Legend of Zang Hai (2025) First Impressions

Xiao Zhan plays the titular character Zang Hai aka Zhi Nu in this leisurely paced but edge-of-the-seat revenge narrative. Zhi Nu was raised to follow in the footsteps of his father the Imperial Astronomer Kuai Duo (Wallace Chung), who stumbles on a earth-shattering secret during a building project — a discovery that sees their entire family plus his father’s students massacred in a single night by the powerful Marquise of Jinping. Saved by a mysterious masked benefactor, Zhi Nu undergoes a decade of training with a handful of experts in different fields in order to approach and assassinate the well-protected marquise, Zhuang Luyin.

10 years later, the entombment of the empress dowager opens up a small window of opportunity. Zhi Nu emerges from seclusion as Zang Hai a fengshui expert with plenty of savvy. His knowledge of structural engineering, geography and architecture are the necessary arsenal calculated to elevate his stature in a moment of national crisis. Standing out, however, does bring with it its own set of problems. No one wants a talented upstart to succeed, least of all duplicitous talentless hacks. Meritocracy, certainly in that context, is a tall tale that’s told to naive young men with dreams of making it big until they are hindered by unscrupulous gatekeepers or murdered for their troubles.

On his first day back at the capital, Zang Hai runs into Xiang Antu (Zhang Jingyi) a shady female character working at a popular pleasure pavillion who is undoubtedly set up to be his love interest. Besides being a notable fixture at Zhen Tower, her other talent seems to be rubbing him (and the audience) up the wrong way.

Thematically Legend of Zang Hai follows all the beats of a properly scripted revenge show. Every revenge show concerns itself with the worst of human nature, political corruption and grave systemic injustice. The protagonist needs justification for his agenda and has to be someone the audience can root for as he schemes his way to the resolution of his goal. In every stage of the journey there’s a sense of David trying to do battle with Goliath.

Xiao Zhan carries himself with a great deal of likeability. The approach to the character certainly plays to his strengths as an actor. There are two sides to Zang Hai — affable and obsequious when he needs to be in front of the powerful, but ruthless when the occasion calls for it. To his credit the path to revenge doesn’t (so far) diminish his compassion for the common folk who struggle under the scourge of corruption.

Prizing loyalty over ability Zhuang Luyin (Huang Jue) surrounds himself with fawning but incompetent self-interested bureaucrats. The incidents at the royal mausoleum (with some orchestration by Zang Hai) leads him to the realisation that his so-called loyal advisors are a double-edged sword. They aren’t necessarily loyal to him while they grovel before him for the benefits that their association brings. No one will ever be truly loyal to him, as Zang Hai reminds him but it’s better than being abetted by mediocre types who don’t contribute much to his bid for political longevity. Struck by the recognition that there is no honour among thieves and murderers, the ambitious marquise takes the bull by the horns changing tack by inviting Zang Hai into his inner circle.

As much as it is one man’s battle with the country’s powerful elites, Legend of Zang Hai explores the degeneration of a once thriving social order. The political wrangling related to the royal mausoleum is instructive as a metaphor for the rot that has set in when bureaucrats siphon state funds to replenish their private coffers and cut corners in major building projects. Who are they answerable to? The emperor? He is noticeably absent so far. In fact he seems eager to dodge bullets and leave crisis management to his officials especially Zhuang Luyin. Gatekeeping is demonstrated to be a net loss for the country as merit is perceived as a threat by the rapacious clinging bitterly to their prominent positions. Gatekeeping too leads to cronyism and stagnation in the civil service. In truth bureaucracies despite giving lip service to the idea of it are risk averse to innovation.

As someone who knows little regarding architecture or structural engineering, the show comes across as being meticulously plotted and much attention is given to details in those fields. I can’t speak to scientific accuracy but it’s certainly impressive that the show goes into the weeds of water-proofing for instance to showcase the depth (and breadth) of knowledge held by its protagonist.

9 episodes later, I admit to being impressed. Sadly, one is not easily impressed these days especially where C dramas are concerned. While the actors do a fine job doing their bit to make it work, the key thing here is the script. To its credit the writing here doesn’t shy away from delving deep thus showing respect for the intelligence of its target viewership. Of course whether the quality remains consistent right to the end is still something that haunts this reviewer hanging on expectantly.

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