"The Legacy" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 & Nirvana in Fire 2015 cross-over

I wanted to publish an MV today, but I think I need a few more days to finish it. Hence, this fanfiction; a crossover between Chor Lau Heung 1984 and Nirvana in Fire 2015.

Before the fall of Liang, the old retired Emperor Jing was determined to save the descendant of his best friend. Eight centuries later, another hero arrived at the deserted Langya Hall to revisit the past. Inspired by the similar savviness between Mei Changsu and Chor Lau Heung. Romanisation a mix of Mandarin Pinyin and Yale Cantonese.

The bridge to the famous Langya Hall, Nirvana in Fire 2015

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“Visitor.”

Leaning over the alcove, the Old Langya Master Lin Chen didn’t bother to look up from his scroll. Although the person who spoke to him was more than 60 years old, that person still acted like a teenager he was 40 years ago.

“Who?” the Old Master asked in the same ignorant manner.

“Su ge-ge.”

That made the Old Master look up from his scroll. He stared at Fei Liu who excitedly nodded and pointed at the door. Fei Liu had communication problems, he knew that, but the old rascal was not stupid. He knew Lin Shu died four decades ago and he wouldn’t joke about it. Still...

The historical accuracy of the 1980s ancient costumes

The pre-Tang Dynasty women fashion from Hujiang.com

After watching Langya Bang, I realised that some Mainland productions are improving, namely in the beautiful cinematography and historical accuracy in costume design. Of course I can complain all day long about the dubbing and the excessive use of CGI and cables during fighting scenes, but let’s stay positive this time. Particularly in the costume design part, I recall that the last few Mainland wuxia series that I watched had been quite accurate, though some has been a hit and miss as well. Granted, I don’t watch a lot of Mainland wuxia series, but I certainly can comment on those that I watched. To me, Bu Bu Jing Xin and Li Hou Zhu definitely joined LangyaBang/Nirvana in Fire in their costume design accuracy (although there might be some discrepancies that my non-expert eyes missed). In the previous decade, it seems the Treasure Venture 2001 (Nicky Wu and Vicky Zhao) was also accurate in their design. I can’t say that about Xiao Shi Yi Lang 2002 (Nicky Wu, Athena Chu) though, for Nicky’s hair and his earlier costumes were definitely not done in a traditional sense.

Having said that, how accurate was the 1980s Hong Kong productions in costume design? Since I have only recently watched the Michael/Barbara series, I can only comment on that, but that’s a good place to start. I’ll divide it into the early Tang Dynasty (the Foundation 1984), the Song Dynasty (LOCH 1983), the Ming Dynasty (CLH 1984) and the Qing Dynasty (FD 1984). I will compare it with the costumes of Nicky Wu and Liu Tao, my other favourite actors (I love Liu Shi Shi too, but I don't watch many of her ancient dramas). I’m still confused with the fashion terminology of Hanfu (Han clothing), so I will just simply refer to the parts as “trousers”, “jacket”, “skirt” etc. Do forgive me for that. Check this video for the fashion up to the Tang Dynasty and this video for the Song, Ming and Qing fashion styles.

Langya Bang (Nirvana in Fire)

Having sworn off the modern wuxia series (as in, made in the 21st CE but the setting is up the Qing Dynasty) due to their constant use of CGI and ‘flying’ heroes using cables instead of the genuine somersault and backflips, I gladly eat my own words for Langya Bang. ‘The Langya List’, a.k.a. ‘Nirvana in Fire’ (see it at Viki or MyAsianTV) is a  2015 Mainland production. It starred Hu Ge, Liu Tao, Wang Kai, Chen Long, Jin Dong, Victor Huang, et al. and it has taken me by surprise for its non-cheesy, ‘non-traditional’ approach for a semi-historical drama. By ‘non-traditional’, I mean that this series is not a romance series, has no love triangle drama almost every writer love to use, and despite full of palace intrigue, it did not resort to the likes of ‘My Fair Princess’ (tho I love Vicky Zhao and Ruby Lin) in the tendency of having the Empress vs Consort war as the main focus.