Chinese dramas and films

On June 9, 2026, the 40-episode drama "The First Jasmin" (Mo Li, 莫离) premiered on Tencent Video and CCTV-8.

The lead roles are played by Bai Lu ("Till the End of the Moon", "Story of Kunning Palace") and Cheng Lei ("Legend of the Female General", "Footprints of Change").

The story revolves around Ye Li (played by Bai Lu), a girl who, after eight years of confinement in the Lishan mountains, gets a chance at freedom thanks to an imperial decree. She becomes the wife of Prince Mo Xiu Yao (Cheng Lei), who hides his true nature behind the mask of a sick and infirm ruler. The characters enter a marriage of convenience, but soon their union grows into genuine feeling, and together they begin to untangle a web of conspiracies and crimes to restore justice.

Just ten minutes after launch, the popularity index on Tencent Video exceeded 20,000 points, reaching 25,000 by the end of the day. Commercial success was also evident: the project launched with seven advertising integrations, a record for Tencent Video in 2026 for the number of ads in a premiere episode. The total number of ad spots in the first few episodes reached 31. The brand HYLO even joked on social media that it had failed to buy an ad slot at the beginning of the episodes.

However, almost immediately the project faced a powerful wave of negativity. On Douban, one-star reviews poured in like an avalanche on premiere day, with the wording of the criticism suspiciously similar — sparking talk of a coordinated attack aimed at lowering the rating. The main target was Bai Lu: viewers accused her of monotonous acting ("the same facial expressions in every drama") and of having a sluggish, indistinct delivery. Cheng Lei also took heat: according to part of the audience, he did not fully live up to his role, failing to give his character the necessary depth and charisma.

At the same time, the creators clearly counted on success. The script avoided the clichés of reincarnation and time travel. Director Lin Yufen is known for hits such as "The Demon Hunter's Romance" and "Eternal Love", which initially served as a guarantee of quality. And indeed, some viewers and critics highly praised the visuals: the camerawork lacks aggressive retouching — pores and skin texture are visible on screen, a pleasant exception for the genre. Bai Lu's acting also received some praise.

However, the main problem for "The First Jasmin" was not creative miscalculations but the powerful information background that accompanied the premiere. The fact is that a month before the drama's release, Bai Lu found herself at the centre of a major scandal linked to her participation in the popular show "Running Man" (the Chinese version).

The incident on the show occurred in May 2026. During a game, Bai Lu, as part of a competition, poured an entire ladle of water onto the face of her lying-on-the-ground colleague, the show's veteran Li Chen, causing him to choke and cough. This short clip was cut and began circulating on social media, where it was interpreted as bullying a senior colleague. In addition, other remarks of hers spread widely: she called Li Chen and Zheng Kai "oldies" whose fighting spirit had not yet faded. On another occasion, while speaking to exhausted contestants who had just swum a difficult distance, she remarked with a smile: "Is it really hard for you? For me, it's just hot." Although her words were taken out of context (in the full version, she added a request to replenish fluids to avoid heatstroke), the situation spiralled out of control.

A wave of criticism crashed down on Bai Lu. She was accused of disrespecting her elders, arrogance and a lack of empathy. Numerous clips from old episodes began appearing on social media, only fuelling the fire. The situation was worsened when Li Chen and Zheng Kai, who in previous years had actively promoted each episode, conspicuously broke a twelve-year tradition and did not post about the new episode — this was seen as a sign of a rift. As a result, Bai Lu began to lose followers: by the most conservative estimates, she lost nearly 1.5 million TikTok followers in a month, while some sources claim the losses amounted to up to one million across all platforms.

And so, at the peak of the uproar, "The First Jasmin" hits the screens. The scandal inevitably affected the drama's reception. Many internet users declared that they would boycott the project because of the actress's behaviour and called on others to give low ratings. The live stream celebrating the premiere, in which the actors took part, was virtually paralysed by tons of negative comments directed at Bai Lu personally. Nevertheless, there were also those whom the scandal only spurred to watch the series: some viewers, driven by a "sense of contradiction" and a desire to form their own opinion, tuned in. In the end, the audience split into two camps, and the series itself, despite achieving strong commercial numbers, received extremely polarised reviews.

This confrontation takes on particular significance against the backdrop of competition with another high-profile project — the drama "Ashes to Crow" (翘楚, Qiao Chu, Chu Hou) starring Chen Duling, which premiered on June 2. Both projects, being large-scale historical epics, are vying for the same audience. "Ashes to Crow" received more restrained but stable reviews, while "The First Jasmin" faced a deluge of criticism fuelled by scandal. The ratings ratio of the two dramas, as well as audience reaction to their confrontation, will undoubtedly become one of the main discussion topics in the Chinese segment of the internet in the coming days.

Alongside the drama's release, another important event took place in the actress's career. According to information disseminated in the Chinese media, Bai Lu's contract with her agency expired at the end of May 2026. Rather than renewing the relationship, the actress decided to set up her own company. The studio, named "Luyan Culture" (鹿言文化), has been officially registered. The new company will now handle all creative and business matters related to Bai Lu's activities. Industry experts believe that creating an independent agency is a timely and logical step for an actress of her calibre. It allows her to fully control her career development and creative decisions, as well as to receive all income from projects directly. At the same time, it places an additional burden of responsibility on the actress's shoulders regarding team management and promotion.

Thus, "The First Jasmin" has gone down in history as one of the most controversial projects of 2026: on the one hand, record-breaking advertising support and incredible viewer interest; on the other, scathing criticism and reputational losses for the main star, who at the same time began building her own empire.