Qiong Yao, following the success of Huan Zhu Ge Ge one and two, has created a new version of Yan Yu Meng Meng. With new characters, a slightly changed plot and some refined original characters. This new tale has been brought to life in a magical way that only Qiong Yao is able to master.

Story-line

It all begins in the early 1900s, in the province of Dong Bei. At that time, in Ha Er Bin, Lu Zhen Hua was a great general, known to commoners as the brave Hei Pao Zi, translated to "Black Leopard". Fu Wen Pei was a common girl and was from a intellectual family. On one occasion in the street, she accidentally falls before Lu Zhen Hua. What was a split second meeting turned into a lifelong commitment when Lu Zhen Hua quickly demanded that she be his eighth wife and wedding held the very next day. A year soon past and Lu Zhen Hua meets another girl, this one by the name of Wang Xue Qin. She was soon brought into the family as well, as Lu Zhen Hua’s ninth and last wife.

The audience is then brought to the year of 1936 in Shanghai. Many years has past since Lu Zhen Hua was Hei Pao Zi and now he is a man living in the shadows of his past. His whole family had been left in Dong Bei when they moved and the only remaining are his eight and ninth wife with their children. Lu Er Hao, Lu Ru Ping, Lu Meng Ping and Lu Er Jie belonging to Xue Qin. And Lu Yi Ping belonging to Wen Pei.

One fine day, He Shu Huan and Du Fei, two daring reporters encounter Ru Ping during an exciting chase. She helps them upon request and later finds out that they’re friends of her brother Lu Er Hao. Little did Shu Huan know that in the short meeting, Lu Ru Ping had already fallen deeply in love with him. Six months later, on a rainy night, it was time for Lu Yi Ping to go and collect her monthly allowance from her father. Five years ago, soon after they arrived in Shanghai, Wen Pei along with Yi Ping were kicked out of the large residence of Lu Zhen Hua and forced to live in poverty with the small allowance of twenty dollars per month. That night, Yi Ping became desperate and wanted more money because she and her mother couldn’t live on twenty dollars alone anymore. After some struggle, Lu Zhen Hua resorted to violence and used a horsewhip to whip Yi Ping while the whole family in the residence watched on. Stubborn and strong-willed, Yi Ping declared that she was no longer part of the family and vowed revenge on them all. That same night, she bumps into Shu Huan, but rejects him when she finds out that he is a family friend of "that side" as she refers to the family in the residence. What she unknowingly leaves behind is a longing and curiosity in Shu Huan’s heart.

From that night onwards, Qing Shen Shen Yu Meng Meng is the story of how Yi Ping tries to take revenge for her mother’s sufferings and her, while torn between trying to find the meaning of love and forgiveness in her disfigured world. It is a story of the love that she and Shu Huan grew, under the most pressured and difficult circumstances. A story of Shu Huan’s dedication to patiently teach love and forgiveness to Yi Ping. It is a story of a father’s harsh relationship with his unwanted daughter and how it is rekindled. It is a story of an impossible crush, that somehow became reality. It is a story of a wife, forever faithful to her husband, and another’s unfaithfulness. As a whole it’s story of true love, compassion, revenge, lust, family, relationships, war, victory, friendship, respect, secrets, lies, deception, forgiveness, power, good, evil and much more all tied into a blockbuster of 49 episodes.

Lu Yi Ping=This was a beautifully written and portrayed character, the highlight of the series for me. I admit that is a bias view on my part. Me, being a dedicated fan of Zhao Wei’s. But I truly believe that the character was full of depth and genuine. I have never seen the original version of YanYu Meng Meng, so I do not know how Yi Ping was supposed to be, but the Lu Yi Ping I saw in this series was a genuine human being. Her emotions and reactions are written with perfection to her character. She was touching in such a subtle way. Any one who saw the her surface would hate her; mean, spiteful, revengeful, strong, and stubborn, but what the audience saw in the simplest of lines, the smallest irrelevant actions and expressions, was a different person. Inside the shell, was a lost soul searching for love, wanting to find out what it is. Love with a man, love with her father, love with her brother and sisters and Qiong Yao uses the perfect metaphor for her. Yi Ping is a porcupine, beneath the spikes and armor she has soft fragile body. We all in a way, are porcupines. We tend to layer ourselves with defenses to prevent our fragile innards from getting hurt. In that way, Yi Ping is a true example of a human being, and how we all struggle through the war between love and hate.

Vicki Zhao does an excellent performance here, with her large expressive eyes that’s delightful throughout the series. They burned in anger, laughed in amusement, brimmed with sorrow, overwhelmed in joy, widen in shock, and narrowed in endurance. Every expression throughout the series was to perfection and was able to genuinely move my heart. When I saw the series, I finally fully understood the meaning of "heart-wrenching". Through Yi Ping’s struggles as I continuously felt the strangling feeling, the lump arise in my throat, and the butterflies in my stomach. Yi Ping is everything we try to be and everything we run away from.

He Shu Huan=This was a very nice character, although he lacked the depth of Yi Ping. Shu Huan grew up in a loving environment where what he said basically came true. What I saw in Leo Ku’s portrayal was a guy trying to get used to the real world…one which is so different from what his protective parents had prepared him for. He doesn’t understand why there are bad things in the world, or why there are families like the Lu’s exist.

Shu Huan in a way is a scholar. Confined to his knowledge of the world through books, he is actually quite clueless to the truth. This is the same reason why Yi Ping was attractive to him…she was everything he never knew existed. Leo Ku does a very good job as Shu Huan, even though at times, he seems to wear the same expression. I wasn’t sure whether this was due to his acting or whether it was due to Shu Huan’s personality. But the expressionless face does, in fact, fit the story quite well. The only negative thing about his performance overall was that he never managed to fill my eyes with tears even in his most darkly hour.

Lu Ru Ping=I found this character extremely manipulative and annoying as well as fake. Don’t get me wrong…this was in no part the fault of Ruby Lin, but more the fault of the script. Ru Ping was a very nice character to begin with…then why she would so desperately try to steal her sister’s boyfriend really got to me. The quote that sticks mostly in my mind is when she tells Shu Huan to "don’t hate Yi Ping, forget Yi Ping, pretend she never existed." Now would any genuinely nice character say something like that to her sister’s ex-boyfriend? There’s also her rejection of Du Fei. She is so blunt in rejecting him and yet uses his feelings to her advantage in going after Shu Huan.

Ruby Lin also did a good job in the portrayal of Ru Ping…but was over-shadowed by Vicki’s Yi Ping. The acting on her part didn’t manage to "wow" me as Vicki’s did. However, one of the highlights of QSSYMM lies in the cast. Everyone performed greatly to bring out the story, Ruby’s Ru Ping included. The character was extremely annoying and whiney, that it affected my view on Ruby’s acting as I was too busy being annoyed to concentrate on the acting…plus on my re-runs of the series, I tend to fast forward some of the more boring and annoying parts. Still, if the script demanded an annoying manipulative Ru Ping…then Ruby Lin’s job has been done extremely well!

Du Fei=This was the perfect role. The role no one would be able to hate. Yet even though I didn’t hate it…I ended up finding Du Fei extremely annoying. When he was first introduced, his scenes were amusing but it became too often and too alike. It became predictable and the humor was lost after a while. I believe the main problem with Qiong Yao serials…once something is good or funny, they are often repeated so many times over and over that it no longer amusing or good, but annoying.

Overall, this was a very sweet, lovable character that brought many laughs. I was amused by the way Du Fei never gave up with Ru Ping, even after being rejected on numerous occasions. The character once again, lacked depth (or it could be that Yi Ping was too deep and left everyone else out in the cold), and I also found him too single-minded. All he ever cared about was Ru Ping and never was I given the impression that he had even an ounce of care for Yi Ping (or anyone else for that matter) who was supposedly his friend. Shu Huan at least managed to spread his concerns around.

Alec Su does a wonderful portrayal of the klutzy and sweet Du Fei, spreading his wings away from the grips of Huan Zhu Ge Ge. His expressions were highly comical and thousands of praises to him for his role in the series.

Set and Costume

The setting and costuming for the series was breathtaking. Much attention has been paid to the minor details to bring the audience back to the 1930s of Shanghai. Numerous sights of spectacular gardens and lakes fill the screen. One scene that had me absolutely drawn was the sunset upon the bridge. The sky was purple and pink and to look at it refreshed the viewer tremendously. The lively atmosphere of Shanghai Grand was also amazingly captured with the use of colors and light. The costuming of the characters in Shanghai Grand is exceptional. Feathers, frills and frocks are just a part of the outrageous and beautiful outfits worn. The different styles Yi Ping wore are fresh and pleasurable to the eye. My personal favorite is a white dress with a see through white shawl and a matching hat. Personal preferences aside, Zhao Wei looks radiant in each costume as a singer. Outside of Shanghai Grand, Qiong Yao has opted for her cast to wear the fashion statements during the time. With the guys all donning western shirts and pants like Shu Huan with an especially delightful vest. The girls sporting on traditional Qi Paos with the occasional western fad . Some of Yi Ping’s clothes looking quite the fashion of modern times, the entire ensemble is eloquently the fashion of the 1930s in the grand city of Shanghai.

Music from the serie

One of the absolute mustn’t miss details of QSSYMM is the soundtrack. Qiong Yao wrote the lyrics of every song especially for the series and the audience is made to ooh and ah at the surprisingly good vocals of Vicki Zhao. The songs are catchy and meaningful…though different from the pop culture of today. Check out especially "Li bie de che zhan" and "Hao Xiang Hao Xiang." These tracks are beautiful and guaranteed to have you mellow for hours. Why the rating? One star for story line, a pleasing glow for Yi Ping and Vicki Zhao, a bright one for the soundtrack, half a shine for rest of the cast, and half a twinkle for the set and costuming. Or working the other way around, five to begin with, one half-fades from some boring story lines and one is half eclipsed by the repetition of plot.