Palace - Jade Lock Heart

My cousin WS left a bagful of Dvds at my house the other day, so I picked those which I wanted to watch. Palace had seemed to be one of them which attracted me. Well, I'd watched the Korean version of Palace and enjoyed it, so I wondered what the Chinese one would be about.

Palace - Jade Lock Heart
(Source : spcnet.tv)

Of course, I didn't know it was a China production then. I'd thought it a Taiwan production or something. I mean, if I had known, I would not want to watch it. Gosh, I'm so prejudiced. Lol. Of course, I had not known then that Palace - Jade Lock Heart became a phenomenon in China after it was broadcast early in 2011. So much so that the popularity of its lead actors increased by leaps and bounds. That aside, the casts of this drama did include a few actors from Hong Kong, like Sonija Kwok, Maggie Siu and Kent Tong.

As I started watching, however, I was enchanted by the beautiful actresses gracing the screen, and good-looking actors (despite their Manchurian queue braids), colourful costumes and elaborate hair pieces for the ladies (they fascinate me for some reason), some comedy and of course the plot of deceit and betrayal in the Forbidden Palace.

Mostly, however, I was captivated by the love story between the Eighth Prince and Qing Chuan. Forgive me. I'm a sucker for a good romance. When they first met, he rescued her from drowning and she slapped him. Later, he continued to bully her out of amusement. He decided quite early on that he wanted her as his consort, but she rejected him time and again because of her infatuation with the Fourth Prince. It was only very much later that she was touched by his sincerity and accepted his love (It took her 24 episodes to come to her senses! Goodness! Lol.) So, after many trials and tribulations, they got married. However, life in the palace was not only stifling, it was tense as the Princes battled fiercely for the throne. Fourth and Eighth Princes were the strongest contenders.

Actually, this was a time travel tale and Qing Chuan was a 21st Century lass who had traveled back to the Qing Dynasty era when Emperor Kangxi reigned. And she coming from the future, knew that Eighth Prince would in the end, lose out to his Fourth Brother who would eventually become Emperor Yongzheng. Not only that, Eighth Prince would finally be stripped of all his titles, expelled from the Imperial household, and held in custody for life. Historically, Eighth Prince would die while in custody. So, I mean, how could such a love story have a happy ending? I wanted to tear my hair watching how the couple was framed and threatened, wronged and separated.

Overall, Palace - Jade Lock Heart received more negative reviews than positive ones. People were disappointed that the plot was cliched, and that some historical characters were not accurately portrayed. There was even a major error about a historical fact. Despite all those weaknesses, I totally enjoyed the unfolding of the love story between the protagonists, Eighth Prince & Qing Chuan.

My favourite character in this drama would be the Eighth Prince. Feng Shao Feng played the role of Eighth Prince, and he received favourable reviews for his acting. I thought he was downright adorable. I loved his complete devotion for Qing Chuan and the way his face lighted up whenever she was around. He could be mischievous and playful, gentle and attentive, and yet commanding and assertive. I love his character, and I think Feng Shao Feng is a great actor as he portrays the many facets of the Eighth Prince really brialliantly.

Chinese actor, Feng Shao Feng
His version of the Eighth Prince is very likeable, and he's winning over a lot of fans fast. His popularity has soared and he's since received many offers of acting projects (Good for him!!). I anticipate to see more of him in his future work! Another talented actor for me to watch out for.
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Qing Chuan was portrayed by Yang Mi. I think her character wasn't very consistent. She was like very girly and outspoken and spunky for half of the show. On the second half, all that spunk disappeared and she looked serious and sad most of the time. It could be that the plot required her to deliver such emotions. What's great, however, was that she had great onscreen chemistry with Feng Shao Feng. It was said that they were really good friends in real life.

Beautiful Chinese actress, Yang Mi, as Qing Chuan the time-traveller
(Source : Credit as labelled)

Anyway, this has to be the very first C-drama for me and I'm glad I watched it. It is more of a sort of a trivial love story between the characters in the palace. So if you are looking for a political drama, you will be terribly disappointed.

Some of the casts of Palace - Jade Lock Heart
(Source : spcnet.tv)

@ @ SPOILER @ @

So after going through an emotional roller coaster ride, the ending was unexpected. Qing Chuan made it back to modern times, and guess what? So did Eighth Prince. And in his traditional robe and queue hairdo too! Our main couple got reunited, but erm, I wasn't too sure what this meant. Cause the caption stated that Eighth Prince died from an illness while in custody. So, did Qing Chuan change history and save Eighth Prince from his fate? Not sure. Basically, things were rather unresolved and erm, not so logical.

Manchurian prince & modern lass in the 21st Century. Believe what you want to believe. It'd been a fantasy-ride since Episode 1 after all ;p

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