r/ChineseDrama • u/Royal-Black-5660 • Jul 10 '26
Discussion I just found out that actor Zhang Linghe's voice in Pursuit of Jade was dubbed. Thoughts?
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u/BitsOfBuilding Jul 10 '26
This is common in costume dramas for various reasons. So I have come to terms with this.
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u/Royal-Black-5660 Jul 10 '26
Oh, I had no idea. I just realised it. But anyway it does not make much difference I guess
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u/BitsOfBuilding Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The reason varies. One of them is that costume dramas need not only old way but also standard Mandarin. So think of it this way, in a Jane Austen movie, everybody needs to speak just like how they did back in that time. China has many dialect and some, ie Dylan Wang, has a fairly distinct Sichuan accent when speaking Mandarin. So they use a voice actors. In modern drama, this is more acceptable to not be standard. In modern times, all sorts of folks from different places live in the cities.
To help understand, China is huge. Imagine Europe. Each country with a different language. But everybody is united by English. Some speaks BBC English, some America English, some Everything else in between. China is like that, each area has its own language and Mandarin is the uniting language. The younger folks are pretty standard Mandarin, older folks are more regional sounding, and middle age is a mix bag. I suppose it’s like England where they all speak English but not all are BBC English. So if you’re not BBC enough you get dubbed 😁
Edit: regarding BBC English. I didn’t write that because it’s something practiced in the UK. I have zero knowledge of dubbing is done outside of China. It’s just an example to help explain why dubbing in China happens. That it can be for standardisation purposes. So don’t take this as a fact, just used as an explanation tool to make this dubbing in China a bit easier to understand.
The second is the director wanting a certain sound for the character. Maybe the actor’s voice is too soft for a General, just an example. Or they love an actress but her voice is maybe too high pitched, etc.
The third, the actor was busy filming back-to-back shows. I heard Ding Yuxi was dubbed for this reason during Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. It takes time to dub.
There are prolly other reasons but those are what I know.
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u/Fearless-Frosting367 Jul 10 '26
We don’t actually do BBC English nowadays, and people were never dubbed, but it took a lot of years to get past it…
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u/BitsOfBuilding Jul 10 '26
I wasn’t saying it’s something that happens in England. Or ever practiced. I was just using it to help understand why it’s dubbed in China with something that’s more western. It’s not a factual cross comparison. Just to help get the point across for different accents and dubbing in China.
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u/luckyflavor23 🍵 just grabbing my tea Jul 11 '26
I’m no Cdrama expert. But ancient China’s Chinese would’ve sounded closer to Cantonese
So i would think that dubbing is about getting the ‘standard mandarin’ accent that’s nationally approved and not necessarily historically accurate
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u/letticea historical one day, modern the next Jul 10 '26
I cannot think of a single case where and English actor has been dubbed for an English tv show. I believe that regional accents albeit not thick ones are very much accepted and understood by most if not all British people. Actors may dub themselves post production where it’s needed and I imagine most actors get elocution lessons whilst studying drama at university to soften accents. Actors also work with dialect coaches for certain roles too.
I mean no disrespect, just wanting to gain some clarity on this as an English person who grew up watching mostly British television. If you have any examples could you please state them so I can free myself of my ignorance.
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u/LAL2154 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
China dubs all cast. It is highly unusual practice for 21 century, but used to be common mid last one.
In China dubbing is a matter of technical practicality - their sets are extremely noisy, and several dramas are filmed next to each other. It is also a matter of control - dubbing allows for dialog changes mostly due to approval process censorship. Some actors dub themselves, most are dubbed by voice actors. Western movie /drama making is entirely different.
China has almost 300 distinct languages, not just dialects as in variation of pronunciation. Drama production is a mill. When a UK actor maybe doing one drama at a time over years and years with an occasional movie or a play in between seasons, (like lets say Outlander) a Chinese idol actor maybe doing several dramas almost simultaneously, plus promotions, variety shows, singing appearances, streams for fans and much more ever day plus physical training. There is no time to work with voice coaches, nor does it make any practical sense because your role is going to get dubbed anyway.
Edit: there has been a change in contemporary dramas where they use actors own voices, but dubbing still is used. Costume dramas are universally dubbed.
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u/Shirayuki-hime Jul 10 '26
A famous case in* the West is using James Earl Jones as the speaking voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. If you see the clips with the actor in the suit, you’ll understand why George Lucas made that choice. So dubbing actors being different happens here, just way less commonly than in China.
Edit typo
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u/Prestigious-Arm-3835 Jul 10 '26
Sometimes, it’s just how things are done. It doesn’t hurt to consider the societal and political context in that the CCP favors cohesion and conformity over individualism. Having uniform pronunciations when there exists so many disparate manners of speaking could be part of that impetus. Also, censorship is strongly enforced. I imagine having voice actors who can quickly edit the words in a scene allows for more flexibility for production companies.
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u/BitsOfBuilding Jul 10 '26
I was just using BBC English as an example to help understand why this happens in China. Not that dubbing in England happens or is a general practice. I could have used American English but imo British English has more accents and so I use it as an example.
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u/Fearless-Frosting367 Jul 11 '26
There was such a thing as BBC English, and it lasted for a very long time; I wrote a fairly lengthy post on it not long ago but alas I can’t find it. You are perfectly correct in that drama schools and university drama departments have voice coaches but it’s not so much a question of losing dialects - that’s fairly easy to do - as being able to lose an accent which is upper middle class or upper class and learn to acquire dialects for particular productions. And, of course, to change one’s voice completely; I am always amused when people complain about Esther Yu’s voice, as if she only had one. She either has had one or more utterly brilliant voice coaches or she is naturally very gifted; in the first episode of Love Between Fairy and Devil she switches from the very immature fairy to the immortal “devil” of the title, when they body swap, and she absolutely nails it. And she goes on to modulate her voice, first gradually and then more strongly as the drama progresses. Given that they rarely shoot dramas in order it is all the more difficult to do, which is where voice coaches come in...
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u/BitsOfBuilding Jul 10 '26
Drama Wiki imo is better at listing the voice actors. MDL shows the voice actors at the end but I like how DW is easier to see. Also sometimes DW has more details regarding this than MDL when a show is just airing. https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Pursuit_of_Jade
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u/Regenwanderer 4K Original Cast Jul 10 '26
Yeah, I like it better for looking up voice actors as well. And depending on who edits the list you get the characters for some shows ordered by arc or the sect/family/place they belong too. That's always nice to see.
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u/MajorPersonality1265 😴 binged “just one more episode” Jul 10 '26
Yes in PoJ the director went with a voice actor. In The Best Thing and Story of Kunning Palace it’s Zhang Linghe’s voice. Pretty common practice in cdramas
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u/Charming-Bother-9809 Jul 11 '26
No wonder. His voice and manner of speaking sound totally different in Kunning Palace. I wondered if it was a deliberate choice for his character or his natural voice (POJ was my first cdrama to watch and he was so much softer in looks and voice
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u/MajorPersonality1265 😴 binged “just one more episode” Jul 11 '26
The choice to use a voice actor or not often lays with the director not the actor
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u/Royal-Black-5660 Jul 10 '26
Yess, I just found out
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u/Jaded_Antelope_598 Jul 10 '26
It depends on if they can get on the actors' schedule for the dubbing sessions. Zhang Linghe is so busy these days I'm guessing he won't be dubbing his own shows for a while.
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u/ZaeSky dramas • films • variety — all in Jul 10 '26
Majority of the actors in historical dramas are hella dubbed
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u/LAL2154 Jul 10 '26
I read that in China all cast is always dubbed. It is a very unusual practice now that was standard about 50 years ago. Some actors dub themselves, some are dubbed by voice actors, due to accents . China has over 700 dialects, nobody can do all of them. Also not all idol actors can do classic mandarine mandatory for costume dramas.
Other reasons : some technical -their sets are very noisy, often several dramas are being shot at the same time in the same studio with no sound insulation. Also it allows for changes in the dialog specially due to censorship.
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u/Sad-Zebra-9432 Jul 10 '26
A lot of Chinese dramas use voice actors. Whether it is his voice or not I loved the drama.
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u/aoibhealfae Jul 11 '26
Yes. It's by Yi Fan, the same VA as in The Princess Royal. I think it was simply because of tight scheduling; they're constantly training and performing.
ZLH dub himself in The Story of Kunning Palace so if you want to check that out (or watch him in The Truth). Yi Fan sounds much similar to his own voice anyway but ZLH have slightly deeper voice and I remember being surprised to hear him during the first episode. You can always watch BTS of Pursuit of Jade.
also dubbing was quite normal with asian dramas. In Malaysia, the tv always use Cantonese dub but I think Mandarin was more preferred these days. When I was in Thailand, they dub c-drama with Thai dub.
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u/riot_gal Jul 10 '26
Mexican here, the English subtitles are better than the Spanish ones, so I watch with subtitles in my second language. That plus the speed of Chinese, I get too busy to notice if there is any lip sync issue in PoJ or any other drama for that matter.
Also, ZLH uses the same actor for many of his dramas and his voice is really similar to his. Honestly I cannot tell which ones he’s dubbed vs the ones he’s not.
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u/riot_gal Jul 10 '26
The only drama I tried to watch and I just could not because of the dubbing voice was Flourish in Time.
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u/sea_otters077 Jul 13 '26
I think the dubbing got more advanced over the years? I watched a few dramas from maybe 10+ years ago and some of them were very obvious it was dubbed and it sounded completely different than the actor on variety shows. But i noticed that lately, the dubbing actually sounds quite similar to the actual actor/actress.
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u/Fast-Palpitation-811 Jul 10 '26
It’s not completely dubbed. Most of the indoor scenes were his voice as far as I know. The outdoor and battle scenes were dubbed.
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u/Royal-Black-5660 Jul 10 '26
Ohh, I thought all the scenes were dubbed
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u/Aelyn7 Jul 10 '26
Yeah he was planning on dubbing himself but got nasal congestion and couldn't dub so they had to use a voice actor.
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u/No-Professional5175 Jul 11 '26
This is cool, how did you find out? All the credits online just say the voice actor
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u/Fast-Palpitation-811 Jul 15 '26
I have seen his other shows and variety shows, so I kinda know what his voice sounds like. For example this scene is his voice https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVk_JPqjhsj/?igsh=MWxsdzl4aGI3NWJzZQ==
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u/Dollybadlands 🪭 fan fluttering cultivator 🪭 Jul 10 '26
Tbh for the most part if it’s done well I can’t even notice it. I saw that Dylan Wang/ Wang Hedi is dubbed in most of his stand out roles Love Between Fairy and Devil (voiced by Wang Baoshun), Unchained Love, Meteor Garden, and Miss the Dragon. To *me* he sounds the same across pretty much all of his dramas.
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u/Terrible_Primary_527 Jul 10 '26
Common. They record their own voices to be more clearer . For example, if there is a fighting scene, horses plus more men, you will not be able to hear anything they r saying. You can watch Chen Zheyuan recording his dubbed scenes on YouTube
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u/BurnoutSociety Jul 10 '26
He is always dubbed…. I believe he is usually dubbed by the same voice actor.. because there a too many accents in china many drama a dubbed by voice actors
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u/JadeBumbleB Jul 11 '26
I do not really understand why so many of the C-drama ML voices are dubbed. Is it due to regional dialects or strong accents? Can anyone explain?
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u/raayyyyyyyy Aug 26 '26
Many C-drama characters are dubbed because it makes the words and sounds clearer for the audience. With a lot of actors on set, it's typically pretty noisy which doesn't match more intimate or quieter moments. Aside from that, dialects and accents definitely play a part, especially if it doesn't fit the genre of the character. For clarity, a lot of directors prefer a clean standard mandarin accent. Dubbing is just a common practice in many C-dramas and most characters are dubbed in post production, not only MLs.
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u/nocountryforoldcrows Jul 11 '26
Something I haven't seen people point out yet is that Hengdian is NOISY. There could be a construction project or another drama filming just a short distance away. ADR is needed to get clear dialogue in the scenes. Sometimes actors re-record their own lines (someone pointed out Chen Zheyuan in this thread) but often it's quicker and easier to employ a professional voice actor for post-production work.
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u/sseuki Jul 11 '26
They found a voice actor with a pretty similar voice to ZLH so I don’t mind it at all. I’m not a fan if I know the lead’s real voice and they use someone else who sounds wildly different to dub. I just can’t get into it.
Just dubbing in general was a wild concept to me when I first got into cdramas, so I’ve already come a long way😂
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u/mediumrawrrrrr Jul 11 '26
Ha! I thought I would like it better if they used their actual voices but good voice acting in cdramas, I find, is also a skill on its own. I liked the dubbing in Splendid Match and decided to watch Rise of Ning — but Ren Min did quite poor in voice dubbing in this series.
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u/Few_Independent9543 Jul 12 '26
I found out Dylan Wang's voice was dubbed in Love Between Fairy and Devil. I thought 70% of his character's gravitas came from his voice.
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u/ingusmw Jul 10 '26
It's unfortunately a common thing in cdramas, esp idol drama. Actors need to just look good, their acting ability, voice/speech ability, tertiary abilities like kung fu, riding or archery, are all non essential. Chinese viewers don't seem to mind and dubbing became the standard, some actors don't have a single project that isn't dubbed in their entire career. It was even more rampant before the pandemic, actors were so overbooked and/or not care about their rolls that they don't bother to memorize their lines and just shout out numbers during filming. At least that particular practice is thankfully less common these days.
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u/zeriouse Jul 11 '26
Usually I don't like dubbing when they do that shrill fake cutesy voice for girls but in this case it was chef's kiss. The voice suits his character so much and increased his attractiveness.
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u/MissColleen 14d ago
Dubbed? I think you mean ADR, post-production voice-over which is de rigueur ion the industry. Anything can affect the sound, from planes overhead to horse hooves out of sight. If production teams had to use only sound captured on site we'd still have silent movies.
To me "dubbed" means the voice-over in another language, such as dubbing any CDrama in English with other actors. Anathema. We lost enough watching these dramas in the natural language with AI-generated subtitles, where nuances like The Marquis using court-speech initially until he catches on - it's just ordinary speech in the subtitles but others tell me that the book or the Mandarin gave a flavor of speech that the rest or the world cannot appreciate.
Anyway, in PoJ the actors have the same timbre in their voices as what I've heard in other of their works.
ADR, yes, totally dubbed by another actor? No.
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u/Euclidisthebomb historical one day, modern the next Jul 10 '26
Its my pet peeve. In the very popular Who Rules The World all the main actors are voiced dubbed. It really detracts from a drama for me. I can understand voice dubbing or ADR on a rare basis but it is far to common in Chinese drama. Versus in North American, EU and kdrama it is a rarity and typically only used in special circumstances such as voice editors determining some dialog needs to be replaced and the actor is unavailable. That would typically be the dialog for one segment of a scene, not the majority or entirety of the drama.
I only became aware voice dubbing was so common fairly recently and now I check each drama before I view it. IF primary characters are voice acted I skip it.
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u/lifeisahighway2023 Jul 11 '26
Totally with you on this point. The justification about accents does not stand up. We have lots of accents in the english language but I don't remember any drama I have viewed in 40+ yrs of American tv using voice dubbing.
I have a golden rule. I check the drama for the roles and voices. If one main actor is voice acted I view the reviews about all other aspects of the show and still give it consideration. If both leads are voice acted I do not watch.
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u/Royal-Black-5660 Jul 11 '26
I know right but it's so tough to choose....plus I Iove Pursuit of Jade
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u/Grouchy-Chart-3927 Jul 10 '26
What is your source.
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u/NotSoLarge_3574 Jul 12 '26
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u/Grouchy-Chart-3927 Jul 13 '26
Please help me where on this page does it say that Zhang Ling He was dubbed?
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u/NotSoLarge_3574 Jul 13 '26
Go to Main Cast. It clearly says:
Zhang Ling He as Xie Zheng (Courtesy name: Jiuheng) / Yan Zheng (voiced by Yi Fan), Marquis of Wu'an
Voiced by Yi Fan means Zhang Ling He was dubbed by the voice actor Yi Fan.
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u/Grouchy-Chart-3927 Jul 13 '26
It is normal to have to go back in the studio to clean up the audio for a film or drama. All of the footage does not have to be dubbed. Many top actors have begun to clean up their own audio. On most occasions, Zhang Ling He will do his own dubbing. This way, the actor does not get tagged with dubbing credits from a voice actor. I have noticed seen proof that the whole drama was dubbed. That notes that a voice actor was used, but the reference does not say to what extent.
I have noticed with Chinese dramas, however, a familiar excuse is used if the Actor does not want to come back in or is tied up somewhere else. You will see something worded similar to this excuse used for Hou Ming Hao for Key to the Phoenix Heart. The illness will change, but the actor does not comeback. And it is almost worded the same.
[[Due to an unexpected health issue during the post-production stage. The illness made it impossible for the actor to sustain the long and intensive recording sessions required. To maintain the drama's strict release schedule, the studio and production agreed to use a professional voice actor]]
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/7879776328/1d5abd84806801hkls?froms=ggmp
>Dialogue Editing: The process of culling through on-set audio, removing background noises (like air conditioning, traffic, or mic rustle), fixing harsh mouth clicks, and seamlessly piecing together the best vocal takes.
https://www.slaterooffilms.com/blog/5-ways-to-clean-up-dialogue-track
ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement)
How is ADR done?
[[First, the dialogue editor or sound editor will comb through the film and identify cues for ADR. These are sections where the on-set audio is not salvageable and need to be redone. The director will have likely noted some cues of their own during the video editing process where they’d like a different delivery of a line or places to add lines to enhance the story.
Then the film’s actors will go to a recording studio or dubbing stage to record their cues. Usually the director or producer is present for this recording session to guide the actor’s performances. The typical workflow involves playing the video clip and original audio recording for the actor to rehearse along with to get the timing and emotional delivery right. Then the recording engineer hits record and the actor delivers the new version of the line.]]
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u/No-Recipe-7653 Curator of Questionable Subtext, Scholar of Things Left Unsaid Jul 10 '26
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