Emperor of Han Dynasty


Reviewed by: meh

November 26, 2003

Rating: four

Da Han Tian Zi (Emperor of the Han Dynasty)

Cast

Liu Che - Huang XiaoMing
Empress Dowager Dou - Chen ShaLi
DongFang Shuo - Chen DaoMing
Nian NuJiao - Alyssia Chia
Princess Ping Yang - Chen ShaSha
Wei ZiFu - Wang Ling

Introduction

This serial is about the early years of Han dynasty emperor Liu Che, more commonly known as Han Wu Di. Since I know little to nothing about Han Wu Di in history, I can’'t say just how accurate this series is historically speaking. The storyline certainly doesn'’t focus much on politics. So don’'t expect something like something like ‘"Yong Zheng Dynasty"’. It’'s basically a fictitious historical drama.

I. Story – minor spoilers

The story is mainly about Liu Che. It begins with Liu Che still a prince, and heir to the throne. He had to battle his uncle for the throne when his father soon passed away. Afterwards, he fought to wrestle both political and military power from his grandmother. And after many struggles, he finally was able to consolidate his power and truly rule over the Han Empire. Typical ‘coming-of-age’ storyline.

II. Characters

Liu Che: Huang XiaoMing

First of all, I just have to say that Huang Xiao Ming here looks eerily similar to Raymond Lam in ‘"A Step into the Past"’. Which was really weird, as for some of the time I actually forgot that he'’s Liu Che and not Ying Zheng. Anyway, I’'m not a fan of Huang XiaoMing'’s acting, but his character’s ok. For the majority of the series, Liu Che in this is portrayed mainly as an immature young boy with too much of a temper. However, you do see early on Liu Che’'s grand aspirations that famous emperors are known for. And Huang XiaoMing was able to make the transition from acting as a young, immature boy to becoming one of the most famous emperors in China’'s history.

Empress Dowager Dou - Chen Sha Li

I always like characters played by veteran actresses. They'’re such a joy to watch in comparison to young actresses these days, who only seem to be good as eye candy. Chen ShaLi delivers a great performance here as the grandmother of Liu Che, and main ‘villain’ in the serial in her struggle for power against her grandson. Chen ShaLi certainly captures the charisma and the presence you’d expect from a powerful Empress Dowager.

DongFang Shuo - Chen DaoMing

Chen DaoMing is one of the best actors in China and is always a joy to watch. He’'s a very professional actor who studies his roles carefully. Here, he plays the enigmatic fortune-teller who was instrumental in Liu Che’s rise to power. The scenes where he tells word-fortunes are simply awesome. However, it does take a decent amount of Chinese knowledge to fully understand his fortune-telling. The language isn'’t up to the level of the likes of the Dynasty series (i.e. ‘Yong Zheng Dynasty’). But it’'s not TVB dialogue either. So if you can only manage to understand normal Chinese dialogues, you might have trouble here. Try renting a couple of episodes first to see if you can comprehend it. If you can’'t, this series becomes much less interesting.

Nian NuJiao - Alyssa Chia

Nian NuJiao is not too major a character. But Alyssa Chia is a famous actress, so she’'s billed as one of the main actresses here. I didn’'t care much for Alyssa Chia’s acting, and the character isn'’t too intricate to the storyline in general. Nian NuJiao appears fairly often in the first 10 episodes or so, and basically disappears afterwards. In another word, don’'t watch this series just for her, or you’'ll be quite disappointed.

Other Characters

Many other characters play major roles in this series. Their acting, as a group, is very solid. Here are some of the major ones.

Liu Che’s 4 ‘cronies’: These are Liu Che'’s sworn brothers and friends. The eldest one is Zhang Tang, a man who knows the law forward and backward. The second is Guan Fu, a fighter who'’s not the smartest tool in the shed. The third is Guo Sheng Ren, who ended up being Liu Che’s servant. The last is Li Ling, the old general’'s grandson. Other than Zhang Tang, who became the head judge of the country, they tend to provide more emotional support to Liu Che than anything else.

Princess Ping Yang: Liu Che'’s elder sister. She plays a big role in the series, with her own good chunk of the subplot. I really like the performance of the actress Chen ShaSha in this role. Not to mention she’s also quite pretty.

Wei Zi Fu: She starts off as Princess Ping Yang’s servant girl. But since she’'s worth mentioning by me, you can probably guess what position she ends up being (especially if you pay attention to the opening/ending scenes). Wang Ling played this character quite well, although the character itself is fairly weak and one-dimensional.

III. Other things

This is a big mainland production, so the settings and props are beautiful and very well done. The costumes seem a bit bland. But since this is early in China’'s history, it’s likely that they didn’'t have too many colorful clothing back then. The background music is mostly soft and instrumental, typical of mainland serials. I did like both the opening and the ending themes, especially the opening theme.

IV. Opinion

It'’s rare for me to enjoy watching a TV series from start to finish. Most of them tend to have several dragging spots where you just want to fast forward. But I did enjoy this serial the whole way, with almost no fast forwarding. Liu Che'’s story early can be quite annoying, because he didn'’t seem like an emperor. But I did see the progression in his character. And there are times when things get overly dramatic, which tends to drag the series. Otherwise, no complaints.

Screenshots:
http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/f/dhtz/index.html


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