Story of Kunning Palace
Story of Kunning Palace is a 38-episode Chinese historical romance drama from iQIYI. It aired from November 7, 2023 to November 30, 2023, and all episodes are out. In the US it streams officially on iQIYI (VIP, episodes 1-5 free), checked October 25, 2026. It is adapted from the novel A Lady's Tranquility by Shi Jing.
Where to watch Story of Kunning Palace
Official services only, checked by hand for your country. Free options come first.
Watching from the US? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from the UK? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from Canada? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from Australia? Did iQIYI work for you?
We check the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Showing United States.
Is it worth watching?
Final verdict coming soon. It goes up once our editor has seen the ending. How we rate
Viewers who like rebirth plots, morally gray male leads and palace politics with a romance at the center
The story, without spoilers
What to Expect
We haven't watched this one. This section is based on the official episode synopses, the production's own descriptions and Chinese coverage, and we'll replace it with a verdict once we have one.
This is a rebirth story with a heroine who already knows how the plot goes and keeps trying to steer around it. Xuening is not a saint: she was selfish and ruthless in her first life, and the drama's interest is in watching her try to do better while the same people and pressures close in. The first third is set largely in the palace study hall, where she is chosen as a companion for the princess and has to sit through lessons with Xie Wei, the man she fears most. Chinese coverage describes these classroom scenes as the source of much of the drama's chemistry.
The second half moves into court politics: a powerful clan's grip on the throne, a frontier family framed for treason, a princess sent away to marry for peace, and a twenty-year-old massacre that Xie Wei knows more about than he lets on. Viewers who prefer romance said online that the political plotting gets dense, and the last two episodes pack in a great deal.
The male lead is the main talking point. Xie Wei is gentle in public and frightening in private, and the drama plays up the menace. Many viewers loved the dynamic; others rooted for Zhang Zhe, the upright official who is Xuening's other great tie, and the "Xie Wei or Zhang Zhe" argument ran all through the broadcast. Zhang Linghe's performance was widely praised in Chinese coverage.
Content notes: there is violence, poisoning, torture, a suicide in the backstory, a character's drug dependence, and a scene in which the male lead forces a kiss on the heroine.
The drama was a big hit for iQIYI. The Paper reported that its iQIYI heat index passed 10,000, that it led the Maoyan web-drama heat chart for three straight weeks, and that it topped 100 million valid plays in a single day, one of only three 2023 dramas to do so according to the same report. Its Weibo topic passed 9.8 billion reads. It won Most Loved Drama at iQIYI's Scream Night in late 2023. We couldn't find a sourced Douban score.
The Story
In her first life, Jiang Xuening wanted power and got it. She schemed her way into the palace and became empress, and then lost everything when the court's most trusted scholar, Xie Wei, led a coup against the throne. She died in Kunning Palace, the empress's residence, having asked only that he spare one honest official. Then she wakes up eighteen years old again, before any of it has happened. This time she wants to stay out of the palace, protect the people she let down and keep well away from Xie Wei. Unfortunately, he is about to become her teacher.
Story of Kunning Palace (宁安如梦) is a 38-episode iQIYI drama starring Bai Lu and Zhang Linghe, with Wang Xingyue and Zhou Junwei in the main supporting roles. It is adapted from Kun Ning (坤宁), a JJWXC novel by Shi Jing (时镜). It premiered in China in November 2023 after a postponement earlier that year, and it streamed at the same time on iQIYI International.
Release Notes
Story of Kunning Palace was first scheduled to premiere on May 19, 2023, but iQIYI postponed it the same day for what it called technical reasons. Some international outlets linked the delay to speculation about a cast member; nothing was confirmed. It premiered on iQIYI on November 7, 2023. Members could watch ahead of free viewers: English-language listings give November 25 as the last members' episode, while The Paper and Chinese Wikipedia date the finale to November 30. iQIYI International streamed it at the same time worldwide.
Outside mainland China, it was released in Hong Kong on myTV SUPER from November 8, 2023, and TVB Jade later aired a 30-episode Cantonese edit called Ming Zhuan Huang Hou (命转皇后) in spring 2024. It has also been broadcast in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
The drama was directed by Zhu Ruibin (朱锐斌) and filmed at Hengdian World Studios from May to September 2022. The opening theme, "With Love" (与爱), is sung by Jane Zhang, and Zhou Shen sings the ending theme, "Lending Dream" (借梦). Bai Lu and Zhou Junwei each sing an insert song.
There is no second season, and iQIYI has not announced one.
Does Story of Kunning Palace have a happy ending?
Nothing opens until you ask. The first step shows only the type of ending; the details come after.
Happy, sad or open?Shows only the type of ending, nothing about what happens.Show ending typeHide
We have not finished this one ourselves; this is based on outside sources. The drama changes how the novel ends.
In Brief
Ending spoilerShow the ending in brief
Story of Kunning Palace has a happy ending. Xie Wei puts down a rebellion by the Xue clan and is badly wounded in the final confrontation. Xuening promises to marry him if he wakes, and he does. The epilogue shows them married with two children. Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin stay single and remain close friends. A modern frame story closes the series.
Full Ending Explained
Full spoilersShow the full ending
This account comes from the official episode synopses for episodes 37 and 38 and Chinese coverage, not from watching.
Xie Wei's secret. Xie Wei is really Xue Dingfei (薛定非), son of Xue Yuan, Duke of Dingguo. Twenty years earlier, the rebel Prince Pingnan attacked Jinling and slaughtered a group of children taken hostage in place of the crown prince. Xie Wei was the only survivor. He has spent his life since plotting against those responsible, and he has also been quietly working with rebels. Xuening begins to piece this together in episode 32, during a journey to bring Princess Shen Zhiyi home from her foreign marriage.
The Xue rebellion. In episode 37 the Xue clan makes its move. Xue Shu has been secretly poisoning the Emperor. Zhou Yinzhi, who has sided with the Xues, captures and tortures You Fangyin. Xie Wei, Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin come back to the capital after escorting Shen Zhiyi home and find the palace locked down. Xue Yuan produces an edict naming Shen Jie, the Prince of Linzi, as heir. You Fangyin is stabbed while holding Zhou Yinzhi back, and she dies in Xuening's arms.
The last stand. In episode 38, Lü Xian, who loved You Fangyin, kills Zhou Yinzhi. Zhang Zhe hands Xie Wei the Emperor's token to call in the Yan family's army, and Yan Lin arrives to arrest Xue Yuan and Xue Ye. The synopses are inconsistent about the Emperor: one passage says Xue Shu strangles him, another that he had known of the plot and set a trap with Xie Wei. Either way, he does not survive the end of the series.
Father and son. Xie Wei tells the court what really happened twenty years ago: Xue Yuan ignored the battle plans, which provoked Prince Pingnan's massacre. He cuts his own hand as a symbolic repayment of his debt to his father. Xue Yuan shoots an arrow at him, and Xie Wei's guard Daoqin kills Xue Yuan. Xie Wei collapses, wounded, and Xuening promises to marry him if he wakes. He wakes.
Aftermath. The Empress Dowager is sent away to keep watch over an imperial tomb, Xue Shu is given poisoned wine, and others are exiled. The young son of one of the Emperor's consorts takes the throne, with Xie Wei as regent.
Epilogue. Xie Wei and Xuening are married with two children, Xie Tian and Xie Yun. At New Year, Shen Zhiyi, Yan Lin and Zhang Zhe visit. Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin have not married. In a final modern-day frame, an author named Jiang Ning finishes writing the story, signs a publishing deal and meets an editor called Xie Juan, played by Zhang Linghe, who seems strangely familiar.
Change what opens automatically in .
Did you finish it?
Anonymous. One vote per device. We never show a score from these.
Finished Story of Kunning Palace? Watch next
Picked by our editors for the same feel. Finished dramas first.
Love Between Fairy and DevilAll 36 episodes outHappy EndingHappy EndingA small orchid spirit and a sealed demon lord are bound by a curse that shares their pain and feelings, in a brisk 36-episode xianxia romance.
iQIYIiQIYIiQIYIiQIYI
The Story of Ming LanAll 73 episodes outHappy EndingHappy EndingA concubine's clever daughter grows up hiding her wits in a Song dynasty official's household, then marries a notorious marquis, over 73 episodes.
VikiVikiVikiViki
Story of Yanxi PalaceAll 70 episodes outBittersweetBittersweetA palace maid enters the Forbidden City to learn what happened to her sister, and fights back against every consort and eunuch in her way.
Prime VideoVikiVikiViki
Cast and characters
The novel behind it
The drama adapts Kun Ning (坤宁) by Shi Jing (时镜), serialized on JJWXC; English Wikipedia gives the novel's English name as A Lady's Tranquility. As far as we know, there is no official English translation. Shi Jing is a well-known JJWXC author whose novels lean on court politics and sharp, flawed heroines.
Differences from the Novel
Ending spoilerShow the differences
Chinese coverage, mainly a widely shared NetEase article from November 2023, describes the drama as softening Xie Wei considerably:
- A darker Xie Wei. In the novel he is far more controlling and violent. Coverage says he lets the rebels plunder the capital, kills his own father, manipulates the Empress Dowager and the Emperor into turning on each other, and executes the Emperor in front of the princess. The drama keeps him gentle with Xuening and moves the worst acts to other characters.
- Yan Lin's first life. In the novel's first timeline, Yan Lin joins Xie Wei's rebellion and seizes Xuening after the palace falls. The drama keeps him loyal and kind.
- The modern frame. The writer Jiang Ning and the editor Xie Juan are the drama's invention.
- Zhang Zhe. The drama gives his storyline a lot of weight, which helped fuel the debate over which man Xuening belongs with.
Novel Ending
Full spoilersShow how the novel ends
Chinese coverage indicates that the novel also ends with Xuening and Xie Wei together, but by a darker road, with Xie Wei taking revenge on the Xue family and the throne more openly than in the drama. We haven't confirmed the details of the novel's last chapters or its epilogues, and we'll update this section once we have.
- Original title
- 坤宁 · A Lady's Tranquility
- Author
- Shi Jing 时镜
- First published
- JJWXC
- In English
- No official translation that we know of
Words and customs you'll hear
How an empress, consort, or princess refers to herself in Chinese historical dramas: a formal "I" that announces her rank.
Full explanationNiangniang娘娘 · niáng niangA respectful form of address for an empress or high-ranking consort, used by servants, officials, and lower-ranking women.
Full explanationShizun师尊 · shī zūnA reverent way to address one's master or teacher in xianxia and cultivation stories; more formal than the everyday shifu.
Full explanationKunning Palace
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Kunning Palace (坤宁宫) was the empress's residence in the Forbidden City, so the name itself means "the empress's palace." The drama's Chinese title, Ning An Ru Meng, works in the first characters of the heroine's and hero's names and means roughly "peace, as if in a dream."
Imperial tutors and study companions
Princesses and princes were taught by senior scholars, and daughters of officials could be chosen as study companions. That's how Xuening ends up in Xie Wei's classroom. A teacher in this world commands lifelong respect, which is why their relationship feels transgressive to the people around them. Our glossary entry on shizun covers the teacher-student bond in xianxia; it is milder here, but the same idea of a debt to one's teacher applies.
Princesses sent to marry abroad
Heqin (和亲), "peace through marriage," was the practice of sending a princess to marry a foreign ruler to secure a truce. It was real Chinese history from the Han dynasty onward. Shen Zhiyi's fate draws on it, and bringing her back home becomes a plot of its own.
Coming-of-age ceremonies
Yan Lin's ceremony is a guanli (冠礼), the capping rite that marked a young man's adulthood at about twenty. It was a major family event, so the disaster that strikes his family on that day is meant as a public humiliation as well as a political one.
Story of Kunning Palace FAQ
How many episodes does Story of Kunning Palace have?
Story of Kunning Palace has 38 episodes, each about 45 minutes long. All of them are out: it premiered on iQIYI in China on November 7, 2023, and finished later that month. iQIYI International lists the full 38 episodes. A shorter 30-episode Cantonese edit aired on TVB in Hong Kong.
Where can I watch Story of Kunning Palace?
Outside China, it streams on iQIYI International (the iQ.com app and site), which simulcast it in 2023 and lists all 38 episodes with English subtitles. From the US on October 25, 2026, episodes 1 to 5 were free and the rest needed VIP. We found no Netflix or Viki release.
Is there a season 2 of Story of Kunning Palace?
No. The drama finishes its story in 38 episodes, and iQIYI hasn't announced a sequel. The leads have moved on to other projects. Rumors of a second season circulate online from time to time, but none have been confirmed by the platform or the production.
Does Story of Kunning Palace have a happy ending?
SpoilerShow the answer
Minor spoilerReveal whether it ends happily
Yes. Xie Wei survives the final battle against the Xue clan, Xuening agrees to marry him, and the epilogue shows them married with two children. The finale does take one beloved supporting character, and fans of Zhang Zhe tend to find his ending bittersweet.
Who does Jiang Xuening end up with?
SpoilerShow the answer
Ending spoilerReveal who she chooses
Xie Wei. After he is wounded in the last episode, she promises to marry him if he wakes, and the epilogue shows them married with a son and a daughter. Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin remain her close friends and are still unmarried when they visit at New Year.
What happens to You Fangyin?
SpoilerShow the answer
Ending spoilerReveal You Fangyin's fate
You Fangyin dies in episode 37. Zhou Yinzhi, who has sided with the Xue clan's rebellion, captures and tortures her, and she is stabbed while trying to stop him. She dies in Xuening's arms. In the final episode Lü Xian, who loved her, kills Zhou Yinzhi.
Is Story of Kunning Palace based on a novel?
Yes. It's based on Kun Ning (坤宁) by Shi Jing, a JJWXC novel sometimes called A Lady's Tranquility in English. The drama keeps the rebirth plot and the main couple but makes Xie Wei much gentler and adds a modern frame story. Our novel section covers the changes.
Who sings the Story of Kunning Palace theme song?
The opening theme, "With Love" (与爱), is sung by Jane Zhang, and the ending theme, "Lending Dream" (借梦), is sung by Zhou Shen. The soundtrack also includes "Snowy Season" (雪季), sung by lead actress Bai Lu, and "Like a Dream" (如梦一场) by Zhou Junwei, who plays Yan Lin.
Still have a question about Story of Kunning Palace?
Ask us anything: an episode, a character, where to watch it. We answer the common ones on this page.
If you liked Story of Kunning Palace
More historical romance our editors rate.
