Wu Jinyan, Nie Yuan Pair Up in New Drama in “Beauty Hao Lan”
The popular success of The Story of Yanxi Palace <延禧攻略> has heralded the comeback of palace dramas as well as led viewers to warmly embrace Wu Jinyan (吳謹言) and Nie Yuan’s (聶遠) pairing. In an upcoming period drama produced by the Yanxi production team, Beauty Hao Lan <皓鑭傳> will see the two paired up again, this time in a love-hate relationship set in the ancient Warring States period.
Loosely based on historical facts, Nie Yuan’s character Lu Bu Wei will “buy” over Wu Jinyan’s character , Li Haolan, with a contract. He declared his love to her in a domineering tone, “Don’t even think of escaping from me in this lifetime.”
Telling the story between the Zhao and Qin states, Lu Buwei’s purchase of Li Haolan, the daughter of a high-ranking Zhao official, will set the period drama into motion. Rendered homeless due to her family’s struggles, Li Haolan agrees to the deal in an attempt to change her personal fate. She later collaborates with Qin leader, Ying Yiren (played by Mao Zijin 茅子俊), thereby kickstarting a series of bloody affairs that will intertwine both her own and her country’s political fates.
In the drama, Li Haolan will fall in love with Lu Buwei, and be forced to choose between love and power. She throws internal affairs in the state of Zhao into chaos and successfully gains the title of Queen Dowager Zhao, while her lover Lu Buwei also ascends to become Chancellor. The two will be entangled in a complicated love triangle alongside Ying Yiren, and Li Haolan’s perseverance will be tested in the show with the trailer showing a scene where she is pinned to the ground, half-stripped and beaten as punishment.
Showing her vengeful motives, Li Haolan utters in the trailer, “I will accumulate more power and riches, to let those who humiliate me pay the price,” Her lover Lu Buwei will be forced to face her lust for power , as she threatens, “Do you believe that I can wrestle power from you anytime…”
Fans can look forward to many of the original cast’s performances, including Zhuo Tan (譚卓), who will don majestic costumes under producer Yu Zheng (於正). The drama will air on November 15 on iQiyi.com.
“Beauty Hao Lan” Trailer
Source: Ettoday
This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
I am so looking forward to this! LOVED the chemistry between Wu Jinyan and Nie Yuan in Yanxi! So glad they are paired up again! I hope their love story has a happy ending in this show! Can’t wait!
If only they casted liu xue yi instead of mao zijun then I’d be more excited
Nothing really jumps out at me, not from the trailer, the poster nor the set photos.
I’d probably stop before halfway..
IRL, the actual person that Wu Jinyan’s playing was a harlot lol. i wasn’t intrigued by the story at first until i read her backstory. i like how they’re whitewashing her dirty laundry. maybe i’ll watch it now.
@coralie May I have the link of this harlot? If it’s in Chinese, can you please tell me the story? I’m interested to hear 🙂 thanks!
@littlefish actually learned more about her via blurbs about Lu Buwei: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BC_Buwei. Nothing much about her from her own wikipedia.
@littlefish
Wu Jinyan’s character will become the mother of the future Emperor Qin Shi Huang (first emperor of China who united the 6 states).
You can read about her here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Dowager_Zhao
I wonder up until which time period this series will be in and whether there will be a Lao Ai in it.
@kidd
I doubt they will go as far as Lao Ai since that means the series will be centred around Emperor Qin Shi Huang period. There isn’t much historical data on Dowager Zhao so like the majority of ancient series these days it will be largely fictional.
@jimmyszeto
I guess you are right. It wouldn’t look good on the title character too, having an affair with a fake eunuch. The series most probably will end shortly after Ying Yiren died if they are going to focus on the love triangle.
@kidd
It will be exciting but it will be so inaccurate with history that after watching, the younger generation would believe that Dowager Zhao was a power hungry, Wu Zetian type of figure when in reality she was probably a prostitute used as a chess piece for the men in their quest for power. Imagine bringing Lao Ai into the series. They would need to audition for an actor who is well endowed and willing to perform a explixit acts fully naked in front of the imperial audience. There are plenty of rules to prevent time travel and history inaccuracies when filming series in the mainland but it seems it is the Chinese who have fictionalised real characters to make them totally different to what they were in history…
Having major Yanxi Palace withdrawals from watching the trailer! haha
Aside from the similar cast, there are lots of parallel themes, such as the love-hate relationship, a love triangle, as well as a strong female protagonist and her struggle between love and vengeance.
Despite the redundancy, I’m looking forward to this. Also, the cinematography is beautiful! Really digging the color palette.