Yang Mi: Keep the Original Passion and Have Fun

Eleven years ago, Yang Mi once wrote in her weibo,

"For people with a good mindset, the world is a big playground, the more stimulating it is, the more fun they have."

And in her eyes, life is also a game,

"The outcome of the game is not important, the most important thing is to have fun while playing."

She is a veteran player, jumping between different games, fighting and levelling up,

not only need to keep the original passion, but also need to have fun.

"Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yuehong Chapter" just wrapped up, this is not the first time Yang Mi played the role of a fox. The Qingqiu empress, Bai Qian, in "Eternal Love" is still regarded as a classic, and Yang Mi often calls herself a "fox" too. In addition to the fox-beauty appearance, she also has a fox's agility and intelligence, whether in acting, variety shows, interviews, or in and out of the game. She always shows a powerful ability to notice and solve any challenges.

"Wise", "living clear-headed", "quitting emotions".... These words are often being used to describe Yang Mi. In her opinion, they are the public stereotypes of her, but it is not necessary to be broken.

"How others see me is someone else's business." Her style of reply is always simple, clear and carefree, "Whether I am viewed with stereotypes or other impressions, it does not affect me to do what I want to do."

The emotions are still there and have not been quit.

"First of all, I'm a human being and will have my own emotions. When being cheated on or bullied, I will similarly have negative emotions."

What is the proper way to eliminate and digest them? She believes in the power of honesty, facing her emotions and needs, accepting all of her thoughts and experiences, and not letting the voices around her or the words and actions of others affect her original self.

"What you can do is, every time when you doubt something or someone, don't transfer such emotions to others. And, don't question your original passion just because of how others treat you."

For Yang Mi, original passion is always the most important thing. Along the journey to achieve it, failure is no longer an obstacle, but instead a stepping stone. The encounter with a challenge or a problem is just an experience in the process of growth.

Her Weibo account was registered in August 2009, and at that time, Yang Mi preferred to share her emotions and thoughts. Therefore, people often dig through the contents of her Weibo account from more than ten years ago, and try to summarise her growth and changes over the years. She doesn't avoid this kind of archaeology because those statements that seem to be fragile or immature are part of her life experience.

She said, "When I first created a Weibo account, my goal is to be a great actress. The reason why I never disable or restrict my Weibo is to always remind myself that I should not forget my original passion."

In Yang Mi's opinion, the greatest joy is to be able to be her true self more and follow her inner thoughts. She hopes that one day in the future she will be able to seriously and healthily live a free and easy life.

"For me, meeting a good script and a good director, and trying to create a character I like are things that bring me extreme joy, even if the process is very hard."

After getting the script of "Thank You Doctor", Yang Mi finished reading it in tears. The story is not limited to the traditional medical career drama, but hopes to use the little window of the emergency department to tell the most common and real life around the public. The script references many real-life cases, and the content of the 40 episodes shows about 70 different cases. There are scenes that encourage society to care for Alzheimer's patients and their families. There is also a discussion about the relationship between mothers and children that revolves around mothers who have lost their children. ..... She, who seems to be "invulnerable", is often being touched by the most sincere and pure relationships.

Previously, Yang Mi's understanding of doctors is just saving lives and treat patients. However, after being exposed to "Thank You Doctor", she realised that doctors should not only master the medical science, but also understand the human science.

"I think a healthy doctor-patient relationship should be based on mutual respect and understanding. This drama emphasises more on emotional concerns and human interactions."

Xiao Yan, as played by Yang Mi, is an overseas returnee doctor who believes that "medical science is also human science". She, who comes from a medical family, previously had been working in Rescue Without Borders. After joining the emergency department of Tong Shan Hospital, she still retains her understanding and persistence of humanity and her medical profession. She, who looks cold but warmhearted, has a very professional image of a doctor at work, carefully and conscientiously saving patients in a white coat. However, during her time in private, she has a great contrast as she wears a leather jacket and rides a big bike, which looks very cool.

"Xiao Yan is a very vivid person." It was this vividness that attracted Yang Mi, "Who says doctors can't ride big bikes?"

The drama was filmed in the unoccupied emergency department area of a real hospital. Therefore, next to the set was the real hospital environment with patients and busy healthcare workers walking by.

The filming process was much tougher than expected, starting at the end of 2019 and soon catching up with the pandemic, which then suspended the production in early 2020. The team announced in April of the same year that they were temporarily disbanded and did not resume the shooting until August 2021.

On the day of her return to work, Yang Mi couldn't help but lament that, "I think it was too hard, as if I had a dream. All the production team came back. Only those in this team really know how much we have gone through."

After a year and a half, once again playing Xiao Yan, Yang Mi would also worry about her own condition if she could act and play the scene again, especially for some cases that have already been shot halfway. When shooting again, she had to think back on how she handled the situation at that time. Hence, it took some time to recapture her state of mind.

At the same time, she also has more understanding and sincere admiration for healthcare workers, "When the hospital has turned from a place we are familiar with to a place that somehow frightens everyone, and they still work in this environment every day to save lives, it is indeed very impressive."

Simultaneously with "Thank You Doctor", the drama "She and Her Perfect Husband" was also broadcast. The production of this drama was actually completed during the time when the filming of "Thank You Doctor" was suspended. In this drama, Yang Mi played the role of Qin Shi, an elite lawyer and a professional woman who is also different from the stereotype.

When being asked if she is easily attracted to characters that come with a sense of contrast, Yang Mi replied, "I think, putting aside their personal careers, they are first and foremost a person, a woman, who will have her own life, her own ideas, and various things besides her career." It is not the sense of contrast that attracts her, but the fact that these characters are all vivid people.

Taking away the professional identity of a lawyer, Qin Shi, as viewed by Yang Mi, is a very lovely and cute woman.

"The point of cuteness is that she is very vivid."

Yang Mi explained, "Qin Shi's life has a lot of very vivid points. For example, she believes in the life attitude of work is more important than love, and her relationship with her boss.... After meeting Yang Hua, Qin Shi tries her best to balance her career and love, but she realises that she can't do so, which leads to a series of problems. You'll find out that she is not a perfect person, but instead a little hedgehog, and this is why she is very cute."

In addition to the cute personality, Director Teng Hua Tao also added a lot of visually "cute" elements when designing the character of Qin Shi. For instance, Qin Shi's costume and home design have a lot of bright and colourful pieces.

"Qin Shi's home will have large pieces of red and blue walls. Besides, her clothes, like the vibrant red dress, are something I would never wear in my daily life."

Such setting is also an external presentation of the character's vivid personality.

When being asked what she and Qin Shi have in common, Yang Mi replied, "We both love to work."

Ever since her debut, Yang Mi seems to have never stopped and rest. Hence, the public calls her a "workaholic", but Yang Mi does not think that she is desperate for work. "I'm not desperate, I was quite free for a period of time this year, not as desperate/hardworking as what you guys said, this is also a stereotype of me."

Will there be moments when you feel tired? "I often feel tired, but what to do? You have to live as well. Do you choose to live, or do you choose to die easily?"

This seemingly lazy and careless reply, interspersed with Mi's style of hard questioning. For this kind of reply, she must have fought with herself countless times too. Therefore, she ends up growing with a strong diamond heart.

Yang Mi's Chinese zodiac is the tiger, and this year is her year of fate. We can often see her tiger-woman's side at work, but in private, the tiger-woman also has a big cat side.

*T/N: (1) The interview was done on year 2022 (and Tiger Year will only ends on the first day of 2023 Chinese New Year), that's why it was still Yang Mi's year of fate. (2) Tiger-woman in this context can be understood as doing her work seriously and efficiently.

She has great attraction for cats, the three cats that she is raising now are all picked up and adopted. The eldest cat, Shu Cha'er (Tree branch) is Yang Mi's "co-star" in "Eternal Love", and the second one, Da Cang, is the one she met when she was filming "Legend of Fu Yao",

"At that moment, I just thought it was cute. Since it would come to me by itself, I adopted it."

The youngest cat, Xiao Hei, was rescued by Yang Mi from the wheels at the highway during the filming of "Storm Eye".

"My three cats are somehow lazy, our mode of getting along is to tease each other, no one cannot be separated from anyone. I think that they live quite well although are away from me. They are all quite independent. The most similar thing between them and me is that our skill of adaptation is relatively strong."

Shu Cha'er is always raised in her parents' home. If she leaves for shooting a film, she will bring either Da Cang or Xiao Hei, and the other is left to her parents to take care of. Xiao Hei is her most frequent travel partner.

"It is totally not afraid of unfamiliar environment. It belongs to the kind of self-acquainted."

When filming "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yuehong Chapter", Yang Mi took Xiao Hei to Heng Dian with her. With the cat accompanying her, she felt that no matter where she was, there was not much difference.

When she is not working, Yang Mi will make a lot of interesting attempts. She has bought wigs of various colours, and also addicted to online shopping for a variety of bows, earrings and such small items. She also has done handmade beaded necklaces and phone cases, and has also tried tufting a rug....

Strolling is also her favourite activity, and she even goes to watch night fishing by the river, and also occasionally encounters couples quarrelling. If she is in Beijing, she will also have dinner with her old friends that she has known for many years, go to the park, or go to Universal Studios.

Recalling the last time she went to Universal Studios, Yang Mi was very relaxed and spontaneous when playing, "Going to the amusement park with friends means that I will just follow them. Wherever they went, I would just follow. When following those you trust, anywhere you go is fine. Sometimes, I do feel like the extreme rides/games are fine to play but unnecessary. Who knows tho? Since I’m an ever changing person, I might go for it on the next time."

She doesn't have too strong a desire to travel, and when she participated in "Divas Hit the Road S4", she found that traveling was busier than working.

"Before this, I would sometimes arrange short trips of one or two days after my work, but if I have to choose, I will choose to just stay at home."

She described her ideal day off to us, "I feel pretty good about sleeping and naturally waking up at 10am or so every day. Then, I get up and eat the food my dad cooks."

What's your dad's best dish?

"Da Lu Mian (braised noodles) and dumplings."

What kind of filling do you like for the dumplings?

"Any kind of filling is fine." She explained softly, "They are all homemade."