Empresses in the Palace

In 1722, Aisin-Gioro Yinzhen ascends to the throne of the Qing dynasty as the Yongzheng Emperor, thanks to the help of Nian Gengyao (Duke of the Second Class) and Longkodo (Duke of the First Class).

Nian Gengyao's younger sister, Consort Hua, serves as a concubine to the Emperor and wins his favor among the women in his harem. The Empress tolerates her rival in many things, allowing her to act in ways that would normally be seen as disrespectful.

Six months into his reign, the Empress Dowager encourages her son to expand his harem and add newer, younger women to serve him and increase the family line. Among the ones who are chosen for the selection is Zhen Huan. Others among the selected ladies are Shen Meizhuang (an old friend of Zhen Huan and highborn lady), An Lingrong (the meek daughter of a low-ranking province officer) and Xia Dongchun (an arrogant girl from a powerful family).

After much strife and hardship, Zhen Huan is visibly changing from the pure and innocent girl who entered the harem, to a cruel and heartbroken woman.

Along the way she experiences a miscarriage after being mistreated by Consort Hua. However, even though Consort Hua's mistreatment contributed to it, the main cause of the miscarriage is an ointment given to her by another concubine who Huan thought of as a sister, An Lingrong.

Eventually, Consort Hua is imprisoned in the Cold Palace for her many misdeeds, and is eventually given a death sentence and told to commit suicide. Although she refuses at first, Huan makes a visit and tells her that the Emperor has never loved her and only favoured her to please her brother, general Nian Gengyao. She also tells her the reason for her infertility was a special incense granted to her by the Emperor. In the end, Consort Hua commits suicide but refuses to do so in the way that was decreed.

The Empress plots against Zhen Huan, arranging things so that she ends up unknowingly wearing the late Empress Chunyuan's clothes. Yongzheng is enraged by this and puts her under house arrest, where she becomes disillusioned with him. At this time she is pregnant, and only days after she gives birth to a daughter she is transferred over to a nunnery.

While there she falls in love with the Emperor's younger brother, Yunli, Prince Guo of the First Rank. However, she eventually comes back to the Forbidden City as Consort Xi of the Niohuru clan, when she mistakenly believes that Yunli is dead. In the palace, she gives birth to twins, fathered by Yunli, but she convinces everybody that they are the Emperor's. She also adopts the fourth prince, who is looked down upon because he is the son of an ugly deceased palace maid.

Gradually she regains the love of the Emperor. She also erodes the power of the Empress and defeated An Lingrong. Finally, the Empress confesses her past crimes after Zhen Huan sets her up for inducing a miscarriage and admits that she was the one who killed the late Empress and caused several other miscarriages. However, she has been granted amnesty by the late Empress Dowager and is not discarded but imprisoned.

Towards the end, Yongzheng suspects Zhen Huan and Yunli of having an affair. He orders her to kill the prince to prove that she has no feelings towards him. Yunli sacrifices himself and although she does not intentionally kill him, he dies. Following this incident, the Emperor makes Zhen Huan the leader of the Imperial Harem, a post that carries supreme authority in the inner palace.

However, he grows suspicious regarding the paternity of his children with Zhen Huan. In order to save them, she plots against the Emperor with another concubine named Ye Lanyi, and eventually manages to kill him.

As the most senior widow, she plays a crucial role in the succession and installs her adopted son, the fourth prince, as the Qianlong Emperor, instead of her own biological son as she does not want him to be burdened by the role. She also makes her son the heir to Prince Guo, his biological father.

In the end, Niohuru Zhenhuan becomes the sad, wistful and lonely Empress Dowager.

·Publisher: Zheng Xiaolong, Zhong Yi, Dun Yong, Li Ruigang

·Producer: Cao Ping, Dun Qi, Xu Xiaoou

·Supervisor: Liu Zhiyuan, Wang Xiaodong, Zhang Suzhou, Chen Liang, Tang Rang, Zhang Ping, Li Junming, Zhang Ping, Zhao Hongmei, Chen Yaping

·Director: Zheng Xiaolong

·Deputy Director (Assistant): Dong Xiaoyun (Assistant Director), Liu Le (Assistant), Zheng Hanqing (Assistant)

·Script writter: Liu Lianzi, Wang Xiaoping

·Photographer: Li Zhiqiang, Li Qiang, Yu Fei, Zhang Yuanshou, Feng Yucheng, Wang Lindong, Zhao Hao, He Lichun, Chen Jianwei, Wei Liangliang, Li Meng, Yang Jinbo

·Music: Liu Huan, Meng Ke, Ding Ji, Zhao Liang, Song Lei, Wang Songyang, Wan Xiaoyuan, Li Wei, Sui Jing, Asian Philharmonic Orchestra, Huang Lijie

·Editor: Jin Ye, Jiang Jimei, cao translation

·Props: Wang Yue, Liu Yuanfei, Wang Guiqing, Wang Shili, Gao Guiyong, Liu Jiye, Zhang Yanlong, Fang Jie, LiBiao, Cao Yongli, Wang Yanhua, Su Huizhi, gao Yashi, Gao Xian, Young spring library, Lv Qiang, Zhang Fengjun

·Casting director: Li Yang

·Voice acting directors: Liao Jing and Zhang Wei

·Art designer: Chen Haozhong, Luan Hexin, Wang Yongkang, Yang Kun

·Modeling design: Chen Minzheng, Li Yuanyuan, Wang Yingkai, Kou Hainan, Yang Jia, Sun Yue, Guo Yang, Min Cong, Zhang Rongbin, Qin Yiping, Wen Lulu, Xing Lu

·Fashion designers: Chen Tongxun, Shi Dongling, Ji Doni, Zhu Yuxiang, Tang Biyun, Liu Xiaohu, Chen Guanglin, Guo Sheng, Shi Jianmin

·Visual effects: Beijing Huacai Shengtang Mathematics Technology Co., LTD

·Lighting: Li Tianlei, Zhang Xin 'an, Zhang Cun, Wang Zhonghai, Xu Wanfei, Zhang Feng, Lin Shucong, Wu Tianzhao, Zhang Yunling, Meng Xudong, Chen Guofu, Xu Bing, Zhang Jiayu

·Recording: An Wei, Liu Xinghe, Lin Xin

·Directors: Zhang Xiaonan, Zhang Xiaofeng, Wang Gaofeng, Wang Kuanxi, Guan Xiaoming, Wang Kuandong, Zhang Yongbo, Zhang Wei, Dai Zuyin, Dai Zuyuan, Li Shunyi, Li Weitan, Jia Xinquan, Liu Quanmin

·Script supervisor: Guo Guanhua, Yu Feng

·Issuing: Cheng Ting

[1]

1. The role of Aisin-Gioro Yunli depends on the details, so it is difficult to act. At the beginning of the filming, Li Dongxue could not find the feeling of the characters in the play, but it gradually became better under the guidance of the director and Sun Li.[2]
2. When Chen Sisi first joined the group, she was only set to play the role of a maid with a smaller role. It happened that the crew needed to interview another actor, so they wanted to find someone to interact with the actor and she went to help. The director saw her performance and changed her role to Cao Qinmo in the play.[3]
3. In order to show the lively expression of the Gūwalgiya Wenyuan in the camera, Tang Yixin often practiced her facial expressions and movements in front of the dressing mirror in private. She was making strict demands on herself.[4]
4. The crew prepared a total of 60 or 70 sets of clothes for Sun Li, and she tried all her costume from 10:00 am to midnight. The director and Sun Li bth tired on the night after the fitting.[5]
5. Zhang Xiaolong, the actor of Wen Shichu in the play, is the etiquette instructor of the Central Academy of Drama. In addition to the shooting tasks, he is also responsible for the details of the etiquette, music, and dance choreography of the play.
6. The bed in the palace is very hard because it is made of wood. There is a layer of quilt on the wood and very hard to sit on.[6]

The drama elicits a controversial debate that divided two sides. People's Daily pointed out that in the series, it appears good characters cannot win against evil characters unless they stoop to their level of cunning. Furthermore, when evaluating the production of historical themes, the most significant critique standard should focus on the values standard instead of authenticity standard. Social media is able to shape people's mind in visible and invisible ways, and incorrect values would lead the audience to the survival of the incorrect ideas into real life. Lots of people said Empresses i the Palace is close to reality because life is only by learning bad to survive. Not to mention whether this understanding of life is too narrow and extreme, taking a step back, literary and artistic works should also be higher than reality rather than simply copying reality. When evaluating historical works, the most important criterion is not only the criterion of authenticity, but the criterion of values. Incorrect values can lead audiences to bring incorrect survival ideas into real lifel.[7]

The impact of the TV show Empresses in the Palace after it was released in 2011 has been phenomenal: until 2022, eleven years later, people on the internet and social media platforms such as Douyin could still gain tons of attention just by analyzing the scenes, the plots, even just the conversations that are related to Empresses in the Palace.

Empresses in the Palace even affects how people talk nowadays. At first, people online started making memes out of the show, using the characters' lines and scenes; gradually, people started talking to each other using lines in this TV show in their daily life.

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Before Empresses in the Palace, most historical TV shows, such as Palace(宫锁心玉), Scarlet Heart(步步惊心) focused solely on the love story between the main female character and the Emperor. However, Empresses in the Palace depicted a totally different version of a historical TV show: it concentrated on the growth of Zhen Huan, both physically and mentally. It presents us how Zhen Huan changed from an innocent girl who dreams of her Mr. Right to a sophisticated harem who struggles to survive and tear down others' schemes against her every day.

Empresses in the Palace has shown us a far more realistic story how how women survive in the Palace in the history, and it has inspired many other TV shows that came out later, such as, The Legend of Mi Yue(芈月传), The Story of Chu Qiao(楚乔传), and The Story of Minglan(知否，知否，应是绿肥红瘦), to focus on the growth and success of the main female character instead of her love story only.

While the audience are attracted to the plots of Empresses in the Palace, they are also impressed of the crafts and accessories created by Chinese traditional skills. The Filigree Inlaid Metal Art (花丝镶嵌) is one of the skills that benefited the most from Empresses in the Palace[8].

Filigree Inlaid Metal Art 花丝镶嵌

Filigree Inlaid Metal Art is an accessory craft skill that could be oriented back to the Spring and Autumn Period from 770-256 BC that uses gold, silver, and metal as the based; pearls, and gems on top. In the past, this skill was mainly used to serve accessories for the royals because of its preciousness of the materials used and its delicacy.

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The drama was first aired in China in 2011 on Shaoxing News, a regional channel. As it gained popularity there it was picked up by national TV channels and first aired nationwide in 2012.

In April 2015, the series was added to US region of Netflix and has since been taken off and put on Amazon Prime Video. It was edited down to six episodes, each with a ninety-minute duration. The original audio was kept intact with the addition of closed captions in English.[16]

In Thailand, the series was first aired in 2016 on Channel 7[17] and in 2018 on One31 and LINE TV.

The series was uploaded on YouTube by LeTV in 2018.