Story of Yanxi Palace

We haven't watched this one. This section is based on published synopses, encyclopedia entries and English and Chinese coverage, and we'll replace it with a verdict once we have one.

Story of Yanxi Palace is a palace drama that moves fast. Most entries in the genre follow a patient heroine who suffers for dozens of episodes before getting even. Coverage of Yanxi Palace keeps making the same point: Yingluo doesn't wait. When someone sets a trap for her, she finds it, and she usually turns it back on whoever set it within an episode or two. Many viewers found that refreshing, and it is the main reason the drama is often recommended to people new to Chinese palace dramas.

Pacing. With 70 episodes, it is long, but viewers rarely describe it as slow. The story falls roughly into thirds: Yingluo's years as a maid in the embroidery workshop and the empress's palace; a darker middle stretch after the empress's household falls apart; and Yingluo's rise as a consort and the fight for control of the harem.

What viewers praised. The heroine. The romance between Yingluo and Fuheng, which many fans prefer to her relationship with the emperor. The look of the drama, with its muted color palette and detailed costumes and headdresses, many modeled on objects in the Palace Museum collection and made with traditional crafts like silk velvet flowers and kingfisher-feather inlay. Qin Lan's performance as Empress Fuca and Charmaine Sheh's as Consort Xian.

What some viewers disliked. Some found Yingluo too lucky and too often right. Historians and critics pointed out that the drama plays freely with real history, from dates to characters' fates. Viewers who fell for Fuheng were often unhappy with how his story goes. A few complained that the second half repeats the harem-trap formula.

Content notes. Expect poisoning, beatings and harsh punishments of servants, miscarriages, the deaths of children, suicide and the deaths of several major characters. There is a sexual assault in the backstory. Nothing is graphic by Western standards.

Reception. Story of Yanxi Palace was a phenomenon in 2018. iQIYI reported 530 million views in a single day, and Chinese coverage put total views on the platform above 15 billion by the end of the year. Google reported it as the most-searched TV show in the world in 2018, according to the BBC and NME. It was distributed to more than 70 markets. On Douban, a 2018 snapshot showed a score around 7, lower than its popularity, because many viewers there disliked its liberties with history.

A rival take on the same court. Later that summer, Tencent released Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, which covers many of the same real people from the other side: there, the future Step-Empress Nara is the heroine and Lady Wei is a schemer. Chinese viewers spent much of 2018 comparing the two, and if you finish one, the other shows how differently the same history can be told.

Wei Yingluo is a young embroiderer who joins the Forbidden City as a palace maid in 1700s Beijing, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. She hasn't come for a career. Her older sister died in the palace, and Yingluo wants to know who was responsible. She is clever, blunt and fearless, which makes her enemies fast, and instead of putting up with bullying from senior maids, eunuchs and consorts, she hits back, usually the same day. Her one protector is the gentle Empress Fuca, whose younger brother, the guard officer Fuheng, falls for her. Story of Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略) is a 70-episode drama starring Wu Jinyan, Nie Yuan, Qin Lan, Xu Kai and Charmaine Sheh, created by producer Yu Zheng and released by iQIYI in 2018. It is an original screenplay loosely based on real figures from Qianlong's court. Outside China it streams on Viki, iQIYI's international service and, in the US, Prime Video.

The title refers to the Yanxi Palace, one of the residences of the imperial harem in the Forbidden City, and the Chinese name translates roughly as "strategy for Yanxi Palace."

Story of Yanxi Palace premiered on iQIYI on July 19, 2018, releasing two episodes per update until August 26, 2018. TVB in Hong Kong simulcast it in Mandarin from the same day and began a Cantonese-dubbed version in August. It later aired on Zhejiang TV from September 2018 and on Dragon TV from November 2018.

It was created by producer Yu Zheng, written by Zhou Mo, and directed by Hui Kaidong and Wen Deguang, and was filmed at Hengdian World Studios. English Wikipedia describes it as an original screenplay. Some listings, including Prime Video's, say it was adapted from a novel, and one Chinese source credits a novel with the same title; we haven't been able to confirm a novel source.

In January 2019, after a Beijing Daily commentary criticized palace dramas for promoting luxury and scheming, Story of Yanxi Palace and the rival Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace were pulled from Chinese TV schedules. The drama remained on iQIYI.

Internationally it was sold to more than 70 markets. Outside China it streams on Viki and on iQIYI's international service, and in the US it is also on Prime Video. It isn't on Netflix in the US as far as we can tell, but Netflix released a six-episode spin-off, Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures, on December 31, 2019. The drama won Best Telenovela/Soap at the Asian Academy Creative Awards, and Wu Jinyan won Best Actress in an Ancient Drama at the 24th Huading Awards.

The soundtrack EP was released on July 23, 2018. "Willows of the Palace" by Li Chunai is one of its best-known songs.