LayarHijau – The mainland Chinese drama Love’s Ambition, starring Zhao Lusi and William Chan, has suddenly become the talk of the town. Since its premiere, the series has quickly risen in popularity, topping international streaming charts and trending in Thailand and Vietnam. However, reports have now surfaced that Vietnamese authorities have banned the show entirely.
In the drama, Zhao Lusi plays a cunning and ambitious woman who marries a wealthy heir, portrayed by William Chan. At first, she believes she has no choice but to marry him for the sake of her true love, only to realize later that their marriage is a relationship built on mutual exploitation. Love’s Ambition marks a major turning point in Zhao Lusi’s career — it’s her first time playing a manipulative “anti-heroine” instead of her usual sweet and innocent roles. Her intense emotional performance, especially in several screaming scenes, has been widely praised by viewers.
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Despite its success, the drama was soon caught in geopolitical controversy. Vietnam’s authorities claimed that episode 16 included a scene featuring a map with the so-called “Nine-Dash Line” — a territorial claim used by China over the South China Sea. The depiction was deemed to violate Vietnam’s sovereignty and was ruled in breach of Article 9 of the local Film Law, HK.on.cc reported.
Even though episode 16 had not yet been released online in Vietnam, the Film Bureau under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism acted swiftly. Within just one day of discovering the issue, Love’s Ambition was removed from all local streaming platforms.
For context, the “Nine-Dash Line” is a dotted demarcation line used by China to mark its claimed territory in the South China Sea — a claim rejected by neighboring countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Brunei. Vietnam has long prohibited any form of content displaying or referencing the disputed line.
As a result, Love’s Ambition has lost access to the Vietnamese market, even as it continues to perform strongly across other parts of Southeast Asia. For Zhao Lusi — who has described the project as her “comeback drama” — the ban came as an unexpected setback in the middle of what had been a major success story alongside William Chan.
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