Scarlet Heart


Scarlet Heart is a 2011 Chinese television series based on the novel Bu Bu Jing Xin by Tong Hua. It premiered in China on Hunan Broadcasting System on 10 September 2011.
A pioneer of the time slip genre in Asian television, Scarlet Heart was a commercial and critical hit, both in China and across Asia. A sequel, Scarlet Heart 2 first aired in China on Zhejiang TV on 22 April 2014.

Synopsis

Zhang Xiao, a young woman from the 21st century, suffers a near-fatal accident that sends her back in time to the Qing Dynasty during the Kangxi Emperor's reign. She finds herself trapped in the body of one of her previous incarnations: Ma'ertai Ruoxi, the teenage daughter of a Manchu general. In this new timeline, she has an elder sister, Ruolan, who is a concubine of the Kangxi Emperor's eighth son, Yinsi. Ruoxi initially tries to return to the future, but she soon adjusts to life in this era. She meets some of Kangxi's other sons, including the fourth prince Yinzhen, tenth prince Yin'e who falls in love with her, and fourteenth prince Yinti. She also forges a close friendship with the thirteenth prince, Yinxiang.
Ruoxi attracts the attention of the emperor with rumors of her brashness and bravery, and manages to charm him with her intelligence and wit. Later, at the imperial palace's "beauty draft", conflicting arrangements are made by Yinsi and his first wife, Gogoro Minghui, leading to Ruoxi being drafted into the service of the dowager empress to keep the peace. Ruoxi is given an appointment as a servant to the emperor himself, specifically to prepare and serve tea to him and those he hosts.
During Ruoxi's stay in Yinsi's house, Yinsi falls in love with her. She initially rejects him but eventually returns his feelings, and later agrees to marry him if he gives up competing for the succession to the throne. This is because Ruoxi's knowledge of history makes her aware that Yinsi's ambition will ultimately lead to his death in prison after Yinzhen becomes emperor. However, Yinsi refuses to and thus Ruoxi breaks up with him. Before leaving, Ruoxi warns Yinsi of Yinzhen's plans to usurp the throne and came up with solutions for him to prevent being taken down by Yinzhen.
Ruoxi then started to get closer to Yinzhen, and their interactions changed her unfavorable opinion of him, and she unwittingly falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Yinsi and his supporters, acting on Ruoxi's advice, frame Yinzhen for plotting against the crown prince Yinreng. Yinxiang steps forward to take responsibility and is ultimately sentenced to house arrest. After this incident, Yinsi realizes that Ruoxi is now romantically involved with Yinzhen. Yinreng is deposed after his criminal ways are exposed and is imprisoned for life. Kangxi then begins showing preference for Yinti and offers Ruoxi as a concubine to him. However, Ruoxi boldly defies the emperor's order, and as a penalty, she is demoted to the laundry department.
Ruoxi works within the laundry department for a number of years, and is offered some level of protection and special treatment by ways of the princes. Kangxi falls ill during this time, and when Ruoxi is brought back to the emperor's service by Eunuch Wang to prepare pastries and help stimulate Kangxi's appetite, he pardons her and restores her to her former role as his lead tea server.
Kangxi eventually dies of his illness, and with military support from Longkodo and Nian Gengyao, Yinzhen falsely claims that Kangxi named him the successor, effectively staging a coup and taking the throne from Yinti to become the Yongzheng Emperor. Yinzhen then releases Yinxiang from custody and moves Ruoxi into his quarters, eventually consummating their relationship. He does not, however, marry her, as he wants to be able to live with her and see her every day—wives and concubines have their own estates between which the emperor must divide his time. Ruoxi is pleased enough with this arrangement, as she has always been reticent about marriage and enjoys seeing Yinzhen daily as well. Ruoxi's happiness, however, is marred by Yinzhen's paranoia and his ruthless persecution of Yinsi and his followers. She is often caught between the rivaling factions of Yinzhen and Yinsi.
When Gogoro Minghui tells Ruoxi that Yinsi acted against Yinzhen years ago because of her advice based on the knowledge of the future, she is shocked, and her despair causes her to miscarry Yinzhen's child and is unable to conceive again. Enraged, Yinzhen blames Yinsi and his wife, issuing an edict forcing them to divorce, which leads her to commit suicide. Ruoxi fears Yinzhen's punitive actions against his brothers and confesses the truth to him and Yinxiang. Yinzhen is stunned when he understands why Yinsi plotted against him and starts treating Ruoxi coldly. Ruoxi is unable to withstand the mental stress and asks Yinti to help her leave the palace. Yinsi knows that Yinzhen will not allow Ruoxi to leave and decides to intervene. He discloses details of his past romance with Ruoxi, and an angered Yinzhen eventually agrees to let Ruoxi and Yinti leave the Forbidden City.
Despite Yinti's excellent care, Ruoxi's emotional anguish deeply affects her health, and she begs him to send a letter to Yinzhen, requesting to see the emperor one last time before she dies. However, a misunderstanding between Yinzhen and Yinti causes the letter to be thrown aside unread. Ruoxi struggles to stay alive, but after three days, she concludes that Yinzhen's absence confirms that his love for her has ended, and she dies. When news of Ruoxi's death reaches Yinzhen, he rushes to Yinti's house, regretting his actions after learning that Ruoxi still loved him.
In the later years, Yinsi and Yintang were imprisoned as Yinzhen blames them for everything that happened. Yinxiang went to visit them in prison and hands them poison, which was Ruoxi's request to him before she left the palace. Both Princes commit suicide and end their suffering. Yinxiang dies a few years later, followed shortly by Yinzhen himself, whose 12-year reign as Emperor was the shortest in Qing history. Yinti lives on but does not find another wife. Only Yin'e has a happy ending with his wife whom he grew to love, watching Qianlong Emperor ascend the throne.
Back in 2011, Zhang Xiao regains consciousness in a hospital and is informed that she had been in a coma for weeks. She wonders if her experiences in the past were real or just a dream. After recovering, Zhang researches the Qing Dynasty era, only to find that history remains on its proper course, and there are no records on Ma'ertai Ruoxi. However, she later visits a museum where she recognizes some Qing Dynasty-era artifacts and sees a woman in a Kangxi Emperor portrait that resembles her. Meanwhile, a man who bears a striking resemblance to Yinzhen visits the exhibition and encounters Zhang Xiao but does not recognize her. The show ends with a cliffhanger of the man walking away as Zhang Xiao's tears start to fall.

Cast

Main

Emperor and Other Princes

The show's producers have announced that the series will remain mostly faithful to Bu Bu Jing Xin, the novel by Tong Hua on which it is based. However, there are some differences:
;Songs not included in the commercial release

International broadcast

Remake

is a South Korean remake, directed by Kim Kyu-tae. It is the first Korean drama project for Universal Studios and has a budget of $13 million. It began airing on 29 August 2016 for 20 episodes. It received criticisms for its screenplay, direction and performances, but was well received overseas. In China, the series aired at the same time as its Korean broadcast on Youku and Mango TV, also, in Hong Kong on LeTV, and on ONE TV ASIA in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia under the title Scarlet Heart. Due to its simultaneous broadcast and extensive publicity campaign, including a fan-meeting with Kang Ha-neul before the premiere, the drama was well received in Singapore and Malaysia, and has 2.5 billion cumulative views on China's biggest video platform, Youku.