Ming Dynasty (2019 TV series)

The TV series started with the violent transition of power from the Jianwen Emperor to the Yongle Emperor during the Ming dynasty. The Jianwen Emperor was chosen to be emperor by his grandfather, the founder of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor. The Yongle Emperor, the uncle of Emperor Jianwen, had never accepted his father's choice, and so he plotted with his sons to overthrow his nephew.

During the insurrection, the Yongle Emperor ordered many high-ranking officials of the court loyal to the Jianwen Emperor to be executed. Among them was the royal doctor Jing Qing, whose entire family was also condemned alongside him. Nevertheless, his two daughters managed to escape execution, but were separated in the process. The youngest daughter is adopted by a high ranking inner court attendant named Hu and was given the name Hu Shanxiang. The eldest daughter was rescued and adopted by the general Sun Yu and given the name Sun Ruowei. The two daughters were raised under different people, living out very different lives: the youngest daughter was raised in the Imperial Palace as a maid and the older daughter was raised with a group of rebels loyal to the previous emperor. One key advantage of how Sun Ruowei was raised was her literacy and her martial arts skills; these essential skills proved to be helpful later in her life.

Years later, Qingzheng Cult, which Sun Ruowei was raised with, continually plotted to overthrow Emperor Yongle and re-establish the previous Emperor Jianwen. During this time, the Emperor Yongle's favorite grandson Zhu Zhangji was a zealot in purging the remaining revolutionaries; he came into contact with Sun Ruowei in these purging pursuits. In the course of time, Zhu Zhangji's heart was captured by Sun Ruowei, even though she did nothing to seduce him. He was simply attracted to her character and how she behaved so differently from all the palace ladies; like how she spoke her mind.

In due time, Zhu Zhangji lied to his grandfather by covering up Sun Ruowei's background and was en route to marry her. Upon their marriage, Sun Ruowei became Imperial Concubine to the Imperial Grandson. During this time, the younger sister of Sun Ruowei, Hu Shanxiang, rose among the ranks to a fairly high ranking attendant. But, it was not enough for her and she sought to advance further at all costs. She colluded with Zhu Zhangji's second uncle (Prince Han) and asked him to recommend her to be a concubine for Zhu Zhangji. In exchange, Hu will be his agent embedded in Zhu Zhangji's palace. This collusion came through successfully and both sisters were married to Zhu Zhangji.

At this time, there were still quite a few warring tribes in the northern frontiers (outside the Great Wall) where the people groups such as the Tartars, Oirats, and the like were harassing China and diplomacy was unsuccessful. Emperor Yongle was sick and tired of them and wanted to make a final push to force them to surrender and leave China alone. During the one plus year of war, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi was left in Beijing to run the country while Emperor Yongle, his sons and grandson were out at war. But, Zhu Gaochi was already ill and he needed help with reading and writing all the war correspondence with his father in the battlefield. He found out that his new daughter-in-law (Sun Ruowei) was literate and that her calligraphy was very similar to his, so he recruited her to be his personal scribe for the war effort. This provided a great opportunity for Sun Ruowei to know the ropes of running the country at war. As the Crown Prince Zhu Gaichi's health deteriorated, she had to deliberate and give orders to the imperial counsels. It gave her the opportunity to establish herself, not as a typical helpless imperial concubine but as a woman who was gifted, literate and had a pure selfless love for the country.

Unfortunately, Emperor Yongle died in the field during this final war expedition due to previous illnesses. This forced the entire nation into another power transition; suspicions were heightened and everyone was actively on guard. During this period, Zhu Zhangji, with the collaboration of imperial loyalists, hid the dead body of his grandfather from his two uncles who were stationed with troops at different locations in the same war expedition. He also modified his grandfather's imperial edict posthumously to make his father the emperor instead of his second uncle. Although Emperor Yongle loved his grandson a lot and wanted him to be the emperor, he knew how unbounded his second son's heart was for the throne. He knew that the second son would kill his grandson if he made his grandson Emperor. Zhu Zhanji was never going to submit to his evil uncles because he knew, based on what his uncles had done, that China would become an evil empire if his second uncle was made the emperor. As such, no announcements were made to anyone about Emperor Yongle's passing and his body was secretly moved back to Beijing. Zhu Zhangji returned to Beijing briefly to convince the court that his father Zhu Gaochi was the rightful next emperor before he returned to the fields. It was only after Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne before the news of the death of Emperor Yongle was released to the two uncles of Zhu Zhangji. This caused a huge uproar from the two uncles, who were continually plotting for the throne even during the time when Emperor Yongle was alive. In the end, this final war expedition of Emperor Yongle with the northern tribes ended in failure and the troops retreated back behind the Great Wall and returned to Beijing.

In the meantime, the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne as the Hongxi Emperor and had to deal with his two brothers and his own son, who were plotting to kill each other. Even before he ascended the throne, he was supposedly suffering from diabetes and his organs were failing. With the sudden shove to be Emperor and the stress of handling state affairs together with protecting his son against his brothers, it had a large toll on his health. The reign of the Hongxi Emperor was, indeed, brief: it only lasted for a year or so.

Zhu Zhangji wasted no time and put himself as Xuande Emperor while his uncles continued to collude and spread rumors about him in the court, although he made sure they were pretty well shadowed and restricted. This, he did, because he promised his father and grandfather not to kill the uncles after he became the emperor. Unlike his father, his style of ruling was similar to his grandfather Emperor Yongle: authoritative and will not think twice about killing rebels and colluders. As we know, his grandfather's final war expedition failed and the northern tribes were once again harassing China. The Xuande Emperor felt like he needed to fulfill what his grandfather failed and made a final push to personally lead the army to force a surrender on the northern tribes. He succeeded in killing the leader (Mahamud) of the northern tribes and they succumbed to the will of the Ming. They made concessions and this ended the northern threats for, at least, a decade or so. In the course of the battle, the Xuande Emperor was badly injured and one of his lungs was punctured. He recovered enough to return to Beijing.

Over time, Sun Ruowei's hatred for Emperor Yongle and her quest for revenge dissipated as she weighed the costs of many other human lives to achieve her revenge. The character development for Sun Ruowei rises from a vengeful rebel to a woman with stately and noble heart for her subjects; above all, her love for the country as a whole. Eventually, she submitted to Zhu Zhangji's love and promised to love him even after death. After the untimely passing of the Xuande Emperor, Sun Ruowei successively experienced the power usurpation of her son Emperor Yingzong of Ming by the Jingtai Emperor.

With her wisdom and ability, she rescued the Ming dynasty several times from danger while helping her son to become a noble and virtuous ruler. (This can be further expanded)

In the end, Sun Ruowei realized that she could not redeem the Zhu family morally; especially, those who had the intention to be emperor. She further realized that because all those who did, wanted bloodshed and were willing to kill their own siblings, uncles, loyal scholars and whoever who spoke against their will. This realization gives her freedom to accept her fate and let Empress Dowager Sun die. However, Xu Bin convinces her to let Ruowei live on by promising to take her to the sea, re-igniting her long-held dream of personal freedom. After convincing the emperor to release himself and his mother to follow their own paths, the two set out on a treasure ship to explore the world together.

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Director Zhang Ting was previously the screenwriter for numerous well known dramas including Four Generations Under One Roof while supervisor Zhang Li has previously produced many famous historical drama including Towards the Republic, Ming Dynasty in 1566 and The Road We Have Taken. The crew also includes creative director Zhao Hai, winner of both the Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Rooster Awards and Academy Awards nominee costume designer, William Chang.[6] William Chang designed 140 costumes for Tang Wei's character in the series.[6]

The main composer of the Ming Dynasty OST is Dong Yingda, who also worked on The Great River (2018) and Like a Flowing River (2019).[9] All versions of "One Heart" and "Life Guardian" were not included in the album and were released independently.

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• Ming Dynasty on IMDb