The Yellow River is one of the longest running rivers in the world, and the second longest in China. While its length is eclipsed by the Nile and by its Chinese cousin, Chang Jiang, the Yellow River may just be the best candidate out of all major running waters in the world to illustrate the notion that Mother Nature is a b!tch. Indeed, successive Chinese dynasties have attempted to pacify the Yellow River, often without success. Under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese would once more attempt a pacification effort, thus the focus of this drama series.

This drama starts off well, with a more realistic portrayal of the Qing Dynasty at work. The characters are not played by the so-called 'fresh meat' cadre that tend to plague everything else, and it is very refreshing. The Kangxi Emperor here is not an individual usually depicted as spending more time in his harem than governance, but an attentive ruler akin to his historical counterpart, who was a noted workaholic. Another highlight is the character of Empress Dowager Xiao Zhuang, the woman behind the man, who was a major influence in Kangxi's upbringing, and a key power-broker in the Dynasty, with a subdued performance from her actress to mirror her historical counterpart. Additionally, the trio of characters of Chen Huang, Jin Fu and Yu Zhen Jia all have strong performances from their respective actors.

Kangxi's endeavor to pacify the Yellow River was a major undertaking, and this drama did its best to display the efforts invested in regulating the water flow as well as the consequences when the efforts failed. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives are affected each time a major flood occurs, and the survivors would have to contend with a shortage of shelter, food, medical supplies and worst of all, plague. Given the logistics of the era, entire villages could be wiped out before even a glimmer of government aid. Also befitting the subject matter, the Yellow River itself is not depicted with any hint of glamour, but as what it is in real-life, a giant stream of disgusting brown.

But, while the focus of this drama should be Kangxi's attempt to pacify the Yellow River, during mid-series, this crucial undertaking was rendered as a backdrop for other major events that took place during his reign. Unfortunately, this is where this series became marred by current Chinese politics, where its heavy-handed inclusion of frustratingly cringy propaganda reflected a very obvious attempt to appease the current Chinese administration. Take Kangxi's stance against Tsarist Russia to retain Outer Manchuria for example, this entire event, which weighed so much during the Qing Dynasty was glossed over in a number of episodes with fleeting mentions as to not poke Russian sensitivities given the cordial relations enjoyed by both countries today. In comparison, the conquest of Taiwan became paramount, a symphony of tears and blood, and the desire to reunify all Chinese under one roof, Han or Manchu. Hilariously, the Kangxi era was when sharp ethnic divisions made its way into society, with the Han ethnic group gradually being sidelined. Moreover, neither the Zheng nor Qing regime ever managed to conquer Taiwan entirely. Zheng regime's Tungning Kingdom contained only a sliver of territories in the South West of Taiwan that accumulated to less than 10% of the entire island, while the Dutch continued to maintain their presence in the North for a time. The Qing fared better and managed to extend their influence to the north of the island, but never beyond the central mountain ranges. Yet, this drama pretended as if the entirety of Taiwan was already under Chinese (Zheng) occupation, which cannot be further from the truth. Historically, the Qing Dynasty also made two serious attempts to appease the Zheng regime by granting the latter with de-facto independence, and if it was not for Zheng Jing's greed in his desire to retain mainland territories, history could have been rewritten. But, for obvious reasons, this fact is never mentioned. Another issue with this drama, just as with all other Chinese (palace) dramas, is the portrayal of the bureaucracy almost entirely as a group of scheming and corrupt individuals save for some key-figures. This portrayal often makes me wonder if future showrunners would stop their overreliance on this trope to prolong a series, any series.

Overall, a well-acted and solid series fettered by unnecessary political propaganda, in addition to the overuse of similar tropes found on just about every historical drama out there. Nonetheless, it is still one of the better Qing-era dramas, and I do recommend it as long as one can see past its obvious flaws.