Stealing Dragon Exchanging Phoenix

This is the release of a story that is meant to bring happiness, comedy, and wrapping it all together into drama. "Stealing Dragon, Exchanging Phoenix" is an extraordinary story that I believe to bring out something "different".

The cast:
Zhang Ting - Qian Qian (princess)
Vincent Jiao - Long Khang Er (crown prince/Emperor ZhengDe)
Wu Meng Da - Qin Zhong Yu (magistrate who was framed in the beginning)
Song DanDan - Liu Jin Hua (lady boss of Wan Hua Lou)
Niu Li - Qin Cai Qing (daughter of Qin Zhong Yu)
Niu Qing Feng - Shi ShuCai (fiancee of Qin Cai Qing)
Zhang Jia Nan - Niu Er (Qin Cai Qing's maid)
Li Da Guang - Ba Guan (Khang Er's sidekick)
Fu Yi Wei - empress dowager
Liu Wei - Emperor Long Zhi (Khang Er's father)
Liu Chang Chun - Long Tian Xiao (top martial arts swordsman)
Zhang Hui Zhong - Liu Jin (evil Eunuch)
Zheng Qiang - Lin Jin Gui (Grand Scholar)
Liu Fang - Lin Fu Ren (Lin Jin Gui's wife)
Xiang Nu - Lin Jia Rong (Lin Jin Gui's fake daughter)
Zhou Jian - Yan Tie Dao (Long Tian Xiao's martial arts brother)
Qin Yan - Ning Wang (Prince Ning)
Chu XingYi - Bai Hu (bully of Yang Zhou)

The plot:
In a royal palace 18 years ago, one of Emperor Hong Zhi's wives, Zhang, gave birth to a baby girl. With the help of the eunuch Liu Jin, the child was exchanged with the son of Lin Jin Gui. Before the exchange took place, Zhang bit the girl's arm, leaving a birthmark. The boy then became the only royal prince, and later would become the emperor, and Zhang became the Dowager Empress. Lin's wife was filled with hatred, because her beloved son had been taken away. Lin's wife wanted revenge, so she told her maid to leave the baby princess in front of a prostitute house, "Hundred Flower Tower", before returning home. The maid, Li Ma Ma, also bit the baby's other arm, leaving a mark too. The baby girl was taken in by a prostitute named Jin Hua, and was raised by 99 other "mothers". The baby princess was given the name Qian Qian.

Eighteen years later, Qian Qian grew up to be very mischief, and her attitude was very cunning, yet she was so sweet and cute at times. She created trouble wherever she went. One day she got into a fight with Qin Cai Qing, the daughter of the newly appointed governor, Qin Zhong Yu of the Yang province.

Cai Qing was okay at martial arts, so she defeated Qian Qian in the fight. Cai Qing's betrothed husband, Shi Shu Cai arrived at the Qin's mansion, but was sent away by Cai Qing. Cai Qing was excellent both in pen and sword, looked down upon Shi Shu Cai who didn't even have the strength to kill an ant.

Emperor Hong Zhi had died, and the Yang province was prohibited gambling and prostitution. "Hundred Flower Tower" found it hard to do business, so changed into a tavern. Shi Shu Cai, without a place to stay became the first guest. At the same time, the royal prince, soon to be emperor, Long Khang Er was on a trip with his young eunuch Zhou Quan Hong, and arrived at Yang province. He stole the black dragon flag from a powerful martial artist, Long Tian Xiao, and used it to do good deeds. He also had a clash with the cunning Qian Qian. Jin Hua seeing that business wasn't all the great, decided to auction off Qian Qian to a rich guest that would pay a high price to buy Qian Qian. The guests seeing Qian Qian's beauty all shouted out prices. The evil dominator Bai Hu wanted to seize Qian Qian. At the moment the fake Long Tian Xiao (Long Khang Er) appeared and used a high price to "buy" Qian Qian.

Bai Hu didn't get Qian Qian, so he went to the governor, Qin Zhong Yu and told him that there was a criminal in the Hundred Flower Tower. Hearing this, Zhong Yu arrested Khang Er not knowing that this was the royal prince. During the trial, since Jin Hua didn't want to get in trouble, she made up a lie saying that Qian Qian was their (Zhong Yu and Jin Hua's) daughter. Zhong Yu obviously denied it. Qian Qian believed every single word Jin Hua said. Cai Qing was angry and left. She later met an excellent fighter who killed without blinking, and he called himself Long Tian Xiao (He is the real one). Cai Qing and her father later investigated and couldn't find out the truth about Long Tian Xiao, so they left the fake one (Long Khang Er) in prison. However, he later escaped.

The emperor's brother, Dung Xao, seeing that the emperor had died, the empress was a weak woman, and the prince was always playing around, decided it was the right time to usurp the throne, and be emperor.

Qian Qian eventually goes into the palace to be a maid, and is loved by the Dowager Empress. However, Qian Qian and Lin Jia Rong despise each other. Jia Rong, the Dowager Empress believes is her daughter, so mostly sides with her. Jia Rong also likes the prince, and the Empress wants to make Jia Rong the prince's wife, which the prince hates.

Later, Qian Qian finds out the truth that Zhong Yu isn't her father. She is heartbroken because she doesn't have any parents, leading her on a quest to find out her parents. Khang Er also tries to help Qian Qian. They go to a woman to ask about a piece of fabric that was left with Qian Qian since she was a baby, to see if the woman knew where the fabric came from. The woman is actually the maid, Li Ma Ma, who bit Qian Qian on her other arm, and she realizes that Qian Qian is the princess, but doesn't tell the secret. Instead she said she knew nothing. Qian Qian is very sad, and Khang Er realizes that Qian Qian is a sweet girl.

The new young emperor Long Khang Er liked both Qian Qian and Cai Qing, but later on he realizes that he only loves Qian Qian, and Cai Qing realizes her love for Shi Shu Cai.

Khang Er asks Qian Qian to marry him after he reveals his identity to everyone. Qian Qian is very happy and wants to accept. But, before she could, Jia Rong is jealous and sets up a plan to try to harm Qian Qian. During a fight for hold of the knife between Qian Qian and Jia Rong, Jia Rong kills herself by accident, but Qian Qian is captured by the Dowager Empress for murder. The Empress is very sad about Jia Rong's death, believing that she is her daughter.

So sad, the Dowager Empress wanted revenge for the death of Jia Rong. As she whipped Qian Qian, Qian Qian fainted on the spot. The Dowager Empress lowered the whip and saw a birthmark. She was very confused now, so she went to the temple to pray, and her prayer was answered by Li Ma Ma. Li Ma Ma told her that Qian Qian was her real daughter. This broke the empress's heart. She couldn't believe what she had done to her daughter. She also couldn't believe that the prince's real mother had actually left Qian Qian in front of "Hundred Flower Tower". Qian Qian didn't want to accept the truth. She was so sad.

After the prince and everyone discovered Dung Xao and the eunuch, Lin Jin Gui's evil plans, together with Cai Qing, Shu Cai, and the prince with Long Tian Xiao, rescued Qian Qian, and the prince's real mother. Long Tian Xiao died fighting with Jin Gui, but Jin Gui also died. The prince, Khang Er, captured Dung Xao, but when Khang Er wasn't looking, Dung Xao tried to stab the prince. However, the prince's real mother took the blade. She later dies and tells her son to treat Qian Qian well, so he could pay for what she had done to Qian Qian. Khang Er's mother realizes that she regrets doing what she had done to Qian Qian.

Qian Qian finally accepts her real mother, the Dowager. Cai Qing and Shu Cai get married, and both Qian Qian and Khang Er attends the wedding.

Qian Qian becomes Emperor Khang Er's wife, so she is the young empress now. Qian Qian brings her 100 mothers into the palace to live with her. Qian Qian and Khang Er live happily with the Dowager Empress and Qian Qian's 100 mothers.

The cast and my opinion of the series:

Zhang Ting plays "Qian Qian" in the series. She is the main character. She is the princess who got exchanged. Qian Qian has a very ferocious personality. I really liked Qian Qian. She was a very good actress. She was both cute and funny. She can make you laugh so hard at times, and make you cry. Her role in the series was very loveable and enjoyable. She can really make people laugh so hard with her attitude and actions.

Vincent Jiao plays "Long Khang Er" ,the prince who is exchanged with the princess, Qian Qian. Vincent Jiao is also a good actor. He was very funny in the series . I think that Qian Qian and he looked okay together. I liked how they showed Qian Qian and Khang Er together, but it was very little, or there would always be a jealousy of Cai Qing, a good but sometimes annoying girl. Also, when they actually showed Qian Qian and Khang Er REALLY loving each other, it was like at the VERY end or something. However, I don't think Vincent Jiao fitted this role, because the prince is supposed to be an eighteen year old, but Vincent doesn't look 18.

Niu Li plays "Qin Cai Qing", the daughter of a governor of the Yang province. Cai Qing was an average actress. I thought she was okay. She is a good person in the series, but I found her very annoying, because her story with Shu Shi Cai was very dragging and long. She got on my nerves too because it was like she was always ruining the good parts when Qian Qian and Khang Er are together. She doesn't get my approval of her role really, until the near end of the series.

Niu Oing Feng plays "Shi Shi Cai", a good guy. He's a pretty good actor for a scholar guy. I was REALLY annoyed by him in the beginning of the series, but as the story continued, he turned out okay. Shu Shi Cai is a scholar who wanted to prove his love for Cai Qing. Sometimes Shu Shi Cai is very helpless. You could really feel pity for him a lot of times in the series. I supposed that his hard work and efforts paid off in the end, because he did marry Cai Qing.

The annoying and most hateful characters were Liu Jin, the eunuch, played by Zhang Hui Zhong. Lin Jia Rong, played by Xiang Nu, is the girl who was thought to be the Dowager Empress's daughter. Jia Rong was always just dragging in the prince, and Liu Jin was just a fat -old evil eunuch.

Other characters in the series that I have not mentioned is Long Tian Xiao. I thought that he portrayed a magnificent character. He was great in martial arts, and was very strong in feelings. I really like the fact that people were scared of him, but it was nice that he really adored Qian Qian. I didn't see why he should have died. I thought that this death was useless. Long Tian Xiao didn't have to die. Anyway I really liked his character. I liked how he always stood up for Qian Qian. The Dowager Empress was also a really good actress. However, I thought that this series showed too little of Qian Qian and her mother reuniting and spending time with each other. These parts should have been included. I thought the REALLY boring scenes that made you want to stop watching was the dragging on about the scholars' contest, and this young bad guy named Doan Tu Minh or something. These scenes are TOO dragging. The villains in the series were not good. I mean they were evil, but their faces don't look fit to play the villains. Who I'm talking about is the king's evil brother, Tian Wen, and the eunuch, Liu Jin. Their faces were dumb-looking, no offense. Tian Wen, the evil governor looked okay to play a bad guy though. Overall though, I think the cast was REALLY good.

As for the songs, I didn't really like the songs. They were funny though. I guess they were okay. The fighting scenes were great, especially with Long Tian Xiao. I thought the special effects was very excellent.

I would give this movie a 3/5 stars. Not all parts are great, but it is very enjoyable and I really liked it.