Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (literally: The Legend of Ruyi) is a 2018 Chinese television series based on novel Hou Gong Ru Yi Zhuan by Liu Lianzi. Starring Zhou Xun and Wallace Huo, the series chronicles both the romantic and marital relationship between Emperor Qianlong and Empress Nara.
The series are the sequel to the critically acclaimed drama Empresses in the Palace. It aired on Tencent Video starting 20 August to 15 October 2018; during which it was streamed more than 18.9 billion times. It later went on national broadcast and aired simultaneously on Jiangsu Television and Dragon Television from 25 December 2018.
Despite receiving initial mixed reviews from viewers about the plot and the characters, the series eventually won acclaim for its exquisite props, ornate lavish sets and stellar cast and has a grand total score of 7.5 points on Douban.
Synopsis
The story follows Step Empress Nara and her life during the Qianlong Emperor's reign as his consort until her death.
Originally known as Lady Qingying, the niece of Empress Xiaojing, she is childhood friends with Prince Hongli and initially chosen to be his primary consort. However, when Yongzheng Emperor exposes Empress Xiaojing in making Prince Hongshi a usurper against him, Prince Hongli is forced to rescind his decision, taking Lady Fuca Langhua as his primary consort instead. Lady Qingying is banished from the Imperial Court upon Empress Xiaojing's house arrest. Prince Hongli compromises with Yongzheng Emperor to take Lady Qingying as the former's secondary consort in exchange of also taking Lady Gao Xiyue as his concubine as well. All three women are promoted once Prince Hongli became Qianlong Emperor; Lady Qingying becoming Consort Xian, Lady Fuca becomes Empress and Lady Gao becoming Noble Consort Hui.
Due to her involvement with the Ula-Nara clan and her reputation as Qianlong Emperor's most favored wife, Consort Xian was initially not well received in the Imperial Harem and Imperial Family. Dowager Empress Xi initially distrusted Consort Xian but granted her the name "Ruyi" once trust was later established. Threatened by Ruyi's favor among both mother and sons, Empress Fuca, Noble Consort Hui, and her maid Aruo conspired against her, resulting in Ruyi being blamed for the deaths of royal heirs. She is demoted and sent to the Cold Palace where the truth about her infertility surfaced and where she formed an alliance with lowly bodyguard Ling Yunche. Ruyi was able to return to the Imperial Harem with the help of her allies and, with her sister-wife, Consort Yu's help, Aruo was banished to the Cold Palace, Noble Consort Hui was abandoned by the Empress, and the Empress was isolated from her allies. Devastated by the deaths of her sons and forced to marry her daughter off to the Mongol allies, Empress Fuca nearly drowned. On her deathbed, Qianlong confronted her for her evil deeds done during her reign towards the harem. In return, she cursed him with an Empress who would endure his cold demeanor until her death.
It is revealed that Empress Fuca and Noble Consort Hui were both manipulated by Consort Jia, a favored consort from Joseon who wanted to win the love of the Joseon Crown Prince. Ruyi's ascension from Consort to Imperial Noble Consort to Step Empress was made uneasy due to Consort Jia's attempt to curb her favor with scathing rumors and an attempt to frame her for adultery. Furthermore, she rallied her maiden clan and well known Duchesses to convince Emperor Qianlong to name her oldest son as Crown Prince. Eventually, Consort Jia lost favor and demoted to a Commoner due to her constant scheming and manipulations. On her deathbed, to have her confess to her crimes, Ruyi revealed to her that Joseon Crown Prince exposed the fact that she was a commoner, which was why he never loved her. Ruyi was unaware that Consort Jia's downfall was due to the scheming of unfavored Consort Ling.
Consort Ling, a former maid and look-a-like of Ruyi began rising in power. Driven by spite against those who had wronged her and financially pressured by her family, Consort Ling grew in favor due to constantly feeding into Qianlong Emperor's wants over his needs and reputation. Ruyi's differing opinions begin clashing with his expectations and desires, causing a dramatic decline in their relationship. Ultimately, a confrontation between them caused Ruyi to cut her hair as a means of symbolically ending their marriage and rescinding her status as Empress, this act was seen as a major insult against him and Dowager Empress Xi. Consort Ling was promoted as Imperial Noble Consort where she continually offended the Mongol concubines and abused her power obnoxiously. Ruyi refuses to be treated for tuberculosis and collected evidence of Consort Ling's crimes and murders of royal heirs. Consort Ling's life came to an end when her crimes were exposed to Emperor Qianlong and she was punished to be poisoned everyday to her dying days.
Though no longer on house arrest, Ruyi refused to be involved harem nor accept her role as Empress. While Emperor Qianlong was on a hunt at Mulan Hunting Grounds, Ruyi finally succumbed to her illness without letting him know. Though he greatly mourned her death, Qianlong only granted her a very small funeral, demoted her Imperial Noble Consort, refused to give her a posthumous name, and ordered all records of her to be destroyed and her death to be written as merely a passing of an untitled clanswoman. This brought controversy throughout China and the Imperial Palace. When Dowager Empress Xi asked about his decision, he justified his act by recounting how Ruyi had cut her hair in defiance and his order was her eternal punishment. Qianlong Emperor designed and dedicated a pavilion to her, spending the rest of his life sitting inside of it and forever haunted by her memory as he grew older. To save their only surviving son from the pressures and tragedies that come from being an emperor, he made Consort Ling's youngest son to be his successor instead and retired soon after.
A now elderly Qianlong Emperor cutting a piece of his whitened hair and placing it beside with the original lock of dark hair which Ruyi cut in front of him years ago. After the passing of the Emperor, a dead Prunus mume plant once nurtured by Ruyi (from previous garden scenes) began to blossom. The last memory upon his death was of Ruyi attending his wife selection, late in her presence.
The ending sequence states that no woman from Ula—Nara Clan ever entered the Imperial Harem again after the death of Ruyi.
Cast
Main
Leading Protagonists
Secondary Protagonists
Main Antagonists
Supporting
the Imperial Harem
Members of the Imperial Family
Officials
Female servants
Male servants
Others
Production
Crew
The series is directed by Wang Jun, produced by Huang Lan, and written by the author of the original novel Liu Lianzi. It also employed William Chang and Tongxun Chen as their overall style director, Han Zhong as art director and Peng Xuejun as cinematography director.
Development
Wu Xuelan, also known as Liu Lianzi, started to write the original novel in 2011, and changed her work several times to achieve the best version in the next five years.
New Classics Media picked up the series for a 90–episode season (later shortened to 87), with a ¥300 million budget, making it the most expensive television series in China.
Casting
On January 14, 2016, it was announced that Zhou Xun will play the leading role of the Step Empress. The role of the Qianlong Emperor, the male lead, was announced to be portrayed by Wallace Huo on May 27. On August 3, actors Janine Chang, Vivian Wu, Dong Jie, Tong Yao, Jing Chao, Xin Zhilei, Li Chun, Zeng Yixuan and Chen Haoyu were cast in major supporting roles for the drama. Around 5,000 actors competed for roles in the drama.
Filming
Shooting began on 23 August 2016 and took place in various locations including Hengdian World Studios, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, and Hangzhou. The series wrapped up filming on May 5, 2017.
Soundtrack
Reception
The series received mixed responses from viewers.
Many felt underwhelmed by the unaggressive heroine, who was not able to face off the villain consorts even in the second half of the drama, thus making her character design flawed and unconvincing. The drama was also criticized for its anticlimactic story and depressive tone. Critics felt that it was ironic and unbelievable for the protagonist to pursue monogamy in a highly feudalistic context. The slow pacing in the first half of the drama was pointed out, with critics believing that the screenwriters neglected to write with compact story-telling to flesh out the characters.
The series has also received criticism over the age of the leading performers, with viewers saying they made unconvincing teenagers, and criticized the series' producers for not using younger actors to portray the lovestruck teens. Viewers were also divided over the lack of dubbing for Zhou Xun's 15-year-old character, as they felt that her voice was "too raspy" and "mature" for a teenager.
However, there were also praises for the drama. Zhang Hanyue, a writer and critic, said "The show becomes more and more heart-tugging as the story goes deeper." Many viewers agree that Ruyi bears many characteristics of a modern female. Vogue magazine commented that the drama actually recorded "the failure of a high-end girl" because what Ruyi had been pursuing was spiritual connections with her spouse; and such a pursuit represents the taste and ideal of the modern middle class. Critics agree that the drama introduces a new light to and narrative of palace dramas, deviating from the existing patterns of treacherous harem games. The drama won acclaim for its exquisite props, ornate lavish sets, and stellar cast.
Censorship by the Chinese Government
On 25 January 2019, the Beijing Daily, an official government newspaper, criticized the program for failing to promote socialist values. Four days later, on January 29, the Chinese government cancelled the program and similar programs such as Story of Yanxi Palace. CNN and other media outlets quickly reported on this incident, calling it Chinese censorship.
Ratings
Awards and nominations
International broadcast
On 10 June 2016, Fox Networks Group Asia (FNG) acquired global rights outside mainland China to the series. It was the first epic period drama secured by FNG for markets outside China, and was carried by STAR Chinese Channel (SCC), the flagship Chinese general entertainment channel, starting 20 August 2018 in selected countries, rerun on August 6, 2019, in all countries for return a year.
From 27 November 2018, it aired on Fox Taiwan. From 27 December 2018, it aired on Talentvision Canada. To date it has debuted in 18 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Philippines.
References
2018 Chinese television series debuts
Television shows based on Chinese novels
Television series set in 18th-century Qing dynasty
Chinese historical television series
Television series by New Classics Media
Tencent original programming
Chinese web series
2018 web series debuts
2018 Chinese television series endings
Television shows set in Beijing