Chongxi means 'driving away with joy'. It is an old custom in which a gravely ill person, often a young man, is married in the hope that the happy occasion will push out the bad luck and turn his fortune around. The bride is often chosen in a hurry, which makes her a vulnerable figure in period fiction. The custom also gives writers a ready-made premise for a marriage between strangers. Where the Mask Ends takes its title from such a marriage, in which a duke's heir lies unconscious and a bride is needed.
Dramas
Where it comes up
Where the Mask Ends: The Youku Drama Where One Actress Plays Both the Real and the False Daughter
A guide to the Youku period drama Where the Mask Ends as it airs: Tian Xiwei in a double role as a night-soil girl and the heiress she replaces, an adaptation that split its novel's heroine in two, and a cast of veteran palace-drama villains.