The Rise of Phoenixes (天盛长歌; Tiān Shèng Cháng Gē, meaning roughly "The Long Song of Tian Sheng") is a 2018 Chinese historical series starring Chen Kun and Ni Ni. It's loosely based on the novel Huang Quan by Tian Xia Gui Yuan.
In the fictional kingdom of Tiansheng, Prince Ning Qiao has been executed on a false charge of treason. His half-brother Ning Yi sets out to have him pardoned posthumously. Meanwhile, Feng Zhi Wei is banished from her adopted family. She disguises herself as a man and becomes a high-ranking official. Zhi Wei and Ning Yi meet and fall in love. Then Zhi Wei learns she's descended from the former dynasty who were deposed by Ning Yi's ancestors, and becomes convinced the entire royal family are her enemies.
Two versions of the series exist: an uncut version with seventy episodes, and a cut version with fifty-six episodes.
Not to be confused with Rise of the Phoenix.
Contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Shao Ning for Zhi Wei. When Zhi Wei says she doesn't want to marry her, Shao Ning has her tied up and literally carried to the emperor in the hope he'll insist on the marriage.
- Yin Le for Nan Yi. She's more annoying and overly persistent than truly abhorrent, but she certainly gets on Nan Yi's nerves.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Invoked. Helian Lie puts his youngest nephew, who's only a toddler, on the throne, so he can rule behind the scenes.
- Action Girl: Zhi Wei fights a group of soldiers with her bare hands.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: The novel ends with Zhi Wei and Ning Yi faking their deaths to go and live quietly away from the palace. The series ends with Zhi Wei committing suicide.
- Altar Diplomacy: This is why the emperor agrees to the marriage between Zhi Wei and Helian Zheng.
- Annoying Arrows: Ning Yi shoots Zhi Wei in the leg with a crossbow bolt. In real life such an injury could be crippling or even fatal, but Zhi Wei recovers and is fine afterwards.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ning Yi says the Crown Prince is only interested in the throne. Chief Gu agrees, then reminds Ning Yi of events eighteen years ago. He finishes by asking, "How are you any different from the Crown Prince?" Ning Yi stares at him and doesn't answer.
- Arranged Marriage: Zhi Wei gets two. First to Ning Yi, which is quickly called off, and then to Helian Zheng.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: Ning Yi gets one in episode sixty-eight.
- Axe-Crazy: Ning Qi smiles as he threatens Feng Hao with torture.
- Beautiful Dreamer: Zhi Wei falls asleep beside Ning Yi's bed. Ning Yi wakes up before her and watches her sleep for a while. Then she starts to wake up so he pretends to be asleep.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first Ning Qi seems to be one of the nicer members of the royal family. Then he turns out to be just as cruel as most of his brothers.
- Bittersweet Ending: Zhi Wei is dead and Ning Yi is left alone, but Ning Yi promises to be a good emperor and to never be corrupt or tyrannical.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The official translation of Zhi Wei's nickname is the worst offender. As explained here
, "小狸猫/xiǎo lí māo" means "little leopard cat". Instead it's translated as "little raccoon" — an especially strange choice, since raccoons aren't native to China. The mistranslation leads to some unintentional hilarity when Ning Yi is presented with a cat but the subtitles call it a raccoon. - Blood from the Mouth:
- The emperor coughs up blood in episode three.
- Appears when Zhu Yin dies.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After revealing the Crown Prince's crimes Ning Yi confronts his father about how he was shunned after his mother's apparent death, and how Ning Qiao was the only one of his relatives who was kind to him. The emperor asks if Ning Yi is blaming him for this. Ning Yi bluntly says he is.
- Catapult Nightmare: Ning Yi jumps up with a scream after having a nightmare about his childhood.
- Catch the Conscience: Noble Consort Chang goes to corner Ning Yi in Yilan Palace. Ning Yi and Zhi Wei know she's coming, so Ning Yi gets Zhi Wei to pretend to be Ya Le's ghost and to say Noble Consort Chang framed her. Noble Consort Chang freaks out when she hears "Ya Le" accuse her.
- Corpsing: In-universe; Zhi Wei starts to giggle as Ning Yi talks about the dinner at the Crown Prince's palace.
- Curtain Camouflage: Zi Yan hides behind a curtain while Zhi Wei talks to Ning Yi.
- Decadent Court: Inevitable in a series set in Imperial China.
- Destructive Saviour: Ning Yi saves Zhi Wei from being forced to marry Jin Si Yu... and in the process destroys most of Puyuan.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Zong Chen dies in Nan Yi's arms.
- Dragged into Drag: Zhi Wei gets Nan Yi to dress as a woman so he can stay by her side. He doesn't mind wearing a dress, but he does mind when she tries to make him wear a veiled hat.
- Dramatic Drop: Zhi Wei drops a tray when she hears Ming Ying disown her.
- Driven to Suicide: The series end with Zhi Wei jumping off a cliff.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Zhi Wei gets drunk after being disowned.
- Evil Uncle: Helian Lie tries to usurp Helian Zheng's throne.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Played for laughs. Zhi Wei says Zi Yan is "a wife-fearing husband who is also perverted and strange". Zi Yan is hiding behind a curtain and overhears everything.
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: Nan Yi wears one when he rescues Zhi Wei. It's a hat with metal decorations◊.
- Fake Pregnancy: Discussed when Ning Yi suggests Zhi Wei escapes execution by claiming to be pregnant. Averted, though, since she doesn't go along with it.
- Faking the Dead: The emperor survived the assassination attempt. This throws a spanner in the works of Ning Qi's plans.
- False Flag Operation: The Crown Prince controls the remnants of Bloody Pagoda. He orders one of its members to attack Gu Yan's men, then uses that as an excuse to pretend he's wiped out Bloody Pagoda.
- Flash Step: Nan Yi moves impossibly quickly so that he's right in front of Zhi Wei when she turns. She's suitably freaked out to come face-to-face with the guy who was behind her a minute ago.
- Forced to Watch: Zhi Wei wakes up in time to see Chang Hai kill Zhu Yin. She can't do anything to stop him because he'll kill her too if he knows she's there.
- Funny Background Event: When Zhi Wei mistakes Ning Yi for an intruder, Zhu Yin in the background is visibly trying not to laugh.
- The Gadfly: Ning Yi has his moments, like when he gets Zhi Wei to repeat her unflattering remarks about Zi Yan while knowing Zi Yan can hear everything she says.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: Downplayed when Ning Yi and Helian Zheng flood Puyuan to rescue Zhi Wei. The wave isn't incredibly tall, but it hits the city with enough force to sweep away everything in its path. And "everything" really does mean "everything", including buildings, bridges, and people.
- Henpecked Husband: Zi Yan is a mild example of this for his wife, Da Hua. Ning Yi's aware of it and even weaponises it when he uses Da Hua to get Zi Yan out of danger... by telling her Zi Yan is in a brothel.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Feng Hao drinks the poisoned wine meant for Zhi Wei.
- Home Base: Ning Yi, Zi Yan and Zhu Yin meet and plot in the House of Lan Xiang. They chose it partly because Zhu Yin works there and partly because no one would think they were discussing their plans in a brothel.
- Human Pincushion: The Crown Prince gets turned into one when Ning Yi's men shoot him.
- Human Shield: The Crown Prince uses Shao Ning and Zhi Wei as human shields when Ning Yi comes to kill him. Ning Yi shoots Zhi Wei in the leg, then orders his men to shoot the Crown Prince after she collapses.
- I Have No Daughter!: Ming Ying shouts that Zhi Wei has disgraced her and she no longer sees her as her daughter while Zhi Wei is right in front of her.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Happens frequently.
- Ning Qiao died by being stabbed repeatedly by dozens of guards.
- Zhu Yin dies when Chang Hai stabs her.
- The Crown Prince gets impaled with multiple arrows.
- Shao Ning dies when Ning Qi shoots her.
- The emperor apparently dies after an assassin stabs him.
- Zhangsun Hong dies when Ning Cheng stabs him.
- Helian Zheng gets impaled with an arrow.
- Jerkass: Yu Hua annoys Zhi Wei, makes life unpleasant for Ming Ying and Hao, and attempts to threaten Ming Ying when she becomes suspicious of the children's identity. That last one backfires badly on her.
- King Incognito:
- Ning Yi accidentally invokes this trope when he first meets Zhi Wei in his disguise as a tailor. Everyone in the House of Lan Xiang knows who he really is, but Zhi Wei assumes he really is a tailor.
- Shao Ning attempts to be this. But she spends so much time demanding "Do you know who I am?" when someone annoys her that everyone already knows she's a princess.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Zhi Wei briefly loses her memories. Jin Si Yu takes advantage of this to make her think she's married to him.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Yu Hua figures out Feng Hao and Feng Zhi Wei aren't twins and uses her newfound knowledge to taunt and threaten Ming Ying. She promptly gets killed by a furious Ming Ying.
- Lonely at the Top: Ning Yi's fate at the end of the series.
- The Lost Lenore: Ya Le, for Zhan Bi. She died eighteen years before the series starts but he's still in love with her. It turns out she isn't dead after all; her husband had her imprisoned in the palace and pretended she was dead... but by the time this is revealed Zhan Bi is dead.
- Love Dodecahedron: Zhi Wei and Ning Yi love each other, while Nan Yi, Helian Zheng, and Shao Ning love Zhi Wei. As if that's not complicated enough, Mei Duo loves Helian Zheng and Ye Lin loves Nan Yi, while Jin Si Yu tries to trick Zhi Wei into marrying him.
- Love Triangle: Ning Shi Zheng and Zhan Bi both love Ya Le, who loves Zhan Bi but is forced to marry Shi Zheng.
- Manchild: Feng Hao acts much younger than his age.
- Meet Cute: Ning Yi and Zhi Wei first meet in Zhu Yin's room. Ning Yi hides behind a screen when Zhi Wei walks in, then accidentally knocks it over and freaks Zhi Wei out. She sees him holding a pair of scissors and immediately assumes he's dangerous. Much awkwardness ensues, to Zhu Yin's amusement.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: Invoked. Ning Yi wants Zhi Wei to stop asking awkward questions, so he pretends she aggravated his arm injury. He drops the pretence as soon as she leaves.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The prologue shows Ning Yi as a child. It's cute to begin with as he plays hide-and-seek with his mother, but quickly turns frightening when he dreams of his older self murdering his mother.
- Missing Mum: Ya Le, Ning Yi's mother, died when he was a child. Or so he thinks. She was actually imprisoned for over eighteen years.
- Mistaken for Undead: Noble Consort Chang sees what she thinks is Ya Le's ghost. It's actually Zhi Wei pretending to be Ya Le's ghost.
- Mistaken Identity: Zhan Bi mistakes Ning Sheng for Ning Yi. Ning Sheng goes along with it and claims to be Ning Yi. Naturally this briefly causes problems when Zhan Bi meets the real Ning Yi and assumes he's being tricked again.
- The Mole: Zi Yan pretends to be working for the Crown Prince, who sees him as one of his trusted advisors. He's actually working for Ning Yi and giving him information on the Crown Prince's plans.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Mei Duo plans to kill Zhi Wei so she can marry Helian Zheng. Averted when she decides not to go ahead with the plan.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Ning Yi pretends to be unambitious and carefree with no interest in the throne. He deceives everyone so well they never suspect him of building up a political network behind the scenes.
- Oblivious Adoption: Zhi Wei isn't Ming Ying's daughter. She's the last princess of Dacheng. Ming Ying did give birth to twins, but one of them died and she was given Zhi Wei to raise instead.
- Off with His Head!: Ning Yi cuts off Chang Zhong Xin's head.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- Ming Ying outlives both of her children. One died as a baby and the other drinks poison to save Zhi Wei.
- Ning Shi Zheng outlives five of his children. Ning Qiao died before the series starts, while Ning Chuan, Ning Sheng, Ning Yan and Shao Ning die during it.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Ming Ying forces Zhi Wei to promise she'll never marry Ning Yi.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Yu Luo sold one of her maids to the House of Lan Xiang just because she got upset. Zi Yan repays her by switching her birth-card with one that says she'll bring misfortune on her husband, causing the cancellation of her arranged marriage to Ning Yi. When he talks about it later Zi Yan describes it as "enforcing justice on behalf of the heavens".
- Playing Drunk: Ning Yi pretends to be drunk when he goes to see his father.
- Playing Sick: The emperor pretends to be sick to avoid dealing with the case of Lady Wang framing Ya Le.
- Poor Communication Kills: Ming Ying's refusal to explain why she disowns Zhi Wei drives a wedge between them. It just gets worse later when she orders Zhi Wei to leave the palace, again without explaining why.
- Princeling Rivalry: The princes spend most of their time trying to kill each other for the chance to be Crown Prince.
- Right in Front of Me:
- Zhi Wei asks Ning Yi if he knows the Prince of Chu well. Ning Yi is the Prince of Chu.
Ning Yi: There is no one else in the world who knows him better than I do.- Ming Ying disowns Zhi Wei while Zhi Wei is in front of her, disguised as a man to stop Ming Ying recognising her.
- Royally Screwed Up: The royal family of Tiansheng is dysfunctional to say the least. The Crown Prince takes the cake for framing and murdering two of his brothers, along with dozens of other innocent people.
- Shoot the Messenger: Chang Zhong Xin literally shoots Ning Yi's messenger.
- Sibling Murder: The Crown Prince is behind the deaths of his brothers Ning Qiao and Ning Yan.
- Snow Means Death: It starts to snow just before Zhi Wei's suicide.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Ning Yi and Zhi Wei. She's part of the royal family his father overthrew, and they become enemies after she learns the truth about her parents.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Zhi Wei thinks Ning Yi wants her to spy on Zi Yan. He actually wants her to go to Qingming Academy for her safety, but he pretends her idea was his plan all along. Then Zhi Wei figures out the real reason, but Ning Yi continues to insist he wants her to be a spy.
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: Shao Ning falls in love with "Wei Zhi", unaware "he" is really Zhi Wei in disguise, and tries to make "him" marry her.
- Sweet Polly Oliver:
- Zhi Wei has to pretend to be a man for several years.
- Shao Ning makes a truly terrible attempt to disguise herself as a man while attending Qingming Academy. She doesn't even bother to remove her make-up.
- Synchronization: Ning Yi and his father are linked, so his father feels ill when Ning Yi does. This is how the emperor knows when Ning Yi is just pretending to be unwell.
- Thanatos Gambit: Zhangsun Hong makes sure he provokes Ning Cheng to kill him when Zhi Wei is there to see it, so he can use his death to convince her Ning Yi plans to kill everyone from Dacheng.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Ning Yi wears one when he thinks Zhi Wei is dead.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Flashbacks show eight-year-old Ning Yi forcing a man to choose between his child's life and the life of Dacheng's last prince.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Feng Hao causes a lot of trouble by gambling and getting arrested.
- Wedding Smashers: Ning Yi and Helian Zheng take this up to eleven when Zhi Wei is about to marry Jin Si Yu. Their rescue plan involves flooding the entire city.
