The title of this historical drama series is called “Reign of Zhenguan” (Zhenguan Zhizhi 贞观之治), which depicted the golden and prosperous age of Tang dynasty under the reign of Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin - one of the most celebrated emperors in chinese history). Thus this drama series is about Emperor Taizong.
Unlike other historical drama, this series was playwrighted (plot creation) by famous chinese writer Ah Chen (阿 城) and Tang history expert Meng Xianshi (孟宪实) (a Professor from People’s University of China). So we’re expecting a large degree of historical accuracy in this film. How to portray the character of Li Shimin had become a question in directing this film. This drama series was based on a history book “Reign of Zhenguan” written by Ah Chen and Meng Xianshi.
The director Zhang Jianya commented that it might suffer a low rating in terms of viewership (which some audiences might complaint it can be too boring being too historically accurate), but to those historians, this might be a pinacle drama of depicting the real history of Zhenguan.
This historical drama series, according to critics, was unlike many other past historical drama series (which added lots of fiction like love story, political intriques). This series had removed lots of fictional plot and was more like telling a history (instead of a story) in a lecture.
According to Tang history expert Prof. Meng Xianshi (who was involved in the playright), anything that was not recorded in history sources would not appear in the show. For instance, he had to remove a series about the love story of Li Shimin, and instead focus on his rulership of Tang. Unlike the movie “Curse of the Golden Flower” which exhibited luxurious setting and a revealing of bosom of women, Meng Xianshi commented that the clothings followed the exact Tang style according to “Tang textile”, each cloth took more than 2 1/2 months to make.
If you like to know more about this drama, go to http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/v/zhgzhzh/ (Chinese Website)
original by General Zhaoyun at CHF.
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