Chinese Drama: Real History & Songs

> *This continues from [The Real Yunli, Prince Guo]. The romance and the revenge in the drama are fiction — but underneath them stands a woman who truly lived.*  The Real Woman Behind Zhen Huan  Introduction *Empresses in the Palace* (甄嬛伝), which aired in China in 2011, set off a wave that swept across Asia. Its heroine, Zhen Huan, still holds a firm place in viewers’ hearts as a kind of ideal — a woman people return to and admire.…

Two of the most beloved Chinese historical dramas — Empresses in the Palace (The Legend of Zhen Huan) and The Legend of Mi Yue — open and close each episode with songs that are far more than background music. In Chinese drama, the theme is a distilled statement of the whole story, and these are some of the finest ever written. Below is a short guide to each: what the song means, and the centuries-old poetry hidden inside it. (Each…

> Part of the C-drama song cluster.  it explains the song’s meaning rather than reproducing the lyrics. The older poems quoted (the Sixth Dalai Lama’s couplets and a Japanese court poem) are centuries old and freely quotable. — The 2011 Chinese time-travel romance Scarlet Heart (步步惊心, Bù Bù Jīng Xīn; based on Tong Hua’s novel, and known in Japan as Kyūtei Jokan Jakukei) is carried by a duet that aches from its first note: “Yi Nian Zhi Zhuo” (一念执着, “one…

  *A note before we begin. The tragic love between Zhen Huan and Prince Guo shown here is the drama’s fiction. The real Yunli, Prince Guo, was a literary prince loyal to the Yongzheng Emperor, and his romance with Zhen Huan never happened in history (→ [The Real Yunli, Prince Guo]). This piece is about savoring the beauty of that* story*.*  “Hongyan Jie” — The Curse of a Beautiful Face A monument of Chinese palace drama: *Empresses in the Palace*…

If you’ve watched Empresses in the Palace (the 2011 Chinese palace drama also known as The Legend of Zhen Huan), you’ve heard “Feng Huang Yu Fei” (凤凰于飞) — the haunting closing theme sung by Liu Huan. To me, it isn’t a song about the throne at all. It’s the secret love song of Prince Guo and Zhen Huan. A note for first-time viewers Empresses in the Palace follows Zhen Huan, a young woman who enters the harem of the Yongzheng…

“Full Moon” (Mǎn Yuè): The Meaning Behind The Legend of Mi Yue’s Theme Song When the Chinese historical drama The Legend of Mi Yue (芈月传) begins, the first thing you hear is this song — “Full Moon” (满月, Mǎn Yuè). Over the sound of the guzheng (a Chinese zither) and the breathy paixiao (panpipes), a melody unfolds that holds sorrow and warmth at the same time. Even before the story starts, the music already tells you what kind of tale…

If you found your way here from the C-drama Legend of Mi Yue, you may already know the line “so-called the one I long for, on the far side of the water.” It comes from a poem some 2,500 years old — “Jianjia” (蒹葭, “The Reeds”), from the Shijing, or Book of Songs, China’s oldest collection of poetry. Its most famous opening lines are: 所謂伊人，在水一方 Suǒ wèi yīrén, zài shuǐ yī fāng “The one I long for is somewhere across…

If you’ve watched the Chinese historical drama Legend of Mi Yue (芈月传), you’ll remember the quiet, aching melody that closes each episode. That song is “Yiren Rumeng” (伊人如梦) — roughly, “the beloved, like a dream.” Sung by Huo Zun, composed by A Kun, with lyrics by He Qiling, it gently carries the turbulent life of Mi Yue, the woman who rose to become Queen Dowager Xuan of the state of Qin. But behind this modern song lies something far older.…