Shining For One Thing (一闪一闪亮星星)

Synopsis

Lin Bei Xing’s life is not going well. She is stuck in a job she dislikes, and her fiancé wants to cancel their wedding. In a desperate attempt to salvage the situation, Lin Bei Xing retrieves her high school uniform and old Nokia phone for the wedding photos. While deleting old messages from the Nokia phone, something extraordinary happens—she finds herself transported back to her youth. Determined to make positive changes in her past, Lin Bei Xing soon discovers that every time she completes her college entrance exam, she is mysteriously returned to the present. This peculiar phenomenon seems to be connected to a high school classmate named Zhang Wan Sen.

Shining For One Thing Soundtrack 

Watch Shining For One Thing if you like:

• time fantasy stories – parallel timelines and time travel with a hint of mystery
• short length dramas – good pacing, doesn’t have many drag moments, and solid plot
• unrequited love stories – male lead has an undying love for our female lead

Avoid Shining For One Thing if you dislike:  

• open ending – I screamed, you’ll probably scream
• angst or tear jerker storyline – not your typical lighthearted youth romance story
• childhood connection between leads – several connection through their youth

Final Review: Shining For One Thing (一闪一闪亮星星)

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Storyline & Characters

The story revolves around Lin Bei Xing (Zhang Jia Ning), who has some regrets in after her break up with Zhan Yu (Caesar Wu).

While deleting messages from her old phone, she discovers that she can travel back in time. Lin Bei Xing attempts to change her past but realizes that each time jump ends with Zhang Wan Sen’s accident. After deleting an older message, she finds herself stuck with more time and decides to stay by Zhang Wan Sen’s side to keep him safe until after their college entrance exam.

This storyline may not be new to avid readers of web novels or drama enthusiasts. However, what sets “Shining For One Thing” apart is its tightly woven plot that combines the trope of time travel with the mystery surrounding Zhang Wan Sen’s tragedy. The transitions between the past and the present are seamless and easy to follow. The story is packed with elements such as new friendships, budding romance, uncovering Zhang Wan Sen’s past, and rediscovering one’s own path. Everything is logically connected in this time fantasy drama.

As a fan of time fantasy dramas and familiar with the works of Zhang Jia Ning and Qu Chu Xiao, I appreciate that the acting feels natural and not forced, despite the actors and actresses portraying characters younger than their actual age. This is a common challenge when older actors or actresses play younger roles.

Zhang Wan Sen (Qu Chu Xiao) is a top student who is intelligent, quiet, and reserved. He has a friendly and helpful nature when he believes someone deserves it, like Mai Zi. While he upholds a strong sense of right and wrong, he is willing to bend the rules to assist Lin Bei Xing, highlighting her importance to him. Zhang Wan Sen answers with numerous “mm,” “oh,” nodding or shaking head gestures. Despite his reserved nature, Zhang Wan Sen’s love for Lin Bei Xing is evident.

 “Zhang Wan Sen. If there was a chance to start your life all over again, would you accept it?”

In episode two, there is an interesting line where Zhang Wan Sen shakes his head “no” when asked if he would accept the chance to start his life over again. Despite the various timelines, Zhang Wan Sen will never regret falling in love with Lin Bei Xing. Whether or not he receives Bei Xing’s love, he will always choose to walk behind her, being her shadow, her umbrella, and her guardian, providing her with the world.

Lin Bei Xing is an emotionally-driven individual with an all-or-nothing mindset. Once she sets her mind on something, she will do everything in her power to achieve it. This determination allowed her to pursue Zhan Yu for years until he agreed to date her. With the same tenacity, she strives to change her future and protect Zhang Wan Sen. She works hard to move into his class and studies to gain admission to the same university as him.

Gao Ge (Jinna Fu) is the daughter of the dean and goes through a rebellious phase with Mai Zi (Jiang Yun Lin), a troublemaker involved with a local gang. Gao Ge, neglected by her father, seeks attention by getting into trouble. Despite being restricted by her father’s expectations, she finds solace in painting. Through her friendship with Yang Chao Yang (Luo Ming Jie), a student aspiring to become a crosstalk host, Gao Ge gains the courage to pursue her passion.

Yang Chao Yang is a character with whom Lin Bei Xing would unlikely have become friends if not for the betrayal by Han Teng Teng (Xu Zi Yin).

Although perceived as silly, Yang Chao Yang demonstrates true friendship to Lin Bei Xing as they share their burdens together.

Mai Zi initially appears as a potential antagonist but later becomes a character whom many root for. Despite his association with troublemakers, Mai Zi demonstrates that he has more to offer. His unrequited love for Gao Ge reveals his good side. While he complies with her requests and allows himself to be used, Mai Zi maintains self-respect. He takes responsibility for his actions and does not delve too deeply into darkness. This enables him to develop close friendships with Zhang Wan Sen and, eventually, Lin Bei Xing.

Themes & Symbolisms

Unrequited Love

Chinese dramas love to have unrequited love in their stories, and I’m all here for it! There are four unrequited love lines in this drama, depending on the timeline you look at. 

1. Zhang Wan Sen’s love for Lin Bei Xing is portrayed as unwavering and unrequited throughout the story. In every timeline, Zhang Wan Sen is already in love with her and remains committed to pursuing her. He is willing to sacrifice his dreams, safety, and time to protect and be with Lin Bei Xing. Although the childhood connections between them, such as their encounters at the zoo and Zhang Wan Sen saving Bei Xing in middle school, may seem cliché, it is difficult not to feel happy and root for Zhang Wan Sen.
2. Lin Bei Xing, who blindly followed Zhan Yu during their youth, regrets chasing him. Her drive to change her past stems from this regret. For a significant part of her youth, Lin Bei Xing’s love for Zhan Yu remained unrequited until he was finally willing to be with her. However, it takes her current situation to realize her true worth in Zhan Yu’s life. Lin Bei Xing is determined to change her past to improve herself and discover a world beyond her limited perspective.
3. Mai Zi’s attempts to impress Gao Ge highlight another unrequited love storyline. Before Mai Zi sees through Gao Ge’s manipulative plans, he goes to great lengths to prove himself superior to Zhang Wan Sen and become Gao Ge’s puppet to defy her father. With the guidance of Zhang Wan Sen and Lin Bei Xing, Mai Zi ultimately finds his own path and strives for a better future.
4. Han Teng Teng harbors a secret yearning for Zhan Yu from the sidelines. Despite appearing to support Lin Bei Xing, Teng Teng’s true intentions lead Bei Xing to act in ways that are obnoxious and contrary to what Zhan Yu may like. While she may have gained Zhan Yu’s attention, their relationship doesn’t appear to be a happy one. Han Teng Teng’s unrequited love for Zhan Yu contributes to her role as the female antagonist in the story.
5. Zhan Yu, upon noticing Lin Bei Xing’s shift in affections towards Zhang Wan Sen, decides to chase after her. This unrequited love line serves as Zhan Yu’s way of making it up to Lin Bei Xing in the original timeline, where their roles were reversed.

Time Travel: time loops, Morbius strip, butterfly effect, grandfather clause, regrets, mistakes

To understand the time travel concept in the drama, it’s important to recognize the different types of time travel and time loops depicted. When entering a time loop, also known as a Morbius strip, one has the ability to alter the course of events through the butterfly effect or the grandfather clause. However, each time loop and story may have its own variations of rules. In general, changing a single event in the past that is believed to cause another event can modify the timeline, preventing those events from occurring. This allows for the possibility of changing the future when trapped in a time loop. On the other hand, if one enters a parallel timeline and makes changes there, the alterations only affect that specific timeline. One aspect that often confuses viewers of time fantasy dramas is distinguishing between a time loop and parallel lives, which have their own set of rules established by the writers.

In “Shining For One Thing,” Lin Bei Xing enters parallel timelines of her past, meaning that she cannot change her future regardless of what she alters in her past. This understanding is hinted at in episode one when the television channel discusses space and time travel.

“In the general theory of relativity, it’s almost impossible to travel back to the past. However, by solving the relativistic equations, we found another solution. If we depart from a closed-loop structure similar to a wormhole today, we can go back to yesterday or even to the distant past.” 

However, Lin Bei Xing walks away before receiving crucial information on time travel, as her brother Lin Da Hai continues to explain. Therefore, Bei Xing misses the pivotal details about time travel.

“But it’s unlikely for humans to open the wormhole. Most travelers who claimed to have gone back to the past didn’t enter the closed-loop structure of the wormhole. Instead, they entered the crack of a parallel universe. The cracking of parallel universes takes place in every time and space without affecting or changing each other.” 

With the belief that she can time travel, Lin Bei Xing continuously attempts to change her past to create a better future without Zhan Yu. However, after several failed attempts, she watches the documentary again and realizes that she hasn’t actually traveled to the past but rather “to a new time and space.” This realization dawns on Bei Xing as she desperately tries to use the butterfly effect to shape a better life without Zhan Yu, especially after experiencing the initial loss of Zhang Wan Sen, forgetting that it doesn’t alter Zhang Wan Sen’s fate in her original world.

How does Lin Bei Xing time travel? Lin Bei Xing uses her old Nokia phone as a device for time travel. By deleting certain messages, she is able to travel back to her senior year of high school. It was initially believed that time travel occurred through deleting all her old messages, but it turns out that only specific messages allow her to time travel while others don’t. Viewers later discover that only the messages sent while Zhang Wan Sen made a wish have the power to transport her back in time. This approach to time travel was well thought out, considering the potential complexities and confusion often associated with time travel plotlines.

Did Zhang Wan Sen really die? There are theories suggesting that Zhang Wan Sen didn’t die in most of the timelines, particularly in the original timeline. In the parallel lives that Bei Xing experienced, such as the confession in the rain in episode 18, seeing Zhang Wan Sen’s draft text in episode 18, and bidding him farewell in episode 23, it is implied that he didn’t die in those particular lifetimes. In the original timeline, none of the individuals close to Zhang Wan Sen, including Gao Ge and Mai Zi, knew the details of what happened to him ten years ago. Zhang Wan Sen vanished without any news, giving hope for his survival. Furthermore, there is anticipation for more revelations in the upcoming movie for “Shining For One Thing.”

What was the use of time travelling? Time travel in the drama served the typical function of allowing characters to rectify past regrets and mistakes. It explored familiar themes that are often seen in such shows but executed them effectively:

• Positive change doesn’t guarantee positive outcomes: In each parallel life that Lin Bei Xing entered, she had the opportunity to alter certain events, but regardless of her efforts, the outcomes remained the same.
• Mistakes serve as valuable lessons: After each timeline, Lin Bei Xing gained new insights and learned from her past mistakes. She realized that her love for Zhan Yu wasn’t as strong as she initially believed and forgave Han Teng Teng for her pretense to win Zhan Yu’s affection.
• Embracing fate and destiny: The drama emphasized the idea that certain events were destined to occur in each timeline, regardless of any alterations Lin Bei Xing made. Gao Ge still pursued her passion as an artist, Yang Chao Yang became a cross-talk host, Mai Zi’s good-hearted nature remained constant, and Zhang Wan Sen always protected Lin Bei Xing.

J.M. Barrie “If it’s meant to be, it will be.” These themes highlight the underlying message that some things in life are meant to unfold as they should, regardless of attempts to change them.

Spacetime: galaxy, moon, stars

Example 1: Giving out hope in another spacetime

The drama “Shining For One Thing” features various references to space and stars. As mentioned earlier, the drama begins with a documentary on space and timelines. In episode 16, Lin Bei Xing has a conversation with the bookstore owner, who enlightens her about the significance of the bookstore called Sea of Spacetime.

The bookstore owner explains, “Look, stars in the sky exist and die, but spacetime is everlasting because we pursue light and explore new territories. So, wherever there is light, there is spacetime and lives.”

This conversation instills a sense of hope in Lin Bei Xing. While acknowledging the inevitability of death, the bookstore owner suggests that as long as we keep the spirit of a person alive, they will always exist out there in some form.

Example 2: The distance of stars

In a later scene in episode 16, Lin Bei Xing visits a lighthouse to observe the night sky using a telescope.

Lin Bei Xing: “It’s a bit darker than I expected. It’s not as bright.” Worker: “Actually, whether it’s the Milky Way Galaxy or other galaxies, they are all formed by the convergence of countless stars, cosmic dust, gas, and even dark matter. However, each of them follows its own trajectory and is distant from one another. That’s why they may not appear as bright and shiny as we imagine.”

As Lin Bei Xing steps outside, she accidentally drops her Nokia phone, causing it to shatter into pieces. This scene conveys a sense of hopelessness, in stark contrast to her earlier conversation with the bookstore owner. Lin Bei Xing begins to feel that her ability to return to the past and change Zhang Wan Sen’s future is fading away. It becomes apparent in this moment that even if something seems within reach, if it is not meant to be, it may remain unattainable.

Example 3: Same moon, different timelines

In episode 14, while accompanying a drunken Lin Bei Xing back home (@26:53), Zhang Wan Sen is interrupted by Bei Xing in the middle of the road to admire the moon. A profound sadness is evident in Bei Xing’s eyes as she dreads moving forward, knowing that she cannot change the future.

Bei Xing: “Do you see the moon? Do you know the theory of relativity? We stand in the same place. As long as we look up, we can see the same moon… the same moon.”

In a later scene in episode 23 (@5:37), Lin Bei Xing gazes at the moon once again. However, this time she is with Yang Chao Yang instead of Zhang Wan Sen. Despite seeing the same moon as Zhang Wan Sen, Bei Xing realizes that she is not happy. She cannot ensure Zhang Wan Sen’s safety, nor can she be with him.

Example 4: My guiding star

As Lin Bei Xing follows Zhang Wan Sen on the beach, her gaze is filled with yearning as she watches him from behind. For the first time, Zhang Wan Sen is no longer by her side. Bei Xing can see him, but he keeps his distance and will soon depart.

“I didn’t know that the Big Dipper had always been there.” 

Zhang Wan Sen served as Bei Xing’s guiding light, always leading her to safety like the Big Dipper in the night sky. His presence illuminated her path and provided her with a sense of security. When she couldn’t find the same brightness he radiated among the stars, Bei Xing became afraid that she had lost that connection between them. However, as the bookstore owner mentioned, as long as there is a glimmer of light, there will always be hope. Therefore, Bei Xing decided to embrace those words and use them as motivation to live without him in the original timeline. She continued to believe that Zhang Wan Sen could be out there, as no one could truly extinguish the bond they shared.

Ocean: sea, fish

There was a strong connection and frequent mention of the sea, space, and stars throughout the drama. In episode 1, the enigmatic Old Man referred to Jiang Shang, a strategist from the Shang Dynasty, known for his legendary fishing story. Jiang Shang believed that the fish would come to him when the time was right, and he patiently fished for years without catching anything. The Old Man wanted to convey to Lin Bei Xing that Zhan Yu was not meant to be hers from the beginning. This reinforces the recurring theme that if something is meant to happen, it will happen.

Old man: Those who want to get caught will get caught. Taigong fished in the Yin River for 56 years, but he never caught a fish. 

The Old Man hinted to Lin Bei Xing that there are plenty of fish in the sea. Even if she didn’t catch Zhan Yu, there are other potential partners out there who would willingly be caught by her. However, he compared Lin Bei Xing to a fish swimming along with the current, unaware of the vastness of the sea beyond. He questioned why she would limit herself to a “small bucket” when there is a whole world waiting for her.

Old man: Fishes swim along the waves, but they don't know that the sea is behind them. How can the bucket be their whole world? 
Lin Bei Xing: Where is the whole world? 
Old man: Here is a fishing rod for you. When you're free, go fishing, go to the sea and enjoy the wind. The world is behind you. It's in your past.  

He implied that her true world lies in her past experiences. Interestingly, every time Lin Bei Xing goes back to her past, it is Zhang Wan Sen who appears behind her, symbolizing the significant role he plays in her life.

After several unsuccessful attempts, in episode 3, the Old Man encourages Lin Bei Xing to persevere. At that point, she had not yet discovered the true purpose of her time travel or the significance of Zhang Wan Sen in her life. The Old Man advises Lin Bei Xing to continue fishing because the art of fishing is closely tied to patience and observation. In order to understand why she can time travel, Lin Bei Xing must be patient and attentive to her surroundings, and eventually, the answers will reveal themselves to her.

Old man: True and false. Real and fake. Those are the profound features of this world. What you’ve been through is just a fragment of your past and future. It will always come to you at the right time. Don’t worry, go fishing more and it’ll be fine. 

Ending of One’s Youth: growing up, finding oneself, hopes and dreams

I felt that one theme that could have been explored further in Shining For One Thing was the different stages of Lin Bei Xing’s youth. We witnessed her as an 18-year-old entering adulthood and also as a woman in her late 20s, approaching her 30s, which is often seen as the end of youth for women. Lin Bei Xing was dissatisfied with her love life and career at both stages. In episode one, she expressed her desire to start her life over again if she wanted to have a life of her own.

“If I still want to have my own life, do I have to start my life all over again?” 

With this determination, Lin Bei Xing had the opportunity to go back and correct her mistakes from when she was 18 years old. However, the majority of the show focused on her love story with Zhang Wan Sen and the mystery surrounding his past. We saw Bei Xing struggling to find her true passion among the choices presented by Zhang Wan Sen, Gao Ge, and Yang Chao Yang. Even Mai Zi was able to figure out his desire to become a soldier because he enjoyed protecting others. Despite Bei Xing’s conversations with Gaizi and undergoing various changes, she still struggled to determine what she truly wanted.

Conclusion

My final rating for Shining For One Thing would be 3.7/5. While I found the story itself to be a 4/5, the overall execution and the excessive focus on certain aspects, such as the love story and unrequited love, didn’t resonate with me as much. I felt that the level of unrequited love displayed by Zhang Wan Sen bordered on stalking, and I questioned whether it was necessary for him to hide the truth from Lin Bei Xing in order to protect her. Was it love, or simply a child’s appreciation for someone who showed him kindness and hope?

I believe there were other compelling elements that could have been explored further. I would have preferred to see more of Lin Bei Xing’s character growth, along with the mystery, with romance serving as a complementary element. Throughout the show, Bei Xing’s personal growth remained stagnant. She quickly identified her enemies and flaws due to her knowledge of her original life, allowing her to weed them out once she entered the parallel world. While Bei Xing formed close bonds with Yang Chao Yang and Zhang Wan Sen, the impact of her new friendships on her life was not highlighted.

Another example is Lin Bei Xing’s journey of letting go of Zhan Yu. Despite her heartbreak, she still treated Zhan Yu with decency because he was her first love, holding a special place in her past. However, as she observed Zhan Yu’s efforts to win her back and fulfill her desires in the original timeline, Bei Xing realized that her love for Zhan Yu was not as strong as she had believed. She compared her young love for Zhan Yu to Zhang Wan Sen’s unwavering love for her. Zhang Wan Sen loved Bei Xing for who she was, flaws and all, whereas Zhan Yu was unable to fully accept and appreciate her. Consequently, it was Bei Xing who constantly had to sacrifice for Zhan Yu.

“I used to like you very much, just like you are now. I like you so much that I forgot myself. But I later found out that only when you find yourself can others like you.”

Instead of delving into the emotional baggage and process of letting go after more than 10 years of love, the drama primarily focused on Zhan Yu’s regret for not winning Bei Xing. Was Zhan Yu’s regret intended to redeem his character in the eyes of the audience?

Despite my criticisms, I still consider Shining For One Thing to be one of my favorite watches of 2022 and a worthwhile drama. I would recommend checking out this Chinese drama that captivated audiences with its unexpected charm, even within a familiar storyline. I am eagerly anticipating the movie and hope to see it soon. If you have seen Shining For One Thing, I would love to hear your thoughts and rating. Was it worth exploring the world between Zhang Wan Sen and Lin Bei Xing?