[Mainland Chinese Drama 2020] Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐

[sugarplum892]

Cr mydramalist

Details:

Chinese title: 清平乐/ Qing Ping Yue
English title: Serenade of Peaceful Joy

Genre:  Historical, Romance, Drama, Political

Director: Zhang Kaizhou

Episodes: 69

Broadcast Date: 4/7/2020

 

Cast:

Wang Kai

Jiang Shu Ying

Ren Min

Yang Le

Synopsis:

In early 11th-century China, Emperor Renzong of Song (Wang Kai) is on a bold mission to reform the government.

His plan involves boosting administrative efficiency and strengthening local government – measures that prove exceptionally unpopular among his power-hungry ministers. The ministers attempt to slow down his progress – and hope they can force him to abandon his reforms altogether.

But the Emperor is sidetracked in his struggle when he learns a secret about his true identity. His biological mother is not, as he had thought, the Empress Dowager, but her maid and his imperial father’s concubine.

Overcome with guilt on learning this news, he decides to marry off his daughter Zhao Hui Rou (Ren Min) to a member of the concubine’s family.

However, the marriage does not go well. Zhao Hui Rou finds her new husband to be a bore, and begins to show her displeasure by flaunting court etiquette – irking the conservative court ministers more than ever!

How will the Emperor choose to deal with his freedom-loving daughter – and what impact will his decisions make on the future of the realm?

(Source: Viki)

Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐 Viki Episodes

**Please use spoiler tags for those who have not seen the episodes yet**

Preview:

 

OSTs:

 

Additional Links:

Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐 Viki Episodes

 

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[sugarplum892]

cr avirtualvoyage

[sugarplum892]

 cr avirtualvoyage

[sugarplum892]

 

cr cnewdevotee

[jewelsc]

@sugarplum892 there's been a name change, the title is now known as  Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐, premiering on April 7, 2020.

[arcchidus]

I like the old name more. Anyone know why they changed the name?

 

This looks like a very depressing show, but I like Wang Kai ever since Nirvana on Fire, so I will probably end up watching this even if it's painful.

[sugarplum892]

21 hours ago, jewelsc said:

@sugarplum892 there's been a name change, the title is now known as  Serenade of Peaceful Joy 清平乐, premiering on April 7, 2020.

Thanks for the update!

[skibbies]

21 hours ago, arcchidus said:

I like the old name more. Anyone know why they changed the name?

 

This looks like a very depressing show, but I like Wang Kai ever since Nirvana on Fire, so I will probably end up watching this even if it's painful.

The original name came from the source webnovel, which was about the emperor's daughter and her eunuch (?) lover I think? They switched protagonists so I presume they radically changed the plot. The emperor is one of the most well known emperors from Song dynasty since it was rather prosperous and peaceful, the new name does fit the time period bit more. There's a rumour/slightly morbid joke that the Held in the Lonely Castle could remind people of Wuhan lockdown and that would bring painful memories (it's little more apparent in Chinese), but mhmm I lean towards the former reasoning.

[GiaGia]

I like Wang Kai in NIF, so I will be looking out for this one^^.

[crackaddict]

I will be looking out for this one too. 

 

Frankly, Held in the Lonely Castle sounds super depressing lol. A part of me hopes that the name change is also reflective of the tone of the drama. I don't wanna be disappointed if I'm expecting a Serenade of Peaceful Joy but really getting a Held in the Lonely Castle (i.e. a joyless marriage) lol. Although both names sound contemplative, but the tones are completely different.

 

I love Wang Kai and have been waiting to see him in dramas!

[GiaGia]

Saw the firs two episodes, and I will keep on watching. The young King looks similar to Wang Kai's looks. They really found an actor that looks like Wang Kai^^. I'm already hooked to see what is going to happen next!

The first two episodes, the King 

Spoiler

found out his true identity....

I understand his wishes to bring his mother to live in the palace, but like the former King said, you cannot have two mothers in one place. There will be chaos, especially if you're in the royal's family----That will bound to be chaos. I wondered how's the King's life is going to be----Is he going to have a happy ending??? The titled "Held in the Lonely Castle," sounds like the King is going to lead a lonely life???

[arcchidus]

I mean this is base on a real king and that king lost all his sons before he died. So my guess is this is one of those story where the king rules a prosperous kingdom and has everything in the world on the outside but lonely in the inside.

[tendrilsofwind]

I finished watching the 4 episodes that have been released and I am really loving it so far. Everything else seems high quality, but there were some wonky transitions going on...not sure how that came to be. I am extremely impressed with the dialogue. I appreciate that they went for classical Chinese and actually spent time debating the classics+actual politics as opposed to fixating completely on the harem. 

 

I do have to admit that I have no clue what Ouyang Xiu and Yan Shu were talking about in episode four regarding the exam question. Can someone explain that part? All I got was that the question was deliberately ambiguous to try and confuse the students on which sikong to write about???

 

[skibbies]

I find the pacing bit sluggish and the editing kind of all over the place so it's little rough to get into. I get into them arguing in court, or the Emperor wrestling power from Empress Dowager and it will shift elsewhere, I assume it's to keep different people interested, and introduce various characters and setup, but it just loses me here and there (although maybe I just wasn't paying attention all the time mhm). I think it gets better as it goes (on ep 6 right now), but that might be because I was super underwhelmed by the first two episodes.

 

On 4/9/2020 at 10:22 AM, tendrilsofwind said:

I finished watching the 4 episodes that have been released and I am really loving it so far. Everything else seems high quality, but there were some wonky transitions going on...not sure how that came to be. I am extremely impressed with the dialogue. I appreciate that they went for classical Chinese and actually spent time debating the classics+actual politics as opposed to fixating completely on the harem. 

 

I do have to admit that I have no clue what Ouyang Xiu and Yan Shu were talking about in episode four regarding the exam question. Can someone explain that part? All I got was that the question was deliberately ambiguous to try and confuse the students on which sikong to write about???

 

I wish they spent more times on the politics to be honest, but I'm not confident this writer + director combo could hold my attention. Also mildly worried about the multiple romances, not just how it'll be portrayed but also because Daylight doesn't have a particularly good record for romances. (They are fine with it when romance is minor subplot, but really as co-plot/major plot point)

 

You are on point with the exam question. The quote is from Zhou Dynasty, but the annotation is from Eastern Han, sikong have different powers in the two dynasties. So the fact Ouyang Xiu came and asked means he knows how to think critically + wide read, and his response links to the current dynasty as well. I couldn't really understand Ouyang Xiu when he asked, but Yan Shu made it lot clearer.

[40somethingahjumma]

I share @skibbies sentiments... the first episode was a really hard slog and the long stretches of dialogue don't help. I suppose my limitations with the language contribute to that as well.

 

However, it seems to me that the show doesn't quite know what it wants to be. 

[shenmiao98]

I wish someone would start subbing it soon. 2 eps/day, just like Ming Lan. Saw the raws till ep 8 and can't wait for the subs.

Loved Wang Kai because of NIF. Maybe should go watch it again.

[RSMasterfade]

On 4/7/2020 at 2:37 PM, crackaddict said:

I will be looking out for this one too. 

 

Frankly, Held in the Lonely Castle sounds super depressing lol. A part of me hopes that the name change is also reflective of the tone of the drama. I don't wanna be disappointed if I'm expecting a Serenade of Peaceful Joy but really getting a Held in the Lonely Castle (i.e. a joyless marriage) lol. Although both names sound contemplative, but the tones are completely different.

 

I love Wang Kai and have been waiting to see him in dramas!

 

The original novel was one of the most suffocating books I've ever read, on par with Ursula K. Le Guin's Tehanu in its atmosphere of oppression and powerlessness (actually there are somewhat similar in themes, both partially about a member of the powerful losing their power and having to resign to a life of powerlessness). The TV adaptation expanded on the original novel, but kept most of its plotline, so yes expect a lot of sadness in future episodes.

[caranita]

On 4/12/2020 at 7:18 PM, shenmiao98 said:

I wish someone would start subbing it soon. 2 eps/day, just like Ming Lan. Saw the raws till ep 8 and can't wait for the subs.

Loved Wang Kai because of NIF. Maybe should go watch it again.

 

It's been subbed to Ep 5 on Viki and Ep 7 on Tencent's YouTube channel (the YT channel is georestricted). Viki's cut version is a bit different to the YouTube's cut. 

 

One question:

 

Spoiler

Is Miao Xinhe the Emperor's nanny's daughter?

 

[tendrilsofwind]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:26 PM, skibbies said:

I wish they spent more times on the politics to be honest, but I'm not confident this writer + director combo could hold my attention. Also mildly worried about the multiple romances, not just how it'll be portrayed but also because Daylight doesn't have a particularly good record for romances. (They are fine with it when romance is minor subplot, but really as co-plot/major plot point)

 

You are on point with the exam question. The quote is from Zhou Dynasty, but the annotation is from Eastern Han, sikong have different powers in the two dynasties. So the fact Ouyang Xiu came and asked means he knows how to think critically + wide read, and his response links to the current dynasty as well. I couldn't really understand Ouyang Xiu when he asked, but Yan Shu made it lot clearer.

 

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense.

I am also hoping that they focus more on the politics. All the machinations and power grabs are very nuanced so far. It's a nice change of pace from all the shows where everything is laid out blatantly for the audience because they think we have zero deductive reasoning. However, looking at the discussions surrounding this drama, it feels like everyone is honing in on the romance. 

 

8 hours ago, caranita said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Is Miao Xinhe the Emperor's nanny's daughter?

 

Yes, she is. 

[Nat_93]

Hi, could someone tell me how is viki version different from YouTube version? Is viki’s longer?

 

This show has the daylight dna, I love it, daylight dramas never fail to catch me.