I think The Empress of China is a great show so far, it has beautiful costumes and accessoires as well as actors / actresses. I am not going to make this a long review, but just a short one. I haven't read much about the real events it is based on, but I can understand Mei Niang is supposed to be really intelligent, which makes sense given her achievements. The worst part about this show, is that I think they have failed to actually make her seem intelligent. She does have her moments where she understands exactly what someone is scheming or thinking, and makes great plans. HOWEVER, I think she is a complete idiot when it comes to trust and love. She is way too obsessed with the emperor, not in the "I'm gonna kill every other concubine" sort of way, but rather she can't make clever decisions or plans, and instead just tries to please him all the damn time. And don't even get me started on how she completely trusts those close to her, to the point that she doesn't even SUSPECT them, even though the evidence points towards them. I'll try my best not to spoil anything, but the only ones who could have betrayed her were the ones closest to her, nobody else knew about it dammit, and therefore couldn't have disclosed the information! Also, just because someone saved her, she just immediately assumes they're on her side. It doesn't even cross her mind that they could have done it just because it was in their interests at that moment, and they may have calculating motives. Does this sound like someone who is extremely intelligent? I think not. This really annoys me, because I absolutely love badass female protagonists and I really don't think Mei Niang qualifies as that. It is still a good show though, and I do recommend giving it a shot.
PS. the reason for the low rewatch value is simply because I think it is too long, and I almost never even rewatch short shows.

EDIT: SPOILER ALERT!!
OMG! I just lost all respect for Mei Niang. Immediately after the emperor dies, the man she was supposed to fkn love, she has sex with his son and becomes pregnant?! WTF. I knew she would eventually get children with him, but she couldn't even wait until they got married or whatever and was expected to actually carry his children? Damn girl, f*ck you

EDIT 2: SPOILER ALERT AGAIN!
Okay, so I admit I wrote the previous edit immediately after I saw it so I was a bit emotional, as you might notice. BUT, I will still keep it as I think it gives a good image of my opinion. I kept going for quite a few episodes afterwards, but it only got worse. So I dropped it. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier I love an intelligent female lead. I kept going with the hopes that Mei Niang would start to seem more intelligent as the show went on, but surprise, she didn't. Even after she found out her best friend betrayed her and she got close to the princess, so doesn't fkn suspect her of shit either! She doesn't even learn from her experiences, but we're somehow expected to believe she is really smart? Now, I am not saying that it really was the princess who did it (those who have seen it will know what I talk about), because I dropped it before I found out. But damn, she looks guilty as f*ck - But nono, she is her best friend, so of course it can't be her...

Long story short, I don't really regret watching it but I certainly aren't overjoyed about it either. If you're looking for a show with a badass female lead, then I would recommend to look elsewhere. Personally I enjoyed The Empress Ki a lot, so you might guess my taste based on that.