Eternal Love (TV series)


Eternal Love, also known as Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, is a 2017 Chinese television series starring Yang Mi and Mark Chao. It is based on the xianxia novel of the same name by Tang Qi Gong Zi. The series was broadcast on Zhejiang TV and Dragon TV from 30 January to 1 March 2017.
As of 1 August 2018, the series has reached 50 billion views, becoming the most watched television series in China.

Synopsis

The story begins when Zhe Yan brings Bai Qian, disguised as the male immortal Si Yin, to Kunlun Mountain, where she becomes the God of War, Mo Yuan's 17th disciple and receives the Jade Purity Fan of Kunlun, which becomes her weapon. For 20,000 years, Bai Qian, trains and causes quite some trouble. One day, she gets kidnapped by a jealous goddess, Yao Guang, and is then rescued by Mo Yuan. Afterwards, she causes trouble again, this time dragging along the 9th disciple, Ling Yu, and getting captured by the Ghost Lord. After several weeks of being prisoners, they are finally rescued by Mo Yuan again, and this action provokes Qing Cang to declare war on the Celestial Tribe. During this stay in the Ghost Realm, Bai Qian develops feelings for Li Jing, the second prince of the Ghost Tribe. Xuan Nü, who has been staying at Kunlun Mountain for a while, also develops feelings for Li Jing, and by using her ability to morph her appearance into Bai Qian's, she seduces Li Jing, which consequently enrages a heartbroken Bai Qian.
During the war, Bai Qian witnesses the Ghost Tribe breaking into the troop formation, and also witnesses Ling Yu getting killed. After a failed attempt to rescue him, Mo Yuan sends away Ling Yu's body back to Kunlun Mountain. Qing Cang, the Ghost Lord, then uses the Bell of the East Emperor to try and destroy heaven and earth, and so Mo Yuan sacrifices his spirit in order to stop the bell and seal Qing Cang's spirit in it. After seeing Mo Yuan's spiritless body, Bai Qian breaks down into tears. The disciples of Kunlun Mountain soon disperse back to their homes and families.
70,000 years later, Bai Qian, no longer in disguise, had been living in Qing Qiu for the past 70,000 years, not even taking a single step outside of it. Bai Qian, who knows that the seal will be lifted and that Qing Cang could break free at any moment, attempts to re-seal him, but Qing Cang seals away Bai Qian's memories and powers, causing her to become a mortal woman and forget who she is.
As a mortal woman, she meets Ye Hua when he is sent to the mortal realm to take care of the Ghost Tribe's Golden Lion Beast who has been causing havoc. Bai Qian mistakes Ye Hua for a snake, who is in his dragon form, and brings him home to fix his wounds. While she accidentally makes his wounds worse, she did it out of good intentions, and she had offered hospitality anyway, so Ye Hua felt it was necessary to repay her kindness. He goes into the mortal realm, in his human form, and pretended to be heavily wounded. The two unexpectedly fall in love, and Ye Hua gifts her the name of Su Su and they marry, despite the fact that he already had an arranged marriage with Bai Qian of Qing Qiu.
In order to prevent the same tragedy that happened to Sang Ji, who previously had an arranged marriage with Bai Qian, and Shao Xin, Bai Qian's servant, from befalling, Ye Hua attempts to fake his death while hiding Su Su from the Nine Heavens, especially after she became pregnant with his child. However, Ye Hua's plans were eventually thwarted and Su Su was brought to the Nine Heavens.
Su Jin, who is jealous of Ye Hua's love for Su Su, intentionally creates a series of misunderstanding between them and causes Su Su to lose her eyes. After giving birth to A Li, a devastated Su Su jumps off from the Zhu Xian Terrace, an act fatal to all mortals, thinking that Ye Hua had betrayed her. Instead of dying, the seal on her memories and powers is broken, restoring Su Su back to her new goddess status as Bai Qian. Unable to deal with the psychological trauma, Bai Qian asks Zhe Yan for his amnesia potion to erase all her memories of the events after her powers were sealed, and she forgets everything, including meeting Ye Hua.
Three hundred years later, Bai Qian receives an invite to a banquet, and she meets Ye Hua, who mistakes her for Su Su. Another lifetime, another world, Ye Hua recognizes Bai Qian as the woman he loves, but the latter remains indifferent as she does not recognise him. Ye Hua begins to pursue Bai Qian for the second time to regain her affections, and eventually succeeds when his love is requited. Qing Cang, who had gained more power after the death of his first son, attempts to release crimson hellfire onto heaven and earth when he would die via the Bell of the East Emperor, and Ye Hua battles with him and eventually manages to kill the Ghost Lord, but in turn this would unleashes the crimson hellfire. Ye Hua sacrifices his spirit to the Bell to stop it from destroying heaven and earth, and Bai Qian is unconsolable after seeing his lifeless body. By this time, Mo Yuan had already awakened after spending 70,300 years trying to repair his spirit, which had been scattered into many pieces.
For three years, Bai Qian kept on seeing Ye Hua, only to realize that it had only been a dream or an illusion. Due to complicated reasons and being in a crystal coffin in the Restful Sea, Ye Hua awakens after only three years of slumber, and is reunited with Bai Qian.

Cast

Main

Qing Qiu Fox Tribe

He falls in love with Si Yin, without knowing she is Bai Qian in disguise. When he saw Xuan Nü who resembles Si Yin, he was seduced by her, causing him to inadvertently betray Bai Qian. He later realizes that the only one he ever truly loved was Si Yin.
She fell for Si Yin, not knowing she is a girl. Later on, she meets and falls in love with Zi Lan in the mortal realm but their relationship failed to come to fruition due to the rift between Kunlun Mountain and the Ghost Tribe.
The series began production in 2015. Primarily crew members was announced; with Lam Yuk-fan as the director, Zhang Shuping as the style director, Chen Haozhong as the art director and Zhang Shijie as the costume designer. It was announced that Gcoo Entertainment will produce the drama.
Principal photography began on February 10, 2016 at Xiangshan Movie & Television Town. The whole crew wrapped up filming on June 30, 2016. Filming also took place in Puzhehei, Yunnan. More than 80% of the sets were newly built in order to avoid replication.

Soundtrack

The Eternal Love OST was released on February 18, 2017 digitally. The popularity of the series has led to the soundtrack, "Bracing the Chill" to become one of the most covered songs in 2017. The soundtracks and background music were released on three discs, with a total of 60 tracks.

Reception

Eternal Love is a commercial success in China, with over 50 billion views online, making it the most viewed Chinese drama. The series also surpassed 1% in ratings on both television stations, averaging 1.288% on Dragon TV and 1.041% on Zhejiang TV.
The series has also attracted large number of foreign fans, which was said to mark a new renaissance for Chinese television. Its success factors were attributed to its beautiful scenes, poetic dialogues and popular stars; as well as the strong fanbase of its original novel. The translated version of the book experienced a surge in sales on website Amazon.

Ratings

Novel plagiarism controversy

The source novel Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms was suspected to be plagiarized from various sources. The allegation was that the author :zh:唐七|Tang Qi plagiarised the main characters, story organisation and many important details from a Chinese gay love novel titled 桃花债 written by 大风刮过; and the prologue from an unfinished contemporary Chinese love novel 非我倾城 written by :zh:顾漫|Gu Man.
The scandal was used as an example of popular media plagiarism in a report by CCTV.

International broadcast