Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace is a 2018 Chinese television series based on the novel Hougong Ruyi Zhuan by Liu Lianzi. Starring Zhou Xun and Wallace Huo, the series chronicles both the romantic and marital relationship between the Qianlong Emperor and Empress Nara.

The series is the sequel to the critically acclaimed drama Empresses in the Palace. It aired on Tencent Video from 20 August to 15 October 2018; during which it was streamed more than 18.9 billion times. It later went on national broadcast and aired simultaneously on Jiangsu Television and Dragon Television from 25 December 2018.

Despite the plot and characters receiving mixed reviews from viewers, the series won acclaim for its exquisite props, lavish sets and stellar cast. It has a total score of 7.5 points on Douban.

Synopsis
The story follows Empress Nara and her life during the Qianlong Emperor's reign as his consort until her death.

Originally known as Ula-Nara Qingying, the niece of Empress Xiaojingxian, she is childhood friends with Fourth Prince Hongli and initially chosen to be his primary consort. However, when the Yongzheng Emperor exposes Empress Xiaojingxian for her role in helping Third Prince Hongshi become an usurper, Hongli is forced to rescind his decision, taking Fuca Langhua as his primary consort instead. Qingying is banished from the Imperial Palace upon Empress Xiaojingxian's house arrest. Hongli compromises with the Yongzheng Emperor and is allowed to take Qingying as a secondary consort in exchange for also taking Gao Xiyue as a mistress.

All three women are promoted once Hongli ascends to the throne as the Qianlong Emperor; Qingying becomes Consort Xian, Langhua becomes the empress and Xiyue becomes Noble Consort Hui.

Due to her involvement with the Ula-Nara clan and her reputation as the Emperor's most favored woman, Consort Xian is initially not well received in the Imperial Harem and Imperial Family. Empress Dowager Chongqing initially distrusts Consort Xian but grants her the name "Ruyi" once trust is later established.

Threatened by Ruyi's favor among both mother and son, the Empress, Noble Consort Hui, and her maid A'ruo conspire against her, resulting in Ruyi being blamed for the deaths of imperial heirs. She is demoted and sent to the Cold Palace where the truth about her infertility surfaces and where she forms a friendship with lowly imperial guard Ling Yunche. Ruyi is able to return to the Imperial Harem with the help of her allies. A'ruo is banished to the Cold Palace, Noble Consort Hui is abandoned by the Empress, and the Empress is isolated from her allies.

Devastated by the deaths of her two sons and forced to marry her only daughter off to Mongol allies, the Empress falls into water during winter and nearly drowns. On her deathbed, the Emperor confronts her for her evil deeds. In return, she curses his future empress to endure his coldness until her death.

It is revealed that the late Empress and Noble Consort Hui were both manipulated by Consort Jia, a foreign consort who wants to win the love of the head of her tribe. Ruyi's elevation from noble consort to imperial noble consort to step-empress is made uneasy due to Consort Jia's curbing her favor with scathing rumors and an attempt to frame her for adultery. Furthermore, she rallies her maiden tribe and well-known noblewomen to convince the Emperor to name her eldest son as crown prince. Eventually, Consort Jia loses favor and is demoted to a commoner. On her deathbed, to have her confess to her crimes, Ruyi reveals to her that the head of her tribe exposed the fact that she is a commoner, which is why he never loved her. Ruyi is unaware that Consort Jia's downfall is due to the scheming of the unfavored Consort Ling.

Consort Ling, a former maid who looks similar to Ruyi begins rising in power. Driven by spite against those who had wronged her and financially pressured by her family, Consort Ling grows in favor due to constantly feeding into the Emperor's wants over his needs and reputation. Ruyi's differing opinions for his health and reputation begin to clash with his expectations and desires, causing a dramatic decline in their relationship.

Ultimately, a confrontation between them causes Ruyi to cut her hair as a means of symbolically ending their marriage and rescinding her status as empress. This act is seen as a major insult/curse against the emperor and empress dowager.

Consort Ling is promoted to imperial noble consort where she continually offends the Mongol imperial consorts and abuses her power obnoxiously. Ruyi refuses to be treated for tuberculosis and collects evidence of Consort Ling's crimes. Consort Ling's life comes to an end when her crimes are exposed to the Emperor and she is punished to be poisoned daily until her dying day.

Though no longer under house arrest, Ruyi refuses to be involved with the Imperial Harem and doesn't accept her role as empress. While the Emperor is on a hunt at the Mulan Hunting Grounds, Ruyi finally succumbs to her illness without letting anyone know. Despite the fact that he greatly mourns her death, the Emperor only grants her a very small funeral as an imperial noble consort, refuses to give her a posthumous name, orders all records of her to be destroyed and her death to be recorded as merely the passing of an untitled clanswoman. This bringd controversy throughout the country and the Imperial Palace. When the Empress Dowager asks about his decision, he justifies his act by recounting how Ruyi had cut her hair in defiance and how his order was her eternal punishment, but he also explains his wish to free her of the empress title in death. The Emperor spends the rest of his life being haunted by her memory.

A now elderly Emperor cuts a piece of his whitened hair and places it beside the original lock of dark hair that Ruyi had cut in front of him years ago. After the passing of the Emperor, a dead prunus mume plant once nurtured by Ruyi begins to blossom.

The ending sequence states that no woman from the Ula-Nara clan ever entered the Imperial Harem after Ruyi's death.

Crew
The series is directed by Wang Jun, produced by Huang Lan, and written by the author of the original novel Liu Lianzi. It also employed William Chang and Tongxun Chen as their overall style director, Han Zhong as art director and Peng Xuejun as cinematography director.

Development
Liu Lianzi started to write the original novel in 2011, and changed her work several times to achieve the best version in the next five years.

New Classics Media picked up the project for a 90–episodes series (later shortened to 87), with a ¥300 million budget, making it the most expensive television series in China.

Casting
On January 14, 2016, it was announced that Zhou Xun will play the leading role of Empress Nara. The role of the Qianlong Emperor, the male lead, was announced to be portrayed by Wallace Huo on May 27. On August 3, actors Janine Chang, Vivian Wu, Dong Jie, Tong Yao, Jing Chao, Xin Zhilei, Li Chun, Zeng Yixuan and Chen Haoyu were cast in major supporting roles for the drama. Around 5,000 actors competed for roles in the drama.

Filming
Shooting began on August 23, 2016 and took place in various locations including Hengdian World Studios, Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Hangzhou. The series completed filming on May 5, 2017.

Reception
The series received mixed responses from viewers.

Many felt underwhelmed by the unaggressive heroine, who was not able to fight the villain imperial consorts even in the second half of the drama, thus making her character design flawed and unconvincing. The drama was also criticized for its anticlimactic story and depressive tone. Critics felt that it was ironic and unbelievable for the protagonist to pursue monogamy in a highly feudalistic context. The slow pacing in the first half of the drama was pointed out, with critics believing that the screenwriters neglected to write with compact story-telling to flesh out the characters.

The series has also received criticism over the age of the leading performers, with viewers saying they made unconvincing teenagers, and criticized the series' producers for not using younger actors to portray the lovestruck teens. Viewers were also divided over the lack of dubbing for Zhou Xun's 15-year-old character, as they felt that her voice was "too raspy" and "mature" for a teenager.

However, there was also praise for the drama. Zhang Hanyue, a writer and critic, said that "The show becomes more and more heart-tugging as the story goes deeper." Many viewers agree that Ruyi bears many characteristics of a modern female. Vogue China commented that the drama actually recorded "the failure of a high-end girl" because what Ruyi had been pursuing was spiritual connections with her spouse; and such a pursuit represents the taste and ideal of the modern middle class. Critics agree that the drama introduces a new light to and narrative of palace dramas, deviating from the existing patterns of treacherous harem games. The drama won acclaim for its exquisite props, lavish sets, and stellar cast.

Censorship by the Chinese government
On January 25, 2019, the Beijing Daily, an official government newspaper, criticized the series for failing to promote socialist values. Four days later, on January 29, the Chinese government cancelled the series and similar ones such as Story of Yanxi Palace. CNN and other media outlets quickly reported on this incident, calling it Chinese censorship.

International broadcast
On 10 June 2016, Fox Networks Group Asia (FNG) acquired global rights to the series outside mainland China. It was the first epic period drama secured by FNG for markets outside China, and was carried by STAR Chinese Channel (SCC), the flagship Chinese general entertainment channel, starting 20 August 2018 in selected countries and re-run on August 6, 2019 in all countries.

From 27 November 2018, it aired on Fox Taiwan. From 27 December 2018, it aired on Talentvision. To date it has debuted in 18 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the Philippines.