate.

It is difficult to get out of the mountains. One is transportation. They have to travel across mountains and rivers for a day and a night. One is the perception of parents. Not every girl will eventually go to a girls' school. The people who came out in the end were not as many as Teacher Zhang had gone to see.

Jiupai News: Looking back now, which scene is the most impressive?

Lancia: Many pictures flashed in my mind. Because the experience of getting along with those friends during this period was unforgettable.

I still remember the scene of leaving the examination room after the college entrance examination, which is also the end of the script.The girls in the play study for so long just to prepare for the college entrance examination. This is a very solemn thing. I was very stressed when I entered the examination room, but felt relieved when I came out.

’s mental state at that time was the same as ours on set. I feel like this scene may be finished and over. We also encountered many difficulties during the filming process and we are finally over it. But I felt vaguely in my heart that we were going to be separated from Teacher Zhang and Teacher Song Jia, and we were also going to be separated from the classmates in the same dormitory. There will still be a kind of parting melancholy inside.

When we actually looked at each other and Teacher Zhang during the performance, the emotion just matched the setting of the script.

Lan Xiya plays Gu Yu and Song Jia plays Zhang Guimei. Pictures/Stills

Jiupai News: What was it like working with director Fei Zhenxiang and Song Jia?

Lancia: I think Director Fei is very meticulous. He has done a lot of work in advance on every point. Maybe what is finally presented is just a plan in his mind. He has already thought about it during location scouting or early preparation. A dozen different ways to shoot. A very important thing I learned from Director Fei is that when shooting starts, you have to put down the text and use some content other than the text. What he said will make me dare to trust myself more when filming and trust my subconscious actions during performance.

I also learned a lot from working with teacher Song Jia. She was very tolerant of us. When I was filming opposite her, I felt very sincere. When I looked into her eyes, there was a very strong connection between us. I could hear each other speak from the eyes, and when I spoke the lines, I felt very sincere. It will be smooth and very natural. When Teacher Song Jia was performing, I felt that she was acting from the heart. This sometimes even made me feel very sorry for her.

Jiupai News: How do you get along with each other off-screen?

Lancia: is very similar to the way the girls get along in the drama, they share delicious food. Later, local girls would also ask us, what is class in your school like? What are your thoughts on being an actor? I think it's more like a chat between friends. I feel particularly safe getting along with them. I still have contact with many of my classmates now. I think we will still be good friends in the rest of our lives.

[3] “I hope I still have the courage to explore different sides”

Jiupai News: What do you think are the similarities between Gu Yu and you?

Lancia: It was true when I was a child. For example, I was very efficient when doing farm work. For example, we are all used to making our own decisions on our own affairs. Fortunately, my parents respect my ideas.

Guyu is a very independent person. This is what she and I have in common. After we decide on something, we will be very stubborn, but we can persevere in the end.

Jiupai News: When you were growing up, did you encounter a teacher who had a profound influence on you?

Lancia: Yes, one was when I was in high school and decided to take the art exam. She was the one who told me that there was such a way as the art exam. At that time, I didn’t know if I could pursue acting, but she gave me a lot of affirmation and encouragement.

I would also be confused when I was filming. At that time, I met a teacher. He told me not to always strive for a good performance, but to seek more beautiful experience and meaning, and enjoy the process. He also told me to have confidence in my voice.

In fact, sound has always been a problem for me before. Because my voice is relatively mute, I am afraid that it will bring a bad viewing experience. But that teacher always encouraged me to have confidence in my own voice and to be able to portray such a character.

Lancia in life. Picture/provided by interviewee

Jiupai News: Are there any comments from drama fans that impress you?

Lancia: Many reviews of mention the word "careful". I feel very grateful and touched, and everyone feels our sincerity.

Jiupai News: From "The Storm Chaser" to "" to "The Mountain Flowers", your roles span a wide range. What are the different experiences and meanings of these three roles?

Lancia: Each role allows me to see different sides of myself, and to maximize the appearance of a certain side. Initially, "Storm Chaser" received a good response after it aired, which also made me think about how I can maintain the impression in the minds of the audience.

Each character is an individual journey. Looking at the previous performances now, I still have some regrets, but I accept this regret because it cannot be repeated. I also hope that I can maintain the courage to explore different sides of myself in the future.