The Untamed // A Popular Chinese Fantasy Drama To Learn Chinese

Chinese Fantasy Drama The Untamed // Rated and Reviewed

Today we delve into the world of fantasy as we learn Chinese with the 2019 hit fantasy drama The Untamed (陈情令 chén qíng lìng).

The series was hugely popular within both China and Asia, accumulating a total of 6.8 billion views on Tencent by the end of 2019!

The Untamed | Introduction

The Untamed | The Five Sects

The Untamed | Synopsis

The Untamed | Main Characters

The Untamed | What Others Thought?

The Untamed | The Queer Element

The Untamed | Where to Watch

The Untamed | FAQ’s

The Untamed – Introduction

The Untamed is one of the most popular Chinese fantasy dramas in Asia since launching in 2019.

This fantasy drama follows the story of Wei Wuxian (魏无羡 wèi wúxiàn) and Lan Wangji (蓝忘机 lán wàngjī) , who are cultivators.

They meet in a most unexpected way, in an incredible world, like nothing you’ve ever seen before – Wei Wuxian is a carefree, spontaneous person and Lan Wangji is a strict, obedient disciple.

They manage to overcome their differences and work together to uncover the hidden truth about the previous era, they join hands to protect the people and restore peace and order to the world.

The Untamed – The Five Sects

This fantasy series is based in the Chinese martial arts world.

Have you ever watched Chinese martial arts? Leave a comment below by sharing us whether you like it or not.

The Untamed tells the tale of a period 16 years ago when the world was divided into and governed by five sects:

• The Gusu Lan Sect (姑苏蓝氏 gūsū lán shì)
• The Yunmeng Jiang Sect (云梦江氏 yúnmèng jiāng shì)
• The Qinghe Nie Sect (清河聂氏 qīnghé niè shì)
• The Lanlin Jin Sect (兰陵金氏 lánlíng jīn shì)
• The Qishan Wen Sect (岐山温氏 qíshān wēn shì)

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The Untamed – Synopsis

The world is ruled by the five sects, however the Wen sect dominates the other four smaller sects.

Among the apprentices of the five major families, Wei Wuxian of the Yunmeng Jiang sect and Lan Wangji of Gu Sulan sect meet and became good friends.

Through a series of unexpected meetings and events, the two end up discovering the hidden secret that Lan had been guarding.

If this secret is known by the wicked, it would lead to extreme chaos in the world, so they decide to take on the legacy of their ancestors, and eliminate hidden dangers to life.

The constant persecution of the other four families by the Wen clan eventually leads to the four families uniting together against the Wen clan.

After Wen’s annihilation, Wei Wuxian stands up to the four major families in order to protect the innocent people of the Wen clan and uphold justice to the world.

But things were never going to be that simple – and in trying to protect them, he fell into darkness. Against his will, and manipulated by a figure behind the scenes, his actions lead to the death of his sister Jiang Yanli (江厌离 Jiāng yànlí).

Wei Wuxian jumps off a cliff and disappears…

Sixteen years later, Wei Wuxian reappears in the body of Mo Xuanyu (莫玄羽 mò xuányǔ), and meets his old friend Lan Wangji.

The two then travel around to solve a series of murder mysteries.

As the truth is slowly revealed, the person behind the scenes pulling all the strings finds themselves in a difficult situation to hide.

A series of magnificent events then unfold.

Explore the world of magic, fantasy, adventure and romance of the two of the most popular actors in China Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan in the award winning TV series “The untamed”.

The Untamed – Main Characters

Wei Wuxian (魏无羡 wèi wúxiàn) – played by Chinese actor and singer Xiao Zhan (肖战 xiào zhàn). He is a Jiang sect disciple and a cultivator.

Mo Xuanyu (莫玄羽 mò xuányǔ) – also played by Xiao Zhang. He is an ex-disciple of the Jin sect and illegitimate son of Jin Guangshan. He sacrifices his body to Wei Wuxian through a ritual.

Lan Wangji (蓝忘机 lán wàngjī) – played by Chinese actor and singer Wang Yibo (王一博 wáng yībó). He is a Lan sect disciple and also a cultivator. Him and Wei Wuxian regard each other as soulmates.

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The Untamed – What Others Thought?

The Untamed is undoubtably hugely popular but there was a particular tweet we came across through the Flexi Class forum that we absolutely loved!

If there was anyway to describe The Untamed in a nutshell, this is probably it.

The show will probably require some patience at first, but once you get beyond this, you’ll absolutely fall for it!

Another quote from this Vox review also particuarly struck a chord with us:

“The first three episodes plunge you deep into the middle of a convoluted plot, with a main character who’s abruptly returned from the dead and has no idea what’s going on. Then we pivot to a 30-episode-long flashback that comprises the main story arc, set roughly 18 years before the main character’s return. There’s a huge cast, and most characters have two or three names; I found it immensely helpful to keep this Wikipedia page full of character names open as I watched.

But if you just roll with all of that, The Untamed rapidly becomes addictive, as interesting and watchable as it is complex.”

Source here

Upon reading these you start to realise you are on the verge of getting stuck into something truly addictive!

The Untamed – The Queer Element

Another important topic of discussion is the queer element to The Untamed.

In a country such as China, this is all the more important due to the fact it has to adhere to censorship regulations in China.

Upon watching The Untamed, the references, despite attempts to dumb them down, are there for all to see.

Hand-holding and physical contact between same sexes are rife in this Chinese fantasy.

If you are prone to a drama that follows same sex relations, backs against the wall, facing the world… there is no doubt The Untamed is right up your street!

Likewise if you just love getting lost in the crazy world of fantasy, you can’t go far wrong here either.

The Untamed – Where to Watch It

The Untamed is available to watch on Netflix.

This is great as it means you can watch the series with both English and Chinese subtitles using the Language Learning with Netflix extension.

The series is also available to watch on the Chinese streaming site WeTV.

What are you waiting for? Come and give it a watch, and see what the hype is all about!

Why not also check out another Chinese classic – Farewell My Concubine.

The Untamed – FAQ’s

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