The Empress of China (2014)

NOT YOU'RE AVERAGE CRUEL PALACE

If you have heard of Wu Ze Tian then you must have known her for being the only Female Emperor in Chinese History and also having been the most ruthless there has ever been, those were my highest hopes before watching this drama and those sassy clips of the opening theme got me anticipating that moment.

96 whole episodes ended in disappointment as I expected the plot to be filled with a number of schemes especially when Wu Meiniang entered the harem of Emperor Gaozong and had two scheming rivals in love Consort Xiao and the Empress Wang.

To my surprise the show sheds another light of Empress Wu having branded her a victim of the conspiracies and the endless machinations of two of her best friends Xu Hui and Princess Gaoyang and much to my surprise I waited for her to become very cruel that's if you have watched EMPRESSES IN THE PALACE, EMPRESS KI and CRUEL PALACE WAR OF THE FLOWERS, but to my surprise her cruelty came as a last resort and I didn't feel the gravity.

Historically, Wu Ze Tian is known to have been very smart but according to this series she is portrayed as a naive woman that's not so so smart like I expected her to be and having expected this to be the longest drama in Cdrama History, I was really disappointed when she became Emperor in the Last Episode and none of the dramatic moments during her reign were included as I anticipated the Zhang Brothers and the Princess Taiping to make an appearance but sadly the series was coming to a close when some bits of her reign should have been expanded.

I don't want to be mean but I was wondering what the Taizong Emperor was still doing alive in the fiftieth episodes as this historical drama instead of centering more on the political life and astute nature, it only gave us her sugary and annoying love life yet I was waiting for war to ensue much as the romance was nice it wasn't what I individually wanted to see, I was more anticipative of the cruelty, power hunger and strength of the Wu Ze Tian Character.

That's generally what I had against the Series but on the bright side I believe much as it was centred on the romance bit it felt very catchy and the phrases themselves were just enthralling to listen to, the costumes were remarkably the most beautiful for any historical drama I have ever seen second to EMPRESS KI's and FAN BINGING really brought out the most beautiful TV ADAPTATION ROLE of WU ZE TIAN which I personally believe would have looked more beautiful had she acted up to cruelty.

In a whole because I am sympathetic and try understand how hard it is to come up with something to suit the viewer audiences, I give this series an 8.5 because it isn't totally bad you can trust me there are a whole lot worse series that don't make a genuine effort but at times protagonists don't have to be limited to being too good so I am hoping that for any future adaptations on similar historical figures like EMPRESS LÜ ZHI, EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI, EMPEROR WU ZE TIAN, EMPRESS LIU and many others, don't make the protagonists too sympathetic and don't do it again.

Otherwise I'd recommend this series for viewing and don't be discouraged by the 96 Episodes because each about 30mins long when compared to your average Sageuk which screens for an hour and roughly more, it's equivalent to 48 episodes in total and 75 when considering a duration of 45 minutes.

This is the longest I have ever reviewed on a series, I hope it was helpful

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An alternative depiction of a maligned Empress

The word epic is often used casually but in this case it’s probably an understatement because this series was absolutely phenomenal.

I don’t think there’s been a series that, IMO, is as riveting as Empress of China not even Story of Yanxi Palace which continues to have a chokehold on me.

There’re a few reviews with great recaps so I won’t bore you, what I will say however is that I did not for one second regret watching it.

If there’s one issue I have is the dumbing down of her intellect in order to make the audience more sympathetic towards her; nevertheless, I understood the intent seeing as how she’s depicted historically it makes sense to present a more benevolent monarch whose life story had mainly been presented through a patriarchal gaze in order to paint her as this monster who would kill her children to hold on to power. Therefore, this depiction makes more logical sense and I applaud the writers and cast for a job well done.

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A super series. I really like. The actors were also very good. Especially Fang Bingbing has put on a great game. Jealousy and rivalry are well given. Also, the director of the series and the production were terrific. A lot of effort has been put in. Whether it's the clothes, the environment, the historical figures, it is very well thought and made. Careful for everything. Congratulations.
In addition, the behavior of the concubines, the positive and negative relations between the queen and mother queen figures, the hierarchical order, the relations with the princes, that is, the discipline of children and the relations of subordinates, are reflected very strikingly in the order in the harem.

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I have watch this drama a few dozens time, so yeah!

High recommend!!!
I has always like to read/learn about Empress Wu and that’s y I started to watch this drama
I just want to say dramas in this genre, you have understand the social classes, and positions in the kingdom; also the time period.

STORY:

Based of the real Empress Wu, with some tea(drama) added in to many it more fun. Even tho in real life, her life have a lot of real drama. The drama have many accurate events that happened in Empress Wu(Wu Ze Tian) life.

Plot of the drama starts with Wu RuYi/Mei Niang(aka Empress Wu, she had many names) entering the palace and training to be one of the Emperor ShiMin’s many wives. ShiMan soon fell for RuYi as she look like and dance like the pass empress.
RuYi’s sister/ShiMin’s other wife, XianFei got jealous and growth hatred toward RuYi, still pretending to be her friend.
ShiMin die(old age) and XianFei out of the picture, RuYi said she is pregnant with ShiMin’s baby. (If u understand ancient Chinese social class/level it would be easier for u to understand this part of the story, both in real life and in the show).
But really, it was Emperor LiZhi, ShiMin’s youngest son, baby. RuYi’s baby died bc of LiZhi’s empress. Rumored had it that RuYi framed LiZhi’s empress to gain power. later RuYi and LiZhi had a son.
After LiZhi’s death, she was in power through her son because the son was still to young, so she “help” him. Later on RuYi overruled her son and became the 1st female Emperor in china. during her reign, China expanded. The spread of Buddhism, Taoism, education in china. She started a new dynasty.

The plot was cute with both the love between RuYi/ShiMin and RuYi/LiZhi. Yes the ages gap is like WTF, but please remember, this was at the time where age doesn’t matter as much in marriage.

ACTING/CASTING:

Amazing cast, no complaints.

MUSIC:

Im sad that the OST of this drama was so bad

REWATCH VALUE:

Yes I have watched many time, will I watch it again? Yessss

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A great story with a rather disappointing acting.

Story:
I really enjoyed the story even though it was rather dull at the start, it gets more interesting after episode 20. It isn't perfect though, some plot lines and characters get introduced without a proper context.

Romance:
The romance is rather cheeky and forced at times, especially during the first half but it gets better later on.

Acting:
I thought about dropping the drama few times because of how awful the acting is. Most characters either only show a poker face or a very limited number of expressions, and even then it feels too forced.

Music:
There seems to be just a single track that they use on most scenes, even when it doesn't fit..

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The turbulent life of Wu ZeTian, the one and only Empress regnant of China

This drama is about Wu ZeTian, the only empress regnant (meaning reigning as opposed to consort) of China. It tells the turbulent story of how Wu became a minor consort of Emperor Li Shi Ming, the second emperor of the Tang dynasty, and went through sabotages and betrayals. She met Li Zhi, the future emperor, went through several life threatening encounters with him and helped him became the crown prince amidst the rivalry for the throne. Li Zhi fell in love with her. When his father passed away, he insisted on making her his consort, then his empress and eventually his co-ruler, against strong opposition. Li Zhi relied on her help against his uncle and the aristocrats who controlled the court, while he was plagued with illness. After Li Zhi passed away, she became the empress dowager and regent, and took over the throne when her son messed up on the throne. Wu was and will be the one and only Empress regnant of China - past and future, since monarchy is now dead in China.

Of the 3 dramas I had watched about Empress Wu through the years, I must say, this beats all of them.

The on-screen chemistry between Li Zhi Ting (Aarif Rahman) and Fan Bing Bing was absolutely amazing. I could really feel the love, the anguish and the sorrow at the ‘younger’ emperor’s death. This is one of the very few dramas which managed to make me cry – I am very immune to crying scenes. They are excellent actor and actress, and mega stars. You can see a transition of the emperor from a vibrant young lad to a feeble old man. It is a pity we do not see much of them since this drama in 2014. Aarif also wrote the music for one of the songs in the soundtrack. Aside from excellent acting, the make-up artists deserve our applause - although I think it is slightly overdone in their 'old' age since they were just about 50s - Aarif looked 80 or 90. Aarif’s performance in this drama far exceeded that in Princess Silver; I think largely due to the chemistry between him and Fan.

The costume were absolutely the best of the dramas I had seen over the last few years, especially of Li Zhi and Wu during the last one-third of the drama – there was only 74 episodes in the version I watched instead of the 90+ indicated on Mydramalist. All the actresses in the drama were all beauties.

The opening and ending theme songs were very well written especially the lyrics; it aptly describe the dramatic life of Wu.

If you leave historical inaccuracy aside, this is a mega epic. I think the romance between Li Shi Ming and Wu was made-up and fictitious as there were no historical evidence that they were that loving and the drama was draggy during this part. But between Li Zhi and Wu was believable as historically, Wu did become his empress and co-ruler – evidence of the love and trust of her, aside from her beauty and intelligence. Wu arranged to be buried next to Li Zhi, farther evidence of her reciprocating love. If I were to rewatch the drama, I would likely start from the latter. Also, there was a wordless stela on her grave – I had the privilege of visiting her grave during a tour in China.

Putting aside the historical inaccuracy, I give this drama a perfect 10.

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STRONG FEMALE IN HISTORY

wow that was quite a long drama

- this is a story about a strong female character and this should have been a good drama that can truly inspire every woman BUT they did not focus too much on the strength of the lead char unlike in THE LONG BALLAD where you will be excited on every resolution and strategies of the lead actress

-this drama could have been very good, after all , according to wiki , empress wu was a truly excellent leader of her time that surpasses other emperors before and after her. that she conquered neighbouring states, they should have focused more on her conquest from 3/4 to the end of the drama on her leadership. sadly , the drama was not executed or interpreted the way it should have been.

-they focus more on the scheming enemies in the palace

-there are a lot of opportunities for the scripwriter to make the scene twists but he/she went straightforward which made it boring. i guess the problem was the scripwriting.

-for me, she is truly an icon of her era and half of the drama should have focused on her conquest strategies to justify her being a female emperor and a regent

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Great show, definitely recommends it, but...

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.

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96 episodes is worth it!

(WARNING: Just don't watch if u just gonna criticize it! This drama is based on Wu Mei Niang/ Empress Wu Zetian rl story! Had to have knowledge of history!)
*Characters -the acting is well done and there was hardly any cringy acting. Ofc, as a FBB fan, her acting here is topnotch! The way she portrayed an empress is explosive!
*OST- opening song shows the strong Chinese dynasty!
*Production -make-up, costumes is gorgeous and the scenery is beautiful! A sumptous feasts for the eyes!
Overall, the series was beautiful and stunning. One of the best historical drama w/ the soundtrack, costumes, filmography and plot! 96 episodes is worth it!

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This is not a perfect drama by any means.

Although the costumes and headpieces were beautiful, the makeup, acting and story was questionable. The acting was very meh at times, for example, at the start (as young Meiniang) I hated how Fan Bing Bing acted too. She would do these weird moves with her eyebrows and it made me so annoyed that I couldn't focus on the story. I also don't get why we had so much time with Li Shimin's harem, considering they were not important in the grand scheme of things. They decided to make two third of the story about Wu Zetian's early harem life and the last few episodes were where we saw her in power. I wish her and Li Zhi's love were better written (Like her and Li Shimin! I much preferred their story.) There was also a lot of rewriting of history and making stuff up just so Wu Zetian would be an innocent woman, and we know this is not the reality. She was incredible at governing the country and had amazing developments about it. Still, she was also bloodthirsty and killed so many people (maybe even her children) just because they opposed her. I wish we saw more of her story after her ascension to the throne (also as Empress Dowager and how she still had power behind the Emperor's back.) Also, I couldn't be the only one who preferred that she had a romance with Li Tai instead of Li Zhi. The actors somehow had incredible sexual tension and the way they looked at each other was wow, I would be into that. (I also prefer Li Jie over Aarif Rahman in looks so that also might be a reason.) Anyway, I would only suggest watching this if you want to see pretty people being pretty (mostly Fan Bing Bing to be honest but yeah) and the romance between her and Emperor Taizong.

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