Top 6 Most Popular Chinese Costume TV Dramas

In recent years, Chinese costume series are becoming more and more popular in Chinese world. If you like Chinese historical drams, you will feel lucky that there are so many great dramas to fill your evenings. Here I collected some extremely popular Chinese ancient dramas that air since 2010. Hope you like them.

1. The Legend of Zhen Huan / 后宫甄嬛传

The Legend of Zhen Huan

Title: Empresses in the Palace / The Legend of Zhen Huan / Hou Gong Zhen Huan Zhuan /后宫甄嬛传
Episodes: 76
Genre: Romance, historical fiction
Broadcast Period: 2012, Dragon Television
Starring:
Sun Li as Zhen Huan
Chen Jianbin as the Yongzheng Emperor
Ada Choi as Ulanara Yi-xiu
Jiang Xin as Nian Shilan
Leanne Liu as Empress Dowager Renshou

The Legend of Zhen Huan will be well-liked by anyone who has viewed it. It tells the story of Zhen Huan, who survived through many murders and betrayals and finally became the most powerful woman in the Emperor Yong Zheng’s harem.  At the same time she gradually transforms from a kind-hearted and innocent girl to a power hungry, manipulative dowager.

2. The Legend of Mi Yue / 芈月传

The Legend of Mi Yue

Title: The Legend of Mi Yue / Mi Yue Zhuan / 芈月传
Episodes: 81
Genre: Historical, romantic comedy
Broadcast Period: 2015, Dragon TV, Beijing TV
Starring:
Sun Li as Mi Yue
Liu Tao as Mi Shu
Alex Fong as King Huiwen of Qin (Ying Si)
Huang Xuan as Huang Xie
Gao Yunxiang as Zhai Li

The Legend of Mi Yue is set in Chinese Warring States Period. The drama tells the story of Mi Yue, the first stateswoman in China’s history. The play details her turbulent life,she accompanied Mi Shu to the State of Qin and later becomes a concubine of the King of Qin, she suffered so much and finally obtained great power and became the first Empress Dowager in history of China.

3. Hua Qian Gu / 花千骨

hua qian gu

Title: The Journey of Flower / Hua Qian Gu /
Episodes: 58
Genre: fantasy, drama, romance
Broadcast Period: 2015, Hunan TV
Starring:
Wallace Huo as Bai Zihua
Zanillia Zhao Liying as Hua Qiangu
Ma Ke as Sha Qianmo
Andy Zhang Danfeng as Dongfang Yuqing
Jiang Xin as Xia Zixun

The Journey of Flower mainly tells a beautiful and sad love story between Bai Zi Hua and Hua Qian Gu. The ploAn orphan girl Hua Qian Gu was rescued by a deity Bai Zi Hua and Hua became his disciple but gradually fell in love with him, but this kind of love between disciple and teacher is a taboo. Her deep love made her summon the Demon God in order to save him. But this also led to many deaths and destruction to all realms, Hua finally decided to sacrifice herself to make the order restored.

4. The Empress of China / 武媚娘传奇

The Empress of China

Title: The Empress of China / Wu Ze Tian / 武媚娘传奇
Episodes: 96
Genre: Historical fiction
Broadcast Period: 2014, Hunan TV
Starring:
Fan Bingbing as Wu Meiniang
Zhang Fengyi as Li Shimin
Aarif Rahman as Li Zhi
Janine Chang as Xu Hui

The Empress of China is a historical TV drama. It is among the most expensive TV series that China has ever made. It tells the story of China’s only female emperor Wu Zetian, who ruled the empire during the Tang Dynasty. The drama pays particular attention to the romance between Wu Zetian and Emperor Li Zhi instead of how Wu Zetian became the emperor and rule the country.

5. Scarlet Heart /步步惊心

Scarlet Heart

Title: Scarlet Heart / Bubu Jingxin / Startling by Each Step / 步步惊心
Episodes: 35
Genre: Romance, historical fiction, fantasy
Broadcast Period: 2011, Hunan Satellite TV
Starring:
Cecilia Liu as Zhang Xiao
Nicky Wu as Yinzhen
Kevin Cheng as Yinsi
Lin Gengxin as Yinti
Damian Lau as the Kangxi Emperor
Yuan Hong as Yinxiang

Scarlet Heart is a 2011 Chinese time-travel and romance drama. The drama is set in the Nine Lords War under the rule of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. It vividly dispays complex characters and the intense battles among the nine sons of the emperor, and the passionate romance mingled in the battle touches our heart.

6. Nirvana In Fire / 琅琊榜

Nirvana In Fire

Title: Nirvana In Fire / Lang Ya Bang / 琅琊榜
Episodes: 54
Genre: Drama, Wuxia, Historical
Broadcast Period: 2015, Dragon TV, Beijing TV
Starring:
Hu Ge as Mei Changsu
Liu Tao as Mu Nihuang
Wang Kai as Xiao Jingyan
Victor Huang as Xiao Jinghuan
Chen Long as Meng Zhi

The drama tells the story of Mei Changsu. His father and seventy thousand Chiyan soldiers were framed by crafty and fawning ministers and died in battlefields, Mei then entered the the capital of Liang and helped Xiao Jingyan, Prince of Jing, to obtained the throne and redressed  fabricated cases that labeled his family as traitors before.

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