Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace
Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (, lit. 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 the relationship between Emperor Qianlong and Empress Nara. It is 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 mixed reviews from viewers about the plot and the characters, the series eventually won acclaim for its exquisite props, lavish sets and stellar cast and has a score of 7.5 points on Douban. Synopsis. Ula-Nara Qingying (Zhou Xun), who later changes her name to Ula-Nara Ruyi, is the niece of Ula-Nara Yixiu, the current Empress, and the childhood lover of fourth prince Hongli (Wallace Huo). She is initially chosen to be the third prince Hongshi's "difujin" (primary consort), but fells out of the bride selection. Empress Ula -Nara is locked aways after Hongli's mother, Niohuru Zhenhuan, Consort Xi, reveals to the Yongzheng Emperor that she is the one who killed the former Empress. With the Ula-Nara clan in disgrace after the Empress falls out of favor, Ruyi is unable to become Hongli's wife and has to accept the position of "cefujin" (secondary consort). In the first half of the story, Ruyi faces the schemes of Gao Xiyue, Noble Consort Gao and the first Empress, Fuca Langhua. Eventually, Ruyi is forced to reside in the Cold Palace and is separated from Emperor Qianlong. There, she  meets guard Ling Yunche, who helps her to survive. Ruyi also finds out the bracelet that Empress Fuca gave her on her wedding day prevented her from having a child. At this time, Yehe-Nara Yihuan, Consort Shu enters the harem as the spy of the Empress Dowager, and receives the most favor from Qianlong. In order to help Ruyi, her close friend Keliyete Hailan, Noble Lady Hai decides to win the Emperor's favor, and Ruyi is saved from the Cold Palace. Because of the guilty conscience of her former maid A'ruo, Ruyi quickly finds out that the person  behind the scheme was Gao Xiyue. Ruyi starts her revenge. She approaches Noble Consort Gao and tells her that the reason why she wasn't able to have a child is because of the bracelet that Fuca Langhua gave her. Gao Xiyue realizes her friend had betrayed her, so she exposes the Empress's evil deeds to Qianlong and Fuca Langhua begins to suffer her retribution. Noble Consort Gao's servant causes one of Empress Fuca's sons to die, then Hailan and another concubine, Su Luyun, Noble Consort Chun, kill her other son. Even her daughter, Jingse, is forced  to marry wa Mongol prince after the Empress Dowager refuses to send her own daughter for "heqin". After Fuca Langhua almost drowns, she succumbs to illness out of grief. Before she dies, she still insists to tell the Emperor how evil Ruyi is, so he should never allow Ruyi to be the second Empress, and recommends Su Luyun in her place. Gao Xiyue and Fuca Langhua's downfall make Ruyi thought she had survived the conspiracies of the scheming consorts, but they were actually the puppets of Jin Yuyan, Consort Jia, a Korean woman in love with the King of  Joseon. She uses Gao Xiyue to murder people, and abuses a palace maid who looks like Ruyi to make Fucha Langhua happy. Her life goal is to kill the Qianlong Emperor and make one of her sons the next emperor, in order to help Joseon get rid of the Qing's interference in their affairs. To accomplish her goal Jin Yuyan causes Noble Consort Chun to lose Qianlong's favor so she wouldn't become the second Empress. Then, she attacks Ruyi directly by using her relationship with the Tibetan monk to accuse Ruyi of being disloyal to the Emperor . However, Ruyi and Hailan expose her scheme. In the later half of the story, Ruyi meets the ultimate enemy of her life, Wei Yanwan. She is a palace maid bullied by Jin Yuyan and the first love of Ling Yunche. She originally has nothing to do with the harem struggle, but when she realizes that no one can help her, she decides to kill everyone who was related to Jin Yuyan or Ruyi. Later, Wei Yanwan and Hai Lan tortured Jin Yuyan with strong hatred in countless times, this caused Jin Yuyan to have a mental breakdown. Jin Yuyan dies  heartbroken after the King of Joseon refuses to acknowledge her by Ruyi. Wei Yanwan also knows that Yehe-Nara Yihuan loves Qianlong and is one of Ruyi's friends, so she makes Yihuan realize the Emperor never wanted her to have children due to her connection with the Empress Dowager. Out of grief, Yihuan commits suicide by burning herself in a fire. Fuca Langhua's daughter, Jingse comes back to the palace as the Grand Princess of Mongolia. Wei Yanwan is aware that Jingse also hates Ruyi very deeply, so she manipulates Jingse into helping her. Wei Yanwan murders Hailan 's son, Ruyi's son and daughter, and the Mongolian concubine Barin Meiruo, Consort Ying's daughter. Ling Yunche tells Hailan everything and sacrifices himself to save Ruyi. After Han Xiangjian, an Uyghur princess enters the harem, Noble Consort Chun and her son tell Qianlong that he should not over-pamper women who believe in Islam, which leads to their death because of the Emperor's anger, which caused them to fall sick. Ruyi chooses to support Noble Consort Chun, so her relationship with the Emperor could not be repaired. Wei Yanwan chooses to be on Qianlong's side, so  he promotes her to Imperial Noble Consort, the last rank before the Empress. She shows her talent in replacing Ruyi as the third Empress, while also successfully proving her own innocence. Ruyi is disappointed with the stingy, extreme and ungrateful attitudes of Emperor Qianlong, and can no longer stand the harem conflicts so she decides to stay away from everything. But her friends such as Hailan, Barin Meiruo and Han Xiangjian start to take Wei Yanwan down. Finally, Ruyi dies peacefully after suffering from tuberculosis, saddening Qianlong heavily and hauntingly. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager know that if Wei  Yanwan lives until her son becomes emperor, she will still have a life of luxury and glory, so they slowly poison her to death. The series ends with the Qianlong Emperor cutting a lock of his white hair and intertwining it with the lock of black hair that Ruyi cut decades earlier when she declared that she no longer wanted to be his Empress. He dies with the two locks of hair in his hand as Ruyi's favorite plant, the green plum, blooms for the first time in decades. 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. 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, lavish sets, and stellar cast . Censorship. On January 25, 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. 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 Philippines.