[Mainland Chinese Drama 2021] The Rebel Princess上阳赋

[sugarplum892]

cr mydramalist

Details:

Chinese title: 上阳赋 / Shang Yang Fu
English title: The Rebel Princess

Genre: Historical , political

Episodes: 68

Director: Hou Yong (侯咏), Cheng Yuan Hai, Zhao Jian

Broadcast Period: 1/9/2021 - 2/25/2021

 

Cast:

Zhang Zi Yi as Wang Xuan / Ah Wu
Zhou Yi Wei as Xiao Qi
Tony Yang as Zi Dan
Liu Duan Duan as Song Huai En
Sui Yuan as Xiao Yu Xiu
Zuo Xiao Qing as Xie Wan Ru
Guo Jia Ming as Zi Long
Purba Rgyal as Zi Lu
Liang Xiao Run as Zi Lu (young)
Liu Yun as Su Jin Er
Angie Chiu as Elder Princess
Kara Hui as Royal Consort Gui
Yu He Wei as Wang Lin
Jiang Kai as Emperor
Shi Ke as Empress Wang
Yuan Hong as He Lan Zhen
Sun Jia Lu as Gu Cai Wei
Huang Kai Jie as Gu Min Wen
Jia Yi Ping as Wang Su
Wei Zi Han as Nie Xiao He
Hou Xiao as Hu Guang Lie
Hai Ling as Hu Yao
Cao Jun as Pang Gui

 

Synopsis:

Wang Xuan and Xiao Qi strike a deal for the sake of power. They marry first before falling in love and join hands to protect their homeland. She is a woman who is no less than any man while he rose from humble beginnings.

The imperial family has become rotten to the core. The nobles are lavish with no regard for the people. Princess Wang Xuan and her childhood sweetheart, the third prince, become pawns of a prophecy that states, "to acquire thee is to obtain the world." Being pulled into the matters of the court, Wang Xuan is married off by her father to Xiao Qi who comes from a poor family. On the night of their wedding, Xiao Qi is forced to leave the capital. Wang Xuan is shamed and discouraged. The Helan Prince kidnaps Wang Xuan in order to seek revenge on Xiao Qi. The crisis they face becomes a blessing in disguise for the couple. Wang Xuan is moved and inspired by Xiao Qi's wish to bring peace and prosperity to the nation and they fall in love.

However, circumstances threaten to destroy them. The Wang and Xie clans are fighting for power, the Empress Dowager schemes to separate husband and wife, the military has committed treason while the Helan clan has raised their flags in rebellion. Wang Xuan puts her life on the line to escort the third prince to safety. She leads an army of men to defend the last stronghold in hopes that Xiao Qi can arrive in time with reinforcements..

(Source: cdramainfo)

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

 

Preview:

 

OSTs:

 

Additional Links:

The Rebel Princess上阳赋 English Subbed Episodes

 

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[tazmin]

I can’t wait to see Zhou Yi as the leading ML after the amazing performance he gave in The Longest Day

 

Also Zhang Zi Yi’s first drama...didn’t even need a synopsis to be on the top of my watchlist lol 

[sugarplum892]

Spoiler

 cr avirtualvoyage

 

[sugarplum892]

Spoiler

 cr cnewsdevotee

 

[hush puppy]

Hi everybody.  It's kinda quiet here.  Guess not many realise this has premiered.

 

@tazmin  I agree with you.  Zhang Ziyi's dramas do not need a synopsis.  The acting skills of the younger generations of actresses cannot compare to these Veterans.

 

I just finished up to eps 8.  Ep 1 is a bit slow.  It picks up at ep 2.  But I feel the excitement is about to start from ep 9.

 

I like the Actor playing the Warrior & Zhang Ziyi's husband. He got the looks, screen presence and charisma.  Couldn't wait to see him go to the rescue of Zhang Ziyi.

 

Can anybody tells me his name please?

 

 

[galea]

4 hours ago, hush puppy said:

Hi everybody.  It's kinda quiet here.  Guess not many realise this has premiered.

 

@tazmin  I agree with you.  Zhang Ziyi's drama do not need a synopsis.  The acting skills of the younger generations of actresses cannot compare to these Veterans.

 

I just finished up to eps 8.  Ep 1 is a bit slow.  It picks up at ep 2.  But I feel the excitement is about to start from ep 9.

 

I like the Actor playing the Warrior & Zhang Ziyi's husband. He got the looks, stage presence and charisma.  Couldn't wait to see him go to the rescue of Zhang Ziyi.

 

Can anybody tells me his name please?

 

 

Zhou Yi Wei, I think. I enjoyed his performance a lot in The Longest Day in Chang'an, so I'm interested in potentially starting this series. Not particularly fussed about Zhang Ziyi though. 

[hush puppy]

 

4 hours ago, galea said:

Zhou Yi Wei, I think. I enjoyed his performance a lot in The Longest Day in Chang'an, so I'm interested in potentially starting this series. Not particularly fussed about Zhang Ziyi though. 

 

@galea Thanks Galea.  I always hear compliments abt "The Longest Day in Chang'an".  I tried a few times (3X) i think.  But I found the set so gloomy, darkish.  Each time I only lasted a few minutes in ep 1.  Unlike other good dramas which is addictive right from the word "go". 

 

So tell me how to enjoy TLDIC pls....

[skibbies]

4 hours ago, hush puppy said:

 

 

@galea Thanks Galea.  I always hear compliments abt "The Longest Day in Chang'an".  I tried a few times (3X) i think.  But I found the set so gloomy, darkish.  Each time I only lasted a few minutes in ep 1.  Unlike other good dramas which is addictive right from the word "go". 

 

So tell me how to enjoy TLDIC pls....

I don't think it's for you then? I found the beginning pretty easy to get into, the larvish cinematography helped a LOT. I watched it half like a fake documentary on daily lives in Tang dynasty at the beginning to be honest. The pacing slows down after a while and the drama didn't actually need 48 ep IMO. It's a drama I could appreciate from a distance but never quite love, even though the drama was definitely my thing on paper, multi-party struggle with layered characters and different motivations, rich setting and gorgeous cinematography and a thriller on top of that. Zhou Yiwei is amongst the few that I liked in the drama, character-wise and he's an antagonist LOL.

 

You could stick around for this one since it's grabbing you, and then try Chang'an again later, or like....just skip stuff?

[tazmin]

8 hours ago, hush puppy said:

 

 

@galea Thanks Galea.  I always hear compliments abt "The Longest Day in Chang'an".  I tried a few times (3X) i think.  But I found the set so gloomy, darkish.  Each time I only lasted a few minutes in ep 1.  Unlike other good dramas which is addictive right from the word "go". 

 

So tell me how to enjoy TLDIC pls....

Longest Day has definitely a slow start but once it starts, oh boy it really picks. I think you just need to bear with it for the few episodes but if after that, it doesn’t seem to grab you then maybe it’s not meant to be 

 

The cast of LD is great like there’s no weakness with any performance from any actor. Zhou was especially charismatic, I died (figuratively) of thirst each time he was on and I am with this. I love that he’s a man man as the male lead who’s a hardened general, none of these flower boys CDramas like to cast sometimes 

 

Back to Rebel, this is his third major drama I’ve seen where he’s been allowed to keep his hair(line) and it’s so refreshing, maybe he can start a movement which productions will start allowing male characters to have believable hairlines with their wigs or just allow them to wear with their hair with extensions 

Edited January 11, 2021 by tazmin

[skibbies]

1 hour ago, tazmin said:

maybe he can start a movement which productions will start allowing male characters to have believable hairlines with their wigs or just allow them to wear with hair with extensions 

HAHAHAHAHAH I didn't really look at his hairline but you are right AHHAHAhah.  Hilariously enough, Chang Chen was rumoured to have been considered for the role, he ultimately went with Love & Destiny, which is a xianxia. These two dramas share the same stylist, William Cheung, who's an award winning stylist for hk movies in the 90s. He did I think a lot of the styling (usually only for protags) for big budget historicals in the last 5 years? Most of them have them pulling their hair way way back. Love & Destiny and this was filmed in the same year (finished filming in the same month), but you can go look at Chang Chen's hair omg. 

[tazmin]

30 minutes ago, skibbies said:

HAHAHAHAHAH I didn't really look at his hairline but you are right AHHAHAhah.  Hilariously enough, Chang Chen was rumoured to have been considered for the role, he ultimately went with Love & Destiny, which is a xianxia. These two dramas share the same stylist, William Cheung, who's an award winning stylist for hk movies in the 90s. He did I think a lot of the styling (usually only for protags) for big budget historicals in the last 5 years? Most of them have them pulling their hair way way back. Love & Destiny and this was filmed in the same year (finished filming in the same month), but you can go look at Chang Chen's hair omg. 

It looks so natural and not distracting 

Mr Cheung needs to have disciples and spread the message across dramaland. 
I have to say Chang would’ve been an acceptable second choice if Zhou wasn’t the ML. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by tazmin

[galea]

13 hours ago, skibbies said:

I don't think it's for you then? I found the beginning pretty easy to get into, the larvish cinematography helped a LOT. I watched it half like a fake documentary on daily lives in Tang dynasty at the beginning to be honest. The pacing slows down after a while and the drama didn't actually need 48 ep IMO. It's a drama I could appreciate from a distance but never quite love, even though the drama was definitely my thing on paper, multi-party struggle with layered characters and different motivations, rich setting and gorgeous cinematography and a thriller on top of that. Zhou Yiwei is amongst the few that I liked in the drama, character-wise and he's an antagonist LOL.

 

You could stick around for this one since it's grabbing you, and then try Chang'an again later, or like....just skip stuff?

I agree, it was a struggle to get through the first few episodes because the plot was so dense, but once it started unfolding and actually making sense, I was hooked. A fake documentary - that's a nice way to describe it. The cinematography and attention to detail were half the reason I stayed at the beginning, it was almost as if I was transported straight into that era, a magical feeling that I don't get much nowadays with other dramas. I think it took me a good two days to get through the first 5 episodes, and then another 3 days to finish the rest LOL. Ngl, I did really get invested into certain characters (one of them being ZYW's). Gods, some of their stories ripped my heart out. I felt chills thinking about that drama for a good week. 

 

Have you started watching Rebel Princess? Any verdicts so far? I enjoyed reading your opinions of other dramas in the past so any thoughts you have at the moment would be appreciated. 

11 hours ago, tazmin said:

. I love that he’s a man man as the male lead who’s a hardened general, none of these flower boys CDramas like to cast sometimes

I haven't watched this yet, but a blog i'm following has been thirsting over him so hard LOOOOL. Unfortunately, I hear the audience in China aren't particularly impressed with this pairing? I mean I was reading their opinions through google translate, but they certainly had complaints about the actors. I hope this isn't just on the basis of the leads being older than the usual lot who star in period dramas.

[celebrianna]

@hush puppy, I don’t know the actor who plays the male lead but I like to see him and he’s believable as a General. I watched the raw episodes up to 12 and only watched two subbed episodes. I like the story so far. However, I’m so impatient to understand why her father married her off to Xiao Qi. I needs subs badly. I know 

Spoiler

she’s kidnapped in episode 7 or 8. I notice that these men have a tendency to be rapists. First the crown prince and now this fool that kidnap her. I hope she doesn’t allow him to humiliate her in this way. It looks like Xiao Qi rescued her in episode 10 though.

 

[tazmin]

5 hours ago, galea said:

I agree, it was a struggle to get through the first few episodes because the plot was so dense, but once it started unfolding and actually making sense, I was hooked. A fake documentary - that's a nice way to describe it. The cinematography and attention to detail were half the reason I stayed at the beginning, it was almost as if I was transported straight into that era, a magical feeling that I don't get much nowadays with other dramas. I think it took me a good two days to get through the first 5 episodes, and then another 3 days to finish the rest LOL. Ngl, I did really get invested into certain characters (one of them being ZYW's). Gods, some of their stories ripped my heart out. I felt chills thinking about that drama for a good week. 

 

Have you started watching Rebel Princess? Any verdicts so far? I enjoyed reading your opinions of other dramas in the past so any thoughts you have at the moment would be appreciated. 

I haven't watched this yet, but a blog i'm following has been thirsting over him so hard LOOOOL. Unfortunately, I hear the audience in China aren't particularly impressed with this pairing? I mean I was reading their opinions through google translate, but they certainly had complaints about the actors. I hope this isn't just on the basis of the leads being older than the usual lot who star in period dramas.

Is it dangermousie who u follow? 
 

Well tbh when aren’t they ever not complaining about something? It’d be nice if  China really opened up their dramas for international audiences, they definitely wouldn’t be any complaints about the pairing lol 

[galea]

1 hour ago, tazmin said:

Is it dangermousie who u follow? 
 

Well tbh when aren’t they ever not complaining about something? It’d be nice if  China really opened up their dramas for international audiences, they definitely wouldn’t be any complaints about the pairing lol 

Bloody hell how did you figure that out so quickly?! Hahahahah, and from my description of her as well, that's hilarious. Yeah! It's her, I'm really enjoying her posts about this drama, it's how I found out about ZYW being part of the cast actually. I knew Zhang Ziyi was in it but I didn't know he was a main lead too. 

 

And I agree, sometimes I feel conflicted when trying to decide whether or not I should look at the ratings on douban. They can be either very useful or just downright baffling at times. I mean, the type of drama matters as well as to how trustworthy the audience's feedback is, but I couldn't really figure out what the problem was using Google translate for the douban reviews for this drama.

[hush puppy]

 

 

On 1/12/2021 at 4:35 AM, celebrianna said:

@hush puppy, I don’t know the actor who plays the male lead but I like to see him and he’s believable as a General. I watched the raw episodes up to 12 and only watched two subbed episodes. I like the story so far. However, I’m so impatient to understand why her father married her off to Xiao Qi. I needs subs badly. I know 

  Hide contents

she’s kidnapped in episode 7 or 8. I notice that these men have a tendency to be rapists. First the crown prince and now this fool that kidnap her. I hope she doesn’t allow him to humiliate her in this way. It looks like Xiao Qi rescued her in episode 10 though.

 

 

Hi  @celebrianna 

 

1) I don't know the ML before this drama.  But I know him now - Zhou Yi Wei.  I'm a Fan now.

 

I love ep 12. The moment the Princess was kidnapped, I knew the "Rescue" by his "Shining Knight In Armour" will be the Highlight to look forward to.  And I'm not disappointed.  

 

The Princess's father - the PM is very Ambitious.  He married her daughter off to the General for Political Reasons.  This Story is about Power Struggles.  According to the PM, there are 2 ways to win the struggle:

-  Control of Supplies (Grains,  etc). The Xie Family has this

-  The PM (Wang Family) has the Army.  They also has the monopoly of Empress position.  The current Empress is already the 12th Empress from the Wang Clan.

 

So, since the PM has "incapacitate" (so he thought) the Emperor, he wants to further  his Control over the Army.  He has secretly met-up with the General three times  - seeking his alliance.

 

The 2nd Prince want to thwart the marriage. He didn't want the PM to become too powerful. So he ask Duke Huan (PM's daughter-in-law's father) to stop it.  The cunning Duke Huan tells Zilu to seek the at times "naive" Counsellor Wen help - to convince General Xiao Qi to leave the capital instead.

 

Remember the Wedding Night, when the General rode away without informing his New Bride?  It was to prevent the PM or anyone else from using his Army to execute an All Out Coup.

 

This General is a very Smart Person.  He can strategise not just in Warfare, but also in Palace Intrigues.  He can "read" the situation well.  Plus he is a Gentleman, a Principled person and a good Husband.  I must say... at this stage, he is the Character-Role I'm focussing on.

 

In ep 12, the General managed to answer all of the Princess's questions (doubts) and gain her trust...  and love definitely.  She realised now that she has all along been treated as "Pawn" by both the Empress (her aunt) and her Father.

 

This Pair is on their way to be The Power Couple.  I couldn't wait for ep 13 and......

 

 

 

 

[skibbies]

11 hours ago, galea said:

Have you started watching Rebel Princess? Any verdicts so far? I enjoyed reading your opinions of other dramas in the past so any thoughts you have at the moment would be appreciated. 

I haven't watched this yet, but a blog i'm following has been thirsting over him so hard LOOOOL. Unfortunately, I hear the audience in China aren't particularly impressed with this pairing? I mean I was reading their opinions through google translate, but they certainly had complaints about the actors. I hope this isn't just on the basis of the leads being older than the usual lot who star in period dramas.

I read the novel few years ago, it's a story I could appreciate from a distance but never quite loved, a story that's pretty well suited for adaptation though. I'm on ep 4 I think? it's alright so far, gorgeous cinematography, I'm ehhh about the casting and it's not just the age that bothers me. Zhou Yiwei is surprisingly well fitted for the role, I didn't really expect him to. Zhang Ziyi's aura is too strong, the first ep when she was having a coming of age ceremony, it looked like she was becoming an empress XD I also don't think second male lead was cast well, but I'll live. Story-wise, I kind of hate a plot point that's drama original, and I rather dislike the use of some over-used tropes that's again, drama original. Other than that, it's alright, it introduces the cast and background fairly well.

 

lol the douban rating. The age is a big factor, the character is 15, you can't get around it. ZZY didn't have to pick this novel, she's one of the investors so she totally pick this. There are other novels that would suit her more, other stories where the story doesn't end before it gets to her age range. She also made a weibo post that's basically slammed the drama's marketing team because they trended something along the lines of "zzy girly/youthful looks" and she states that she's not youthful at all. A lot of netizens find it hilariously hypocritical because again, she's one of the investors, she didn't have to pick this story, she didn't have to play up the girlyness (i know it's probably to contrast with later developments) and that might have affected the ratings a little.

 

More importantly though, she's on an acting variety show recently, as a mentor. She slammed actors and actresses for picking roles that they aren't suited for. For coming into the tv industry cos there's a lot of money in it, and another mentor on the show slammed someone for playing a young girl they are too old for. All comments that netizens threw back at her. It didn't help we have string of three big dramas of actors way too old playing teenager in the span of a month (38 playing 13 in qin dynasty epic, 33 playing 13 in the novel, 16 in the drama for legend of fei, 38 playing 15 here), they are all rather long dramas, dramas that wouldn't lose a lot if they hired a younger actor to play younger version of them.

 

As for ZYW. for some reason a lot of people find him too "oily", where someone doesn't take care of their appearance + like showing off too much despite not being very knowledgeable + overly confident + overly flirty (? it's really hard to summarise mhmm). I don't know where it's from? Someone told me it's from a drama I haven't watched, could be that character's characterisation? He doesn't give me that impression from the two dramas i've seen, and he's doing decent here, it's not easy to hold your ground against ZZY. Anyways, as long as the drama doesn't ruin the story by adding stuff they shouldn't or pace it horrifically, it'll be 7+ by the end.

[Auniyshi S]

7 hours ago, hush puppy said:

 

 

 

Hi  @celebrianna 

 

1) I don't know the ML before this drama.  But I know him now - Zhou Yi Wei.  I'm a Fan now.

 

I love ep 12. The moment the Princess was kidnapped, I knew the "Rescue" by his "Shining Knight In Armour" will be the Highlight to look forward to.  And I'm not disappointed.  

 

The Princess's father - the PM is very Ambitious.  He married her daughter for Political Reasons.  This Story is about Power Struggles.  According to the PM, there are 2 ways to win the struggle:

-  Control of Supplies (Grains,  etc). The Xie Family has this

-  The PM (Wang Family) has the Army.  They also has the monopoly of Empress position.  The current Empress is already the 12th Empress from the Wang Clan.

 

So, since the PM has "incapacitate" (so he thought) the Emperor, he wants to further  his Control over the Army.  He has secretly met-up with the General - seeking his alliance.

 

Remember the Wedding Night, when the General rode away without informing his New Bride?  It was to prevent the PM from using his Army to execute an All Out Coup.

 

This General is a very Smart Person.  He can strategise not just in Warfare, but also in Palace Intrigues.  He can "read" the situation well.  Plus he is a Gentleman, a Principled person and a good Husband.  I must say... at this stage, he is the Character-Role I'm focussing on.

 

In ep 12, the General managed to answer all of the Princess's questions (doubts) and gain her trust...  and love definitely.  She realised now that she has all along been treated as "Pawn" by both the Queen and her Father.

 

This Pair is on their way to be The Power Couple.  I couldn't wait for ep 13 and......

 

 

 

 

Aaaah love ur thought!

 

For ML, i remembered him in Glamorous Time but i'm not impressed.

Here in TRP, i looove.

 

I enjoyed the show.

I watched raw till ep 14 and it made me more thirsty.

 

Finally, i found a wonderful drama to welcome 2021

I hope the drama keep well till the end

[hush puppy]

16 minutes ago, Auniyshi S said:

Aaaah love ur thought!

 

For ML, i remembered him in Glamorous Time but i'm not impressed.

Here in TRP, i looove.

 

I enjoyed the show.

I watched raw till ep 14 and it made me more thirsty.

 

Finally, i found a wonderful drama to welcome 2021

I hope the drama keep well till the end

 

@Auniyshi S  Same here.  I last watch "Go Ahead".  It was so good.  After that, I cannot find anything close to it.  I believe this drama should be interesting from now on.  As our Power Couple fought back. Keep me posted if you find any good dramas in future.

 

 

[galea]

6 hours ago, skibbies said:

lol the douban rating. The age is a big factor, the character is 15, you can't get around it. ZZY didn't have to pick this novel, she's one of the investors so she totally pick this. There are other novels that would suit her more, other stories where the story doesn't end before it gets to her age range. She also made a weibo post that's basically slammed the drama's marketing team because they trended something along the lines of "zzy girly/youthful looks" and she states that she's not youthful at all. A lot of netizens find it hilariously hypocritical because again, she's one of the investors, she didn't have to pick this story, she didn't have to play up the girlyness (i know it's probably to contrast with later developments) and that might have affected the ratings a little.

 

More importantly though, she's on an acting variety show recently, as a mentor. She slammed actors and actresses for picking roles that they aren't suited for. For coming into the tv industry cos there's a lot of money in it, and another mentor on the show slammed someone for playing a young girl they are too old for. All comments that netizens threw back at her. It didn't help we have string of three big dramas of actors way too old playing teenager in the span of a month (38 playing 13 in qin dynasty epic, 33 playing 13 in the novel, 16 in the drama for legend of fei, 38 playing 15 here), they are all rather long dramas, dramas that wouldn't lose a lot if they hired a younger actor to play younger version of them.

Oh goodness, I see... Thank you for explaining. If the character was in her 20s, I can kind of trick my mind into believing that... but 15 is just pushing it. Ah, I feel conflicted now >.<...  

 

6 hours ago, skibbies said:

As for ZYW. for some reason a lot of people find him too "oily", where someone doesn't take care of their appearance + like showing off too much despite not being very knowledgeable + overly confident + overly flirty (? it's really hard to summarise mhmm). I don't know where it's from? Someone told me it's from a drama I haven't watched, could be that character's characterisation? He doesn't give me that impression from the two dramas i've seen, and he's doing decent here, it's not easy to hold your ground against ZZY. Anyways, as long as the drama doesn't ruin the story by adding stuff they shouldn't or pace it horrifically, it'll be 7+ by the end.

Huh, that's weird, and slightly sad that the audience's impression of one of his roles just stuck with him lol. He's clearly a decent actor, so it's a bit of a shame. Thank you again for explaining all that <3