GOOD BYE MY PRINCESS / 东宫 [2019][TV][Cdrama] : First Impression

... since this series has no purpose, it makes it interesting where it is going and how it ends and if it indeed has a point.

SOME INFO

Here

CHINESE TITLE

Literally, Eastern Palace which evokes plenty of scheming and all so why not call it Eastern Palace or the Deception And Betrayal Of The Eastern Palace or China's favourite English title, The Story of Eastern Palace or The Legend of Eastern palace?

I just watched through 10 very emotionally draining episodes, some I skipped some I watched scratching my head, wondering how our hero can expect our heroine to survive on only his true love when he basically ruined her entire life thrice over (maternal grandpa is one, dad and mom is second and her own self third). I read the synopsis and can't figure out what the heck is this series about. I was hoping it isn't that sort of torturous love like Journey of Flower or those story of girl rising in ranks. It is neither I think. I am not sure what it is about. It is like he made the girl suffer and then REBOOT and hopefully she makes him suffer and what? REBOOT again? Never ending suffering? Reading this spoiler, whether either he suffers by her death or he suffers by her escape, it makes me feel their entire journey is pointless. Gonna start ep 11 aka the reboot so maybe I could be wrong and that this series has a point.

The actress reminds me of a shorter Tang Yan, even her voice dub sounds familiar. She can definitely act but the make up dept put too much foundation on her and too much spotlight and so suffers from No Sweat syndrome. The hero is skinny, dramatically... not good. sorry but I am not enamoured by him. Not very princely or kingly or even ruthless or romantic. How can anything he do be romantic when at the back of my mind he kinda caused a lot of deaths. This series is weird.

Hated the CGI.

Hated the English title. Made it sound so chirpy, comedy, lighthearted romance drama when it is just so much pain and suffering and loss.

I will continue to watch because since this series has no purpose, it makes it interesting where it is going and how it ends and if it indeed has a point.

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THE VIRTUOUS QUEEN OF HAN / 大汉贤后卫子夫 [TV][China][2014][R] Funn Lim

Written by Funn Lim

This series reminded me why I liked him so  before the singing and Karenas and all that scandals takeover. Raymond is not a bad actor and he can cry beautifully when he wants to. And when he doesn't scream as he cries, that's when he is an elegant actor.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

CHINESE TITLE

Literally, The Virtuous Empress of the Great Han Dynasty, Wei Zifu.

RELEASED IN

2014

NO. OF EPISODES

40

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Mainland China

LANGUAGE

Mandarin, all voices dubbed and usually dubbed by someone else. I saw the English subtitled version on TV but if you can understand basic Mandarin, this shouldn't be too hard as the level of Mandarin in the dialogue isn't too difficult to understand and the dubbers enunciated each word clearly.

CAST-CHARACTER

Wang Luo Dan as Wei Zi Fu

Raymond Lam as Liu Che

Niki Chow as Princess Pingyang

Xu Zheng Xi ad Duan Hong

Shen Tai as (沈泰) as Wei Qing

Chen Sha Li as Grand Empress Dowager Dou

Grace Yu as Empress Dowager Wang

Liu Ying Hong (柳影虹) as Princess Guantao

Zheng Miao Zhi (郑淼之) as Chen A Jiao

Li Xin Cong (李欣聪) as Shen Jia

Liu Yong (刘永) as Liu An

Peng Guo Liang (彭国梁) as Yi Han

Yang Zi Jiang (杨紫茳) as Xia Hou Po

Zheng Si Ren (郑斯仁) as Han Yan

Zhang Ya Xi (张亚希) as Huo Qu Bing

Miao Hao Jun as Ai Shu

Zhang Xu (张绪) as Bai Hao

Wang Meng Li (王萌黎) as Yao Ji 姚姬

Xu Jing Kun as Wei Chang Jun

Fu Tao as young Chang Jun

EPISODIC COMMENTS

I made some comments about this series in my blog with spoilers. 

STORYLINE

About the rise of a lowly dancer who became one of the longest serving Empress in Chinese history. Be rest assured as with all dramatisation of a real historical figure, huge liberty taken with the real story.

COMMENTS

I will be first to state I seriously enjoyed this series. It started out unconvincing and there were many times I fast forwarded all the flashback scenes and repetition scenes and certain characters talking scenes (mostly Duan Hong who always looked drugged, dazed and tortured and of course the ultimate villain whose scenes you can fastforward and still manage to catch up on the story). As it goes on, the story falls into a pattern and yet it is surprisingly entertaining and very emotionally evocative mainly because you follow the characters from they were young and unknown until for some characters, their untimely deaths and so on and so forth. I became quite emotionally invested, but not as much as I was in Schemes Of A Beauty. There is similar pattern between the two, mostly in depicting the vast powerful Han Dynasty and downsizing it into a family. Now in TVB we often see that and often the Emperor and Empress and concubines are all so downsized, it never felt like a dynasty. Not in this series. Even if the emperor is a father, empress is a mother, etc etc you never forget that father is an emperor in a great dynasty known as Han dynasty. It is an intimate portrayal of a very vast and powerful dynasty. Of course something's gotta give and it is the actual history that is sacrificed. Certain real facts were changed, endings were altered but who are we to know what happened 2000 years ago eh? The story begins to build up and in the end a climax that is both scary and realistic in a familial settings because like I said, the husband is the emperor and anything can happen. The final ending for some characters are bittersweet but what makes this series so enjoyable is in TVB series, the women are marginalised into the concubine who scheme, the men are portrayed as the officials who also scheme and the emperor with the ultimate power never felt like an emperor with the ultimate power. Not in this series. In here, we have strong female characters, even if they do live by the unthinkable code of "husband is always right" and here even if we have decisive men, these men are quite emotional. Most of the time it is the women who have more self control. No doubt this series is more about women than about men and for a series whose title is about the lead character called Wei Zifu, she is a rather bland character most of the time. Luckily she had great supporting characters which made her character a little more interesting than she should ever be.

Anyway, first the women...

WEI ZIFU

From the very start I feel this character is seriously bland. Some will term her as Mary Sue which is not incorrect. She is not perfect as a person as she has her stubborness and her flaws. She seems perfect as a wife when in reality she is actually a wife who has to hide her own feelings because she married the emperor. She seems like the best sister there is and no doubt she loves her family, especially her half brother Wei Qing more than she could ever love anyone, including herself. She is like the best possible empress ever because she believes wholeheartedly in harmony within the royal harem, she strives to keep everyone in check not by force (she will have you killed if she really had to and the fact she had to means you must be the scum of all scums), she hardly is every angry, she is very very careful with what she says, what she does and how she conduct herself and she makes sure the emperor is worry free so basically she doesn't tell him everything. In other words, she is close to perfection as a person or maybe someone who is so good at playing mind games and politics. Her character captured the emperor's attention by her beauty but mostly for her political opinion which she will rarely express after she goes into the palace as a concubine. This series made it perfectly clear she is innocent of all charges, so whatever bad things that happen to her or because of her or due to her, she is the most innocent party of them all because she doesn't know what happened and why her. Now most of the time this will make for a very irritating and so easy to hate character but surprisingly I don't hate her. For all her perfection, the few times she lost control of herself were the times that is really the most interesting; like how she was poisoned and lost her senses and for once screamed at the emperor and her stupid mother (yeah! best moment!), how she squared off wit Empress Chen over the disappearance of her brother Wei Qing, how she lost her patience with a concubine and tried to defend herself against the emperor's stupid suspiscion (come one Mr Emperor, don't you know, she is always blameless and it is not sarcasm on my part, she is truly blameless!) and how in the end she marched out of the palace with style and into the prison to free her best friend in life, Duan Hong and then walked back into the palace to square off with the emperor who was becoming very emotional, almost like a girl which of course is stereotyping but you know what I mean. But can you see it? You can actually count how many of such great moment for this Zifu to act out of character because when she is in character, she is basically so in control I am sure she times how much oxygen she breaths in before she exhales. She is not a control freak but she lives in dangerous time so she has to be in control if not she will die. All these adds up to her being the virtous queen and you may scoff at the word virtous and all but the scene where she faced the guards and talked her way to the prison to face Duan Hong and many times the emperor sided her are purely because of her virtousness. She is a woman who proves she walks the walks and talks the talks and don't judge her by what she says but judge her by her actions. So basically the character is on point even if at times I just wish she is more woman than virtous perfection.

I WAS THINKING ...

Sex with her must be quite a  non-event! But he finds her desirable enough to have at least 3 daughters and 1 son. Of course virtous means conduct not her womanly appeal. I just wish at some point she stop being so understanding to the emperor and just show him her temper, which she did  in her own spectacularly underwhelming fashion in the end where she is clear minded although the best was when she was poisoned but that doesn't count. And like I blogged before, everybody just love to hate her, including her husband until his common sense came back to him.

BEST MOMENT

A few such as how she reasoned with the guards who let her walk past them despite the emperor saying she can't leave her chamber  which explains why for so long in the series she is so virtous, all culminating in these series of scenes or her outbursts when she was poisoned but most memorable had to be towards the end when she cried "Since my husband does not believe me, what have I to live for?" and she ran towards the sword drawn by Liu Che and next we see blood spilt! Very dramatic stuff and at least, a change of character for this bland character.

THE PERFORMANCE

Wang Luodan. She isn't the prettiest but she does have a kind gentle ancient beauty face that fits the title character. Just don't talk about aging because aging in this series is represented by moustaches and redder lipstick. I thought she gave a fine performance to which I can't complain much. If I find her bland, that is because her character is bland.

IN HISTORY

If you watched Schemes Of A Beauty, you will be introduced to this character at the end of the series. If you're watching Songs Of The Desert, I believe she is played by Maggie Cheung Hor Yee. In real life, she exists. This series changed her fate in the end. She had a happy ending in TV but in real life, her ending was very sad. She was the 2nd longest serving Empress but her end was, she sided with her only son who chose to revolt against his father the emperor and in consequence, she was about to be stripped from her title when she killed herself. Her son was cornered and murdered and most of her clan was too. This series doesn't show all that but it does show a theory why she ended up such a sorry state. In the series the bad guys could get to her by planting seeds of doubt in the emperor's mind about her love for him only when Wei Qing died, her nephew Ho Qubing died, the princess Ping Yang and her entourage of friends all left the palace and Zifu was all alone. In real life, perhaps the emperor could get to her because all her support and ally in the form of family died and she outlived her usefulness and the emperor's love. Sad, very sad. If you're in such a position of power, better to die early and remembered fondly by the emperor because that is the only way to preserve your clan's survival. An early death will preserve all those perfection that was never there. Unfortunately she outlived two of her most powerful allies, her brother and her nephew, both who were great generals that the emperor depended heavily on.

GRAND EMPRESS DOWAGER DOU

I remember this character from 2 versions; Han Wu Da Di and mostly Ruby Lin's Schemes Of A Beauty. This Empress Dowager Dou is however neither of the two. She is shown as a formidably scary blind but clear eyed woman who is smart, sassy, forceful, respectable and yet clear minded. She has her mistakes but in the end everything she did was to preserve Han Dynasty so that in the end she can give this dynasty to her grandson, our hero Liu Che. She is not without her faults. She loves her niece too much because she loves her daughter too much and because of that she spoilt both of them which ended with I suppose tragic circumstances. She steps on Liu Che to ensure he doesn't rise above her, not because she was malicious as we are made to believe in the beginning but because she felt he was not ready. If he can't handle her alone, what more of those corrupted conspiring politicians. Basically she gave him good training. Her death left a void in this series for a little while because this character was so all encompassing in all aspects of this series. Even in the end her influence is there when Zifu begged the emperor to spare the empress Chen's life and later to see Empress Chen for one last time. It is also realistic as she cried very hard as she realised her end is near. Nothing graceful but not ugly either. She may look like the villain but as the series goes on, it shows she is not a villain but a woman tasked with a difficult task; to keep the dynasty from the hands of invaders and dirty politicians and to hand it to her grandson who she hopes is not corrupted by ideologies of others but have his own opinion that must first and foremost work for the dynasty and not for himself.

BEST MOMENT

For me it was when she curtly reminded Liu Che Empress Chen's title as empress is not for him to strip. The power, the authority and all that from a woman who is also old and blind. Who says in ancient times women were meek eh? Not in Chinese dynasty!

Also her last scene with Zifu where she begged Zifu; "I want you to promise me, no matter the wrong did to you, you will do all you can to ensure Empress Chen lives. I know after my death, Empress Chen will be in danger, but more so from the one person I know who will be the one to kill her; Che er (the emperor). I know this is too much to ask of you, but I can see you are kind and generous and with your attitude you will soon be an empress. Will you promise me?" and of course Zifu did and it took a few more years I believe before she had to carry out her promise.

THE PERFORMANCE

Chen Shali. I was complaining about the ultra red lipstick at first but when she was sick and dying and without the red lipstick, I really missed it because the red lipstick represents her vitality and the fact she is dying means I am gonna miss this mecurial character. It is not the best ever performance, she is not very convincing as a blind woman but I truly enjoyed her authority, her power, her assertiveness which this actress very convincingly portrayed. You can understand why Liu Che loved, respected and dreaded her all at the same time.

IN HISTORY

This woman existed and she was indeed blind for a better part of her tenure as the most powerful woman in the dynasty and she outlived her husband and her son. She was I suppose the defacto ruler and if history is to be believed, she is akin to Kangxi's grandma but more forceful; meaning she assisted, she guided, she raised the children, she sorta ruled but she didn't try to usurp unlike Wu Zetian. I quite admire her, blind, a woman, widow and all and still she managed to live I believe into her 70s (really old wayyyy back then) and keep the dynasty together whilst I am sure fending off hungry wolves. What is there not to admire about her? Maybe she was as scary as the actress who interpreted her in this series, she has to be, she can't be meek like how Zifu is portrayed and still survive. After all Zifu had her powerful scary husband and who this Dou had?

EMPRESS DOWAGER WANG

This is the meek mother of Liu Che whose best moment was after the death of Empress Dowager Dou, she sat alone and began to cry, not with sadness but with relief and happiness. At last, at long last she was free from the clutches of the powerful and domineering mother in law. Life must have been very hard for her. Well, once she was free, you will expect her to be a bit wiser, no? Like poor people who suddenly get very rich, what do you do? Spend! Same with this woman, once she is free from domineering mother in law, she herself chose to be the domineering mother in law, acting unjustly towards poor Zifu like taking away Zifu's children, imposing her will on how to manage officials on her son and insisting on the death of loyal subjects like Duan Hong. Of course she was misled but it does show the huge difference between her and Dou. Dou was harsh, she was domineering but she exercised her power with wise discretion although at times her hands are tied. This mother however with so much power tend to not only misuse but totally and carelessly misuse them on the wrong people! Exciting moments in this series. Luckily she realised she was an idiot and her death scene was one of the hardest to watch because it was a death filled with regret. Basically she died a very sad and regretful woman thanks to her decision which destroyed Princess Pingyang's happiness for quite some time.

BEST MOMENT

That moment where she threatened her son to either kill Duan Hong or she kills herself. Emperor, famous for being filial basically said to his mother he will make sure she will be buried with all the rites and grandness!! So funny! Yeah she deserved that wake up call.

THE PERFORMANCE

Grace Yu. Fantastic. THe actress looked the part of a meek mother turned crazy mother in law.

IN HISTORY

She existed. And quite an interesting woman as well.

PRINCESS PINGYANG

She will have my vote as the strongest female character in this series and perhaps one of the strongest in any series ever. She has her moments of jealousy, stupidity, unreasonableness and all those imperfection but for me, she is the wisest of them all and the most human. Zifu for all her down to earth qualities is hardly human in my book, Dou was larger than life, the mother was just silly, those concubines stupid but Pingyang could have existed and I would have wanted to be her best friend. At the time when there is chaos and stupidity, she was the voice of reason and luckily her brother, that is Liu Che listen to her counsel. Sure she blamed Zifu for destroying her happiness, but who wouldn't in a way resent Zifu for the fact that her brother gave up his love of the princess to protect his sister? She should know and she does know she is always 2nd to Zifu in Wei Qing's heart. As years go by she lived with the fact that she and Wei Qing would never be together and when she found out why Wei Qing let her go, she reconciled with him and was gracious enough to honour his wife with very kind  words when the wife died. She was classy, she was smart, she was sassy and if she had been a man, she would have been a wise emperor. She doesn't let her heart rule her mind and yet she doesn't forgo her conscience and what her heart tells her despite the facts to the contrary. She was the first to speak up for Zifu and when the emperor said he has evidence, she said "I don't care about the evidence, I believe her with all my heart and all my soul". She married 3 times; 1st out of duty and she ended up in her way loving her husband who wasn't ambitious and wasn't smart but doted on her and let her have her way, the 2nd out of necessity since she has to remarry but it ended up her biggest mistake which she quickly corrected by telling her brother the truth about her useless husband which may sound heartless but this is a woman who doesn't dwell in small talks and her 3rd husband was her true love whom she spent the happiest of days but tragically for a very short time. Her ending was bittersweet, and I feel for her but in her own way, she is a survivor. She needs to live to protect her husband's memory, her husband's children, her husband's mother in law and her husband's biggest worry, his sister. A very purposeful life and I am very happy to watch that never once did she ever consider killing herself to be with her husband. In her own way, Princess Pingyang is as selfless as Zifu, at times I feel even more selfless.

BEST MOMENT

Many. One of the best and most entertaining characters, her best moment were with her brother. I love the scene where she explained why she believes Zifu despite the gossips. I love the scene where she advised her brother on whose son should be crown prince despite the fact that at that time she was having cold war with Zifu (as usual Zifu doesn't understand why the princess hated her). I love how she warned Li Furen and I definitely love the very sad scene as she cried very hard when her 1st husband died in her embrace. What I don't get is why she introduced that Li Furen to her brother, that makes no sense.

THE PERFORMANCE

Nikki Chow, who obviously delivered her dialogue in Cantonese. The first great fortune is her voice was dubbed because I don't think it would have worked with her original lazy tone voice. This voice was strong, regal and really suited her face. I did not quite like how unsteady she was; like most HK actresses in China ancient series portraying someone powerful or daughter of someone powerful, their heads tend to move too much. Case in point is Myolie Wu who by moving her head too much fails to show the elegance of a character. Nikki at first moved too much, her body bend over too much. Just look at the actress who played Zifu; still and steady. Nikki's Pingyang was a highly trained princess so it was disorienting at first. However her movement became lesser, maybe because her headgear was too heavy for her. Anyhow that was when she got better. Firstly, her character is great so it will be hard to screw up such a strong character. Secondly, whenever she is not required to be too emotional and be a little bit mischevious, Nikki more than filled the description. I think this is one of her best performance todate and she has a lot to thank for in terms of the voice dubber and the writing. But credit goes to her for her emotion on her face and the way she manages to seem so intelligent and 10 steps ahead of everyone. However my problem with her is she doesn't give me an impression that she is a princess, I find her lack of regalness that is not helping her. It took me a while to see her as a princess of high birth.

IN HISTORY

She existed, was the emperor's favourite sister. She did marry Wei Qing, she did marry 3 times, she did adopt a son (and so openly doing so for a woman of her background is admirable), I don't think she had any children like in this series and whilst I don't believe she would force her opinion on her royal brother, I believe in some ways her relationship with the emperor was truly one of  loving siblings. Other than that I don't know much about her.

EMPRESS CHEN

Sometimes I wonder why this woman is so jealous. I got very tired of watching her jealous and temper tantrum and so when she was deposed, it was good news. Her end was near anyway when Empress Dowager Dou died. In a way this series depicts her downfall is thanks to her mother. The emperor may not love her anymore but he never gave any indication he will strip her off her title even if he doesn't go visit her sexually or otherwise. Sometimes I do pity her. She craves for the emperor's full attention. She doesn't mind the other concubines much but with Zifu she minded because she knew the emperor was in love with Zifu, hence all the things she did. She wasn't right and her ending was lenient for all that she did but yes I do feel the emperor was unfair to her as a husband to a wife. She later died in the arms of Zifu when the emperor refused to see her one last time and she laughed a little as she thought the irony of it all; that she should die in the arms of the woman whom she had hated and yet who has shown her kindness when no one bothered to.

BEST MOMENT

She learned humility when she begged, with genuine sincerity for Zifu to help persuade the emperor to spare her scheming mother's life and to take hers instead. Rather moving. I was also hoping the emperor will see her one last time but that would be a sell out to the usual stubborness of the emperor who has always been slow to forgive his enemies so I do think whatever portrayed was consistent.

THE PERFORMANCE

Zheng Miao Zhi. Very prettty, love the headgear (sort of) but the hair a bit too Korean for me. Hers looks especially Korean. Performance is rather good but I feel she is too young for this role because she never ages. In real life the empress was I read 8 years older than the emperor and was childless. This actress however looks far too young for this role even if she is nt 8 years older.

IN HISTORY

She existed. Apparently she was every bit as scary as she was depicted in this series. She was the "kiu" in the "Kam Oak Chong Kiu" where story has it Liu Che built her a chamber of gold for her to stay (which you will see to great effect in this series). But that saying in modern times now mean a man keeping a mistress. Not sure how it evolved into this modern saying. I think she was probably luckier than Zifu in the sense she lived out her life in seclusion, she wasn't killed or anything.

PRINCESS GUANTAO

The mother of Empress Chen and the most favourite daughter of Grand Empress Dowager Dou, this woman is haughty, arrogant, trouble maker and above all else, loves her daughter very much. Unfortunately she did all the wrong things and taught her daughter all the wrong methods in winning the emperor's heart. A sad end but she planted the seed of disdain by the emperor to the empress and in the end nurtured the hatred that caused Empress Chen to die deep with regret. Basically she really is something, this woman.

BEST MOMENT

One of the best if not the best scene in this series that I will choose also for the Emperor Liu Che which is the confrontation scene between Emperor and his aunt with the empress in tow. The princess knew she got caught and instead of displaying humility and being very truly sorry for what she did, she argued with the emperor about merit, about how she helped him, etc etc. The emperor grew increasingly angry as the princess became increasingly fearful. Stuck in between are the historians tasked as the emperor put it, to write what happened and to put the records straight. So we have the princess shouting "Historians!! Write all these down!" and the emperor screaming "Historians! You shall all that I say! WRITE! WRITE ALL THAT DOWN!!". It became a battle of wits, wills and authority where the emperor finally displayed his emperor like behaviour that basically forced the terrifying but humbled princess into submission. Excellent scene.

THE PERFORMANCE

Liu Ying Hong. I remember her as a Hong Kong actress but I can't pinpoint which series. I am often distracted by her silly Marge Simpson hairstyle but frankly nothing silly about her performance. She is well dubbed and the voice suited her even if she definitely spoke cantonese. She played the mean spirited mother of the empress with panache and her performance deserves a praise even if her character goes nowhere but to the abyss of the emperor's hatred. Seriously after a while it gets  a bit tedious with her scheming non stop and teaching her daughter all the wrong things.

IN HISTORY

She existed (but can't find an individual page for her) and from what I can understand, wielded considerable authority. Named Liu Piao, she was the older sister of the previous emperor. Not sure what happened to her though.

SHENJIA

The faithful friend turned maid turned sister in law of Zifu. Not much to say except her ending was sad and admirable.

THE PERFORMANCE

Li Xin Cong. Not much to say. She was effective. And I was waiting for her to die so that Wei Qing could marry the princess and she didn't die until much much later.

WANG FUREN AND LI FUREN

Both concubines (Wang Furen on the left, Li Furen on the right) managed to capture the emperor's heart and both died for different reasons and different method. Both as stupid and both were means to an end by the ultimate villain.

IN HISTORY

Both existed, one more celebrated than the other. History was changed for Li Furen  (Consort Li) who was poisoned whilst pregnant in the series. In real life she didn't die, her grandson became the emperor. I believe the same Li Furen is in Sound of the Desert portrayed by Fala Chen.

THE PERFORMANCES

Two of the worst female performances in this series.

Next, the men ...

LIU CHE

Emperor of China, the emperor famous for his defeat of Xiong Nu and known as the military emperor so to speak because he spent a lot of years in war. Of course this series shows he delegates the war thing to his trusted generals and aides and rules from his palace and he is a very busy emperor. He is not perfect. He is young and handsome and also lusty and easily falls for tricks and lies. But the good thing about this emperor is he is also not stupid. Given a bit of quiet moment he will figure things out and he will seek the counsel of people he trusts, such as his grandmother the powerful grand empress dowager Dou and his sister, Princess Pingyang, arguably the wisest people in this series who are both wiser than him at times. He is also smart enough to not seek his mother's counsel who proves herself to be rather stupid. He wants to be filial and often times almost makes decisions that would have been very wrong even if he was filial. He is a fighter that is ready to fight for his loyal aides but most of the times will fail not because he didn't try but his loyal aides would think of ways to assist the emperor even if it means by their death. He has good taste in who should be Empress and even if at times they argued like any couple would, for better or for worse as depicted in this series, he is a caring father, a loving husband and a good son. He is also a good leader who will listen but when he has had enough of listening, he will not hesitate to be very harsh to protect the people he loves. He gets jealous too and this would prove to be his weakest point but in the end, he is lucky he still has the counsel of his beloved and wise big sister who will not hesitate to tell him, tactfully where he gone wrong.

BEST MOMENT

The fighting with his mom where he declared "Mother, it is the tradition of the Hans to be filial but I will refuse to be filial if it will cause the death of my most loyal aide. Please forgive me but if you insist to threaten my authority with your death and demand for the death of my most loyal aide, I will promise you I will bury you will all the rites and honours as shall befit you after your suicide"

Ding!Ding!Ding! Knockout!

Another was his fighting with his aunt, with the increasing shouting match of "HISTORIANS!! RECORD ALL THAT DOWN! EVERY WORD! WRITE! WRITE!!!!"

Also that scene where he was fuming about the so called affair between Zifu and Duan Hong and he was angry and alone in the hall sitting on his throne when someone announced "Grand General Wei Qing seeks counsel" and by that time Wei Qing was dead and it was repeated and the emperor in anger shouted "WHAT UTTER NONSENSE! WEI QING IS DEAD!!!" and well it was Princess Pingyang carrying Wei Qing's armoured dress into th hall to square off with the emperor. He looked taken aback.

And many smaller scenes such as when he laid a trap for the stupid Wang Furen and his very stern decision which sounds cruel but I feel is wise; he definitely sides his empress more because as he said it many times; "The Empress has proven herself to be kind and virtous".

THE PERFORMANCE

Raymond Lam. He spoke mandarin and the guy who dubbed his voice sounded like Raymond except Raymond doesn't speak such fluent Mandarin. Perfect voice and compliments Raymond. But how was he you asked? Raymond these days have a lot of bad habits; bulging eyes, dramatic move of his head, overacting, chok all the way, those you can see in Line Walker. But in these settings, it works but it also helped he kept things to the minimum. At first you can see the chok stuff but as the series went on, as he gain a moutasche then a beard, he lessened his movements and kept them to a minimum. He lets his eyes do the talking and he has got very expressive eyes. This series reminded me why I liked him so  before the singing and Karenas and all that scandals takeover. Raymond is not a bad actor and he can cry beautifully when he wants to. And when he doesn't scream as he cries, that's when he is an elegant actor. In this series, he also has to be authoritative. I didn't believe his emperor aura at first until he had his moustache and many scenes he had to display this complete authority over someone and he did remarkably well. There was no hesitation, there was no wavering but just pure power radiated from this man that at times you wonder, will he kill that person on the spot or will be spare them? He is almost believable as a loving father, almost believable as a loving husband but he did better as the lusty emperor and the jealous husband eager for assurances that his wife, Zifu loves him and only him. His best was his display as a reasonable man. He didn't do so well as a young emperor but he did much better as an older emperor who wants to have control, who has control and who at all times remain in control even if there were some scenes you wonder, has he lost his mind. What is great about Raymond's performance in here is his ability to convince me that people could fear him, loath him, love him and bow to him. I feel this is one of Raymond's best performance todate and it takes a great voice dubber and Mainland China to remind us all how much potential he had when he was much younger. You can forget about the substandard and OTT Line Walker. Any Raymond fan must watch this series even if his character is at times hard to like.

IN HISTORY

He existed and quite a bastard to his wives. He came from a prolific line of emperors, where his grandpa was known to be a benevolent Emperor, so was his father whilst he was quite scary. You can google Liu Che or Emperor Wu of Han. He ruled for 5 decades and as with long rules, in the end he became quite mad. So before you believe whatever is said in this series, do keep in mind in the end he forced Zifu to kill herself. I do think Raymond portrayed a much gentler version of this not so gentle emperor.I went to his father's tomb in Xian, China and it was an experience I never forgot. Everyone must go to Shih Huangdi's tomb, no doubt but if you are there do drop by at Emperor Jing's mausoleum. It is much quieter, fully air conditioned, some very interractive stuff but the best was you walk on top of the burial chamber and you can see the excavation and creepy dolls. Creepier because the place is literally empty, it is chilly because air cond on at full blast and you are reminded this is a burial chamber! You can also see cute looking pigs and cows and what nots. I feel the museum is one of the best organised museum and you can see the curator must be very proud of it. Still excavating though so if you go now maybe more things to see.

GENERALISSIMO WEI QING

Half brother of Zifu from a different father and they love each other the most. Whatever either party do they do it for the other party. Wei Qing spent his entire life protecting his sister, even on his deathbed. Started out as a servant then a stable boy and because I don't know how but he knew Kung Fu thanks to Duan Hong, and because he was smart and a capable leader, he rose ranks quickly as he won wars after wars. He remained humble and well liked. He fell for the Princess Pingyang but decided to let the love go because the gossips surrounding them was destroying the princess' credibility much to the annoyance of the princess who spent I think the next decade thinking he did it for his sister, he married Shen Jia not out of love but grew to love her over the years. Her sad death caused him to lose himself for awhile until he recovered and in his later years he married the princess but died of his internal injuries he suffered in war which was aggravated when he was attacked by masked assassins. He never saw his sister for the last time before his death.

BEST MOMENT

Not much but the best was his last where he begged the emperor that no matter what his sister did wrong or is accused of doing wrong, "please treat the merits I have earned from my faithful and loyal service to you as your repayment to me on my sister" and the emperor promised until of course he forgot about that not much later. Also a scene where he vommitted blood but he had to go to war for the emperor and his wife Shen Jia begged him not to but he said something very true; "I am who I am today thanks to my sister but the higher I climb, the more I need to cling on because now I have to remain where I am for my sister. I need to earn this merit to ensure her position, her son's position is secure".

THE PERFORMANCE

I didn't notice him in the beginning but age and moustache suits him perfectly and he does look honourable. However he was too small to be convincing as a powerful general. No complaints about the acting but the looks is rather unremarkable.

IN HISTORY

Definitely existed and very prolific. Not sure how he died though or what age he was when he died.

HUO QUBING

Major character in history, if he had lived long enough maybe as or more prolific than his uncle but died young as depicted in this series. I didn't find him remarkable at first and he had very few scenes but as the series went on, you see Qubing as someone very young but very capable. He is rash and at times acts before thinking but he is a passionate, playful and mischevious guy that walks around with a glint on his eyes like he is up to something. Noble, helpful and caring, he protects his aunt and he has no problem going straight to the emperor to tell him as it is. In this series he was a sickly child and he died from an undiagnosed heart ailment all of a sudden. It was quite shocking because one minute ago he was so full of life and playing pranks on his aunt Zifu and the next he was dead and took them quite some time to realise this time it was no prank.

BEST MOMENT

I can't speficy one since I like the character but he isn't given much time to truly develop.

THE PERFORMANCE

Zhang Yaxi. Not Eddie Peng for sure, no sex appeal like Eddie Peng and I suspect no six packs like Eddie Peng but he has the same mischevious look as Eddie Peng. This actor may be small in stature but he has a face that is perpetually up to something mischevious and playful. So for me the performance is on point.

IN HISTORY

Existed, very prolific and died very young, like early 20s, before his uncle from some illness. Whether he looks like Eddie Peng or not is debatable. Anyway this is the same character you will see in Sound Of The Desert but more prominent (one of the 2 male leads) but name is changed thanks to party spoiler that is China's censorship board.

DUAN HONG

Childhood friend and love of Zifu, he was in love with her all his life and he almost had both of them killed because of that. Loyal to the Emperor, loyal to his friends and all in all a really nice guy except for that face you wanna punch. I mean he is a good looking guy but why wanna punch him? Because this guy does not understand the meaning of moving on with life, forever wallowing in his unrequited love for Zifu which is really irritating because he always looks so sad, so morose, forever in mourning over something. Other than that, he is a really nice guy.

BEST MOMENT

I suppose his almost last scene where he was dying of poison and he asked Zifu tearfully I think whether she had ever loved him and she admitted if she never enter the palace, she would have married him and had a simple but happy life and he tearfully cried "Thank you" because he thinks she is lying for his sake but I think she is telling the truth and the emperor was nearby listening but he wasn't jealous or anything; after all Duan Hong was dying.

But no, he didn't die. His hand got chopped off, he left the palace finally and in the forest at night, in the middle of nowhere he met a girl that is a very panda looking (aka tired) Michelle Ye in a gueat starring role as some creepy keeper of an inn who resembles his Zifu in some ways and who invited him in. If there is a sequel, she probably drugged him, robbed him, chopped him up and served his meat in cha siew bao. Yes, the entire setting was just creepy. Anyway at least he found his big dipper star which is what he sees Zifu as.

THE PERFORMANCE

Xu Zhengxi aka Jeremy Tsui aka Nikki Chow's boyfriend and they had like 3 scenes at most and never any dialogue with one another. Good looking guy, tall, supremely thin with such a morose face that I wanna punch and an exaggerated way of speaking his lines whilst his lips is pursed, something like a Japanese animated series. Not a bad actor, just the character is yeah yeah someone I wanna punch.

IN HISTORY

Don't think he existed but maybe an embodiment of someone the real Zifu might have known as a child or when she was a dancer.

UNCLE YI HAN

Gifted fortune teller turned murderer turned fugitive turned chef turned Elder of Han turned charity worker. He was saved by the young Zifu as he laid dying from starvation and later met her again as a chef and quietly helped her to gain favour of the emperor. As for his ability as astronomer and fortune teller, they have no correlation with his duties in the palace. He is more like a friend and to provide some comic relief.

BEST MOMENT

Can't think of any. Enjoyable character but nothing stood out.

THE PERFORMANCE

Peng Guo Liang. I recognise him as a ke-le-fe HK actor who is suddenly given this very prominent role and he did very well. No complaints.

IN HISTORY

Figment of storytelling.

OTHER CHARACTERS

Many characters come and go and some around for a long time. Such as the ultimate villain whose name I can't remember but the actor is 9th prince from Yong Zheng Wang Chao and the kindly eunuch in The Glamorous Imperial Concubine who took a long time to die. He was good even if his character is just illogical. Then there the deceitful uncle of Liu Che whom I remember was the father of Ruby Lin in The Glamorous Imperial Concubine. Also got this weird man dressed as a woman who is the "sister" of the same sect with the ultimate villain's girlfriend who has a passion for belly dancing. And many more. Some were more competent than the others. None too terrible.

OTHER NOTABLE STUFF

THE COSTUMES

I do love the costumes. Nothing so amazing that jumped out like in Songs Of The Desert where royalty really looks like they dressed like royalties but for what it is worth, the costumes were very nice, especially those on the emperor. 

THE HAIRSTYLES

The hairstyle is a different matter. Not as cumbersome as Beyond The Realm Of Conscience ...

which most looked like helmets, 

In this series, some do looked too made up and too korean style. Zifu's pearls for jades crown were overkill. I quite like Princess Pingyang's headgear towards the end but still look rather clumsy. But the shiny gold must be complimented, like the mega OTT crown for Empress Chen which was so shiny...

But I feel it is too much for that dynasty. I don't know, I just thought they aren't accurate,  no one ever will and most aren't very Han like to me.

PASSAGE OF TIME

You won't see the passage of time in women but for the men,  I was most impressed with the men's moustaches and beards. They all look good with it and as there were flashbacks from the past, suddenly you see the difference in the passage of time.

MISSING SCENES

However probably due to budget contraints we never get to see how mammoth was the funeral for Qubing or Wei Qing and the series does confine itself to the palace whilst the war scenes were bare minimum. It doesn't feel limited though; it does feel like a palace like I said at the beginning because we have an Emperor who acts like an Emperor who happens to be a family man with many wives.

VERDICT

There were times I just fast forwarded a whole chunk because it was repetition and it concerned characters I didn't want to watch. I missed nothing. The main stars are the Empress, her Emperor and perhaps Princess Pingyang, the 3 most worthy characters to watch. The Empress by herself is terribly boring, nothing much ever eminates from her, she is like the little rabbit that everyone protects, and yet the hawks keep attacking and she never knew why she was target, why she is so hated, etc etc. You can say she is wide eyed most of the time but towards the end she wisen up and made some tough decisions even if it goes against her Emperor. No doubt this series took pain in explaining the virtous part but it never fully explained how a starving young girl ended up at the Pingyang mansion, how she knew how to dance so well although we can assume Princess Pingyang trained her. The start of the love affair with the emperor was cold and calculating and purely sexual. I never got the feeling she loved him at first but she had to since she is virtous and he is her husband. As for the emperor, I believe he grew to love her over the years. There are a lot of jumps in time and suddenly she has nephews like Qubing etc etc. Too much time is spent on Empress Chen and her deceitful ways and Duan Hong and his unrequited love. But luckily this series balances all those unnecessary in excess with some fine performances that grabs you. The passage of time, although unmarked except for deaths and moustaches and some costume changes is felt in the sense that you see the characters grow old and die one after another. History is changed but for once, I like that it is changed for a happier end and some a bittersweet end. In real life, Zifu had it worst.

Watch this for the costumes, watch it for Raymond, watch it for Nikki Chow who grows in confidence as the series goes on and on and watch it for the fairytale ending which we know in real life never happened that way.

Highly recommended.

FUNNY OBSERVATIONS
You can see Raymond looked exhausted towards the end of the series with his red eyes. I don't think Nikki Chow ever spoke Mandarin for her lines. Hers very consistent with Cantonese dialogue. For such a rich dynasty as with all the gold, Empress Chen hardly had any costume changes. And you will see the same black/white flag meant to announce death of someone important quite a lot towards the end, always the same shot. And you will see the same shot with the guards standing guard on the stairs, like the exact same shot. For a series so much about politics, it rarely shows the emperor ever in discussion with his ministers (apart from Duan Hong and Wei Qing)  about politics. And don't hope for war scenes. Budget all gone to clothings!


SOME RECOMMENDATION
If you wanna watch the fictionalised lives of the real historical figures in this series, watch these;

Grand Empress Dowager Dou - Schemes Of A Beauty
Huo Qubing - Songs of the Desert
Liu Che - Han Wu Da Di

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Empresses In The Palace/Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan/后宫甄嬛传 [O][2011][China]

Written by Funn Lim

This is an opinion previously posted in Point2e's main blog at last date, 31.08.2012.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Watch ep 1-40 | Watch ep 41-76 | Download the OST

UPDATES - 31.08.2012
Am still trying to write a review, long way to go.

Anyway been reading about Gong 2 (aka Palace II) and I sorta realise Yu Zheng is like HKTVB; take a book and change it dramatically like back to front and voila a new series. Read Palace II and tell me, isn't that Empresses In The Palace?

UPDATES - 16.07.2012
Finally I finished all 76 episodes. By the time this reached 50th episode, it was dragging but for the past 6 episodes, it was terribly slow paced. Anyway Empress dies of a heart attack in the end. Why she still thinks she can be empress dowager is beyond me. Emperor dies from poison plus slow poison plus more because Zhen Huan said things that eventually caused him to die of anger. BUT she did him right by exacting revenge on the empress which he couldn't do in his lifetime. She removes all traces of the empress from historical books and will have her buried as a concubine. I suppose that's why the empress suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile I thought she was kind when she let emperor to be buried with his beloved Chun Yuan. I do believe in her heart she once truly loved that bastard. 4th prince became emperor, she let 17th prince other son to be adopted by Zhen Beile whilst her own Hong Yan will be adopted by 17th prince posthumously and so Hong Yan finally can call his real dad, Ama whilst the new emperor need not worry competition to his throne since she ruled out Hong Yan. In the end she went to sleep. Did she die? Don't think so since she is so young. Probably another 30 more years to go before she will be buried with the man she hated. Oh and that arrogant Ning Pin killed herself. Why does she kill herself when her enemy is gone, she should live on happily. If she intends to accompany 17th prince in the afterlife, she need not bother. Already 2 women down there waiting in line.

Anyway I think I will write a review of this travesty to real history since I both love and hate it.


UPDATES - 16.07.2012
4 more episodes to go. Or is it 3? I lost count. This series is by now too long. But I am at a time for the past 3 episodes where this series is like a hell bent killing machine. 17th prince's wife died (poisoned), 17th prince died (suicide by poison but not that he has a choice) and finally his other wife, Huan Bi died (killed herself by the very dramatic running ahead and knocking head on anything hard). So many died. The Empress is now in cold palace and never to be seen again although I hope one last scene would be nice, her maid and eunuch probably dead as well. Dead, dead, dead. So many deaths. And I hate this emperor. Whilst I do not like 17th prince for cavorting with brother's wife and he and Zhen Huan should not look at each other longingly IN PUBLIC (so Zhen Huan is to be blamed for his death and he himself as well), the emperor's behaviour to his own stupid 3rd prince Hong Shi is so so strict. Anyway I am sure if 13th prince was alive and he dared look at Zhen Huan, he will die too. This emperor is depicted in such a way that even the real Yongzheng will go "TIAN AHHHHHH!!!! WEI SEM ME NI YAU WU MIE WOR!!!!!!"

But good news, some major kick ass performance by Sun Li in the scene where 17th prince died and she cried her heart out. Amazing performance and she should be Ruoxi.

UPDATES - 16.07.2012
Sigh! 8 episodes to go. So long! Anyway An Lingrong dies and before she killed herself she says to Zhen Huan she is sorry. And my view of her death? Pointless. Why? Because this is one pointless villain. She died because of her own stupidity. If she had aligned herself with Zhen Huan she wouldn't be dead. I just feel she is a failed villain. But the actress was rather good. Anyway the emperor did good; he allowed Zhen Huan's sister to marry I assume the 18th duke, or someone after 17th duke. Nice of him. And I was surprised at how pretty Huan Bi is as the ce fujin of 17th duke. Her make up and dress and all looks nice. So now Zhen Huan is completely controlling the entire harem. Oh and the empress dowager is finally dead. But she argued with the emperor before she died, classically because she wants Yongzheng to release 14th prince whom she NEVER mentioned until her death bed. Talk about backtracking!

Ok, next to die? 17th prince and then the emperor and so finally, THE END!


UPDATES - 12.07.2012
Thank you stupid trailer for telling me absolutely everything there is to know. I could see Huan Bi in white crying "My lordddddddddddd!!!!!!" which means 17th prince is dead. I see Zhen Huan looking at a depressed looking 17th prince so that means she was with him when he died. I see Yongzheng vomiting blood whilst Zhen Huan looks at him which means either she poisoned him or he basically died of anger. What a stupid trailer.


UPDATES - 12.07.2012
I think this series will be ending soon. I am like 60 plus episode and like I predicted since forever, Huan Bi just married 17th prince and another girl also married him. Poor 17th prince, marrying 2 women he does not love, at all. Huan Bi looks pretty in her wedding gown and 17th prince basically nominated her to run the household. She is not di fujin, she is like the other girl ce fujin and same status and she marries as Zhen Huan's 2nd sister, so she is of high status with more dowry and such. And first night 17th prince slept in her room BUT they didn't do anything. The other wife thought Huan Bi is the favoured wife when in actual fact 17th prince sleeping at Huan Bi is his way of avoiding to explain why he isn't having sex with that other wife. With Huan Bi it is easier; she knows why. I find the aspect where Huan Bi knows 17th prince doesn't love her but her sister Zhen Huan interesting. This is a very open sibling relationship. And very kind of Zhen Huan to agree to the wedding since she thought at least Huan Bi will marry the man she loves. Anyway right now the only possible happy couple is Shu Peisheng the head eunuch who got to marry the woman he loves, Jingxi whilst Jingxi truly love and admire Shu Peisheng despite the fact that he is an eunuch. However I am not liking Zhen Huan much in one scene where she said Dr Wen's castration will be a lesson to them and she was so afraid if it had been 17th prince. Well, to hell with the best friend who castrated himself for you YOU SELFISH ZHEN HUAN!!!! I already know how this will end. No feeling whatsoever since I am not a 17th prince-Zhen Huan shipper. I feel like rewatching Bu Bu Jing Xin. That is a love story I care about. At least you won't hear Ruoxi say she is glad it was 13th prince who got jailed and not 4th prince.


UPDATES - 10.07.2012
I think even the actor Chen Jianbin looks bored playing this very fickle minded emperor Yong Zheng. One second he is "I will protect you" and next second he grabs Zhen Huan's face and says "You dare to cheat on me?". Crazy guy. My sis said "Remember in Yong Zheng Wang Chao how Yongzheng was so disappointed to hear the public saying he is some sex crazed emperor, always flipping the name plates rather than govern well? This series is showing that exactly; as in him being sex crazed and all". True! True! If I were Zhen Huan I too will be disappointed. Doesn't mean I will cheat on him but I will not hesitate to walk away when he dies. Apparently he was rather good as Cao Cao in Romance of Three Kingdoms (one of those many versions). Here he is reduced to being that emperor who lusts and makes false promises. And to see all these women fighting, killing, dying for him. Lian Cheng, you got yourself a raw deal!!!


UPDATES - 09.07.2012
I feel like crying. Concubine Hui's death was so sad, but saddest was the fate of Doctor Wen who was earlier accused of having affair with Zhen Huan and fathering her twins. Empress! Wrong move! So he said to prove his innocence he castrated himself. He didn't die. Concubine Hui who was heavily pregnant was shocked to learn Zhen Huan was in deep shit so she gave birth earlier but she bled to death. Before her death she told Zhen Huan who her daughter's father is and she sadly asked Doctor Wen if he ever loved her and after some hesitation he said and this is so sad; "After that night (where they had a one night stand), I was good to you not just because of Huan Er (Zhen Huan). I wanted to be good to you. I am now a castrated man, no one can ever accuse our child, no one can now insult your memory by accusing us, I only now belong to you and we are at last together, even in your death, I am yours alone" and Concubine Hui cried and said weakly "I have never regretted all that I had done. The years I spent in this palace, until I have met you, it was all meaningless. Meeting you was the happiest day of my life and I can finally rest.. I am so tired.. but I am happy that I can lie on your shoulder like this, finally... and rest..." and she died. So sad!!! What happened after was also Sun Li's best acting performance yet, as she slowly walked away and then slowly increased her tears, not loudly but that sort that where she holds it in until she could no longer hold inside of her and she crumpled as she cried her heart out. Her only friend, her most trusted friend, dead. Even before her death she was worried about Zhen Huan. What a great friend. Concubine Hui is one of the best character in this series who doesn't have much to do and yet you can feel her presence by her loyalty and her sincerity to Zhen Huan.

Oh I hate that An Lingrong! She is so vindictive! She purposely let her maid tell Hui about Zhen Huan and she later said as she drank herself drunk "Sister (Hui), blame Zhen Huan. She was the cause of your death. Not me. And I am very happy; to see Zhen Huan miserable, makes my heart leap with joy".

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So vindictive bitch!!!! I hate her!!

Anyway I feel more for Hui and Dr Wen than 17th prince and Zhen Huan. Poor Dr Wen. He is now an eunuch and a drunk because of disappointment. Now he wants to leave the palace and guard Hui's tomb for 3 years. This is silly! Who to protect Zhen Huan?! Who?!

Meanwhile Emperor is lusty again. I hope he ain't gonna force marriage on Zhen Huan's spunky sister. I still think Huan Bi will marry 17th prince. But the last episode I watched, the emperor seems suddenly keen on Huan Bi. Maybe he was just joking. Anyway I don't like the emperor at all now. I blame him for what happened to Dr Wen. If every Dr is to be accused of adultery with the concubines, why not castrate them all? Poor guy! And I don't get why the instigator, the stupid Concubine Qi would accuse Zhen Huan of adultery with Dr Wen, and I suspect based solely on the empress' encouragement and yet when she was found out, she took the blame on herself, leaving the empress blameless eventhough everyone knows who ordered her.

Just to be clear;

Zhen Huan's twin children are between her and 17th prince. Not Dr Wen. BUT Concubine Hui's daughter, Jing He is Dr Wen's child. It is also convenient Hui didn't give birth to a prince. Zhen Huan only knew of this on Hui's deathbed BUT Hui never knew the twins were not the Emperor's.

Clear?

Ooooohhhhh I hate that An Lingrong! What's her problem anyway? She is still siding the one who lost power (empress), who refused to let her have a child and now is childless and made enemies with the ones who at first were her good friends. Stupid woman. BUT I must hand it to her that she will do ANYTHING to regain the emperor's favour, including making herself childless just so that she can lose weight and skate on ice, she took pills that contain musk and so ruins her chance at getting pregnant.

Oh yes, from this series I learn that saffron is bad for pregnancy BUT musk is worse. It will make you barren. I wonder is it true?

And did they have ice skating in Qing Dynasty? Oh doesn't matter. That ice skating scene was lovely, even if by bitch An Lingrong.

As for the empress, how stupid can she get to try and push Zhen Huan down when at last she got herself ruined? Why can't she just stay happy as her empress? I can tell you why. Like why Concubine Hua and countless others before her, this series hypothesizes that they did what they did because they're jealous. Not for power, but because of jealousy. They as in empress and Concubine Hua do love the emperor. Of course they also fear that by someone else taking over their place in the emperor's heart, they lose power. That may be true for Concubine Hua but for the empress, I would say deep down she is a deeply jealous woman. It is love that motivated her cruelty. But love is not An Lingrong's reason. She is worse. She is just vindictive.

UPDATES - 02.07.2012
After some searching I finally found a full review of this series with the entire story so SPOILERS ALERT although not much explained as to what and how something happened. Seems like the series is heading towards total and absolute mess. Anyway if you really wanna know, click here. Also found the cast list from there! Anyway cast list...

Liu Xue Hua as Empress Dowager
Chen Jian Bin as Emperor Yong Zhen
Ada Choi as Empress Yu Xi
Jiang Xin as Concubine Hua/Hus Fei/Nian Xing Lan
Li Dongxue as Prince of Guo/Duke of Guo/Guo Junwang/17th Prince
Betty Sun Li as Zhen Huan/Consort Huan/Imperial Noble Consort Xi
Lan Xi as Shen Mei Zhuang/Noble Lady Shen/Concubine Hui
Tao Xin Ran as An Ling Rong/Noble Lady An/Concubine An
Yang Zi Yan as Consort Jin
Zhang Yameng as Concubine Qi
Unknown as Consort Duan
Unknown as Noble Lady Cao
Zhang Xiaolong as Wen Shi Chu (Doctor Wen)
Lan Ying Ying as Huan Bi
Li Tianzhu as Su Peisheng
Liu Yitong as Song Zhi
Sun Qian as Jin Xi
Yang Kai Chun as Jian Qiu
Zhan ZhingYi as Liu Zhu
Unknown as Princess Wen Yi
Unknown as Princess Long Yue
Unknown as Prince Hongli
Unknown as Prince Hongyen
Unknown as Princess Lingxi

A concubine's ranking system from what I observe;

Daying > Chang zai > Gui Ren > Pin > Fei > Gui Fei > Huang Guifei > Empress


Confirmed here. Only in Qing dynasty.


UPDATES - 02.07.2012

I am at episode 50-ish and I feel since most of the female characters have already been introduced I might as well talk about some of them, right up until this point, for those I know their names and have their pictures.

FEMALE PERFORMANCES

Generally, I can't fault the performances. Why negative comments is because of the characters, not the performances.


 Ada Choi as Empress

Of everyone in this series, I only know of 2 of the female actresses and one of them is of course Ada Choi who plays the empress who appears to be kindly but in actual fact is deadly woman who holds a grudge. I can't say her performance was fantastic since I know her voice is her biggest problem as an actress. Thankfully her voice is dubbed by a rather regal one and I can see from her mouth movements she in some scenes chose to speak her lines in Mandarin. The look is perfect. She does look like a benevolent empress, the way she would sit and smile serenely eventhough you know in her heart she is screaming with frustration. Taking away her very annoyingly high pitched voice whenever she screams allow me to fully appreciate her facial expressions, the nuances, that stare, that doubt, that look and that dubious smile. In that respect I feel she played the part of the very pretentious empress very well and it helps that the producers have chose to give such detailed attention to her hair, her costume, her make up. It also helps she is playing her age, at the start the Empress was already 40. It didn't feel forced. You can see the huge age difference between her and Betty Sun, in the sense one is obviously much older who at her prime must have been rather beautiful but now her beauty is or has already faded and the other much younger who is at her prime. The funny thing about Ada is her performance most requires her to sit down and not move much. I am glad to see those annoying habits often seen in TVB, with the head moving as much as the mouth is not seen here. It is like a different sort of acting here and I wonder why not adopt the same steady method when in TVB series? You can't say she lack emotion, one scene she was crying in frustration, even those scenes where she waited for the emperor to arrive shows her anguish as her "husband" chose to honour her but not love her as she wants him to love her. She has a huge role in this series, from the start and I suspect until the very end. So far, although I am amused by her most constant line in this series, "Chi lai ba" aka "You may rise" which she will say at least 2 times per episode in that dubbed voice of hers, I find her performance rather entertaining even if the writing for the empress has somewhat stalled right now. Fans of Ada Choi should watch this one; quite simply because this is not TVB and it is refreshing to see her play her age which makes her look rather beautiful rather than not playing her age and that would have been a disaster.

Most quoted line : You may rise (Chi lai ba)
Best scene : when she was crying out for her dead son during thunderstorm

 Liu Xuehua as Empress Dowager

She is De Fei, Yong Zheng's mom who became the Empress Dowager when he ascended the throne. Her performance is even more limited than Ada. At least Ada gets to walk around. Whenever we see this empress dowager, she is either sitting down or lying down, since she is almost always sick or is being visited by someone else for whom she does not need to stand up for. Her role is an anomaly. She seems kindly; she prays daily and yet she has no regrets, none at all when deciding which concubine should die for the sake of the dynasty in her dead pan worried look kind of way. Frankly I didn't enjoy her performance. I find it limited, even now and very hypocritical. Maybe that's what the Empress Dowager should be I suppose but it just feels too one note.

Most quoted line : Chi lai, zuo (You may rise, and seat)

Best look : the one look, that worried look but she is always best at crying that one tear. She is famous for being able to cry beautifully and no one has dethrone her, yet


 Betty Sun Li as Zhen Huan

Nice passport photo there! My sister said why wasn't she in Bu Bu Jing Xin? No doubt, she is one hell of an actress, especially in scenes that require her to cry with anguish or look innocent or evil. My only problem is her smiles seemed forced but then everyone's smiles in this series is forced due to circumstances. She looks young and she fits the role of Zhen Huan. One thing I like about Mainland China series is almost always the actresses fit the characters, almost. Her voice is dubbed with a voice I swear sounds like Ruby Lin's Ma Fuya. I also swear one scene I thought I heard her real voice because the China accent is a bit deeper but still sounds good. So why dub her voice in the first place? Her image from innocent to angry to frustrated and now conniving is the TVB method; the colour of her lipstick except she is much better actress than the horrendous 2 in that cursed series I refuse to name.  She can dance; one scene had her dancing and it was graceful. She can act, in fact the only time she falters is because the script failed her, and that was when she met again the supposedly dead 17th prince, that lack of emotional punch. Other than that she and several of the actresses truly anchor this series and frankly I too agree; she would have made an amazing Ruoxi in Bu Bu Jing Xin.


Best scene : thus far, that scene where she had her first miscarriage and the look she gave Hua Fei was simply an outstanding moment of acting.


 Lan Xi as Shen Meizhuang

I think that's her name since I got it from some online page. I have no idea who she is but of all the actresses in this series, she gives me the impression as the most elegant and sophisticated one. Her real voice is used and she has such a lovely accent and her voice is such a melodious voice. She also gives me an impression of someone very gentle and ladylike and mind you not many can give such an impression these days. Her performance is stellar. From her hopeful love to her sudden banishment to her anger at the emperor and her love for Dr Wen Shi Chu, I think she did very very well indeed. She may not be the prettiest but like the empress dowager, you sorta wish she is the empress because everything about her, despite her simple costume and weird loopsided headgear that god knows why the make up dept chose to stick it on her, she is a walking talking total sophisticated elegant woman.

Best scene : the way she looks at the emperor, where she can't hide the fact that she is very very disappointed in him

  Jiang Xin as Concubine Hua

She has my vote as the prettiest concubine in this series and it shocked me to learn she is about the same age if not 1 year younger than Betty Sun! She looks mature for her age. She also happens to have the best headgear since she is supposed to be arrogant and flamboyant. From her performance you know that Concubine Hua is not someone highly educated and used her charm to achieve whatever she wants. She must also be very good in the art of seduction to have the emperor keep going back to her although her brother being Nian Gengyao may be another factor. Her real voice is used and I love her accent!! Ok, so her performance at first was more like looking at someone with this sneering look, which she perfected by the way or rolled her eyes dramatically or stared at someone she hates and all that, or the way she walks you can see how her bum sways in a way you know why the emperor is sorta crazy about her. There is nothing elegant or sophisticated about Concubine Hua and she knows it. This actress did not make Concubine Hua pretend to be elegant and all. She was eager to kill off her enemies and step on the others, even the empress. She also doesn't know when to shut her mouth and since I love her accent, I don't mind. To me Jiang Xin has the best character (very complicated woman - she loves the emperor deeply, she loves her brother deeply and yet she feels no qualm at killing off the emperor's unborn child when in the end she found out she can't have a child because of the emperor's own dastardly undoing), sometimes you can't help but pity her and yet you will hate her from her first appearance. After she died mid way through the series, Ada Choi had to take over the mantle as the villain but somehow Ada is missing something Jiang Xin has and I can only say a flair for flamboyance. My vote as the best performance in this series.

Best scene : The scene where she explained why she never wanted to be the one to wait for the emperor to come to her and resolved to do all she can to have him by her side

Status : Killed herself in the end. And she died on her own terms. She chose to bang her head against the wall rather than drink poison or hang herself and she decided to die because she had nothing more to live for when she found out the emperor's ultimate betrayal.

  Tao Xinran as An Lingrong

I have nothing against the actress who portrayed her character well but I don't understand her character. I mean why is she in the middle of all the plotting, etc when she was a total nobody? I find her character kinda waste of space thus far and I hope she gets to do something even more evil than the empress let her do. As a villain, she fails. As a concubine, double fail. As a friend, triple fail. Looks wise, she looks the oldest. I don't find her appealing and I really seriously do not get why she is so against Zhen Huan and friend when they have helped her so many times. I find her ungrateful. As for the actress, no comment since I find this character rather... boring.

Best scene : The songs she sang which I am sure isn't sung by her. Her voice is dubbed.

Status : Can she die, soon?

There are other concubines, such as Jing Fei, Qi Gui Ren, Duan Fei, etc, all of whom I will say portray their role very well. Then there's the maids, Huan Bi and Ji Xin.  Let me find their pictures and names and I will comment more later.


UPDATES - 01.07.2012
This is sorta funny. For half the series we have women killing off the emperor's unborn child or stop the young ones from getting pregnant. Now this 2nd half we have 2 women passing off other men's child as the emperor's own child. I almost pitied the emperor. Almost. And who the 2 women? Well Zhen Huan and her 17th prince and then there's Hui Pin and Dr Wen! Yes one night of passion! Pregnant! So Hui Pin had to seduce the emperor and 1 month later, claimed pregnancy but less 1 month of course! And these 2 best friends did the same tactic but neither knew of other's child being someone else's child, thinking it is the emperor's and feeling happy for one another but Dr Wen knows! He knows everything!! For me the happiest union has got to be the Chief Eunuch Shu Pei Sheng and Jin Xi, Zhen Huan's oldest maid. They truly love one another.

UPDATES - 30.06.2012
Found pictures! Comments later but am hoping to find name of cast/character and complete the "concubines" picture collection. I am definitely missing a few, actually missing a lot!





















UPDATES - 30.06.2012
I didn't know this post is followed by readers of my blog! But then as I search for more info, in English that is, I kept seeing my post somewhere at the top of all searches which means there is a serious lack of internet presence for this series in the err... internet. A reader asked if I am still watching this one and you bet I am! Things are getting good again with Zhen Huan making the biggest mistake of her life and now will have to pretend she didn't and so breaks the heart of 17th prince whom she loved and whom she is now carrying his child. Yes, his child!! Now pretend to be the emperor's child minus 1 month in overall pregnancy months. Confused? Don't be. Just know when she was  banished she decided to be with 17th prince and a plot hole so big even a meteorite crater can fit into this plot hole. Anyway now we learn they intend to elope when the emperor forgets about her and she decided to pretend to die thanks to Doctor Wen's medicine of fake death. So I assume between here and when 17th prince left to do some big job for the emperor, they had sex. Because seriously, we see in painful details how naked 16 year olds wrapped in blanket carried to the bed of the 40-ish emperor, here we don't even get to see 17th prince hug Zhen Huan and carry her to bed and cue to the shoes by the bed. None. But since they had time, obviously they had sex. The thing is she panicked when 17th prince didn't come back and she thought he was murdered when his supposed strong ship sank so she was determined to return to the palace using the emperor's power to

1. find the murderers
2. exact revenge
3. protect 17th prince's only child

Zhen Huan can be very dastardly when she wants to. At this stage she no longer cares if the emperor is alive, dead, well or whatever. Anyway the emperor missed her, thanks to Shu Pei Sheng his trustee sidekick eunuch who by now formed an alliance/relationship with Zhen Huan's older maid (can't remember her name) encouraged the emperor to visit Zhen Huan and guess what? One look and off they went, to bed. 1 month later she announces she is pregnant and Dr Wen was very hurt because he did suggest to her to run away with him and he will be the father of her child. She refused, flatly. Instead she made Dr Wen make false diagnosis that

a. pregnancy is 1 month instead of actual 2;
b. therefore the emperor is the father.

At this point all my sympathies for Zhen Huan became nothing much because Dr Wen is a good guy, she should have run away with him but she refused anyway. She in a way emotionally threatened him into agreeing with her plans and mind you if discovered HIS family and he himself will all be killed. I really pity Dr Wen and at this point feels Zhen Huan and the emperor are so alike in the way they use people and then discard them when they're not useful anymore and then use them again with all their charm and all when they need something done.

As for the in the palace, Empress is worried, An Pin is still there and I don't get what sort of influence she wields since she is really a persona non grata and everybody is ok. Empress Dowager is determined to allow Zhen Huan back in because

a. she is pregnant with emperor's son
b. she wants someone to balance the empress' power as she is getting power hungry, bumping off unborn child, concubines, including 3rd prince's mother who was stupid enough to listen to the empress. We also discover the much beloved and talked about Empress Chun Yuan was also murdered by this empress. Ahhh I can't wait till Zhen Huan found out about this and use it against her. Mind you, emperor is still crazy about that dead empress.

And so we shall see the return of Zhen Huan which makes this series interesting again and be off with those nonsense about her doomed love affair with 17th prince. When I thought he died, there goes my Huan Bi marrying 17th prince theory but now it is back on and Huan Bi shall suffer as well I suppose. Everybody knows she liked 17th prince, and she knows 17th prince loves Zhen Huan. What was her reaction when she found out he didn't die, by which time her pregnancy was entering 4th or 5th month? Shocked for like seconds. I felt she should have fainted. That reunion scene was so cursory even the director can't wait for Zhen Huan to return to the palace. There was no emotional punch. Later than night they met and he questioned her and she simply said she is materialistic, she didn't want to suffer and she is carrying his brother's child, meaning she had sex with bro barely 1 month since he supposedly died/left/whatever, 17th prince accepted the situation graciously and hugged her for the last time as she cried bitterly. And all these so darn Qiong Yau. I am sure in Qiong Yau, they would have eloped or continue the affair and then elope. In this series, I was surprised to learn the unwanted 4th prince is indeed Hung Li aka future Qian Lung and the emperor bestowed on Zhen Huan the rank Fei with a Manchurian surname added (which is the same as Qian Lung's birth mother  in real life if I remember correctly) and upped her age by 10 years and made her the birth mother of Qian Lung. So she will surrogate Hung Li whilst Empress is now surrogate mother of 3rd prince whom we all know in real life was either banished as a commoner or killed by Yong Zheng later on. I believe this series will go dramatic so expect killed by Yong Zheng as his end.

Sad for Zhen Huan and her biggest mistake but seriously though what choice she had? Our hero only returned when she was already 4 months into her pregnancy. Imagine if she waited, how then can she pretend that child is the emperor's with her tummy and all? I pity her and her limited choice BUT I hated the way she manipulated Dr Wen who would die for her if she asked him to. The decent guy in this series, not as idealistically foolish as 17th prince but almost. And imagine if 17th (Yun Li I think) did elope with Zhen Huan, won't the emperor know by then their relationship? If Zhen Huan died, 17th missing, lots of visits from 17th to where Zhen Huan is, put 2 and 2 together the emperor would have known.

And my prediction for the ending? She elopes finally with 17th prince when much time has passed. The emperor will die in probably 5 to 7 years max, depending how old he is now and story integrity. Since 4th prince really likes Zhen Huan, she may be allowed to leave the palace since the significance of being 10 years older means she can leave 10 years earlier. Since the story is so screwed at this point with the real fact, I wouldn't be surprised her story is tweaked a bit that way.

Anyway a reader asked me to comment about the performances up until this point, specifically Ada Choi who would have perfected her "Chi lai ba" line , and I figure I shall do a midway review of performances for female and male actors. But first I must hunt for some nice pictures of each character/actor if I can find them.

Are you interested in this series' OST? There is actually an OST! Serious. Very interesting Chinese gu zhen music and all, beautifully sang even if 1 same song, 5 variations, with male and female singer version and then the rest the instrumental music which is seriously good but also seriously boring for those who isn't into such music. I find it funny how the same song can have so many version; one part the woman singing about her suffering love and then the end another version about a man giving up his kingdom for the woman he loves. Interesting lyrics. I may not be very good at Chinese but I shall make an attempt to translate. But dear reader, if you can help me find;

a. images of the actresses in character (all roles, not just the main one)
b. full cast list
c. Chinese lyrics to the theme and end song

I will be most grateful.

P/S I think I may even complete my Yong Zheng series if I can watch Alex Man's classic, Dynasty!


UPDATES - 18.06.2012
I am watching this series avidly and I do think Betty Sun is a fine actress. Are you watching? Because right now I am a bit half way through this series and whilst I know the dynasty is not specified in the book and so since Qing Dynasty is popular and Yong Zheng most popular (right now), so the series was set during that time, screw the real facts. I don't mind that knowing it is not based on the era so anything goes. So we have Hong Li as the exiled and unloved 4th prince. Question is will he BE the next Qian Long? Since so screwed up, I do not know. This is not BBJX. Anyway right now the heroine, Zhen Huan was stripped off her title (not a very high Pin, before that is I think Da Ying, after Pin is Gui Fei I believe follows by Huang Gui Fei follows by Empress - I think I am missing one rank somewhere) after giving birth to a princess and banished to a nunnery/temple outside the palace. Truth is she banished herself, because she was very disappointed the emperor never really loved her but loved her lookalike, Chong Yuang Empress which we never see but heard a lot who died before he became Emperor. I do believe if Chong Yuan Empress lived, he would in the end got tired of her and disappoint her. The fact she died when he loved her most sealed his love for her in an timeless capsule where he remembers all the good since no bad has happened yet. And was also disappointed how heartless the emperor was towards her old parents and also one of her most faithful maid died in the process. If I was her I too will feel that way. And all that before she turned 20. Talking about burn out! She gave her daughter to a kindly high ranking concubine to take care of (Jing Fei I believe) and so she moved into the temple with her 2 most faithful maids, one of whom is her illegitimate half sister, Huan Bi, who is in love with the dashing and unmarried 17th prince, a favourite brother of the emperor because he is the least political, he just wants a carefree life. Ok, got it?

Ok, so far so interesting and good too the story moves away from the palace as the Empress (Ada Choi with her obligatory "Chi lai ba" - You may stand - like 3 per episode spoken to various concubines who kneel in  respect) is now consolidating her power promoting a few concubines, one of whom the dastardly An Pin (used to be An Da Ying, real name An Ling Rong). Emperor also don't want to talk about Zhen Huan, he is as angry with her for daring to leave as she is angry with him for not loving her but using her as floating device. Got it?

Ok. Now this is where the story became from disbelief to stupid to utterly impossible, even if the entire history is screwed, some basics are not. For example;

1. 17th prince always liked Zhen Huan, in this series he basically spent much time with her as he stays near the temple which at the back houses his mother, Concubine Shu who was a favourite of Kangxi and banished by the current Empress Dowager (Liu Xue Hua whose entire role is be sick, sit down, say can't do anything and yet with her morose face has participated in making decisions which resulted in the deaths of no less than 2 concubines - she is the real female villain although the series doesn't say so) to forever reside in the temple. Anyway he confessed to Zhen Huan he is in love with her, and he isn't married yet, not even  a Ce Fujin (say what?!?! Seriously?!) and now being pressured to marry and he said he will only marry the woman he loves and that is Zhen Huan. You see what is stupid here? Zhen Huan is the emperor's banished wife. You don't marry banished wives of the emperor. Even if they're banished. More so this emperor still sorta speaks fondly of her, sorta and loves the daughter she gave birth the most. I thought the entire conversation, scene, etc was so stupid. I remember in Kang Xi Di Guo, Kang Xi said "There are 2 things I do not share with anyone; my books and my women".

2. Why every place with more than 3 women around are all "pat pohs" (busybodies)? Even the temple is such where Zhen Huan and 2 maids were bullied and she let herself be bullied. And the impossibly stupid happened that they dared to bully her just because she got banished. I am sure before she came to the temple the emperor would have issued an edict to say this concubine is staying at the temple, NOT BANISHED. Anyway they bullied her away from the temple and Zhen Huan was sick and had to move to some even further away lodging up in the mountains and miraculously 17th prince came rescuing her. I was like seriously? REALLY? So darn stupidly dramatic for no darn intelligent reason.

These 2 points, especially point 1 makes this series at present highly entertaining but exceedingly stupid. I am just waiting for Zhen Huan to realise she doesn't want to suffer and runs back to the heartless emperor. Yes he is heartless, that I agree. 17th prince is ridiculous. It is more likely he can marry a palace maid than a banished concubine who used to be and could still be the emperor's favourite, and who so happens to look like his beloved dead empress.

After the death of Hua Fei, I feel the series suffered a bit. Not only was the actress who plays Hua Fei excellent, her story was the most exciting and in the end sorta saddest eventhough she doesn't deserve your sympathy. The Nian Geng Yao in the Yong Zheng Wang Chao deserves your sympathy as you will find yourself asking "Why, why defy the emperor and yet still respect him so much?" but this series, it is just shown a little, like touching the surface only. I felt like I was watching a better written Qiong Yao series but if the acting were more dramatic, no dubbing THIS will be a Qiong Yao series.

And a question to all, see if you can figure it out; why the emperor has so few sons and daughters? Last count is I believe 2 daughters and 2 sons. Why? Because all the women kept killing off his unborn child; first Hua Fei and now the Empress herself.  Sick isn't it?

But don't stop from watching this series. It is well acted (by most), largely well written and quite colourful. Now, since there are so many Yong Zheng series out there, let me make my own recommendation;

If you want dramatic excitement, watch Empresses In The Palace.
If you want a good looking cast with a good memorable story, watch Bu Bu Jing Xin (get ready with tissues!)
If you want fully happy endings, then by all means watch the stupid Gong.
If you want a propaganda series based on historical facts with excellent acting but wouldn't mind the less good looking version which BBJX is based on, then Yong Zheng Wang Chao is the one.

If you want real Cantonese in a version to kickstart your love/hate/admiration/obsession with Yong Zheng, watch Secret Battle Of The Majesties with the ever entertaining and handsomest Yong Zheng, that is Kong Wah. There you have Lui Sei Leong which none of the above has.

Wow, I watched so many Yong Zheng series!!


UPDATES - 27.05.2012
I take back everything bad I said about this series except for the emperor's performance. I am really enjoying this series and I shall love it until the series shows Zhen Huan falling for 17th prince which to me will be a bore. The acting is top notch, costume is not BBJX but looks better than TVB stuff, but the story is even more engaging that QSHF at this moment. After all this is the series to watch if you wanna watch the rise and rise and rise of a concubine to the top of the harem and how she stays there. This is like the definitive encyclopedia for such a story. Since I reconciled with the idea of how screwed up Yong Zheng's history is as presented by this series (is this one of the reason why China is attempting to ban historical dramas as well? What else can China produce after that? Modern days series is an abusive rapist boyfriend disguised as the ultimate love story ala Sealed With A Kiss?) as that being that the book has no definitive dynasty and since Yong Zheng is popular, so his reigning period is used as the backdrop, I am not totally ok with the series. More since it make sense all those things about General Nian, Concubine Hua, etc, eventhough I feel a better time period for Qing would be Qian Lung or Kang Xi or better yet Tang Dynastys or Early Han would be much better. But never mind. Story's great so I am enjoying it and I highly recommend that you do too! Oh how devious women can be! This is what Curse Of The Royal Harem should be!

UPDATES - 23.04.2012
Right now after a long wait for the emperor to pop her cherry, finally he did and it is now on full speed towards total catfight. So far I am loving this series. The costumes are inconsistent like very inconsistent and the make up is like kind (pale lipstick), evil (red lipstick), ala that cursed series but so far I love the acting and the real voices used for some key players. I just feel why put the era in Yongzheng's dynasty when he hardly had time to even breath. Should have been Qianlung dynasty! And I do feel the actor as the emperor is I don't know.. can't say he's bad, can't say he's good. He is most expressionless, his voice monotone. It is his real voice. Some actresses' voices are so gentle, the accent so beautiful. The lead actress' voice is dubbed and I do think with Ruby's voice from Qing Shi Huang Fei!! Anyway love the catfights. Who doesn't eh?

PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON 17.04.2012

ASTRO is showing Empresses In The Palace aka Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan aka 后宫甄嬛传 aka China really loves multiple titles so as to confuse everyone, the one where people wondered how come Yongzheng is so old when Nicky's Yongzheng so hot when the actor said he is same age as Nicky!! Anyway I read the storyline, emphasising on the italic part;

It tells the story of one of Emperor Yongzheng's concubines, Zhen Huan, who's the mother of Prince Hongli (the famous Emperor Qianlong).This drama, adapted from popular Internet novel of the same name, will tell the story of the heroine, Zhen Huan (Sun Li), who joined the palace harem with her sister. She was selected to be Emperor Yongzheng's (Chen Jian Bin) concubine. When Zhen Huan first enters the palace, she is innocent and gullible, but gradually learnd the hard way to fend for herself when she inadvertently becomes caught up in the schemes between the Empress (Ada Choi) and Concubine Hua (Jiang Xin). Through cunning and deceit, Zhen Huan finally succeeds in becoming Empress. However, she arouses Emperor Yongzheng's suspicion about her loyalty and is forced to poison her true love, 17th Prince. Finally, when Emperor Yongzheng dies and Hong Li ascends the throne, Concubine Zhen Huan becomes Empress Dowager. Though her future seems bright, she lives the rest of her life in sadness and guilt.

Say what?! Yongzheng already had Hongli before Kangxi died and one of the reasons people speculated Kangxi gave the throne to Yongzheng was because Hongli reminded Kangxi of himself! And when I read further in the forum;

This drama is based on the novel 后宫甄嬛传.The background of the novel is fictitious. This drama has moved the background to a real dynasty Qing while in fact it is not. This drama is not exactly what history is. Please treat it as an ordinary story.

I see! Fictional eh? I see! I see! Rubbish! Why twist an already very fascinating great mystery of the Qing Dynasty? Mystery as in Yongzheng himself! Rubbish! Can't believe BBJX is more accurate! In history it is believed Yongzheng was very fair to the empress who never had  a child and yet became empress. I love how BBJX showed her as someone kind and gentle and befitting the title Empress but I suppose there must be a reason Ada Choi is cast and I believe this empress must be outwardly gentle but inwardly as conniving as everyone. Was the mother of Qianlong ever an empress? I don't think so. After the empress died, Yongzheng died not long later. BUT she did become empress dowager since her son became emperor. And 17th prince would have been too young? Anyway Yongzheng would at least be 25 years or more older than the ladies in this series, as each is like 16 or 17. However I shall watch this series because it is always interesting to watch a catfight, more so when we know the ending. No wonder at the start the empress dowager was so anxious is getting Yongzheng another concubine for children. I thought "He already got at least 3 surviving ones" when Hongli has yet to come into the picture. I see. So when he died, Hongli would be 13? Or this series will prolong his reign a little bit eh? And interesting a series on women fighting during Yongzheng era where in real life, hardly any such fight existed then. Kangxi or Qianlong maybe but Yongzheng? So I suppose therefore the fresh take that is until I read the following;.

Some more from here;

Based on a popular internet novel by the same name, the story traces the trials and tribulations of the beautiful Zhen Huan, who inadvertently becomes a royal consort of the Emperor. Fate has sent her from the peaceful courtyard of her father's estate to the caged opulence of the Forbidden Palace, then to the darkly austere nunnery, and back to the splendor of the palace again. She transforms from an naive young girl oblivious of the harsh reality into a scheming court lady, and finally ascends to the most coveted position of the inner palace, Empress Dowager. At first, Zhen Huan devotes entirely on her husband, the Emperor. But when she discovers his true colors, her love for him dies with her innocence. Through the selfless love and sacrifice of Prince Guo, Zhen Huan slowly manages to recover from her emotional and physical turmoils. Their blissful happiness outside the palace ends abruptly and Zhen Huan is forced to return to the palace. She gives birth to Prince Guo's twins, a son and daughter, but the Emperor begins to question the fraternity of her twin children...

UTTER RUBBISH. Poor Yongzheng. Already much maligned in real life, even in fiction he can't have a happy ending.

And that is until I read further down;

Since the the original novel is set in a fictional time period in imperial China, the screenwriters decided to give it a more "historical" backdrop and chose the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty as the drama's time frame.

I see! So the book was ambigous. I suppose the producer was jumping onto the BBJX bandwagon or something like that.

And oh, Ada Choi  looked old, but pretty. I keep remembering Ada as someone young and fresh when she is.. err.. 40? And the dubber is good so her acting looks good when he real voice tends to be screechy. I do think the actor, Chen Jianbin is using his own voice, as with some of the actors. So far I like the series but not sure how I will cope with the entire change of history. The ladies in here are quite pretty but the guys are no eye candy.

Eye candy is BBJX and even more eye candy is QSHF. If Nicky Wu is the Yongzheng in here, end of story. No need to fight. He wins! That is why they found someone older but poor Liu Xuehua... she looks more like the emperor's sister than mother. Insane casting!

The costume so far.. BBJX wins. I can never see any production of Qing Dynasty ever surpassing BBJX in terms of costume. Location.. same place and I can never see any production of Qing Dynasty ever surpassing YZWC which uses real palaces as location.  Actresses... well ... depends. This one more traditional in looks. Guys, of course BBJX wins.  Storyline.. already you know how I feel. Would be different if Yan Kuan and Wallace Huo is in this. Just imagine them with shaved heads. Have they ever taken a Qing role? For sure Wallace haven't.

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