Notes (some spoilers): 1.1. "Zhou" (周) is *both the kingdom/state's name (大周)* as well as the *imperial family's surname (周家)* while strange, there was *at least one lesser polity* where both the state name & ruling house were the same 1.2. Zhou Xuan'ling (周玄凌)'s current era name is *Qian'yuan (乾元)* , hence "Qian'yuan Emperor (乾元帝)" 1.3. the _hanzi_ for *Xuanqing's name is "玄清"* while his *title Prince Qing is "清王"* ; since the character 青 (lit. "azure/blue-green") is the common denominator, this is where the preference for azure hues come from 1.4. Xuan'ling's jealousy was rooted by the fact that the Former Emperor *highly favored Ruan Yan'ran, Noble Consort Shu (舒貴妃 阮嫣然) and their son Xuanqing* , even *outwardly preferring him as his heir* 3.1. the concubines in "Legend of Zhen Huan" are almost double than that of "Empresses in the Palace"; as a result some were either combined or omitted 3.2. the harem ranking system is a nightmare: -ranks where the title is already a given and no additional honorary titles are added (貴妃, 淑妃, 賢妃, 德妃) -others in the contrary (honorary title or surname + concubine rank, e.g. 妃, 貴嬪, 嬪) -ranks with a set number limit and none at all -sumptuary do's & dont's depending on your rank -those who survived to the next reign automatically given the title of "Dowager Empress" (太后) despite their unqualification 4.1. "[...] mother always said that with *my appearance* [...]": *Yun Xin'luo (雲辛蘿) was the source of all her daughters' physical appearances* (aka she also looks like Zhu Ruoze), ergo the wellspring of misfortune of the Zhen family 4.2. as already stated in the episode where Huanbi was choosing her 譜名, *Zhen Huan's actual name is "Zhen Yuhuan" (甄玉嬛)* 5. there are times that *Zhen Huan is kind of a haughty narcissistic beeyotch* , hence why she immediately attracted all those enemies 6. Xia Yuejing = Xia Dongchun 7. the consort kin during Xuan'ling's reign is the *Zhu clan (朱氏)* 7.1. Xuan'ling's mother the current Dowager Empress is *Zhu Chengbi (朱成璧)* , the Former Emperor's *Consort Lin (琳妃)* 7.2. the sisters' names are *Zhu Yixiu (朱宜修)* & *Zhu Ruoze (朱柔則)* , the latter the infamous Empress Chun'yuan (both daughters of Chengbi's brother) 8. names of the higher-ranking concubines: 8.1. Murong Shilan, Consort Hua (華妃 慕容世蘭) 8.2. Qi Yuebin, Consort Duan (端妃 齊月賓) 8.3. Tang Jing'yan, Consort Que (愨妃 湯靜言) 8.4. Fei Yun'yan, Noble Concubine Li (麗貴嬪 費雲煙) 8.5. Lu Yingfeng, Noble Concubine Xin (欣貴嬪 吕盈風) 9. imperial children: 9.1. eldest son: Zhou Yuze (周予泽), Zhu Yixiu's son died 3 years old 9.2. 2nd son: died _in utero_ with Zhu Ruoze 9.3. eldest prince (3rd son, Tang Jing'yan's son): Zhou Yulin (周予漓), later Prince Qi (齊王) 9.4. eldest princess (Lu Yingfeng's daughter): Zhou Yunfei, Princess Shuhe (淑和帝姬 雲霏) 9.5. 2nd princess (Cao Qinmo's daughter): Zhou Liang'yu, Princess Wen'yi (温儀帝姬 良玉) (note on the princesses: from what I gather on the naming system, *princesses of Zhou have no actual names* ; they were only given their *formal title after marriage* , while *in private a "nickname" is basically the name placeholder* ) 10. the nice thing about "Legend of Zhen Huan" is that besides the literary aspect the plot was also filled with "modern" puzzles & games 11. as Ruyi said "一次不忠，百次不用"; no matter what physical state, *a servant publicized as a traitor is seen as "damaged goods"* , as Xiaoquanzi in "Yanxi Palace" frankly tells Wei Ying'luo 12. "Zhen Huan" novel & drama set the precedent for *"ghost-pranks-to-out-the-baddie" scheme* , since it was also played out in "Ruyi" novel & drama as well as "Yanxi Palace"
1.4 Good point about it not being just a younger/more handsome thing. I did forget about that! 2 You missing a 2? 3.2 It absolutely is 😭 4.1 Ooooh, ‘wellspring of misfortune’, I love that. IDK if you’ve read ahead but when the emperor sees ZhenHuan’s mother for the first time he is going to be floored seeing what his precious wife would have looked like in old(ish) age 7.2 That middle character in ChunYuan’s name is Rou (朱柔則). You have no idea the number of times I’ve accidentally said A’Ruo (as in RuYi’s royal love) instead of A’Rou- sticking to ‘ChunYuan’ or ‘previous empress’ mostly hahaha Great notes as always :)
@@dramarecaps4217 1.2. Xuanqing's current title is "Prince Qing", he only *becomes "Prince Qinghe" (清河王) by volume 7* when "the saddest scene" happens 1.4. it also includes Yongzheng's drama lines about *Yun'li being more accomplished in literary & martial skills* ; simply put *Xuan'ling & Zhu Chengbi weren't really high up in the imperial favor during the Former Emperor's reign* 2. I was actually typing a running commentary, but as I was editing I lumped the similar-themed comments under a common number, and I must've missed the misnumbering 3.2. supposedly the concubines-becoming-太后 rule was based off of Ming Dynasty 4.1. I actually base my knowledge from the little Chinese characters I know off from Baidu -apart from that knowledge, Xuan'ling actually dared to request hugging Yun Xin'luo #TheAudacity -don't know if this was the sentiment of C-nets or K-nets, but *"The Tragedy of Ruyi"™ would've been Zhu Rouze's fate had she survived to adulthood and witnessed everything* that was Xuan'ling 7.2. fuck I always misspell the middle character 😱 + additional thoughts 8. regarding the "Emperor you know and don't love", some funny "Empresses in the Palace" bts: *Chen Jianbin is the female cast's "punching bag" when the cameras aren't rolling* 9. Liulianzi may be "a great storyteller" but it's really hard to ignore her *plagiarism controversies regarding both "Zhen Huan" & "Ruyi"*
@@盧璘壽로인수 For 3.2, wouldn't the title 太后 be only reserved for the primary wife or mother of an emperor while the rest of the surviving concubines would get the title 太妃 or 太嬪, outside of specific circumstances in Chinese history like Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing dynasty promoting his adoptive mother Imperial Noble Consort Dowager Kangci to Empress Dowager despite her neither being his biological mother nor his father's wife? How did this rule fit in the novel since wouldn't there be more than one empress dowager around, unless all of the widowed concubines besides the emperor's biological mother were either sent to the nunnery, are living in a secluded corner of the palace, or killed (especially if the novel also has the early Ming Dynasty imperial family practice on sacrificing widowed concubines)?
@@SolitaryBee-wd5wf 1. ask Liulianzi not me 2. I may have constructed the comment wrong, hence I edited it 3. excluding Zhu Chengbi for obvious reasons, many of the Former Emperor's concubines were given 太后 posthumous titles, including Ruan Yan'ran who is *Dowager Empress Zhaoshu (昭舒太后)* 4. within the next generation tho, only Zhen Huan & Shen Meizhuang became 太后 because they're both mothers of the next Emperor; otherwise, the few that survived were given 太妃 titles
I feel so bad for An Lingrong in the novel here; she wants to entter into the harem for her family, but she just finds out what it's like to be infatuated, and then she is forced to complete her entry into the harem. Also she doesn't get promotions early on while her friends are getting them rapidly. but anyway, thank you for the Zhen Huan Novel recaps ^^
I absolutely LOVE how the directors and producers of the drama were able to come up with such great ideas to enhance the novel 💖 It’s amazing how everything written in the novel slightly differs in the drama, and I’m honestly quite enjoying the differences 👀 I can’t wait for Part 2 to this and Ruyi, thank you so much for translating and making these amazing videos! 💖💖💖💖💖💖
I agree that the changes made in the show is very well-done. Aging characters like the Emperor up is definitely a good decision and makes more sense with the story. I think that's the mark of a good adaptation, keeping in the great parts of the novel while adding changes that enhance instead of taking away from the story. It's interesting how Zhenhuan is a confident, calculating girl while Lingrong is innocent and insecure. You mentioned before that if the story was from Lingrong's POV, Zhenhuan would be the villain and I can see that here because of the contrast of the confident Zhenhuan and the naive Lingrong. (although causing miscarriages is really wrong). Anyways, great analyses!
Personally, it seems more realistic to me that Zhen Huan, even before entering the palace, was already a Machiavellian mind. In all my other dramas it starts with an innocent girl turning into a phoenix (a super empowered bitch) which makes me wonder...is the Forbidden City really such a good motivational coach??? really??? ... and the truth is that I don't believe it, no, it may provide you with tests to improve your skills... BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY what nature does not grant. Salamanca ( or harem ) does not give you 🤷♀️. Hence Linrong who begins as sweet and innocent (in the series) as Zhe Huan and having more adversities than her and in fact wanting to seduce the emperor...Failed ... is the the legend of Zhen Huan , not leyend of Linrog, In the end this is very sad to me 😥
Thank you for sharing the book with us! I'm in the middle of watching this whole series, since they posted the latter half with English subtitles finally. (Subtitles aren't as good as those from the first half, but at least I can get the story.) I'm right at the conferment ceremony of Duan HuangGuiFei, Jing GuiFei, etc. What an awesome scene and what a sorry face from the Empress!! 😄😄
I'm the only one confused with all the strange ranks added to the harem book? I prefer the ranking system of the drama, more simple and easy to understand.
That's because the Qing dynasty's ranking is the easiest one except for the Yuan one. Previous dynasties had much more complicated systems -and while they use similar ranks/titles, they are moved around a lot - so sometimes nothing makes any sense to our western eye.
I'm not sure what you mean, the empress' sister is already dead by the start of the novel. Chapter one starts with the concubine selection, years after her death. Since this is from ZhenHuan's point of view, we have no idea what the empress is thinking or any memories she has of her sister.
Princes and princesses that died at a very young age not being recorded or join the ranking is actually true to actual history. That’s also one of the reasons why it was irritating for me to watch Ruyi, they were naming actual fetuses and ranking them. It was ridiculous in my opinion
A fetus I can understand not being recorded but an actual baby who lived and died just being wiped away because they didn't hit age 3 (or whatever the cutoff was) seems cold to me. I can understand it from a public image perspective though, it's awkward explaining that this the "thirteenth prince" and yet you somehow only have 4 sons...
@@dramarecaps4217 While cold, I don't think this was unusual in history. This is in a western setting, but I remember child mortality was so high in Victorian England that parents didn't even name them until they were 7.
I agree. Zhen Huan executing the other concubine on the book doesn't make sense. Hua Fei would have flogged zhen huan to death if she had found out. I think she was the only Consort who was legally allowed to grant death and disciplinary actions?
That could be explained that HuaFei want ZhenHuan do the deed of executing that concubine because the people in harem will viewed ZhenHuan as a bad person. But it could also be that if Huafei punishes Zhenhuan for helping the eunuchs kill the concubine, Huafei will be implicated in the process giving the Empress the opportunity to questions her.
The punishment was carried out under the order by the Emperor’s will (the ultimate embodiment of the imperial political system), while Zhenhuan were just merely lending a helping hand tho….
-that's because no one has done an English- -translation of it yet- so apparently someone did an English fan translation of "Legend of Zhen Huan", though *s/he did only the 1st 2 chapters of volume 1: basically the Concubine Selection Ceremony*
4:14 Yixiu isn’t Rouze’s fraternal twin sister. They were born two hours apart, but to different mothers, making them still half-sisters even in the novel
Oh noooo! Literally no matter how many times I go over things I always mess something up. It never even crossed my mind that they would be born hours apart and not be twins haha. Anyway, thanks for the correction!
@@dramarecaps4217 Also part of Yixiu's insecurity and the friction between the sisters that spirals into murder considering Rouze's mother is the wife while Yixiu's mother is a concubine.
@@dramarecaps4217 yeah it is in my opinion. it's kind of a slow farm but you can manage by just an hour or two of playing it. even zhen huan is in the game! (the character looks exactly like sun li ver.) i mainly play it to destress from competitive games.
The game sprites make me so sad because some of these games aren't available in the us 😭 *Edit:* I was being fr. Drama Recaps, where are these sprites from?
Chinese people knew other countries they just felt that China was the center of the world like how the American president is sometimes referred to as “president of the free world” it comes from a belief that the US is the most important country in the world.
you're pertaining to "Legend of Ruyi" -there has never been a "Legend of Zhen- -Huan" English fan translation anywhere on- -the Internet- so apparently someone did an English fan translation of "Legend of Zhen Huan", though *s/he did only the 1st 2 chapters of volume 1: basically the Concubine Selection Ceremony*
I don’t know why you say the emperor is young and handsome when he look like he is in his 60. Why did cast this old guy. I want to punk every time he show up. They should at least cast a 30 year old to play him. He don’t need to be hot. He just need to look his age.
Had the drama not been set in the Qing dynasty during Yongzheng's reign, you might've seen someone younger play the emperor but it is what it is, and Chen Jianbin still looks the part of a middle aged emperor which is accurate since Yongzheng would've been in his 40s at the start of his reign.
the actor was around the same age as the emperor was when the drama came out, so it actually makes sense... it's much more true to history. chen jianbin did a phenomenal job. he played the role of a _very_ stoic, serious, and unemotional emperor, and very rarely do you see him happy or angry. so when those moments _do_ come (especially the anger), it takes you by surprise. looks aside, he was the perfect man for the job.
![Legend of ZhenHuan [Book 1]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
