Feng Zhiwei (凤知微) – Strong Female Lead?

It seems that the female lead Feng Zhiwei from Rise of Phoenixes has earned a considerable amount of support from the audience, at least for the first 2/3 of the drama. It is true that Feng Zhiwei’s personality, her determination to live independently, to help others and pursue her beliefs set her apart from the trend of female characters we have lately.

Let’s take a close look at some basic aspects of her character with ten questions that cover flaws, consistency, development, etc. To each question, the answer would be either Yes (1 point), No (0 point), or Kind of (0.5 point)..

*Our analysis is based strictly on the character Feng Zhiwei as seen in the drama Rise of Phoenixes, not her counterpart in the novel.

WARNING: this analysis 1) contains spoilers 2) is humor-free

1. Does she have a story to tell besides romance? Yes (+1)

Compared to Ning Yi, Feng Zhiwei has less choices in terms of her life. But that does not mean she doesn’t have a life beside romance.

Zhiwei’s “life” starts the moment her mother and brother are captured by the Crown Prince which leads to Ning Yi eventually having to help save their lives. Consequently, Zhiwei’s real identity is made known to a number of people. From that incident on, Zhiwei is unable to return to her own home and has to choose either to elope to a faraway land or establish a new identity to avoid her pursuers.

Feng Zhiwei’s ultimate decision is to come to Xin Ziyan’s school, educate herself, collect information for Ning Yi while she’s at it, and hopefully make a career for herself so that she would not have to depend on other people.

1/10

2. Does she drive the plot forward with her actions? Yes (+1)

Several things in this drama happen to Feng Zhiwei that are out of her hands considering how her identity is a matter of interest to a lot of people. However, she takes control of her own destiny and makes decisions without which the plot would have been a lot different.

Zhiwei offering her help to the 5th Prince results from her curious nature and her desire to aid Zhu Yin and Ning Yi.

Upon having to choose between going into hiding and establishing a career in the court, being a righteous and independent woman who doesn’t like to be indebted to anyone, Feng Zhiwei picks the latter.

Upon her promotion, Feng Zhiwei decides to pledge her loyalty to the King and refuses to participate in any schemes unless it involves saving someone’s life or preventing a disaster. On many occasions, instead of staying put, she makes the decision to either help or stand up for Ning Yi – when Ning Sheng uses poison on Ning Yi to question his origin, for example.

Etc.

2/10

3. Does she take action to accomplish her goals? Yes (+1)

Absolutely. No elaboration needed. Whatever Feng Zhiwei wants to do, she jumps right in and not even her mother’s threats of disowning her can stop her.

Her list of goals includes: living independently, assisting the King in keeping the court in harmony, (on occasions) keeping Ning Yi out of trouble, etc.

Did we just elaborate? Oh well…

3/10

4. Does she have an interest? No (+0)

In the drama, we can see that Feng Zhiwei reads a lot. However, whether this is an interest or just something she’s good at is unknown. This little habit proves very useful whenever the need to get out of a difficult situation arises. Furthermore, Zhiwei’s reading habit is seen less as the drama proceeds. She’s never seen to be drawn to books/reading enough for us to recognize this as an “interest”.

3/10

5. Does she act in accordance with her beliefs? Yes (+1)

Kindhearted, fair, and sassy, Feng Zhiwei is always prepared to help those who are bullied and doesn’t hesitate to guide other people onto the right path if she sees the need.

She despises it when the princes plot and scheme to bring each other down, and Ning Yi is not an exception to her disapproval for a while.

She believes in second chances and opens her heart to anyone who’s willing to listen, even if they might oppose her in the beginning – Hua Qiong, the old stableman, Liu Meiduo, etc.

4/10

6. Does she develop throughout the story? No (+0)

The biggest occurrence in Feng Zhiwei’s life is perhaps the death of her mother and brother. This event changes her significantly and is the turning point of the drama. After these two deaths, we no longer see optimism and the strong will to live in her anymore, what we see instead is a relatively reckless Feng Zhiwei who STILL employs her intelligence to work and help others, but in a way that tells us she no longer treasures her life.

This, of course, leads to a complication: did these changes happen because of the tragedies Feng Zhiwei had to go through or are they the result of careless writing?

The drama is very UNCLEAR on this. Based on the plot from the point where Zhangsun Hong appears, it’s hard to tell whether Feng Zhiwei is accepting of the situation and therefore not making an effort to expose Zhangsun Hong’s scheme, is too reluctant to contradict the only family she has left, or is it all because the writers wanted to create a tragedy so much that they did it at the expense of Zhiwei’s character?

Is her heart full of hatred after her mother and Feng Hao’s deaths that she puts all the blame on Ning Yi and his father? Because for someone as profound and intelligent as she is, Feng Zhiwei should be able to tell that Zhangsun Hong and the Bloody Pagoda are not free of sins. They probably have more blood on their hands than the current King. Does Feng Zhiwei suddenly associate Ning Yi with all the sorrow in her life because she is hopeless at this point or simply because the drama wanted her to? Our conclusion is: it could be either.

So. It might be unfair to say that Feng Zhiwei has no development, but we’ll have to conclude so because of this lack of clarity in later episodes.

4/10

7. Does she have a flaw? Yes (+1)

Feng Zhiwei is known to be very naive. She judges people by simple standards and is not as adept as Ning Yi in this department; hence, their constant quarrels about what should and should not be done. Feng Zhiwei originally fails to understand that not all people can be touched by a good heart. Her kindness may work on Hua Qiong, the Bloody Pagoda’s stableman, But not necessarily on the King or Princess Shaoning. Etc. This flaw is something that she eventually grows out of and the element that shapes (some of) the developments in her personality.

Feng Zhiwei is also impulsive and reckless on occasions. She gulps down contaminated water in an effort to hurry the process of curing Ning Yi during their mission at Minhai. She agrees to help Shaoning with her plan to avenge the Crown Prince, wanting to keep the Shaoning under control yet not grasping the situation in its entirety.

5/10

8. Does she have meaningful relationships with other characters besides her love interest? Yes (+1)

Among the many people in her life, Feng Zhiwei maintains a close relationship with Qiu Mingying, her adopted mother. Even though she rarely listens to Qiu Mingying (thank heavens…), they care a lot about each other and is always willing to risk their lives for the other.

The most impactful male influence on Feng Zhiwei’s character is perhaps from the King. The time they spend in the court together strengthens their relationship. Through the King, Feng Zhiwei is able to understand the burden upon the head that wears the crown. The King, on the other hand, ultimately develops a fatherly affection toward Feng Zhiwei, however he denies it, even if it’s only in a minuscule amount. The unfortunate thing is just that, like all of his children, Feng Zhiwei is viewed by him as a stone on his chess board that he is willing to eliminate if needed.

6/10

9. Is her character consistent? Kind of (+0.5)

Pretty much. Except… (here we go again…) toward the end.

Feng Zhiwei is someone who treasures the present instead of dwelling on the past. That is the person she is throughout. This is also the conception that guides her through her journey, makes her fight for life, and governs her judgement. Why would she decide to kill herself because she suddenly believes there is too much death and sadness between her and Ning Yi? Shouldn’t that be THE REASON for her to live on?

Feng Zhiwei is also never vague where it concerns her moral grounds, what makes her tolerate her biological brother’s wrongdoings despite never having spent any time with the guy before?

In addition, Feng Zhiwei has always judge people by what they are, by what they do in the time they spend with her, not by their blood or status. The son of the old stableman, Ningyi, Gu Nanyi, Helian Zheng, Zhuyin – all of these people are cared for and loved by Feng Zhiwei because she got to know them, and gradually established trust towards them. Why does she suddenly treasure the guy who claims to be her brother so much that she can’t see through his manipulation even though it’s right in front of her face? Why is his being her “only family left” so important to Feng Zhiwei? Isn’t Gu Nanyi her family? Aren’t the people at the University – Yao Yangyu, Yan Huaishi, etc – more her family than this guy whom she barely knows?

As consistent as Feng Zhiwei is for the most part, the last episodes did a number of damage on her character. We can only give her 0.5 point.

6.5/10

10. Can you define her character by her personality? Yes (+1)

Feng Zhiwei is an intelligent young woman who yearns for a life of freedom. She sees goodness in people and has ways of bringing out that goodness with her own.

SO HOW WELL-WRITTEN IS FENG ZHIWEI?

7.5/10

BOTTOM LINE

The few last episodes of Rise of Phoenixes are, in all honesty, baffling with a lot of unresolved plots. Feng Zhiwei’s character suffered a great deal from this rushed writing. Other than that, we’ll say she’s  moderately well written and is a main character worth rooting for.

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