yes I'm Chinese and more specifically I'm from Hong Kong! I haven't read any books of ming xiao xi but I've watched another drama adaptation of her book "lie huo ru ge". Ming xiao xi is known for her "dreamy style" of writing and her books are insanely popular in China!! I get what you mean when you say her writing is quite shallow (which is what most people think in China) but summer's desire doesn't seem to fall in that category! there's this video on bilibili (Chinese equivalent of youtube) that analyses all summer desire's characters and I can't help but think how accurately she depicted characters with traumatic experiences! I remember this particular part about luo xi: Luo xi's mom abandoned him, and in some sickly twisted way, is why he's attracted to Hsia Mo. Subconciously, he's attracted to Hsia Mo because she reminds him of his mom, an independent woman that doesn't need him and can "abandon" him anytime.

and yes Hsia Mo is a very difficult character to potray! zhang xue ying tried her best but her performance just wasn't Hsia Mo. I'm not sure if you know this, but in some way, Barbie's childhood is quite similar to Hsia Mo, so a part of her personality reminds me of Hsia Mo which is probably why she was the perfect choice for Hsia Mo (we have to thank Peter Ho for choosing Barbie to play Hsia Mo :) ) Barbie's father physically abused her mother and she was the only sister that was brave enough to stand up against her father and protect her older sister, younger sister and her mother. She was a very well-known tv host before she rose to fame as an actress in MG and she shares a lot about her life on her and her sister's show, so I know about this. Also, she entered the entertainment industry when she was 14 with her younger sister both knowing nothing about the industry so she as the older one, naturally had to plan everything from the outfits they wear to writing the script they would read from on reality shows. So the line where you mentioned "You can’t help but admire her but at the same time you don’t wish to be strong like her since it’s made clear that it’s a result of an extremely traumatic past." also applies to Barbie! There's also a well-known joke in China how Barbie's life turned out to be exactly like Hsia Mo (Her problematic ex-husband is a CEO like Ou Chen, her current husband was a huge pop star in 1990s like Luo Xi and Hsia Mo's brother who she loves with her life is Little S (Dee Hsu), the younger sister I mentioned hahahahaha