The Empress of China (2014)

Firstly, I have to say if you don't understand Chinese or the culture of the Chinese royalty it would be quite a difficult drama to understand and enjoy by reading the subtitles. The proverbs and 'old Chinese' they use made it slightly difficult for me to understand even as a Chinese speaker. However it is a drama which was worthwhile.

Plot:
The story is based on the historical character Wu Zhetian - the first and only female emperor in Chinese history. From what I have learned about that era, this drama reflects well on major events as well as some minor events. However, this drama focuses more on the romance of the main character. The pace and transition of each saga of her story is well organised.

Characters:
The chemistry between the actors/actresses are really well shown. The actors/actresses casted to portray the characters are well chosen and I cannot ask for better. The acting is well done and there was hardly any cringy acting.

Music:
The opening song really shows the strong Chinese dynasty and goes really well with the clips that are edited with it. After watching her drama, look back at the opening sequence you will feel very emotional as you look at the development of Wu MeiNiang (Wu Zhetian) and her interaction with other characters.

Overall:
This is the longest drama I've ever watched. It went far above my expectations. The makeup, clothing, movement to plot, music and characters are so well put together I don't think anything can be better. I hardly do reviews for dramas but this really worth a recommendation. My favourite part of the drama is the chemistry between Wu MeiNiang and Li ShiMin.
Sadly, the censorship which edited the clothing and scenes which were considered 'inappropriate' slightly ruined the character development and chemistry between some characters.

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Story: This is a modern re-take on the famous historical figure - Wu Ze Tian. Empress Wu is renown as the only female emperor in China but most importantly, she is also famous for her cruelty with historical records of infanticide (she murdered her own baby), murder, amputation, torture etc. Although an intelligent and educated woman, her rule was marred by reports of her cruelty against her own children, relatives, ministers and servants. However, scholars have also praised her for her brilliance in administration. She made wise decisions in selecting capable ministers though she was quick to punish any mistakes - often cruelly. During her rule, the Tang dynasty expanded rapidly and became the biggest empire - extending to beyond the west of Turkey and with Japan and the Korean peninsula firmly under Chinese rule. If we are to re-interprete the life of Wu Ze Tian in the context of her life in early China, we might arrive at a conclusion of a perfectionist feminist with a tendency to punish incompetence and perceived betrayals. After all, Wu Ze Tian lived in a purely patriarchal society where a female ruler is a taboo that has to be taken down regardless of consequences. Women as leaders is bad luck - a curse or even can be viewed as Satan himself. Yin can never dominate Yang - the very essence of Taoist teaching; which was the main teaching during the Tang dynasty. Under such circumstances and having lived all her life under the rule of incompetent males - what is a brilliant woman to do? She had no choice but to defy traditions and society - killing anyone who stood in her way (these are ppl who cannot accept a female ruler) and resorting to lies and murders to frame others so she could rise to position. It is true then, that when women fight, they don't fight fair!

Now, that is what history remembers Wu Ze Tian as - brilliant, perfectionist, strategist & murderer. But is this the personal Wu Ze Tian? This series acted and produced by Fan Bing Bing give viewers a different take on the cruel empress - one that colours We Ze Tian as a kind woman who fell victim to broken relationships, lies and plots of others around her. A helpless and vengeful Wu Ze Tian??? Hmmm....I know many who are skeptical of this! At least I know my aging mum who's a bit of a Chinese history buff cursed this portrayal of Wu Ze Tian. All Chinese knew this empress as a cruel person - why is she suddenly a nice, innocent and victim-of-circumstance person? Perhaps, this is just another perspective - albeit a more feminist perspective of Wu Ze Tian. We all know that Fan Bing Bing's a consummate feminist and this is her attempt to give the world a different portrayal of powerful Chinese female historical figures. Her next project is a drama on Empress Dowager Cixi. The Chinese hated Cixi even to this day. There is a tradition in China where ppl spit at her grave and curse her even to this day - that is how hated this woman is. Like Wu Ze Tian, she murdered many - including her own children and relatives. She's also the woman who signed away HK, Macau and many important Chinese ports to the Brits so she could continue with her opium addiction. Unlike Wu Ze Tian who at least ruled the country wisely and contributed to the expansion of the Chinese empire, Cixi actually almost destroyed it. The Chinese saw the last of the Chinese emperors, partially thanks to her. So, how will Fan Bing Bing portray Cixi as a heroine in her next project? Let's wait and see...

Acting/Cast: Acting is good as all actors and actresses are very experienced. No problems in this department. The costumes are brilliant. Although the cleavages are common to the Tang dynasty's fashion, the elaborated designs, bright multi-colours and accessories may be a little too modern (and fanciful) to the time. There are also many instances when Wu Ze Tian has a more elaborate costume compared to the other women who were higher ranked than her. She even out-shone the emperor's costumes.. which is a no-no. It is obvious that the best costumes are reserved for Fan Bing Bing's main character of Wu Ze Tian which kind of created an unrealistic atmosphere. She should have gone with less elaborate costumes as befitting her station in the palace instead of insisting on being the 'peacock' of the lot.

Music: The OSTs are ok but not the main feature of this drama.

Overall: It's a good enough entertainment but let's be honest here, with 96 episodes... I don't know anyone who is crazy enough to re-watch this again. It is not the 'WOW!' kind of drama that would cause you to re-watch it. It's a once-off drama that is good enough to keep you entertained.

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To start off, I am a person with very high standards when it comes to TV dramas.

This series have everything I'm looking for, Brilliant Script, Stellar casts, Beautiful props and Amazing OSTs. The chemistry between Fan bing bing and Aarif Rahman is just on point. Throughout it brings tears, anger and joy which i really like as that makes the show very engaging.

Some points to note is that despite all the positive views, the show gets kind of hasty and fast around the last few episodes which is kind of hard to catch, but it can be overlooked by the amazing acting executed by the many powerful actors and actresses in this show.

Well if you are thinking whether you should give this a try or not, stop hesitating like for real. This is amazing hands down, one of the few dramas I'm crazy about.

#engsubsarehardtofindtho

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First of all 90 something episodes is just insanity - so for those who are curious about rewatch value, for that reason alone the rewatch value goes down no matter how good a production is. HOWEVER, if you didn't mind all those hours of your life gone after the first time then I guess it's worth it for the overall high quality production (rightfully so with its massive budget) and an eye-catching aesthetic fest that is the most vividly stunning accessories, makeup, costumes, sets and people galore that can make one easily lose track of time when watching and can never get bored of. The production is the best I have seen to date for a historical series. All the concubines and of course Wu Meiniang has the best outfits. I believe she did not wear the same outfit twice in this drama.

I think they spent way too much time and focus on her story with the first Emperor Taizong, not that I didn't like their relationship. Her story with his son Emperor Gaozong could have used some of that time/elaboration in my opinon for a few reasons:

1) Wu Meiniang has much better history, chemistry and development with the son Emperor Gaozong than father. Historically speaking she was a non-factor during Taizong's time, neither favored nor was much known about her at this point until....

2) Emperor Gaozong who is the young handsome son of Taizong. He is also similar in age to Meiniang unlike the former, therefore this couple got these going for them. Historical speculation also plays on their side, as it was widely believed that even before Emperor Taizong passed, she had an intense affair with Prince Li Zhi (future Emperor Gaozong). Or at least Li Zhi was infatuated with this particular beautiful concubine of his father's and she seemed to return the sentiment too. And the 'sparks' between these two continued after the son became emperor, eventually giving her the significance in power to become who she became. Of course the drama has their own version of this relationship so you'll just have to see for yourself

This series is not without its criticisms of course and the most common one yet is how the political shrewdness and cruel reputation of China's first and only female Emperor has been greatly downplayed in this drama to essentially being a non-issue. Instead we get a lot more focus on her romantic life and all these developments illustrating the 'humane' side of her.
Here's how I see it: this drama is more of a 'romantic' chronicle of her life and ironically aims to do exactly what the garnered criticisms concerned - focus on the more humane aspects of Wu Zetian's life story which contrasts her notorious reputation. Many historicals in the past have already beat the dead horse about that so this is rather a different take on this controversial figure. This matter is a double-edged sword, and which side you're on depends how you look at it I suppose.


The performances are solid from a generally well-rounded cast and you gotta give them more credit for keeping audiences interested throughout a long 90-something episode journey. Not once was I bored of the relationships between the leads, in fact once Gaozong takes over the drama becomes more captivating (and rightfully so as this is where Wu Zetian's legacy truly begins). The theme songs used were beautiful and really captured the element of this drama perfectly.

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I know MY VALUE

CAST: Really enjoyed the cast.

SCENERY AND CLOTHING: The scenery is beautiful, and the clothing is gorgeous.

STORY: This series is full of plotting and cold-blooded murder from murdering adults to child and the unborn, a fight for power amongst those that reside in the Harem. In many ways, the Emperor is at fault because although he knows the truth, he looks in the opposite direction because of the political affiliation or political position/strong hold of that person or family.

Fan Bing Bing as Wu Mei Niang does a phenomenal job. She is blunt, poise, and learns how to play the game like a pro. She truly gives a surreal depiction of what the real Empress may have been like. The Empress proves that a woman is no less than a man, even if he is the emperor.

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This is a show I couldn't stop watching, so I mowed through it with 6-15 episodes/day something I very rarely do to this extent.

I love-hated it. It was insanely beautiful, very emotional, very exciting, but also like a never ending (>3000 minutes) nightmare.

Calling it a "nightmare" is highly personal of course.
The reason for why it was a bit hard to bear for me was the unusually high amount of scheming and betrayal that happens over and over again, it just doesn't stop, while there's (almost) never any kind of stable anchor for the characters you care about! Without that, the plotting feels a lot more heavy. There's very little healing in between this cascade of painful events and setups.
Be prepared for some chronic chest pain ;)

Also the one-sided, cliched portrayal of women's motivations was problematic (because there were no exceptions).
The majority of this show consists of intelligent, but highly competitive women and girls scheming, plotting against each other in the most cruel ways, creating rifts, killing, destroying friendships, families and other relationships out of jealousy, for vengeance or similar.
The rest is filled with plotting among the men, politics and struggling for power outside of the harem, abuse, some war scenes and tragic romance plots.

If you're a bit sensitive to these kind of things, you might suffer a bit while being entertained at the same time ;)
You'll want to get to the next episode to see the current terrible events resolved (but you won't have to wait long for the next incident to start).

As already mentioned, I didn't like the one-sided portrayal of women, the negative cliches involving female friendships and other areas. I can't explain in more details without spoiling anything, but besides the historical, and as such appalling, patriarchal setting, the show itself is unfortunately not free of sexism either.
For example I was disappointed about the stereotypical women's motivations depicted here.

The reason for why I was interested in this show in the first place was to see one of the most powerful female rulers in history.
Unfortunately this part is very minor, the show focuses almost exclusively on how our heroine came to power.
Besides that, there still are some empowering scenes where this strong heroine can flex her muscles, but I wish there had been more of them.

The acting is -with very few exceptions at the beginning- on an amazingly high level! Actresses/Actors are very beautiful too of course.

The costumes, as well as the make up and hair, are absolutely breathtaking! A lot of WOW moments, some of them really blew me away!

The music is very fitting and I liked it, but it gets a bit monotonous at times throughout this high number of episodes.

I liked it nonetheless, but it was painful at the same time, so I probably won't re-watch this.

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A sumptuous feats for the eyes with some mildly hammy overacting

I stumbled upon this years ago looking for titles with Fan Bingbing, and I’ve always been fascinated by the vicious rumors in history surrounding Wu Zetian. Where they true? We’re they lies spread by her detractors? Or could a woman be so heinous as to commit terrible atrocities against her own kids for the sake of retaining power? The sad fact of the matter is that female history was not, in my opinion, given the same importance to recorded detail as that of their male counterparts, so we’re left having to guess or fill in the blanks with what we cheekily call “historical fiction”- stories based on the little facts we have while building some drama around it. “Empress of China” is no different.

Here, we meet young Wu Ruyi (Fan Bingbing), brought to the palace to serve in the harem (history states she was actually 14 at the time). Early in, she scores a “ride or die” bestie in Xu Hui, but also quickly learns that the treachery of the harem is just as hard, if not worse, to navigate than political affairs. After some poor decisions, Ruyi is pigeon holed in the title of Cairen (“Lady of Talent” only 4 up from the bottom slot) while her bestie continues up the harem ladder. The attention she is suddenly given from the Emperor makes her an even bigger target, threat or pawn (depending on which court figure you are) and Ruyi’s life is almost extinguished many times. In the interim, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the Emperor’s youngest son Zhinu, who has a puppy dog crush on her and remains smitten for the rest of his life. Eventually, the seemingly string sisterhood between Ruyi and Xu Hui becomes strained, especially after Ruyi’s heroics and valor earn her the honorific name Meinang. Unbeknownst to Meinang, Xu Hui begins to plot against her all in the hopes of making the Emperor despise and forget her. Clearly Meinang is too clever for all that and, eventually, the friendship completely dissolves. After the death of Emperor Taizong, Meinang (after a stint as a nun) becomes the Zhaoyi (Imperial Consort) to Zhinu, the emperor’s successor and now Emperor Gaozong. But drama in the harem never ceases, and Meinang, although much beloved, must dodge intrigue to protect herself and her position.

What I do like about this drama is that is gives us an alternative explanation to who Wu Meinang was, rather than rely on the story certain history books have told. There is absolutely no proof that Meinang strangled her own infant daughter to gain favor over and frame Empress Wang. Instead, this drama puts forward another possibility. Seeing as Meinang was not popular with those that would not see her in power, it does stand to reason that maybe, just maybe, the powers that be etched that reputation on her in history as one last “sticking it to her”. We’ll never really know. Beyond that, I did love the costumes and the music, but some of the overacting, particularly by the easy in the eyes but ham-fisted Zhinu (Aarif Rahman) had me rolling my eyes at times. Beautifully done, love great actors like a Zhang Fengyi and Janine Chang.

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Crazy boring and most of the show is spent with emperor Taizong. Why????

This show is a huge disappointment. I really like Wu Zetian, the actual person, so I had a lot of expectations for this. I cannot understand WHY they chose to spend over half of the series's runtime with her life as Taizong's Cairen(she was his concubine for only 12 years) instead of with Gaozong(33 years together). The romance between her and Taizong barely existed in real life as she was not favored by him and it did NOT work on the show either as there was zero chemistry between them. I couldn't wait for that part to be over.
Wu Meiniang was also infuriating as a character for most of the show - I don't have that much of a problem with FLs that are on the innocent side, but when the show consistently rubs in my face how much of a smart, powerful woman she is when she shows so little of these qualities, it gets annoying really fast.
The acting also gets really bad at times. Fang Bingbing couldn't really sell her character to me because she flipped between underacting and overacting really often. Maybe the way her character was written didn't help much. Li Zhi's actor did overact sometimes too.

At least the sets and costumes were pretty, but I'd not recommend this. There are more entertaining historical cdramas around.

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This series was beautiful and stunning. I loved the costume designs and loved Fan Bing Bing's acting skills. She's stunning to watch on screen. However, this is definitely a more modern take of the only female emperor of China. I've always loved her story, I'm a huge fan of her in history just reading about how she became the emperor of China was just an amazing fete. But this take was very interesting. There was a lot of the costume designs and such that wasn't historically accurate. But with that said I still loved watching the series. It was long but it was beautifully played.  

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PROS AND CONS OF THIS DRAMA

PROS:
Brilliant acting by Fan Bing Bing. The chemistry between Li Zhi & Meiniang is awesome. I love the costumes. Even insignificant concubines have pretty dresses. The music is really catchy. Overall very enojyable.
BTW this show might be a little confusing at first because there are many characters and clans but you'll get used to it later on. Also, skip the intro/theme song and the outro cuz they contain spoilers.
CONS:
The years and months in this show go by kinda fast. Also, some parts are a little historically inaccurate like the Princess Anding thing. Also, It would've been better if they finished off Taizong quicker and showed us more Meiniang x Zhinu & it would've been more accurate too because irl Meiniang spent more time with Li Zhi than Li Shimin/Taizong.
Anyway, the drama is interesting but I suggest you to watch a historical drama before this cuz it might be confusing if u haven't watched a historical show before and don't know about the whole consort concubine system. I recommend Empress Ki.

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this was one the best Chinese or rather the best historical drama ive ever seen. the soundtrack, costumes, filmography are amazing but that aside the plot had me seriously hooked. she goes through multiple character developments and every character has their own story and challenges. and in the case of who is the true villain, it's up to your own interpretation but it has shown the true essence of wu zetian, in all her glory. her rise to power, her motivation, her thoughts....fan bing bing was not acting as wu zetian. she'd BECOME her, which I feel is a truly great feat considering how little is known about her character and she showed how she was both consistent and inconsistent at once.
it's not just fan bingbing tho, aarif Rahman played his role to the last detail and considering how he was up against wu zetian, the last strongest ruler and that too female, this id consider one of his best works.
the acting aside, this is really informative and helped me ace my history exam. it teaches u a hell lot about politics and how ppl move abt and what, makes them tick. everyone has their own motivation, strength and most importantly their one fatal achille's heel. since the Chinese dynasty was one of the biggest and arguably the strongest empire ever, seeing how a different culture works, how their harems and courts were maintained, was absolutely fascinating. its been a few months since I watched this, but it is still vivid in my mind.
final thoughts? .....You should definitely watch it.

overall rating: 9.5/10 (0.5 subtracting bc of some inconsistencies in the last few eps bc of censorship issues or smth)

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