Series / Singing All Along

"If I were to be an official, I want to be zhijinyu ^note 执金吾; official in charge of security of the capital; if I were to marry, I want to marry Yin Lihua."

—Liu Xiu, as recorded in Book of the Later Han

Singing All Along (Chinese: 秀丽江山之长歌行, Xiu Li Jiang Shan Zhi Chang Ge Xing) is a Chinese TV series adaptation of a web novel "Beauty Country" (Chinese: 秀丽江山, Xiu Li Jiang Shan). It starred Ruby Lin as Yin Lihua, the second empress and first empress dowager of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Yuan Hong as Liu Xiu, Emperor Guang Wu and founder of said dynasty. The series is set during the final years of the chaotic Xin Dynasty in Chinese history. The only emperor of the dynasty, Wang Mang, was incompetent in his rule and around the 20s C.E., peasant rebellions broke out all over China. The series dramatizes the lives of Lihua and Liu Xiu, as Liu seeks first to ensure the survival of his clan (descendants of the Liu-Han dynasty) and then later, to unify China and re-establish the empire of his ancestors. Along the way, his love and relationship with Lihua would be tested as war and rivalries threatened not only their bond, but very often their lives as well.

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This series contains examples of:

• Adapted Out: Historically, Liu Xiu's mother Lady Fan had brothers. One of them was Fan Hong, who was later noted for his humility and caution even as a relative of the emperor. ^note Early in Liu Yan's uprising, when his troops besieged Hu Yang, the defenders held Fan's family as hostages and forced him to negotiate with Liu. Instead of persuading Liu to lift the siege, Fan joined his nephew. Thanks to both Fan's reputation and the high probability of the Han troops prevailing, Fan's family was not harmed.
• Altar Diplomacy: Liu Xiu's marriage with Lady Guo, which netted him a non-aggression pact from Liu Yang. ^note As noted below, the marriage historically got him a proper alliance.
• Artistic License – History: Given that it is based on a web novel rather than actual history, this is a given.
  • In-series, Lihua is portrayed as highly skilled in martial arts and military theory, and is a gadgeteer as well. Historically, she had none of these attributes. Also historically, her mother was Lady Deng, who's part of Deng Yu's clan, and there were no records indicating that she ever knew (or met) Liu Xuan; for much of Liu Xiu's early career, she remained at home.
  • Historically, Yin Shi had been one of the earliest supporters of the Liu brothers, and led about a thousand men to join them.
  • Historically, when Zhai Yi rose in rebellion together with Liu Xin against Wang Mang (around 7 C.E.), Wang Mang had not yet crowned himself emperor. ^note However, he had appointed himself as "Jia" Emperor (假皇帝; "jia" meaning "borrowed" here rather than "false"), essentially "Acting Emperor" which is how The Other Wiki translates it. Wang would only crown himself emperor about 2 years after this rebellion (9 C.E.). In addition, by the time this rebellion took place, Liu Xiu's father Liu Qin had been dead for about 4 years.
  • Historically, there were no records indicating that Liu Xiu ever met Lady Guo before his trip to Hebei. Also, even after deposing her as empress ^note in 41 C.E., long after the empire has been firmly established Liu Xiu continued to bestow her family honors as would otherwise befit an empress' family. The only non-empress treatment she received were her burial honors. While her son the crown prince did offer his resignation, Liu Xiu only accepted this resignation in 43 C.E., 2 years after Guo was deposed. ^note Guo herself passed away in 52 C.E., 2 years after her mother and more than a decade after losing the title of empress; her son Liu Qiang passed away in 58 C.E., during his brother's reign.
  • Historically, Liu Yang did send troops to assist Liu Xiu after the marriage-alliance with Lady Guo was established. In addition, Guo Kuang was Lady Guo's younger brother, and a careful person; he lived till Emperor Ming's era. ^note Emperor Ming (Lihua's eldest son) accorded Guo Kuang the same respect as his uncles Yin Shi and Yin Jiu.
  • While it was historically accurate that Liu Xiu returned home to Chong Ling months before Lihua's eldest son (the future Emperor Ming) was born ^note The visit was during the tenth lunar month of 27 C.E.; Emperor Ming was born on the fifth lunar month of 28 C.E., his order that Chong Ling be exempted from all taxation only came later ^note in the first lunar month of 30 C.E. .
  • Historically, Empress Guo was deposed merely due to her grumblings of Liu Xiu's favouritism towards Lihua. Fan Ye, compiler of the Book of the Later Han and many other historians protested her innocence in the whole affair. Indeed, there were no records of the Yin and Guo clans fighting each other over court politics.^note Some modern historians argue that Lady Guo was made the scapegoat for the ill effects caused by the implementation of the duotian system, some of which were featured in-series. Be that as it may, Fan Ye further commented that on balance, Liu Xiu did handle the whole affair adequately, given that he didn't further punish Lady Guo or her clan, and indeed compensated them in other ways. Even the former crown prince Liu Qiang was allowed to conduct ceremonies which were exclusively reserved for emperors, and his fiefdom was enlarged on Liu Xiu's orders.
  • Historically, very little was known about Lady Xu personally. She was mentioned in sources largely due to her son Liu Ying, who was given the title Prince of Chu.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Juggling the Yin and Guo clans formed the last arc of the series, after the Eastern Han had been firmly established. ^note Historically, the Eastern Han was notorious for the interference of relatives of the imperial harem (waiqi) in court politics. However, this began with Emperor Zhang, Liu Xiu's grandson.
• Doomed by Canon: Since apart from Lihua and the Guo clan, the other characters' characterizations largely follow their historical counterparts', knowing the history of the era can spoil the story to a large degree.
• Fire-Forged Friends: For Liu Xiu, Deng Yu, Feng Yi, Ma Wu, Wu Han and many others. ^note In 60 C.E., Liu Xiu's son and successor Emperor Ming hung Deng's portrait, along with the portraits of Feng, Ma, Wu and others who had helped establish the Eastern Han, in Yuntai (the South Palace tower of the imperial capital Luoyang). These men were known as the 28 Generals of Yuntai. Deng was ranked first among the 28, Wu second, Feng 7th and Ma 15th; while Li Tong's and Wang Chang's portraits also made it into Yuntai, they and 2 others were not counted as part of the 28. In addition, unusual for founding emperors, Liu Xiu did not pull off You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on these men.
• General Failure: Deng Yu against the Red Eyebrows (Chimei) in the Chang'an/western frontline. ^note Historically, this was Deng's greatest defeat in his entire career. Modern historians have offered several explanations for this defeat, including Deng's age (as mentioned in-series, he was not yet 25 at this moment).
• The Ghost: Many of Liu Xiu's rival emperors or warlords were mentioned, but not seen in-series. They include Wei Xiao, Gongsun Shu and Liu Penzi. Wang Mang himself barely escaped this as he did appear in one scene ordering the massing of troops to attack Kunyang.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Liu Xuan, at least as compared to traditional historians who wrote him off as an incompetent pretender. ^note The series adopts his appraisal among modern historians: that he had some ability, but made too many mistakes during his brief reign as emperor, which allowed his rivals (including Liu Xiu) to eventually defeat him.
• Historical In-Joke: During the scene where Liu Xiu was explaining his decision to depose Lady Guo as Empress, he mentioned that "being an emperor is not the same as being a commoner". Historically, he did use this expression, but in a wholly different context. ^note His sister, Princess Huyang, had just mocked him for not being able to enforce his will upon a magistrate as emperor, even though as a commoner, he had harbored fugitives and death-row criminals, and officials did not dare to search his home for them. Said magistrate was Dong Xuan, who had executed Princess Huyang's servant in public as punishment for murder. Princess Huyang then went to Liu Xiu. To cut a long story short, Princess Huyang went away empty-handed, hence her mocking of her brother.
  • Lihua's study in the palace (Yuntai) bears the same name as the one where historically, her eldest son Emperor Ming would hang the portraits of men who rendered great service to the foundation of the Eastern Han.
  • Wu Han's comment on "having the body wrapped in horse leather" ("ma ge guo shi") historically came from Ma Yuan, another of Liu Xiu's generals.
  • Historically, Liu Xiu did kill Wei Xiao's son who was held hostage in Luoyang. However, this was done only after Wei surrendered to Gongsun Shu and was made a vassal king of Gongsun's Chengjia regime.
  • The reference to prophecies before Liu Xiu's expedition against Wei Xiao is a subtle one to Liu Xiu's historical reputation of believing in them, especially as he got older.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Liu Yang and Guo Kuang. See Artistic License – History for details.
• I Have Many Names: Many characters were known by their courtesy names or titles. E.g., Wenshu for Liu Xiu. ^note The "shu" in his courtesy name indicates his position as the third son of his father's main wife; similarly, the "bo" in "Bosheng" indicates that Liu Yan is the eldest son of his father's main wife. For completion's sake, the eldest son of a man's concubine sometimes have the character "meng" as indication; examples include Cao Cao (Mengde) and Ma Chao (Mengqi). During the latter part of his career under Liu Xuan, he was also known as "Prince of Xiao". After his ascension, Liu Xiu is also known as Emperor Jian Wu, after his era name. ^note "Guang Wu", the name he is best known by as emperor, is his posthumous name. Also, his temple name is "Shizu". However, Han emperors were generally not known by their temple names, except for Liu Bang; "Gaozu" is an amalgamation of his posthumous name "Gao Huangdi" and temple name "Taizu".
• Impoverished Patrician: Liu Xiu's branch of the clan. ^note Historically, comparing the previous 3 generations, Liu Xiu's father was a county magistrate, his grandfather a higher ranked military officer, and his great-grandfather the magistrate of a prefecture/commandery. In short, the family fortunes had been declining every generation.
• Killed Offscreen: Li Yi and Feng Yi, among others.
• Lonely at the Top: Even with Lihua by his side, Liu Xiu acutely felt this in his latter years as many of his comrades, including Feng Yi, Wu Han and Yin Xing, had passed away before him.
• Magnetic Hero: Liu Xiu, with many former enemies/officials from opposing regimes defecting to him as they deemed him a worthy master to serve. ^note Historically, his ability to treat his men with great sincerity gave rise to a Chinese idiom, "to place one's heart in the abdomens of others" (推心置腹 "tui xin zhi fu").
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Liu Xiu sending Wu Han to Nan Yang, which stirred Deng Feng to rebel. ^note Historically, Wu's tolerance of his troops' pillaging and looting (and not just in this battle) was a black mark on his career.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: According to historical records, during the Battle of Little Chang'an, the battlefield was shrouded in thick fog. Leaving the fog out made filming a lot easier.
• Punny Title: The original Chinese title contains the characters "Xiu" and "Li", which of course are part of Liu Xiu's and Lihua's names.
• Puppet King: Liu Xuan as Emperor Gengshi, who was constantly under the thumb of the Lulin generals who nominated him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Liu Xiu is the Blue to his brother Liu Yan's Red. Truth in Television.
• Roman à Clef: The names of the Guo siblings have been changed. ^note Historically, Lady Guo's name is recorded as "Shengtong" and her younger brother's as "Kuang".
• Rule of Drama: Historically, Yin Xing and Liu Heng did die young, but historical records did not treat their deaths as suspicious. ^note For Liu Heng, his age at death was not recorded, only that he was too young to have children or be granted the title of "prince". Similarly, while Lihua's mother and brother were indeed killed by bandits, their deaths were not treated as suspicious. ^note Historically, this incident did greatly increase tensions between Liu Xiu and Lady Guo, as in his edict to comfort Lihua over the misfortune, Liu Xiu made it abundantly clear that Lihua was the first choice as Empress, and that Lady Guo received the title only because Lihua had firmly declined.
• Shown Their Work: The show included many stories and events recorded in the Book of the Later Han and Han Records from (the) Eastern Lodge (Dong Guan Han Ji).^note In Chinese historiography, Records was the go-to text for the history of this era before the compilation of Book. Interestingly, Deng Yu's granddaughter Deng Sui greatly assisted in the compilation of Records during her time as empress dowager.
  • The edict Liu Xiu wrote to Dou Rong in-series is lifted word-for-word from the relevant section of Zizhi Tong Jian.
• Time Skip: The last event depicted in-series was the fengshan ceremony, which took place in 56 C.E. (also the year before Liu Xiu's death), 9 years after Yin Xing's death, which took place in 47 C.E..
• Viewers Are Geniuses: In-series, poems are often used by characters to express their inner feelings and and their meanings were often not revealed. E.g. the poem quoted by Liu Xiu and Lihua during their discussion on her stay in the palace is taken from The Book of Songs. ^note It's a lament between a couple on how they were able to share woe but not weal together. Roughly translated, the lines meant: "Back then, as you were worried and frightened, only I helped to share the burden. Now that we're safe and wealthy, you're abandoning me." Historically, this poem was also quoted by Liu Xiu in his edict to comfort Lihua after her mother and brother were killed by bandits.
  • Similarly, during the scene where Liu Xiu compared Lady Guo to Lv Zhi and Huo Chengjun, the significance of the 2 women were also not explained in-series. ^note Lv was the wife of Han Gaozu Liu Bang, who as empress dowager dominated politics between Liu Bang's death and her own. Lv also had Lady Qi (a favourite concubine of Liu Bang) brutally tortured and executed, and poisoned Qi's only son Liu Ruyi. Chengjun was the daughter of Huo Guang, the regent of Emperor Zhao and whom continued to exercise influence into Emperor Xuan's (Emperor Zhao's successor) reign. More insidiously, Chengjun's mother had poisoned Xu Pingjun, Emperor Xuan's first empress, so that Chengjun could become empress. After Huo Guang's death, Emperor Xuan eventually executed all of his relatives, and Chengjun committed suicide when she received news that she was to be exiled to an even more remote location than her present one. Another VaG point is that historically, Liu Xiu did compare Lady Guo to the two women in his edict which deposed her as empress.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: Chronologically, the scene where Liu Xiu was greatly ill took place around the mid 40s C.E.. Thus, the claim that he had fought in battles for 30 odd years made no sense. ^note It should be 20 odd years, as he and Liu Yan rose in rebellion in 22 C.E.. Also a Shown Their Work moment: it was recorded that Liu Xiu did have a serious illness in 44 C.E..
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: In the immediate aftermath of Deng Feng's death, Lihua addressed Liu Xiu by his title of Emperor Jian Wu; it was then that Liu Xiu knew their relationship had hit rock bottom.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In a downplayed and subtle manner. Liu Xiu tolerated Lady Guo, and by extension, the Guo clan, as generals belonging to the Hebei faction supported Lady Guo as Empress, and Liu Xiu needed them to wage the various wars required to unify China. Once the empire has been reunified, such support from the generals paradoxically became a millstone around Lady Guo's neck, and Liu Xiu was no longer obliged to keep her as Empress.