Story of Yanxi Palace (Chinese: 延禧攻略, Yán Xǐ Gōng Lüè) is a 2018 70-episode historical Chinese series set in Qing Dynasty Beijing during Qianlong's 6th year as emperor. The series revolves around a shrewd anti-heroine named Wei Yingluo, who enters the Forbidden City as a maid to investigate the murky details around her sister's death. Yingluo's quick wit allows her to claw through harrowing life in the palace, but it also often lands her in the spotlight and causes her a lot of trouble. As she navigates court life she meets jealous concubines, dastardly plots, and unlikely friendships.
The show aired in 2018 and quickly became "The most Googled show on Earth" of that year according to BBC
. It can be watched on YouTube and on Viki with English subtitles.
A six-episode sequel, Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures, aired on Netflix in 2019.
Contains examples of:
- The Ace: Fuheng is everything many people could ever hope to be. Handsome, moral, humble, loyal, a skilled warrior, charming, funny, scarily intelligent. Need we say more?
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Noble Consort Gao is revealed to have a tragic family history filled with death and abuse. In addition, one plot that is said to have been left out is that she took a liking to Yingluo's sister for her embroidery skills, and protected her after Prince He had raped her.
- Concubine Shun reveals that before she entered the palace, she had a son (implied to be the result of sexual assault) who died trying to find her after she was forced to leave her tribe. She tried to kill herself by jumping off a cliff, but was saved by Fuheng. Her entire plot was meant to get revenge on the emperor, who she blames because she was offered to him as a gift, and Fuheng because he didn't let her die to follow her son.
- Alpha Bitch: Noble Consort Gao
- Ambition Is Evil: Noble Consort Gao's bid to remain in favor and gain power leads her to do some pretty awful things. In fact, many of the concubines play a cut-throat game due to ambition.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Fresh loquat leaves aren't actually poisonous.
- Running into a wall headfirst can cause injury, even to the life threatening point (if they cause a cerebral hemorrhage for instance), but instant death is unlikely. This means that Consort Xian's mother probably couldn't have taken a short runup at a corner and hit her head hard enough to fall down dead with a minimal amount of blood.
- Molten iron is around 1500 degrees C, while most bacteria die before 130 degrees C, thus it is unlikely that mixing manure water with molten iron would be able to cause an infection because the iron would sterilize the water.
- Artistic License – History: The series is based very loosely off of recorded history. Emperor Qianlong, Wei Yingluo, and many of the main/side characters are real people, but the director has a grand ol' ball with their backstories and relationships.
- The main premise of the story falls apart when one realizes that Hongli was a notorious workaholic at this point in his life (though not to the same extent as his father, the Yongzheng Emperor). Also, during the Qing Dynasty, the Empress rules the inner court, no ifs and buts about it. Consort ranks are also limited and once they are filled, the only way to get the slot is for the incumbent to die.
- The actual Noble Consort Gao worked well with Empress Fuca managing the harem together and therefore unlikely to be heading a faction/clique opposing the Empress.
- The timing of some of historical events were changed:
- The first episode starts on the 2nd day of the 2nd Chinese month of the 6th year of the Qianlong era (per the original mainland Chinese release and the novelisation), 5 days before Consort Shu's real-life selection.
- The actual Yongqi was born on the same day Consort Shu was selected to join Hongli's harem and not months later like in this show.
- The 10-year time skip in the later episode ends early summer in the 30th year of the Qianlong era (May-June on the Western calendar). The actual Southern tour that year started shortly after Chinese New Year.
- Noble Consort Jia’s younger sister enters the harem and is titled Noble Lady Jia, the same title as her sister. Putting aside the fact that history doesn’t mention the real Imperial Noble Consort Shujia having any younger sisters entering Hongli’s harem, harem rules dictate that no two concubines can share a title.
- During the end of the series, Empress Hoifa-Nara and Prince He attempt to start a coup to dethrone Hongli and establish Yongji as the new Emperor, but it fails after Hongli, Dowager Empress and her maid, and Yingluo show up alive and well. Then, Empress Hoifa-Nara cuts her hair in despair because Hongli saved someone who didn’t love him while leaving Empress and the others to possibly die in the fire. This is probably the most history-divergent plot of the series. Not only was there no historical record of a coup made to dethrone the Qianlong emperor, the most likely reason for Empress Nara to cut her hair was a conflict with the Empress Dowager.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning:
- Played with. When Noble Consort Xian becomes Empress Hoifa Nara and wears her phoenix robes for the first time, she looks at herself in the mirror and wishes she could tell her mother that she isn't weak anymore.
- Played straight when Wei Yingluo becomes Imperial Noble Consort Ling
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Emperor Qianlong and Wei Yingluo are manipulative, petty people whose relationship consists mainly of them constantly playing hard to get, sniping at each other, and pulling childish pranks. Wei Yingluo has no interest in being a virtuous imperial consort, places her friends and her own comfort above Qianlong, and has lingering feelings for another man, while Qianlong will never put any woman above the Empire and has dozens of other concubines. But they love each other. They really, really love each other.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Birthing a son to the Emperor would solidify a concubine's position in power and favor. This is why Noble Consort Gao tried to meddle with Noble Lady Yu's pregnancy. When Noble Lady Yu and Consort Chun each give birth to a son, they are promoted to Consort Yu and Noble Consort Chun respectively. In addition, the Empress gets pregnant, and the anticipation of the child was amplified by the death of their first son. Since Qianlong wanted his successor to be a son from the Empress, Noble Consort Chun murders the son out of jealousy, and to improve her own son's chances of succeeding the throne.
- Bait-and-Switch Lesbians: Empress Fuca Rongyin and Noble Consort Chun are often meeting in secret for reasons unknown to the viewer. The series plays it up in a scene where Yingluo watches Noble Consort Chun's silhouette help the empress undress behind a screen before fading to black. This prompts Noble Consort Gao to spread rumors that the two women are having an affair with one another. As it turns out, Noble Consort Chun is adept at acupuncture and has been helping the sickly empress maintain her health.
- Berserk Button: Er Qing anytime Fuheng shows kindness towards other women (especially Yingluo), or when he vows to divorce her.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Er Qing appears as a sisterly figure, kind, gentle, and never quick to anger. That is, until the man she has been after shows interest in another woman.
- On the outside Consort Xian appears virtuous and kind, but after a family catastrophe she becomes more scheming and devious.
- Bitter Sweet Ending: Fuheng dies from malaria while campaigning to find a cure for a deadly sickness that Yingluo contracted, and despite Shushen’s efforts all those years she ends up confined to her palace and stripped of her titles. But on the bright side, Yingluo is promoted to Imperial Noble Consort, she finishes avenging all of her loved ones, and she spends the rest of her lifetime with the Emperor until her death at 47.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Prince He's mother. Yingluo begs the God of Thunder to punish her for her wrongdoings.Yingluo: "You can practice vegetarianism and become a devout Buddhist scholar, but that won't wash the blood from your hands. If there's an ounce of lie to your words, the Heavens will surely strike you down into the deepest circle of hell, never to be reincarnated!"
- Of course, it helps that Yingluo switched the curtains in the Dowager Consort's pavilion to be more conductive to lightning.
- Broken Bird: Fifth Prince Yongqi is the most oustanding of Qianlong's sons, being talented, intelligent, diligent, and filial, and is considered the favourite to be named successor. Which is why it's such a shame when an explosion from a sabotaged rifle cripples his leg and knocks him out of the running.
- Bullying a Dragon: Long after Yingluo becomes known throughout the Forbidden City as a merciless Chessmaster, people still attempt to scheme against her or her loved ones, with predictable results.
- Butt-Monkey: Li Yu at times fills this role for the emperor, including actually being kicked when he annoys the emperor.
- Chick Magnet: Two examples.
- The Emperor, obviously. Because he's the Emperor.
- Fuheng gains the attention of various maids and even one of Emperor Qianlong's concubines.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Fuheng dies from malaria while campaigning.
- Costume Porn: Appropriately for a palace drama, and the costumes were praised for their authenticity and use of techniques that are part of China's intangible cultural heritage.
- Crazy Jealous Guy:
- Reminding Emperor Qianlong of Wei Yingluo and Fuca Fuheng's feelings for each other is the fastest way to make him lose it. He was sabotaging their relationship long before he'd admitted that he wanted Yingluo for himself.
- Noble Consort Gao and Consort Xian may be motivated in large part by their own ambition, but they also love the Emperor and hate any woman he might love more than them.
- Cruel Mercy: The series contains many examples, usually used to avoid killing a character outright.
- Most notably, disgraced consorts are never executed, only sent to the cold palace, a dismal, dank place where their food rations are unappetizing, the servants are rude, they are isolated from all friends and family, and the Emperor will never see them again. Besides which it's very easy for Consort Xian to sneak in and murder them.
- Dead Person Impersonation:
- Yingluo pretends to be the ghost of her dead sister to scare Prince He.
- Concubine Shun pretends to be the reincarnation of the Empress Dowager's deceased daughter.
- Death of a Child: A fire breaks out, causing the death of Empress Fuca's son.
- Death by Childbirth: Yingluo's mother died giving birth to her, which resulted in the infant Yingluo being thrown in the river and being saved by her sister who raised her despite being a child herself. This has deeply scarred Yingluo who was terrified of becoming pregnant to the point where she used contraceptives despite it being forbiden for an emperor's concubine.
- Death by Origin Story: The death of Yingluo's sister preludes the series and serves as the main motivation for Yingluo to enter the Forbidden City.
- Death Song: Noble Consort Gao, knowing that she is going to die, lets us have one more fantastic, tear-jerking performance before she kicks the bucket.
- Despair Event Horizon: The reason why Empress Fuca commits suicide after losing her son and finding out that Er Qing slept with the emperor.
- Disguised in Drag: Yingluo disguises herself as a messenger to see the Emperor without permission to gain back his favor/placate him, as he'd been cross with her.
- Doomed by Canon: Zig-zagged. Though the fates of many historical characters are known (ex: Wei Yingluo became Imperial Noble Consort Ling, and Consort Xian became Empress Hoifa Nara), the writers determine how they get there.
- Driven to Suicide: Many examples, some of which are Face Death with Dignity.
- Noble Consort Gao who is dying from a bacterial infection. Instead of letting it kill her, she takes matters into her own hands.
- Consort Xian's mother. After Consort Xian refuses to beg her husband to save her brother's life, he dies in jail. The grief drives her mother to commit suicide by hitting her head hard against a column.
- Empress Fuca out of despair after her second son dies.
- Mingyu on her wedding day, yet another one who "takes matters into her own hands". Uses the scissors received as a wedding gift from Concubine Shun to stab herself in the heart.
- Qinglian. Er Qing finds "marriage prospects" for her. When the wedding sedan shows up, it is switched for a smaller sedan outside the city. It turns out that Qinglian was tricked, sold illegally into prostitution. When she is rescued by Fuheng, she feels ashamed and commits suicide by swallowing gold.
- Yi Pin. As punishment for accusing Noble Consort Gao of trying to cause Consort Yu to miscarry, she is punished by being hit in the face repeatedly. Gravely humiliated, she commits suicide by hanging herself.
- Narrowly averted by Yingluo. After the Empress dies, Qianlong orders Yingluo to kill herself to accompany her in the afterlife, and only retracts the order at the last minute after finding the Empress' last letter requesting him to release her from imperial service.
- Drunken Song: In Episode 18, Noble Consort Gao drunkenly performs opera (from "The Drunken Concubine," no less) for the Emperor, getting weepy and sentimental.
- Face–Heel Turn:
- Consort Xian. Moral and impartial at first, her love and loyalty to Emperor Qianlong and her family leads her to make decisions that have disastrous consequences for her family, thus sending her down the path of evil.
- Er Qing starts off seeming like a kinder older sister figure to Mingyu, but uses Yingluo's misfortune to manipulate Fuheng into marrying her, tries to kill an innocent maid cleaning Fuheng's study, and frames sleeping with the emperor when he's drunk when in reality she slept with Fuheng's brother Fuqian that got her pregnant with her son.
- Yuan Chunwang starts off as an ally to Yingluo but becomes one of her most dangerous enemies after feeling betrayed by her.
- Faking the Dead: The Emperor and his mother fake their deaths by disappearing during a siege/fire on their ship.
- When the Emperor asks Yingluo's opinion on executing and letting who is or not an innocent live (because of Naerbu), she suggests killing someone who looks like the person and let the innocent person live.
- Fate Worse than Death: Step Empress Ulanara, disgraced, suffers no loss of title, but is placed under house arrest in the cold palace for the rest of her days. To add insult to injury the only reason she got to keep her life and title was because Yingluo asked the Emperor to spare her. Meaning that the Step Empress owes her life and last scrap of dignity to her biggest rival and the woman that got the one thing Hoifa Nara truly wanted, the Emperor's love.
- Frame-Up:
- Imperial Concubine Jia tries to frame Consort Xian as a bad mother by secretly poisoning Yongcheng to get him out of Xian’s care. She is found out and sent to the Cold Palace for harming her son and trying to frame her superior.
- Yingluo catches a thief in her palace and coerces him into framing Chun for the series of thefts in the palace by sneaking in stolen items into her make-shift village market.
- Noble Consort Chun attempts to frame Yingluo for poisoning Yongqi. She fails as Consort Yu quickly confesses that Chun forced her to poison her own son to get rid of Yingluo, and while Consort Yu is sent to be a nun, Chun is sent to to the Cold Palace and killed by Empress Nara.
- Empress Nara attempts to frame Yingluo for Chun’s death by using kite strings to strangle her, knowing that Yingluo likes to fly kites.
- Good Is Not Soft: Yingluo does not let anyone step on her or people who don't deserve it and she is not afraid to encourage/exact punishment on those who try.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Jealousy runs rampant in Emperor Qianlong's harem.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Fuheng dies shortly after finding an antidote for Yingluo.
- Important Haircut: Hair is a symbol of heritage. During the Qing dynasty, nobody was allowed to cut their hair unless it was a period of national mourning (death of Emperor, Empress Dowager, etc.), or if they wanted to tie their hair together as a symbol of their relationship. So when Step Empress Nara chops off a piece of her hair, it is basically a curse to the Emperor and his mother, who were still very much alive.
- Love Makes You Crazy:
- Empress Hoifa Nara laments that she was the only consort who truly loved the Emperor during her breakdown.
- Noble Consort Chun loses her rationality after realizing that Fuca Fuheng never loved her.
- Qianlong himself is not immune. His feelings for Yingluo definitely cause him to make rather unwise decisions that he wouldn't normally do.
- Again, Empress Nara too is no exception shown by her love for the Emperor and her family. As she sheds her kindness and compassion for others, becoming cruel and cold-hearted, she still makes rash decisions that involve her family leaving her unable to save them at some moments.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: No maybe about it, Fuheng is definitely not the father of Er Qing's son, but he has to raise it anyway because she tells him it's the Emperor's child, making it sacred. The spin-off series confirms that Fuheng's concubine-born brother was the actual father, much to the boy's horror.
- My Secret Pregnancy: Consort Yu hides her pregnancy, scared of retaliation from jealous consorts like Noble Consort Gao, who tries to have the baby miscarried/killed on multiple occasions once she finds out.
- Naïve Newcomer: Refreshingly averted with Yingluo, who comes into the palace already prepared to face plots.
- Never Learned to Read: Yingluo is illiterate and is taught how to read and write by Empress Fuca.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Noble Consort Gao's arrogant laugh. Jia's younger sister does this too.
- Not Allowed to Grow Old: Happens to some degree as a result of having the same actors portray their characters throughout the 24-year timespan of the series. Though actresses hairstyles and costumes do change, and actors are given facial hair after a 10-year skip, no special effects are used to make them look older.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Yingluo does this (at first) in front of Noble Consort Gao to avoid punishment/death by stuffing her mouth full of glutinous rice balls. Later she throws up from eating so many.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Yingluo stabs Fuheng with a knife, and he doesn't even flinch. Later, he's stabbed by Concubine Shun with a hairpin in the same spot and again shows little to no reaction.
- Pet the Dog:
- Noble Consort Gao is gifted a dog by her brother. She treats the dog better than she treats everyone, with the exception of the emperor.
- The Empress Dowager decides to make Consort Yu a Buddhist nun seeing Yongqi's love and devotion to her after his poisoning.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Fuheng serves Er Qing papers to revoke their marriage after she secretly sold one of their maids into prostitution, leading to the maid's death. Er Qing goes Berserk and smacks her head against the entryway.
- Promotion to Parent:
- Yingluo's older sister was the one to rescue her from drowning as a newborn and raised her until entering the palace. It explains why Yingluo spends nearly three decades of her life avenging her sister's rape and murder. Her sister was for all purposes her parent and Yingluo owes her filial piety.
- Consort Yu begs Yingluo, who has no children, to take care of Yongqi as she is off to the Buddhist nunnery and banished from the capital.
- Rags to Riches: Yingluo begins as a maid in the embroidery unit and works her way up the social hierarchy, surpassing all those that crossed her. She eventually reaches to the title of Imperial Noble Consort which equates to another Empress. In real-life history, she is posthumously granted the title of Empress Xiaoyichun by her son who becomes the Jiaqing Emperor.
- Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: To save Consort Shun's life from the Empress Dowager after a plot against her, Yingluo makes two puncture marks under her bottom lip. The Empress Dowager's late daughter had these two marks, and she is tricked into believing Consort Shun is the reincarnation of her daughter.
- Sexless Marriage: Fuheng and Er Qing. Er Qing tries and fails to get him to consummate the marriage.
- Tantrum Throwing: Lots of flying items, broken tea cups, and slapping.
- Take Care of the Kids: Consort Yu asks Wei Yingluo to take care of her son Yongqi when she is banished from the forbidden city and sent to a Buddhist nunnery.
- Time Skip: The series contains a few, mostly over a handful of months, or with multiple years depicted as a montage. The largest one comes near the end and spans a decade, showing the princes born during the series grown into adults.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Fuca Fuheng and Empress Fuca Rongyin. Perhaps it runs in the family?
- True Companions: Yingluo and Mingyu.
- Underdogs Never Lose: Yingluo encounters many plots against her by title-holding people way above her station, but she always comes out on top.
- Undying Loyalty: Yingluo toward her sister and Empress Fuca. The two older women were the only mother figures she had therefore Yingluo moves heaven and earth to avenge them.
- Yingluo even tricks the emperor into detesting her to avoid becoming his concubine while Empress Fuca is alive. Having one of her close attendants become her husband's concubine would deeply humiliate and hurt Fuca and Yingluo will not have that, even if it means her death.
- Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Fuca Fuheng and Wei Yingluo are still in love even after they are both married to different people. Fuheng helps her survive as a consort and dies finding a cure for her when she's poisoned. Yingluo hears his last request from Hailancha and promises to look after him in their next incarnation.
- Would Hurt a Child: Literally.
- Noble Consort Gao tries on several occasions to get rid of Consort Yu's son, including trying to bury him alive as an infant.
- Concubine Jia purposefully makes her son sick so that she can frame Consort Xian as a bad caretaker.
- Noble Consort Chun set the Empress' son's bedroom on fire, thus killing him.
- Yuan Chunwang tries to make the princes lose a chance to become heirs to the point of trying to kill Yongqi by his gun exploding leading him to be crippled, making Yongcheng the scapegoat for his crime, and Yongyan by poisoning his brush.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Yingluo plays it at least once every few episodes.
