My Fair Princess
It follows tomboyish and innocent Xiaoyanzi, an orphaned and semi-literate vagrant in Beijing who, after befriending the emperor's illegitimate daughter Xia Ziwei, becomes a princess in place of her by accident.Originally produced on a small budget with a cast of little-known young actors, My Fair Princess became one of the most successful and frequently replayed Chinese shows, launching the careers of Zhao Wei, Ruby Lin and Fan Bingbing.[2] Since 2021, the first two seasons of the show have been blacklisted in China following Fan Bingbing’s tax scandal and then the government’s ban on Zhao Wei.[4] In 1989, Chiung Yao began filming for the first time in China in Changsha, Hunan, assisted by HBS and Beijing Television (BTV).However, as years went by, restrictions in Taiwan loosened and Chiung Yao began to use more and more mainland Chinese actors and crew members in her productions, such as director Li Ping.The first drama, Tears in Heaven (蒼天有淚), featured a more established cast of Jiang Qinqin, Vincent Chiao, Athena Chu, Chen Chao-jung and Deng Jie and was anticipated to be more successful, drawing considerable resources from the companies.Chiung Yao was also impressed by Zhao's acting and decided to cast her in the major role of Xiaoyanzi, after reaching an agreement with her school.As Lee Ching-ping recalled in 2007:[8] I quite nervously called her and tried to soften my words, I was thinking, how do I make her receptive and not hurt her (feelings)?...The hardship these kids endured when they shot My Fair Princess was indescribable with words, it was too much.Season 2 began filming on 15 September 1998 with a much larger budget, owing to the unexpected success of Season 1.[4] Describing the madness, Fan Bingbing wrote in 2004:[10] Normally 1,000 or 2,000 people would gather in front of the Beijing Film Studio to ask for our signatures.I would hear people yell out my name, "Fan Bingbing, Fan Bingbing..." When it was time to go to the W.C., five or six staff members had to escort us.In the year 1759, 17-year-old[note 4] Xia Ziwei and her maid Jinsuo travel from Jinan to the Qing Empire capital Beijing, in an effort to meet her father, the Qianlong Emperor, for the first time.The gang decide the best way to reveal the secret to the emperor is to bring Ziwei and Jinsuo into the Forbidden City as imperial maids.Qianlong Emperor becomes more impressed with Ziwei after this incident, and decides to take her as well as Xiaoyanzi and Yongqi on a private trip outside of Beijing, dressed as civilians.On orders of the empress, Liang Tinggui, the man in charge of the Imperial Clan Court, tries to force the girls to sign a statement that their intentions were to murder the emperor.Knowing that the three cannot survive long in such conditions, Yongqi, Erkang, Ertai and the Liu siblings risk their lives and break into the jail to free the girls.Qing'er, Qianlong's niece and a favorite companion of empress dowager, ultimately figures out the doll could not have been made by Ziwei or Xiaoyanzi.Xiaoyanzi, remaining to be referred as princess despite the change of her title, also temporarily escapes the palace where she is kept as a slave in a chess shop because she could not take the rigid rules and Yongqi repeatedly emphasizing the need to be more educated.The empress dowager has no choice but to accept their engagement after Yongqi and Erkang both reveal that they would rather live as a commoner with Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei than remain as a Prince and a royal imperial guard.Xiao Jian and Yongqi rescue Xiaoyanzi and are horrified to find a reclusive, terrified, and blind Ziwei while keeping the emotionally strained Erkang at arm's length after being afraid of becoming a permanent burden to him.At Erkang's insistence and reassurance, Ziwei finally accepts the reality that she may be permanently blind and that she can still live a fulfilling life with him by her side.In the end, the Emperor travels himself to convince them to return to the Forbidden City as he does not care if they helped Hanxiang escape, or if Ziwei is actually his daughter.Taiwan's China Television (CTV), which had a prior agreement with Chiung Yao's company, was the first channel to broadcast Season 1 from 28 April to 29 May 1998.[22] The much longer Season 2 was then broadcast from 21 April to 25 June 1999 and reran immediately, stoking viewer enthusiasm in the series from March until 13 December 1999.[41] In September 1999, a man sued Chiung Yao, Hunan Television, Hunan Broadcasting System, and his local Zhejiang Television for ¥80 million for mental anguish to his family due to watching the drama, calling Xiaoyanzi a "psychiatric patient" who had caused "extremely serious consequences" to children who "liked, worshipped, studied and imitated" her.[42] Although the case was not accepted, his opinion was echoed by Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member Wei Minglun (魏明伦), who in 2002 proposed measures to prevent "rogue" characters like Xiaoyanzi from being idolized by youth.In 2000, Qianlong Emperor's 7th-generation descendant Yu Ziwei (毓紫薇) published a letter to Chiung Yao criticizing the story as irresponsible to the Aisin Gioro clan.When it was finally ready, almost 4 years later, Zhao, Lin and Su (who had shot another Chiung Yao series together in Romance in the Rain) were in the process of filming other projects and could not participate.An online group named Xudu Bar (胥渡吧) became famous for videos where they dubbed scenes from the series with altered dialogue and comical voices.[55] In 2014, during the 5th series of the reality competition China's Got Talent, five members of Xudu Bar dubbed their videos live before Zhao Wei, Alec Su, and other judges.[56] Other parodies include: In 2021, it was announced that a 38-episode web series would be produced as a prequel to My Fair Princess, focusing on the story between Xia Yuhe and the Qianlong Emperor.
My Fair Princess IIINew My Fair PrincessTraditional ChineseSimplified ChineseHanyu PinyinJyutpingCostume dramateen dramasoap operacomedy dramahistoricalChiung YaoPing Hsin-taoZhao WeiRuby LinAlec SuZhou JieZhang TielinFan BingbingPower StationLee E-junTaiwanBeijingChengde Mountain ResortBashang PlateauHunan Broadcasting SystemChineseperiod dramaChengdeChina TelevisionQing dynastyQianlong EmperorvagrantYu ZhengChinese Civil WarChangshaBeijing TelevisionWan-chunChinese economic reformJiang QinqinVincent ChiaoAthena ChuChen Chao-jungDeng JieGongzhufenManchuList of My Fair Princess charactersYongqiFu ErkangDai Chunrongthe EmpressConsort LingJi XiaolanFu Hengthe Empress DowagerWang YanHanxiangBeijing Film AcademyXiao Hu DuiNational Theatre Company of ChinaqinqiangForbidden CityPrince Gong MansionGrand View GardenYongzheng DynastyXiangshan ParkMei LanfangQing EmpireDaming Lakedazayuanmountainssedan chairPalace of Earthly TranquilityDacheng JiaoconcubineImperial Clan CourtUyghurrestaurantforced laborPhil ChangHan dynasty1999 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs AwardsSwallowCẩm Lyfan mailMeteor GardenHunan TelevisionShanghai TelevisionShanghaiAsia TelevisionSeoul National Capital AreaNielsenHo Chi Minh CitySOS Children's Village17th Golden Eagle AwardsBest Television SeriesBest Actresscelebrity worship syndromeZhejiang TelevisionChinese People's Political Consultative ConferenceAisin GioroCambodiaHong KongIndonesiaIndosiarSun TVMalaysiaMongoliaChannel 25 (Mongolia)PhilippinesSingaporeVV DramaSouth KoreaThailandChannel 3VietnamdubbedBang Zoom! EntertainmentWendee LeeCristina ValenzuelaChristine Marie CabanosGrant GeorgeKira BucklandRomance in the RainCải lươngCantonese opera