Review: To The Wonder (My Altay) C-Drama. More Than a Cross-Cultural Encounter

 

Here's a nice miniseries I just finished watching, it has only eight (8) episodes so it's a short watch. What encouraged me to complete this drama is its breathtaking visuals, the stunning beauty of nature, the spectacular view of the grasslands, and the cross-cultural theme which is rare in a drama to be tackled especially if the setting is modern. 

To The Wonder is based on the award-winning essay collection of Li Juan, "My Altay", detailing her experience living in the Altay Prefecture in Northern Xinjiang, China, and the reasons why she decided to stay in her beloved village. It's very poetic and filled with beautiful wisdom. 

This drama allows viewers to discover the unique culture of the Kazakh ethnic group in Northern Xinjiang. It's a good cultural discovery also because, before this drama, I did not know there was a Kazakh (who are obviously from Kazakhstan, which is only near the border of the Altay Prefecture) ethnic group living in Xinjiang. I only know Uyghurs.

So here's my review of this drama, you may check if this is one for you.

Ma Yili as Zhang Fengxia, Yu Shi as Ba Tai, and Zhou Yiran as Li Wenxiu

I know this drama is not for everyone. This is not a commercial drama project where you would see ultra popular actors or elaborate aesthetics, this is more of a cultural enlightenment, presenting the culture of one ethnic group in China we rarely heard, their customs, and their slowly disappearing tradition of herding and hunting because of modernity. 

To The Wonder is the first Chinese drama to ever be selected to compete at the recently concluded Cannes International Series Festival in Cannes, France, and was also exhibited at the Beijing International Film Festival in April. So you could see how high quality this drama is.

Alima Mayutian who played Tokan, Alimujiang who played Su Litan, and Yu Shi who played Ba Tai

Plot Summary:

The story follows two young individuals from different cultural backgrounds, Li Wenxiu (played by Zhou Yiran), who is of Han descent (a Chinese major ethnic group). She dreamed of moving to the country's capital, Beijing, to become a writer. She first lived in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province, and worked in a hotel to earn money to support herself when she moved to Beijing.

Zhou Yiran as Li Wenxiu 

Yu Shi as Ba Tai

But fate intervened. She faced so many obstacles while working in Urumqi so she was forced to quit her job and return to Altay grassland. Before she left, she attended a lecture conducted by a popular author who gave advice on how to become an effective writer - to live, to love, and to get hurt, a way to understand life better and be an effective writer.

Li Wenxiu's mother is Zhang Fengxia (played by Ma Yili) she is a widow and raised Wenxiu alone. Fengxia had a store to support themselves. Their house is located in the middle of the grassland, surrounded by a livestock farm.

Ba Tai (Yu Shi) and his father, Su Litan (Alimujiang)

Wenxiu still dreamed of moving to the capital to become a writer, so she helped her mother tend their store. One day, she met Ba Tai (played by Yu Shi), a nomadic herdsman from the Kazakh tribe. He is the son of Su Litan (played by Alimujiang) who owned a large sheep farm in the grassland. 

But Ba Tai himself did not want to become a herdsman for life, he wanted to work in the stable of horses in the town and become an accomplished equestrian. 

Snow Shoe 😢

Later, through many encounters, Ba Tai and Li Wenxiu became close and started learning from each other's cultures. Until they fell in love. But Ba Tai's father opposed their romance because Li Wenxiu was not from their ethnic group. 

Ba Tai and Wenxiu 

However, Su Litan realized that life was not the same as before. That they needed to come to terms with the call of times to continue living, and that there must be certain things needed to give up, even if it's part of their long-cherished tradition, to thrive in the modern world. 

He finally allowed his son, Ba Tai, to live his dream, to live the kind of life he wanted. Su Litan was also forced to sell half of his herds of sheep because no one in the family was interested in herding. He also surrendered his gun because it's of no use as he can't no longer hunt due to strict protection laws about the wildlife.

Everything went well. Ba Tai and Li Wenxiu were finally bound for a happy ending. Until a great tragedy struck them, a heartbreaking one that tore Ba Tai and Wenxiu apart.

Our Review:

To The Wonder is one of those rare series that you might not appreciate at first but as it went along, you will realize how good it is, how inspiring the story is, and how you want to see the characters more and the drama. 

The storytelling is simple - just showcasing the mundane everyday life of the nomads in the grassland, learning from their culture of herding, celebrating important festivities, and watching the world go by. However, it offers tons of learning experiences about life. Learning how the grassland people struggled to come to terms with modern times.

They come to realize that there are some traditions from their ancestors that they can't continue because the world is changing and therefore change is inevitable.

They also realized that the younger generation of their tribe has a different mindset and they're no longer inclined to stay in the grassland. They want to see the real world beyond the mountains.

It also means yielding to what modernity calls at the moment, they could no longer hunt as their customs dictate because of stricter laws about wildlife species protection. They also realized that herding livestock is slowly disappearing because the younger generation choose a different life path. 

The love between Ba Tai and Li Wenxiu

So their nomadic life is threatening to become extinct as some of them build permanent homes in the nearby towns where they don't need to move from place to place as seasons change. The trails they created where they traveled with their horses became empty since most of the villagers chose to tread on concrete roads. 

However, despite the simple storytelling, I love everything about this drama because it shows life in its simplest form, how life in the grassland is more fascinating than life in the city. 

The stillness of the environment, the quietness of the surroundings, the endless silence living in the vast prairie, the precious peace, the breathtaking mountain landscapes, and the pristine lakes. These natural gifts of nature are what we desire right now to relax from stress.

The breathtaking prairie in the Altay grassland

I love how the cast also delivered good performances. Yu Shi, Zhou Yiran, Ma Yili, Alimujiang, Alima Mayutian (Tokan), and others, are all incredible in their portrayals. Very authentic and effective. Half of the show was delivered in Turkic, the native language of the Kazakhs and Uyghurs in Xinjiang. 

Alimujiang and Alima Mayutian are both of Kazakh descent from Xinjiang so they delivered very well in Turkic, but Yu Shi, who is of Mongolian descent but was born and raised in Liaoning province, which is a predominantly Mandarin-speaking province, surprised me with how good he is in speaking Turkic!

Ma Yili, who played Zhang Fengxia, is pretty given because she is a multi-awarded actress. She has a main role in Blossom Shanghai with Hu Ge and Tiffany Tang. Ma Yili revealed that she started filming To The Wonder right after she finished filming Blossom Shanghai.

Yu Shi as Ba Tai

Overall, To The Wonder is a good drama to watch! It is a unique drama, very different from the usual Chinese series. A must-watch if you are a culture buff or someone who wants to discover the beauty of the grassland in a modern setting because mostly we can see grassland only in an ancient costume drama. 

Tranquil life in the grassland

I also love the fact that this drama is very consistent from start to finish. The script development is coherent and the character development is smooth and well-connected to the main plot, so it's a seamless storytelling. This is a healing drama pumps with a good cross-cultural learning. 

The growth of Ba Tai and Li Wenxiu

As of today, its Douban rating is 8.7 rated by more than 80,000 users, which is a super high and excellent rating, considering that none of the cast are traffic stars, so it means domestic fans in China are very impressed with the quality of this drama. It became the highest-rated Chinese drama in Douban that premiered this year.

Douban score of To The Wonder as of May 13, 2024

Ending Explained 

As to how the drama ended. It's a wonderful ending actually but highly emotional and a little heartbreaking.

In the early episodes we learned that Ba Tai has a new horse named Snowshoe. This is his beloved horse as he trained this painstakingly.

He introduced Snowshoe to Wenxiu (well as most horseman does) and it was Wenxiu who witnessed Snowshoe progressed.

Ba Tai allowed her to ride Snowshoe even though Wenxiu is not well trained in horseback riding. Then during the holiday in the grassland, an incident took place.

Ba Tai had no other choice but to shoot Snowshoe to save Wenxiu. It was heartbreaking because we know how much Ba Tai love his horse.

Ba Tai and Wenxiu 😍

It became the sticking point of their alienation towards each other. Ba Tai left their place to process his pain. Wenxiu also left to go to the capital to follow her dreams to become a writer.

Years went on without any communication. But it was shown they were able to fulfill their respective dreams what to do in their lives. 

Then three years later, Wenxiu went home to celebrate New Year with her mother and grandmother. As they spent outdoor celebrating the New Year with other villagers, there, in the vast darkness illuminated only by the silver moonlight, emerged the new Ba Tai with his new hairstyle.

For a moment, time stood still between them as their eyes met. Wenxiu released a hesitant smile as Ba Tai looked at her. Wenxiu's eyes were filled with affection and excitement as they met again. 

Without saying any words we knew they were ready to give their love another chance after the journey of healing. They were able to finally understand each other despite their opposing cultures. And ready to where the life would take them. Absence indeed makes the heart go fonder.