Hello friends, @seeker and @isagc, in particular to you, Cera …. Just a quick note what I am up to.

I have been and am really, really busy learning in-depth about the so called Human Design system, so Ra Uru Hu’s elaborations on the «Science of Differentiation», which means nothing less than learning about existence and how it works and came about, all of existence.

In that context, of course, K-Drama watching becomes sometimes a bit of a frustrating exercise … due to the tropism found in pretty much all dramas. But it remains a source of fascination for me because I am still very, very interested in how the Confucian cultural undercurrent has and is still influencing this society — and with it, its artforms.

So what the French call « la septième art » —filmmaking— Korean filmmaking for the small screen, in serialisation, is still of great interest to me.

Therefore, in detail I have been following two strands of interests at the moment:

(1) When I watched Pasta (2010) on Netflix Europe a few weeks ago, I got interested in which other dramas this screenwriter had penned. I then got hold of Romance Town and watched it in its entirety and started on another one.
So, one avenue of interest is to build up a database and knowledge base on screenwriters and their dramas.

(2) The second avenue is similar, but started with my interest and fascination with an actor/actress. I have, in the past, followed the individual works of various actors/actresses and watched many of their dramas.
But now I decided to combine my interest in an actor with my interest in Human Design.
So the first actor where I am doing this is with Choi Jin-hyuk. When I saw him again in Miss Night and Day (2024) very much this time too, there was something I admired about his portrayal and demeanour in this drama series. I had loved his Designer portrayal in Secret Garden — apparently a Korean remake of a Taiwanese original drama. I also rewatched Devilish Joy on Viki Europe. I had loved that drama series, when I watched it the first time around in 2022, and this time too, I was very touched and impressed. Then I also watched Numbers which I had not seen so far. Again, very good. Now, I got hold of a copy of Gu Family Book which is not available on sites in Europe I have access to; Viki US seems to have it though, so at least I can get the subtitle files (the rubbers for Viki tend to be really, really good most of the time). I am about to start watching that. Choi had said himself in a recent conversation that this was the character he had enjoyed playing the most, so I want to have a look. The series seemed to have been a huge success in Korea at the time too, with viewership into the 20 percentage in the end.

I will probably follow these two avenues for a while, building up my own database of dramas and films from Korean filmmaking — and with it, my knowledge base. I also try to get hold of the Hangul-language subtitles so as to —eventually— use it to learn Hangul with it properly. But that’s still along way away … for now. 🙂

That’s me, Cera. Hope you are doing well?

@isagc @seeker … guys, question (I tagged you randomly because you might know and have a recommendation or can forward my question to someone who can) —— From this MDL list of Chinese dramas, which ones would you recommend to watch and for what reason? I have so far resisted watching any C-Drama, but that title of this list appealed to me:
https://mydramalist.com/article/strong-female-leads-in-chinese-historical-and-wuxia-dramas

I know there are a fair amount within this community who watch C-Drama, but so far I have not paid any attention to this. Maybe you can help? Hugs x

@seeker, sorry, I meant to respond too your great commentary last week, but didn’t. Thank you sooo much! I agree with pretty much all of it, and find it useful. Will write again soon.

@seeker and whoever else might be interested: I am adding to my previous contemplations on emotional portrayals in K-Drama and its universal appeal.

When I referred to the 4-part interview of the scriptwriter for My Dearest — Ms. Jin-young Hwang — in these Fanwall pages, I noticed her “starting point” of writing :
It was a statement made by a former MBC controller who had apparently said that the portrayal of Prince Sohyeon and his family and their tragic end was too difficult a topic to cover in Korean filmmaking.

Of course he referred to this crown prince’s highly suspicious, ominous death and that of his family (by possibly his father’s, the king’s condoning), the “shame” Korea felt for centuries (until today?) being invaded by the “barbaric” Jurchen usurpers (now in the People’s Republic of China) and to the so-not-at-all Confucian sensibilities the Joseon class system provided until well into the 19th century.

Korean scriptwriters have, so far, written for a Korean audience with topical sensibilities aligned to this audience.

However, with the advent of Netflix and other international streaming sites wanting to get onto the financial bandwagon this is something which faces the danger and opportunity of eroding. I mention «My Dearest» because it did hold, in my view, a lot of the appeal, of a historic portrayal with great depth and merit in any culture’s filmmaking (and I found the heavy nod to Gone with the Wind not so illegitimate as others have done).

I noticed, there are a myriad of web novel or webtoon adaptation in K-Drama nowadays. Some are ingenious, but others …. Hmm …

Ultimately, my question is probably : what is filmmaking if not a reflection of present and past in a cultural setting ? And how do we want it to be brought into life ?

I would argue that to my mind, Korean television drama filmmaking is still leading the pack internationally — although I do also see elements which start to make me be more critical, such as : why do actors/actresses have to shave off their particular Korean features to be more appealing? If I compare the lead actor in Full House (2004) who is extremely handsome, to the current version of, for example, the wonderful Kim Soo Hyun (who is also extremely handsome), would latter have been much less successful in his years of fame now if he had not had plastic surgery? And what’s with this persecution of his personal life’s information?

I recently read something in this tone of mind about Chinese actors and actresses, who are virtually all apparently bulimic or anorexic respectively (I am paraphrasing, it was said that they were too thin).

So, do the emerging generations of 20somethings and 30somethings film watchers now expect their filmic idols to look a certain (standardised) way? Is this Gen-Z across the world? (You can tell I am not.)

For women actors —actresses— this seems to be even more the case. Jang Nara, who would probably nowadays be termed a «veteran actress» (though she is only in her early 40s) is an example of an actress I have come to love, but for whom roles are more and more difficult to get it seems. I remember having read comments on that also with regards to American filmmaking ; Sandra Bullock for example said something to that effect in the past, or Susan Sarandon, too, if I remember correctly. So it is not a “Korean” phenomenon only.

I watched on “older” K-Drama in my binge-watching frenzy in the last months, Viki Europe has it as You’re Beautiful (2009) with the lead actor being Jang Keun-suk, a Hallyu singer and idol of the time. I felt it was an interesting drama, I liked it and I looked up the actors/actresses. Apparently Mr. Jang was a big star in the late 2000s but when he organised a fan meet in 2021 or so, only two people showed up (exaggerating a bit, but you get what I am saying).

PART 4: I got the inappropriate word again … so I had to be a bit creative with 2 expressions. I am sure you can work it out!

PART 3:
I have long known that I am deeply affected by what I see — therefore I cannot watch horror movies, I once got seriously upset with an Australian acquaintance who dragged me to watch a film on n- philia ; any type of severe violence is also a no-go area for me, some action movies are okay, p— I find annoying and revolting, and even a type of psychological pressure action is hard to stomach and it enters my dreams and even days (there is a very fine-line to that which I love, as in the K-drama of The K2 which I value a lot). I have, so far, for example, not watched the highly-praised Squid Game (2021) or Moving (2023) because my sense it that I will not be able to « stomach » it well, literally.

So, why do we look at this so rarely, or do Korean scriptwriters, being part of their culture, not fully realise this important «service» they offer to the world (and hence a responsibility to do this truly well) when they put out their scripts into movies or television dramas?

Is scriptwriting in Korea —although done largely by women so far as I can tell— still very much a yang culture phenomenon ? Of course if talking about historic themes, there is no way around this, since violence, war, blood-shedding and social stratification are clearly very tough Korean topics dominated by “male” interpretations of culture and society. Is there a change in sight, albeit slowly?

PART 2:
I have also looked for years onto the topic of what a feeling or an emotion is. I have been seeking to definite the myriad of emotions we feel. The ground-breaking work by Paul Ekman on facial expressions (born out of Charles Darwin’s work) and then having culminated in the « Atlas of Emotions » (a project sponsored by the Office of the 14th Dalai Lama, http://www.atlasofemotions.org) is to be mentioned here.

Also of course, Daniel Goleman’s many years of work on Emotional Intelligence, but also the typology which is way older, originally expressed in C.G. Jung’s works, and then standardised by the work of Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers Briggs, universally known as the Myers-Briggs-Type Indicator (MBTI) — the latter appears repeatedly (often laughed at) in K-Dramas by the way, and now, beyond the blood type, it appears to be fashionable in South Korea to ask for one’s MBTI to derive some sort of immediate understanding of the other person in front of them … I remember my American colleague telling me about 10 years ago (he was in his late 40s then) that they had been hit around the head by the school psychologist with their respective MBTI type; he found it annoying. I also know that my once employer, McKinsey, used MBTI at one time for their consultants in London to make up effective consulting teams — with great success I might add.

Lastly, there is the work by Bradley Nelson, « The Emotion Code » which I find useful and would want to mention here in this context as an energy healing method.

As you say, @seeker, K-Drama offers a universal emotional connect which is unique in the world. However, I find this too rarely expressed and analysed in depth.

PART 1:
@seeker, on this, your post: https://www.dramabeans.com/2024/07/open-thread-872/?nid=5134150&nidwpc=1602939# — you wrote :

I agree the “hook” of K-dramas is that they have a unique emotional connect which is universal. That transcends borders of states, cultures and stratas and touches on humanity. Most K-dramas get emotional beats “just right” although some feel a bit manipulated but largely the reason K-dramas are so beloved is that one can identify with the characters, their challenges and cheer them on when they are low and rejoice with them when they succeed. Taking Full House for example i love how the FL’s struggle to write is given importance. When she finally succeeds we are viewers too feel equally validated.

With my only four month old discovery of Human Design, I have added another layer of depth to my life long puzzlement on the topic of emotions. — As you know that system distinguished between defined and undefined centres and names the Solar Plexus as the seat of emotions in the body, much similar to the (older) 7-centre-being system of the chakra system (Vedic-Brahmic knowledge) — as stated in Sanskrit literature. According to Human Design, humanity mutated into a 9 centre being around 1792 I believe, when the splenic centre split from the root, and the heart or ego centre emerged from what is now called the Self or G-Centre in Human Design (in the 7 centre chakra system it is called the heart chakra).

The extraordinary thing is that the emotional centre is —in HD terminology— both an energy (motor) and an awareness centre — which has profound implications (not to mention the posited fundamental mutation as of 2027 and its long-term effects on humanity; but that’s another topic).

HD states also that 51 % of humanity have a defined emotional centre, so they undergo the ups-and-downs of emotional waves on a persistent basis ; there is no way out of it. I am one of these 51 %. So 51% of us get their energy fuel from their emotions, and at the same time, they take their decision-making largely on feeling what is right or wrong.

@minniegupta1, Minnie can you tag me too for the following discussions re Community Watch of JUST BETWEEN LOVERS? That would be great! got the link of the last discussion from Seeker ….

Trying something new … writing a personal message to someone. — Hi, @kodra, not sure if this works … addressing a personal message to you. Well, personal becomes public, I suppose. Also, it is more of a reflection on where I am at with K-Drama, I guess, so others may read that too.

How is your life, @kodra? Reality has been biting me hard these past several weeks. I guess it was foreseeable, just that I ignored the signs. My life feels like climbing a steep mountain, with several paths to take and strong gusts attempting to blast me off the mountain, at every single step. I can foresee that this will be my reality for about a year … and it makes me fearful.

I used to console myself with the interesting novelty world of K-Drama, but after « My Dearest » pretty much everything has paled in this regard. The depth of emotions in that sageuk was utterly entrancing. And it made me think about precisely this : what is feeling, what is emotion in this world — and in my world ? I don’t have the time or the inclination now to read a lot on the Dramabeans site, although there are always comments which are interesting to me ; it takes a lot of time, and I don’t feel good about dedicating that time leisurely to this when I ought to start solving another piled-up crisis in my life looming on the horizon …

Also, I am noticing that I am becoming more and more my true Self and that my most fundamental beliefs are finding their rightful place. In the course of which I picked up again on this beautiful conversation between Deepak Chopra and Swami Sarvapriyananda from July 6, 2018 at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. I know and understand a fair amount about the « Hard Problem of Consciousness » Chopra is referring to, and his introduction to the reality of the Universe is priceless, short, precise, to the point. The scientific knowledge is exactly as he says. Swami Sarvapriyananda has been a favourite teacher for me for a while, from his talks and presentations. Have a look if this is of interest to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEGp9OvWRc&t=15s.

In the context of K-Drama, I am also picking up again a lot from Daniel Tudor’s book Korea—The Impossible Country ; in particular the chapters on the cultural codes, so chapters 7 to 12:

Jeong, The «Invisible Hug» ; Competition ; Chemyon — or Face ; Han and Heung — The Deep Sadness and Pure Joy in the Korean Mind ; From Clan to Nuclear Family ; Neophilia.

I am realising that our world of matter has its particular cultural expressions, which often are not accessible to one another, unless very well explained. I have seen people commenting on trope this and trope that in K-Dramaland, but I am wondering if this is not just another way of portraying the world of matter, reassuring us that everything is as we are expecting in our (limited) awareness.

That last thought is a bit fuzzy, I guess … but I a waning now, as the next task on my list is calling …

Anyhow, let me know how you’re doing, if you find the time. Cheerio.

UPDATE Fri 24 NOV 2023 18h30 German time : Sooo … Viki has updated EP 21 to the extended version, and I am sure the (at the moment missing) English subtitles will be updated soon, too!

Herewith the link to the MBC «Yeon-in« episode broadcast in Korea, yesterday. Please see my previous fanwall post and thread for its intention and meaning. File size is 1.9 GB. Resolution 1080p.

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/67afa3652037f395e157120845ffcc2620231124121043/301887841feb78b585ee2126c10e049420231124121102/cd135e

This notification list is in no particular order, just as I remember or look up the names, and think you or your spouse might be interested (or both).
@kodra
@johnb
@kafiyah-bello
@annegray
@nokdudu
@wonhwa
@seeker
@narrativeaddict
@jerrykuvira
@loveblossom
@kiara
@lordcobol
@minniegupta1
@IsaGC
@indyfan
@marysadanaga
@pepelepeu
@MrsBuckwheat
@Qingdao
@dncingemma
@Nefret
@sicarius
@lapislazulii
@NoraL
@kurama
@vishnusa
@WarMan
@attition
@oldawyer
@LaurenSophie
@owl22
@claire2009
@jillian
@nerdy

Beanie friends, the following posts are with reference to the extended edition of My Dearest’s last episode, so in fact EP 21 extended.

This programme was aired on Thursday, 23 November, 2023 at 11:55 at night Korean time and was 1h38mn long. Therefore, it is roughly about 9 mn longer than the broadcast episode 21. Apparently the viewership rate was 17.6%! It clears up several loose ends and made timeline and development of the story way clearer, as the production team spent some extra time on better editing.

On the 23rd, MBC also posted on their YouTube channel several new video clips which roughly add up to these 9 minutes. They are under these addresses :

In the extended clip, at position 51’48 mn —Concubine Jo’s horrified and scared face at the discovery of King Injo’s death— there is a commercial break and then the drama continues with clip number one (47 sec long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr3QvpU1g6w
Then the sequence moves over to Gil Chae’s apathy and deep mourning, sitting in her room, tears streaming down her face (as in EP 21). We hear the voice of Nam Yeon-jun. It is not yet clear if he is the author of the 사초 (sacho) report in question from EP 1, the one the newly appointed Jipyeong, 5th rank inspector 이립 (Yi Rip) is asked to examine by 헌영 (Heon Yeong), the scholar official (sadaebu 士大夫) in light rosé attire, probably a 3rd rank court official, who makes Yi Rip wait for several hours (until the sun is about to set), only then does he address him).

Hi, @kodra, I just noticed that MBC broadcast last night (November 23, 11:55 PM) an extended version of the final episode of My Dearest, about 9 mn longer, which explains some of the other characters (so the questions some of us had rightly posed). Some of that seems to be posted as clips onto the YouTube channel site … but I don’t think it’s all of the 9 mn. Have a look : https://program.imbc.com/mydearest and YouTube at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U001SoF0_8Q , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr3QvpU1g6w , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_I_vzQ6rM , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hd0_npLcak

Actually they might be all, it’s just not absolutely clear where they put it in place in EP 21.

REVISED VERSION (less typos and extended comment)

@kodra, I just re-watched EP 20 for the third time today … what a brilliant episode! Regardless of the outcome in EP 21 and if that were «scraps of the cutting table» as some said, to elaborate on the various relationships from this drama by extension with another episode is worth it in my view.

There are several scenes I want to hint at (without wanting to spoil for people who read this and have not seen EP 20 yet), but here are two in particular :

1) the interaction between King and Jang Hyeon, then including Ingguldai:
mimic and gestures of the actor portraying the king are excellent when he and the interpretor are alone. — When it is the three of them the whole dialogue points to the fundamental problem of the times and the ultimate humanity which even the Qing dignitary shows now. It reminded me of the scene where Hong Taiji asked why they loved that king so much …. (That was outside his tent in the war camp outside the fortress).
And then he later commented to his daughter that their people ought to learn that … (he had said so before in his throne room, too)

That links to the storyline around 2) the emerging clear ideological and humanitarian frontline between Lee Jang Hyeon and Nam Yeon-jun, his father’s disciple. Isn’t that a fantastic dialogue? And then Jang Hyeon’s statement … I fully agree, the writer makes a clear political (and social) statement here, one that reverberates into today’s time!

I am reading at the moment a selection of accounts on Korea’s history and in one of them, there is the statement that Korea, with all its tragedies, has prevailed because of its Buddhist and Neoconfucian heritage, which are —so to speak— in the DNA of the peoples. Isn’t this dialogue something to really savour … alongside this comment?

@kodra — having seen EP 20 now of «My Dearest» : you were spot on with that historical-dramatic comparison! It will take a while longer for me to really look at this sageuk accurately and in depth…

Diary entry re My Dearest on Saturday, November 11, 2023. Episode 18 aired last night ; I could see the English subtitled version this morning on Viki Europe.

Random comment alongside: Today, November 11th, is also the start of the carnival season in my neck of the woods : 11.11 at 11 AM … People started drinking at 8 AM [ sad smiley ] because the date falls onto a Saturday … only a few are genuinely and happily celebrating with little or no alcohol …

Now, finally, I am beginning to understand the overall procedure of the writer, how she laid out the storytelling and why she laid it out the way she did.

There have been, so far, two large parts to the drama I could not match up flawlessly :

the epic love story with its archetypical and also very modern and mature (in terms of relationship) undertones — and the historic events portrayed : such as the war events themselves, Joseon court’s and the King’s reactions, the social and political fallout for Joseon people after the war, be they court officials in Joseon, Shenyang Hall in Mukden/Shenyang/Shimyang, or the yanban, peasants and nobi, both in Qing and Joseon, and the reasonings and views of the New Masters in Town, the Qing and their needs from Joseon while in the process of overthrowing the 200-year long stable Ming Empire.

There had been early on a concept for the drama published by MBC on the drama’s website. It focused on the events between a man and a woman —so, the love story. When I put it through Google Translate at the time, it appeared still completely cryptic to me. Obviously, translating Hangul with a machine-learning AI, is only a crude way of transposing the Korean language into English ; there is always a lot of interpretation needed —almost impossible for someone who does not have a good command of the language. Korean —as Japanese— seems to be a largely context-driven language, way more so than European languages, where grammatical structure and individual words are already laying out where the language-logic is heading. (However, please also note my previous comment on the poverty of the English language (or all other European languages) when it comes to «(E)Valuing» (by naming) what kind of «Love» we are talking about exactly … see here: https://www.dramabeans.com/2023/11/my-dearest-episode-17/#comment-4136564

So— … when MBC published the following text as concept for the drama, I was lost, scratching my head : What DO they mean? Even after studying the writer’s comments in her interview from March 2023, I did not understand much more, while watching the drama. So, now, in the penultimate episodes, I am starting to get a better sense … and I will attempt an interpretative translation of the concept, and explain briefly thereafter.

One can find the concept here : https://program.imbc.com/Concept/mydearest.
Or if you go to the Korean website [ https://program.imbc.com/mydearest ], it’s under the first tab «프로그램 소개 » [Program Introduction].

Here is the Hangul text :

내 인생에 사랑은 없다, 당당하게 비혼을 선언한 사내가 
내 남자는 내 손으로 쟁취하리라, 
야심차게 선언한 여인을 만나 벼락같은 (짝)사랑에 빠진다. 

하지만 때는 병자년, 
조선이 청군의 말굽에 짓밟히는 병화를 겪으며 
여자의 운명이 급류에 휘말려 떠밀려가고, 
흘러가는 여인 따라, 
사내의 운명도 걷잡을 수 없이 휘청거린다. 

세상 모든 일에 자신만만했으나 
자신이 사랑에 빠지면 어떻게 변하는지도 몰랐던 
어리석은 사내, 
세상 모든 사내의 마음을 사로잡고서도 
자신이 진짜 연모하는 사람이 누군지 깨닫지 못했던 
어리석은 여인. 

사랑에 한없이 어리석었던 이 사내와 여인, 
과연 사랑을 이룰 수 있을까? 
아니, 살아남을 수 있을까?

This is my attempt at a «smoothed out» (slightly interpretative) English translation :

There is no love in my life, [she confirms]. [Yet at the same time,] there is a man who proudly announces he doesn’t intend to get married.
I will choose my man myself ! she declares [defiantly].
He, now, meets an ambitious woman and falls in love like lightening.

But it is Pyeonga’s year [the year of the Fire Rat],
And Joseon is suffering from war, being trampled upon by the horses’ hooves of the Qing army.
The woman’s fate is caught in the torrent and washed away,
[yet] following the woman’s flow,
her man’s fate also spirals out of control.

I was confident in everything in the world, [he says]
But I didn’t even know how things change when I fall in love!
Foolish man!
Even though she captures the heart of every man crossing her path,
She did not realise whom she really loved.
Foolish woman!

This man and this woman who were infinitely foolish with love,
Can love really be achieved?
No— will they be able to survive?

My beanie friends, you might agree, that this concept can mean a lot of things ; paired with the writer’s declaration of using the «Gone With the Wind» narrative for her story, I was not the much wiser— as it seemed, for several episodes, that she was using the Selznick film as a kind of carbon copy for her story.

However, as the drama moved along, and especially after the hiatus from Part 1 to Part 2 —and the extremely confusing timeline at the beginning of Part 2— I finally realised what she had meant.

I am referring to her explanation she gave in her interview that there are a lot of difficult topics in Korean history, the Pyjeongahoran ( the Second Manchu Invasion ) being only one of them, but that it could be handled by using an (epic) love narrative as the connecting element for all plot lines ( such a narrative Mitchell had used for «Gone With the Wind», however with way less plot lines connecting, and, in the end, in quite a different manner ).

My impression is that the writer has largely succeeded with her concept and her intention.

Now what remains to be seen is the answer to the last question in the concept : Will they be able to survive?

Diary entry re My Dearest on Friday, November 10, 2023. While we are waiting for the next episode of the historic drama to be screened tonight, I would like to make a few further remarks with regards to the character GAK HWA.

@kiara has already given details for this character’s most likely real-life inspiration, Lady MAKATA 馬喀塔 of the Aisin Gioro clan. Her full personal name in Chinese ist 爱新觉罗 馬喀塔 — which translates as Aison Gioro Makata (so in reverse order).

Having arrived at episode 18 of My Dearest, I can now understand, why the writer fictionalised this Qing princess as a pivotal (support) character —and it makes now sense to me. It is, in my view, one very valid way to dramatise the story and moved it along as the writer has. It fits the timeline perfectly.

In «My Dearest» out of boredom, this Qing princess hunts escapees. That’s how Jang Hyeon and she cross paths in the first instance, in 1642 approximately. The real-life Makata was half-Mongol (her father, Hong Taji, was Manchu, her mother was Mongol). If you remember what was said in the drama about the Mongol soldiers in the Manchu war, you understand my remark. The Gak Hwa in the drama has a wild and merciless side to her personality. In summer 1642, Makata was 17 years old, and a widow for one year. It is likely that she would have been married off by her father to strengthen his position in the Mongolian Plateau after March 1636, when all Mongol chieftains from a total of sixteen clans and forty-nine subclans gathered at Mukden/Shenyang and gave their allegiance to Hong Taiji. Erke Khongghor —also know as Ejei Khan— had surrended. Makata had been married to Ejei Khan since 1636; he passed in 1641.

Of course a 17-year old Makata does not gel well with the actress’s age who plays Gak Hwa. But that has been a problem with the male and female leads as well. Yet no appropriately young actor/actress would have been able to portray the complexities of these three characters, so I for one, do not mind too much. I prefer the depth of portrayal I find with all actors and actresses.

In the drama Gak-Hwa confides in Jang-Hyeon that she had killed her husband. It is suggested that he had just used her, once, and she had punished him with death for disregarding her and trapping her in a marriage he was not willing to live. (Also, they would not have consummated the marriage before she was 15/16, so in 1639/1640). If this is historically accurate for Lady Makata is, I believe, not known. Yet again, it fits the drama’s character. Once her father dies in September 1643 —Gak-Hwa / Makata is now 18 years old— she sides with the prince Regent Dorgon, who values her support because she has the women of the Qing court under her control, as General Ingūlldai makes clear to Jang Hyeon (in episode 16). In episode 17 Gak-Hwa boasts towards Jang Hyeon that the Prince Regent needs her and (still) relies on her a lot.

However her remark is counteracted by the two Qing nobles on the hunt passing her and Jang Hyeon in the woods. It becomes clear that the (male) Qing court regards her —a mere woman after all— as a nuisance who needs to get married off again quickly. I am quite convinced that this can be a fair interpretation by the writer of Makata’s real-life situation.

Now, in episode 18 we are in May 1645.

Lady Makata was married off in 1645 to the younger brother of her first husband. However, it was again a marriage à la raison d’état : Abunai (阿布奈) was 10 years her junior, so he was 10 years old in 1645! Their first son, Borni (布尔尼), was born in 1654 ; her second son, Lubuzung (罗布藏. With the marriage, Abunai became Prince Chahar of the First Rank (察哈尔亲王) ; he and both his sons with Lady Makata died in 1675, after a failed attempt of him and Chahar Mongols to rebel against the Qing emperor. The Qing dynasty’s punishment of the rebellion was very harsh: all royal males of Chahars were executed, including infants born to Qing princesses, and all royal females of Chahars were sold to slavery except these Qing princesses.

Lady Makata died aged 37/38 in 1663. In 1657, during the reign of Shunzi, she had been granted the title «Princess of the First Rank (固倫長公主)» —something the two Qing hunters mention mockingly in episode 17, that Gak Hwa had demanded that of Dorgon, the Prince Regent.

In 1659, she was named Imperial Princess Yongning of the First Rank (固倫永寧長公主), and posthumously the title Princess Wenzhuang, of the First Rank (固倫溫莊公主) was bestowed.

Lastly, also, a word with regards to her mother : Jerjer (哲哲) of the Khorchin Mongol Borjigit clan became Hong Taji’s married Hong Taji in May 1614 (at 15 years of age) and became one of his many wives. In 1623 Hong Taiji divorced his second primary consort, and elevated Jerjer to the position.

Jerjer gave birth in 1625 to Hong Taiji’s second daughter, Makata (Princess Wenzhuang of the First Rank), on 2 August 1628 to his third daughter, Princess Jingduan of the First Rank, and on 7 October 1634 to his eighth daughter, Princess Yong’an of the First Rank.

After Hong Taji’s death she became Empress Dowager, and when she died end of May 1649 she was posthumously honoured with the title Empress Xiaoduanwen (孝端). The full title is : Empress Xiaoduan Zhengjing Renyi Zheshun Cixi Zhuangmin Futian Xiesheng Wen (孝端正敬仁懿哲順慈僖莊敏輔天協聖文皇后).

«Jerjer» translates in fact as «lady» or «beauty» ; and if you look at the portrait from the 17th century here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:《孝端文皇后朝服像》.jpg she was really beautiful ! So it is likely that her daughters were too, and it is also likely that this was one good reason why Hong Taji loved his daughter very much (at least if one goes by the interpretation in the drama).

Following a few remarks I picked up from George Kallender’s intro to the « Diary of 1636 » (mentioned before) which I found interesting and useful for the conversation on « My Dearest » :

ONE—
« In contemporary North and South Korean historiography, the first attack in known as “the invasion of the cyclical year 1627” and the second as the “invasion of the cyclical year 1636-1637.” THESE ATTACKS WERE SEISMIC EVENTS IN CHOSON HISTORY WITH LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES.
Thet fortified anti-Manchu sentiment, stimulated proto-national consciousness, and BEGAN A PROCESS THAT WOULD TURN KOREANS AWAY FROM THE OVER-GLORIFICATION OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION to focus their attention on cultural developments in Korea. »

TWO—
« Na may have also underestimated the extent to which the diary could serve as a source for Manchu and Chinese history.

The work describes the early period of Manchu development and expansion around the activities and personalities of key Manchu figures—such as Hung Taiji and his family members who accompanied him to Korea, and top Manchu generals Ingguldai and Mafuta—who appear frequently throughout the diary. Of course, New Qing History contests the notion of “Manchu” identity today, especially regarding the formative period in the early decades of the seventeenth century.

Na did not use the term “Manchu.” He refers to them politically as the Jin and the Qing dynasties and, less cordially, as the enemy or barbarians.

Still, HE DESCRIBES A TIME WHEN THE MANCHU STRUGGLED WITH IDENTITY— WHEN TO ACT MORE CONFUCIAN AND WHEN TO ACT MORE JURCHEN—as they moved beyond their homelands and collided with other groups, most importantly the Ming Chinese–oriented worldview of the Chosŏn. The diary shows some key concepts that appear to be unique or specific to their Jurchen or Manchu culture, such as the forced intermarriage of the Manchu and Korean elites, the stealing of horses, and the interior arrangement of Hung Taiji’s military tent. However, it also reveals that, AS EARLY AS 1636, THE MANCHU BEGAN DEFTLY ADOPTING CONFUCIAN RHETORIC AND CONCEPTS IN THEIR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CHOSŎN DYNASTY, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVED IN THEM. »

THREE— That can be seen in EP 14 ….
« As will be shown below, the Manchu, in the early decades of the seventeenth century, CAPTURED A NUMBER OF CHOSŎN MILITARY MEN WHO HAD FOUGHT WITH THE MING IN THE NORTHEAST REGIONS. Some of these men remained in Jurchen-Manchu lands, learned to speak Manchu, and later served as envoys between the Qing and Chosŏn courts. Judging from Manchu acceptance of the Chinese and other tribal people, as the Manchu created their empire, it would not have been a stretch for them to extend this process of assimilation and border crossing to those born on the Korean peninsula. There probably were Koreans who moved across the frontier and took Manchu identities. Na’s diary serves as a supplement to the works of New Qing history scholarship by helping to untangle issues of identity in the early period of the Manchu empire.»