Nothing Gold Can Stay: Deng Chao “Apologizes” to Male Cast Members on Behalf of Sun Li

August 30th was the big premiere day for Sun Li’s (孙俪) latest television drama Nothing Gold Can Stay <那年花开月正圆>, a turn-of-the-century story about a strong woman who breaks societal expectations and conventions to start her own business. The period drama also stars Chen Xiao (陈晓), Peter Ho (何潤東), Myolie Wu (胡杏兒), Ren Zhong (任重), and Yu Haoming (俞灏明).

Sun Li portrays Zhou Ying, a strong-willed, non-traditional Shaanxi woman who overcomes barriers to become the first female pupil of the Wu family. She strikes an interesting friendship with the second young master Chen Xinyi (Chen Xiao) and Wu Pin (Peter Ho), bringing out her straightforward personality. Zhou Ying grew up as a fighter, and often breaks into physical altercations with men.

Sun Li herself has described her role “a bit like the sassy girlfriend, probably the most disobedient woman in the entire city.” In a society women are expected to stay at home and raise children, Zhou Ying is a fighter and longs to take control of her own life.

Deng Chao (邓超), Sun Li’s husband, promoted the drama on his Weibo, writing, “As her husband I apologize to all the men she had beaten up [on the show].”

Netizens joked along. One wrote, “To promote his wife’s new drama, he really sacrificed everything.” Another commented, “You of all people have all the right to talk about this.”

Nothing Gold Can Change airs on Dragon TV, Jiang TV, and Tencent Video.

“Nothing Gold Can Change” Extended Trailer