"Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" is the return of domestic costume dramas and one of the top works of domestic costume dramas.
The chief planner of "Qing Salt Merchants" is Sheng Heyu, and the art director is Zhang Li. The last time I saw the combination of this pair of names was "Toward Harmony". The level and status of this work need no elaboration, but that was already 11 years ago. 11 years after the film and television industry was in turmoil, the emergence of "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" can be said to have inherited the glory of domestic costume dramas ten years ago. Therefore, it is meaningless to compare it horizontally with other TV series of the same period. Only by comparing it vertically can we taste some intriguing details.
In 1988, the 28-episode costume historical drama "The Last Emperor" starring Chen Daoming and produced by the China TV Drama Production Center was released. It was the first grand narrative historical drama and a good start for domestic costume dramas. In the following two decades, a large number of well-produced and sincere costume dramas emerged one after another. For example, "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" at the end of the 20th century, and "Toward Harmony", "The Ming Dynasty" and "Yongzheng Dynasty" in the first ten years of this century have all been crowned classics; Slightly less impressive ones, such as "The Kangxi Dynasty", "Emperor of Hanwu" and "The Great Qin Empire", are also worth watching again and again; more popular ones, such as "The Qianlong Dynasty", "The Granary of the World" and other film and television dramas, are also worthy of watching. Remarkable place.
The above-mentioned TV series all have a unique feature: they use the past to describe the present. Regardless of whether the director's intention was to blow the trumpet and carry the sedan chair, or to criticize and insinuate the government, we must admit that the TV drama practitioners of that era had artistic pursuits and even feelings for their family and country. What they consider is not the vanity fair of the entertainment industry, but the position of this country and this nation at the historical juncture and the direction forward. You can say that they have too much private stuff, you can criticize them for joking about history, and you can even gnash your teeth and scold them for having ulterior motives, but you have to admit that their attitude in making TV series is enough to put newcomers to shame.
At that time, I was looking forward to the domestic costume dramas of that year. If there was a severe drought, I looked at the clouds, and the Zixia Fairy looked at the colorful auspicious clouds. Looking forward to, looking forward to, "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" came, floating over leisurely like the auspicious clouds in my mind, and it also brought violent thunder and rain, which drenched me. As soon as my face was wet with rain and wet with tears, I couldn't help but look up to the sky and scream: Thunder, rain, and dew are all your kindness!
"Salt Merchants of the Qing Dynasty" undoubtedly follows the old path of costume dramas. It starts with the local official corruption case, peels off the cocoon and extracts the thread, digs deeper layer by layer, and finally kills everyone. "The Yongzheng Dynasty" begins with the case of Ren Bo'an, "The Ming Dynasty" begins with the case of destroying embankments and flooding fields in Zhejiang, and "Qianlong Dynasty" begins with the case of Wang Danwang of Gansu. Ren Bo'an was implicated in the eighth, ninth and tenth lords, Zhejiang Zheng Mi Chang and He Maocai were implicated in the elders and junior pavilions, and Wang Danwang was implicated in the entire officialdom of the Qianlong dynasty. A small case triggers a big case, and the local area is involved in the central one. This is like the "first chapter of the book" in the Ming and Qing chapter novels. Although it is almost vulgar, the audience just likes it and buys it. Old wine in a new bottle, so what? After decades, this is what I drink! Rich and willful!
Of course, "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" is still different from previous costume dramas, that is, there is no absolute binary opposition between good and evil. It is precisely because there is no distinction between good and evil and there is sophistication and humanity everywhere that the characters in the plot appear real and believable. For example, compared with the imperial envoy who is also the subject of the opening chapter, compared with the cold-faced Wang Yinzhen and Hai Ruihaigangfeng, who are powerful weapons of the country and lonely ministers and dead soldiers, Akzhan in "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" really doesn't look that big. Wei Guangzheng. On the one hand, he accepted the thin horse enshrined by the salt merchant, and on the other hand, he cut off the financial resources of the four general merchants. He drove tigers and devoured wolves, sow discord, talked sweethearts with swords, killed donkeys and killed donkeys. His style was barbaric. , The hands are ruthless and the heart is black, which is completely different from the previous anti-corruption practices. In addition, many details are worthy of scrutiny. For example, when asking for a donation from a salt merchant, you will receive 700,000 taels first, then 300,000 taels, and another 100,000 taels as joint fees. Wang Chaozong, played by Zhang Jiayi, immediately corrected him and said, no, the joint fee only costs 30,000 taels at most. Why did Akzan charge an extra 70,000 taels of donated silver? Is it to use it as national funds? I'm afraid not entirely.
Wang Chaozong embodies a kind of flexible values ????of ancient businessmen.
Ever since Akzhan took charge of Yanyuan, he has been using one move after another, a set of flowing combinations of punches, not giving the enemy a chance to breathe; what's even more powerful is that his moves hit the vital points, leaving no room for anything, and doing things to the best of his ability. As for Wang Chaozong, he not only benefited himself but also benefited others; he not only cared for his life but also for the country; when he did things beautifully, people also did them beautifully. There are two sayings circulating among Huizhou merchants in the Qing Dynasty. One is "The person carrying the sedan chair carries people" and the other is "Think about yourself in the first half of the night, and think about others in the second half of the night." Wang Chaozong bowed his head to Ake Zhan without bending, and sang in harmony with Boss Bao, which shows that he is deeply loved by Huizhou merchants. To paraphrase a line from "The Righteous Path in the World Is Vicissitudes of Life", in this game of mahjong, Akezhan played the game uniformly, while Wang Chaozong played the game in a bumpy and even draw.
Another eye-catching character is Boss Ma, the boss who talks about trouble and is a double-edged sword. Originally, he and Boss Bao were fat and thin, singing and harmonizing, one with a red face and the other with a black face, which made me think they were just simple functional roles. Later, he secretly told Boss Bao about Wang Chaozong's purchase of salt from Ambassador Cao. Not only did he watch the fire from the other side, but he also borrowed a knife to kill people, which shocked people to see how deep this man was and how vicious his intentions were. Immediately afterwards, there was another scene, in which Boss Ma was very filial to his mother and used his own teeth to bite the upper of his old mother's soft shoes. There was not much space, but the image of a middle-aged salt merchant with a rough life experience and deep thoughts immediately stood out.
From all these, it can be seen that there is no embodiment of absolute morality in this drama. Over the past twenty years, there have been many domestic costume dramas, but only "Toward Peace" and "The Ming Dynasty" can truly achieve this.
Needless to say, Zhang Jiayi and Yu Feihong have good looks, good acting skills, and both sex and art. Watching their plays is a pleasure. In "Toward Peace", Prince Gong/Qu Hongji transformed into the salt merchant's boss, and Li Guangzhao transformed into Fifth Master Quan, both of which made people deeply moved. Lu Degong, played by Teacher Huo Qing, is both a Confucian and an official, an official and a businessman. He is calm and harmonious, but also has a bit of smoothness and harmony. It is also wonderful (unfortunately, most of the actors are not in original recordings, so you can't appreciate them. Excellent line skills). Only Boss Bao, one of the four major salt merchants, was a little flamboyant and pale in comparison to the rest of the cast. Of course, the design of this character is a bit cartoonish. It seems to be purely for gags or to advance the plot. It is far less fleshed out than the other three major businessmen.
What brings out the charm of these performances to the maximum extent is Teacher Zhang Li’s elusive and unpredictable lens technology. Although the nominal director of this play is Han Xiaojun, after looking at a few scenes, I will never believe that this is not the work of Teacher Zhang Li. From the scenery to the close-ups, it is completely consistent with "Toward Peace" 11 years ago! The only drawback is that there are a lot of narrations in this drama, and many meanings that can clearly be conveyed through camera language have to be read out loudly in narration, leaving no room for the audience to grumble. It's like looking at a beauty through a gauze curtain, and suddenly someone pops out and pulls the gauze curtain away. Although it doesn't really ruin the scenery, it also loses the beauty of holding a pipa half-covering one's face.
The most praiseworthy thing is the script of this play. Although it tells the story of one place and corner of Yangzhou City, in this drama, the Qing Dynasty, from the nobles and squires to the ordinary people in the city, all kinds of scenery, culture, and customs are vividly displayed, which is simply immersive. When He Sixheng shouted "Dong Weng", my head buzzed, and I instantly regained the pleasure of reading Gao Yang's novels.
It should be noted that "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" has only thirty-four episodes. Judging from the investment scale of this drama, the number of episodes cut out is very few. The less you cut, the less money you get from selling it. But correspondingly, the plot is compact, solid, and dense. There is not a wasted scene, not a single peeing point, or even a nonsense word, which makes people dizzy and breathtaking. Looking at those TV series that often run to fifty or sixty episodes, with constant filling and non-stop replays, it seems that the director of "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty" was motivated from the beginning to leave a name in film history. In this day and age, there is such ambition, which is undoubtedly jaw-dropping.
Looking back at "The Salt Merchant of the Qing Dynasty", it is true that its production made up for the shortcomings in budget, technology and other aspects of the year. However, its perspective has been narrowed to official power and imperial anti-corruption, and is limited to the intrigues of various forces, without further thinking and improvement. In other words, the quality of production and the strength of technology are not what they used to be; but the high intentions and deep intentions are not what they used to be.