Scarlet Heart

Scarlet Heart
Scarlet Heart's intertitle (Simplified Chinese version)
Simplified Chinese	步步惊心
Traditional Chinese	步步驚心
Hanyu Pinyin	Bùbù Jīngxīn
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bùbù Jīngxīn

Scarlet Heart, also known as Startling by Each Step, is a Chinese television series based on the novel with the Chinese title 步步惊心 “Bu Bu Jing Xin" by Tong Hua. Filming for the series started on 6 December 2010 in Shanghai and ended on 22 March 2011. It first aired in China on the Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS) on 10 September 2011.

A sequel, Scarlet Heart 2, officially began filming in Tianjin, China, on March 2013,^[1] and first aired in China on the Zhejiang Satellite TV on 22 April 2014.

Plot

Zhang Xiao (Cecilia Liu), 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 (Damian Lau) 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 (Annie Liu), who is a concubine of the Kangxi Emperor's eighth son, Yinsi (Kevin Cheng). 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 (Nicky Wu), tenth prince Yin'e (Ye Zuxin), and fourteenth prince Yinti (Lin Gengxin). She also forges a close friendship with the thirteenth prince, Yinxiang (Yuan Hong).

During Ruoxi's stay in Yinsi's house, Yinsi falls in love with her. She initially rejects him but later agrees to marry him if he gives up competing for the succession to the throne. Since she is from the future, Ruoxi is aware that Yinsi's ambition will ultimately lead to his death in prison after Yinzhen becomes emperor.

After breaking up with Yinsi, Ruoxi's interaction with Yinzhen changes 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 (Zhang Lei). 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.

Kangxi eventually dies of illness, and with military support from Longkodo (Zhao Jialin) and Nian Gengyao (Xing Hanqing), Yinzhen stages a coup and seizes the throne from Yinti to become the Yongzheng Emperor. Yinzhen then releases Yinxiang from custody and makes Ruoxi his consort. 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 Yinsi's wife (Shi Xiaoqun) 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.

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 imaginary. 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

• Cecilia Liu as Zhang Xiao, a nondescript white-collar worker from the 21st century (from the year 2011). After suffering a near-fatal accident, she has an out-of-body experience and travels back in time, becoming stranded in the 18th century for 21 years (1704-1725) in the body of a previous incarnation, Ma'ertai Ruoxi, the daughter of an 18th-century Manchu aristocrat. Despite her modern outlook, she is forced to adapt to live in the 18th century. Throughout the series, she is romantically linked with three of the Kangxi Emperor's sons: Yinzhen, Yinsi, and Yinti. Ruoxi's romantic entanglement with the princes is complicated by her knowledge of their future political struggles and feuds. She is initially unaware of a predestination paradox by which her actions would ultimately shape the outcome of history. Near the end of the series, Ruoxi dies after the revelation of her inadvertent role of the princes' feud, causing Zhang Xiao to reawaken after several weeks in a coma.
• Nicky Wu as Yinzhen, the fourth prince. He is destined to succeed his father as the Yongzheng Emperor and is Ma'ertai Ruoxi's true love. Nicky Wu also plays a mysterious 21st century man (whose name is later reveals to be Yin Zheng in the sequel Bubu Jingqing) who meets Zhang Xiao in a museum weeks after she returns to her own time; he is later implies to be a present-day incarnation of Yinzhen.
• Kevin Cheng as Yinsi, the eighth prince. He is Ruoxi's first love interest and Yinzhen's rival for her affection as well as in politics.
• Lin Gengxin as Yinti, the fourteenth prince, Yinzhen's full brother. He is also in love with Ruoxi.
• Damian Lau as the Kangxi Emperor, the ruler of the Qing Dynasty.
• Yuan Hong as Yinxiang, the thirteenth prince. He is a bold, staunch supporter of Yinzhen and a close confidant of Ruoxi.
• Mu Tingting as Lady Ulanara, Yinzhen's wife and Ruoxi's rival in love.
• Lu Meifang as Consort Nian, Yinzhen's second wife and Nian Gengyao's sister .
• Zhang Lei as Yinreng, the crown prince.
• Ye Zuxin as Yin'e, the tenth prince.
• Han Dong as Yintang, the ninth prince.
• Annie Liu as Ma'ertai Ruolan, Ruoxi's older sister and Yinsi's second wife.
• Shi Xiaoqun as Gororo Minghui, Yinsi's wife.
• Guo Zhenni as Lüwu, Yinxiang's love interest.
• Chai Wei as Chenghuan, Yinxiang and Lüwu's daughter.
• Cao Xinye as Qiaohui, the Ma'ertai family's faithful maid.
• Ye Qing as Yutan, Ruoxi's best friend.
• Kang Mingtong as Yunxiang, a maid in the palace working with Yutan under Ruoxi.
• Cristy Guo as Minmin, Prince Suwan-Guwalgiya's daughter. She develops a crush on Yinxiang and befriends Ruoxi.
• Ba Sen as Prince Suwan-Guwalgiya
• Zheng Kai as Irgen-Gioro Zuoying, Minmin's suitor and eventual husband.
• Deng Limin as Li Dequan, a eunuch and personal attendant to the Kangxi Emperor. He was Ruoxi's benefactor and mentor.
• Zhou Yancheng as Wang Xi, a eunuch who is Ruoxi's best friend and Li Dequan's godson.
• Hu Zhonghu as Gao Wuyong, a eunuch and personal attendant to Yinzhen.
• Chen Jingyu as Yinzhi, the third prince.
• Wang Xiaodong as Yinqi, the fifth prince.
• Gao Sen as Li Guangdi.
• Lian Teyue as Imperial Physician He.
• Liu Yuxin as Gororo Mingyu, Yin'e's wife.
• Dai Chunrong as Empress Xiaogongren, the empress and mother of Yinzhen and Yinti.
• Liu Jie as Consort Liang, one of the Kangxi Emperor's consorts and mother of Yinsi.
• Zhao Jialin as Longkodo, Empress Xiaoyiren's younger brother.
• Xing Hanqing as Nian Gengyao, a Han Chinese Qing general.
• Ma Tianyu as Huang Di, Zhang Xiao's boyfriend in the 21st century.

Deviations from the novel

Zhang Xiao returns to the 21st century.

The show's producers have announced that the series will remain mostly faithful to Bubu Jingxin, the novel by Tong Hua on which it is based, however there are some differences:

• In the novel's beginning, though in the television series Zhang Xiao remains a 25 years old white-collar worker, her alter ego, Ma'ertai Ruoxi, was 13 years old, not 16. Another difference was that Zhang supposedly from the year 2005, not 2011.

• In the novel, Ruoxi is unable to return to her own time and ultimately succumbs to her illness, while Yinzhen dies ten years later amid hopes of reuniting with Ruoxi after death. The story ends with Yinzhen's son Hongli's (whom he fathered with Lady Niohuru) ascension to the throne as the Qianlong Emperor.^[2] In the television series, after Ruoxi and Yinzhen's deaths, Ruoxi's soul returns to her incarnation in the 21st century. Whilst struggling to get over the trauma of her experiences of time traveling, she encounters a man who resembles Yinzhen and is possibly a present-day incarnation of him.^[3][4] The man does not recognize her, and Zhang Xiao remains in guilt over everything that happened when she was in the past as Ma'ertai Ruoxi, choose not say anything but tearfully watches the man leave.^[5][6]

Soundtrack

Songs not included in the commercial release

• Aide Lianyi (爱的涟漪; Love's Ripples) performed by Ailiya & Alicia [04:30]
• Diaoke Aiqing (雕刻爱情; Sculpture of Love) performed by Zheng Jiajia [03:35]
• Xuehua Hongmei (雪花红梅; Snowflakes and Red Plum Blossoms) performed by Gong Shujun [04:14]

International broadcast

Country	Network(s)/Station(s)	Series premiere	Title
Thailand	3SD	April 10, 2015	ฝ่ามิติลิขิตสวรรค์ (Fha Miti Likit Sawan[8])

Remake

Moon Lovers is an upcoming South Korean remake, to be directed by Kim Kyu-tae. It is the first Korean drama project for Universal Studios, which is investing US$10 million; Moon Lovers begins filming in 2016.^[9]

See also

• Palace

References

External links

• (Chinese) Scarlet Heart on Sina.com
• (Chinese) Scarlet Heart official website
• (Chinese) Scarlet Heart on HBS
• (Chinese) Scarlet Heart page on CTV website
• (Chinese) Scarlet Heart page on MediaCorp xinmsn website
• Scarlet Heart at the Internet Movie Database