The Promise of Chang’an (2020)

Torments, Melancholy & Emotional Turmoil For The Promise of Forever Peace

Accordingly, the Promise of Chang’an is a remake of the 2002 drama The Epic of Xiao Zhuang which was set in the Qing Dynasty. In the earlier drama, Empress Dowager Xiao Zhuang was in love with a general but forced to marry the general’s brother instead. Her son subsequently succeeded the throne and she continued to help her grandson who later came to be known as the Kangxi Emperor. The Promise of Chang’an draws many parallels from the earlier drama, with the setting in a fictional kingdom and era.

As I was pondering the title The Promise of Chang'an, I came to the realization that it has not meant the city Chang'an but its literal meaning as "forever peace" because the city Chang'an has not been a main feature of this drama except a by-passing event when Xiao Chengxu seizes the city. The literal meaning of "forever peace" makes more sense in this context: The Promise of Forever Peace which is the epitome of all the sacrifices Helan Mingyu and Xiao Chengxu have contributed throughout the story. They have sacrificed their whole life in order to achieve peace for the country. The brilliant use of "chang an" here by the writer is applaudable.

This drama is not for the faint of heart. I love historical stories based on real life characters and yet I still find this story depressing as it continues to give the viewers the sense of hopelessness and helplessness. The author has successfully captured all the pains in life as described in the Buddhist seven bitterness: birth, old age, sickness, death, hatred, separation, and yearning. This is a story with convoluted plot, layered storyline, and multi-dimensional characters. Our main characters go through despairs episodes after episodes.

The Promise of Chang’an was made prior to Love and Redemption but only aired after the latter. Therefore, upon completion of Love and Redemption, many viewers (like myself) have come to watch this drama for Cheng Yi, and sure enough, his torments and crying continue. Every episode of this drama is beautifully written and acted, but extremely painful to watch because of the torments our characters have to endure.

The Story
A young princess Helan Mingyu (Zhao Yingjuan) from the northern kingdom meets the young 9th prince, Xiao Chengxu (Cheng Yi) of the Sheng Kingdom, and they fall in love with each other. Hoping to make a name for himself and return to marry Helan Mingyu, Xiao Chengxu goes off to war. Little does he know his brothers want him dead in battle; they set him up to be killed. When news arrives that he’s dead, Helan Mingyu is devastated. At the same time, the Sheng King Xiao Chengrui who is Xiao Chengxu’s older brother, asks for her hand. Out of no choice, she agrees. When Xiao Chengxu makes it back, she’s already become his sister-in-law. Since then for years, the duo endures the pain of lost love, each walking on thin ice every day. The torment is so great that, even as viewers, it is unbearable.

When Xiao Chengxu finds out the truth about the death of his mother and the will of his late father appointing him the heir but stolen from him, he vows revenge and to take back what is rightfully his – the throne and his love. However, time and time, his schemes fail due to various reasons, and he’s saved by Helan Mingyu from death again and again. Deeply, their love for each other never wanes. Things become even more complicated when Helan Mingyu gives birth to the child of Xiao Chengrui who is now the Emperor. When the Emperor dies, he passes the throne to Mingyu’s 6 years old son, Xiao Qiyuan and Xiao Chengxu becomes the regent.

Xiao Chengxu tries to treat Xiao Qiyuan as his own son and groom him to be a wise emperor, but the results are not what he has expected; the little emperor is spoilt rotten by the two dowager empresses and becomes a bratty tyrant. At the turn of events when dethroning his nephew the tyrannical emperor becomes impossible as Mingyu constantly protects her son and plays Xiao Chengxu out, the death of his little brother and friend, Xiao Chengxu loses all hope to continue living.

At this point, most viewers are disgusted by Helan Mingyu’s actions and how she has treated Xiao Chengxu who continues to be a poor lovesick boy. I've been trying to give credit to Helan Mingyu and empathize with her for the actions she has taken in situations that she has no control over. I can feel her predicament: on one hand, she's still in love with Xiao Chengxu and wants to elope with him, on the other hand, she's the mother of the Emperor and she knows if she were to run away with Xiao Chengxu, the country would descend into chaos as the young Emperor is still too naive and gullible, and can be easily manipulated by those who are eyeing at the throne. Giving up the throne is not an option as she knows there would be a lot of bloodshed, including losing all her loved ones. Until the end, Helan Mingyu is still Xiao Chengxu's Achilles’ heels: he would do anything for her, even giving up his own life.

Episode 50 is probably my favorite episode, and yet it's also the saddest. I cry for the painful loss, Xiao Chengxu's selflessness and miserable life. At the same time, it also feels like a stone lifted from the heart; all the knots from the beginning have disappeared after episode 50. Xiao Chengxu maintains his dignity and becomes an immortal. The final chapter has ended, and the epilogue begins. I sigh a sigh of relief.

The Acting
Xiao Chengxu is a very difficult character to portray. On one hand, Cheng Yi has to show his torments to the viewers, on the other hand, these torments have to be hidden from the eyes of those around him, in particular, from the Emperor. As Xiao Chengxu, he grows from a care-free risk-taking youth overnight to a patient, calm, strategic, mature, calculative person when he loses his mother and lover. Xiao Chengxu’s crying at his losses is so painful to watch that viewers cry with him. This is some incredible and brilliant acting and I salute this actor whole heartedly. Cheng Yi is an amazing actor. He has an air of melancholy surrounding him and a poker face which tailor-makes for the Xiao Chengxu character who has to hide his emotions at all times in order to survive the palace politics. Tormented by love and duty, Xiao Chengxu’s emotional turmoil is incredible. His crying really rips the viewers' hearts out. The character is a miserable character living a miserable life. Cheng Yi has successfully brought all these out on the screen for the viewers. Incredible acting!

Helan Mingyu is another difficult character to portray. At the beginning of the drama, many viewers criticize the use of Zhao Yingjuan (aka Sarah Zhao) as Helan Mingyu because she looks too mature for the role. As a 16-17 years old wild girl from the steppes, it is indeed a hard sell; Zhao Yingjuan is very lady-like, gentle and soft. However, as a consort later, she is beautiful, elegant and regal. Still, many viewers are not convinced by her performance complaining that she has few expressions on her face; most of her expressions are either apologetic or indifferent. It’s hard to see her heartache and resignation despite those are supposed to be the situations she's in. Her role also seems confusing. Many viewers conclude that she’s just been very selfish and unlikable. For me, I can feel Helan Mingyu's pain and her resignation. She has to hide all her feelings inside, no matter what. Watching her, I can feel I'm almost exploding with feelings but at the same time, I'd have to exercise self-restraint to suppress those feelings. It's extremely hard to play and Zhao Yingjuan has successfully achieved that.

All other cast members put up equally incredible acting. All the costumes and settings are beautiful, appropriate and believable.

My Verdict
The Promise of Chang'an reminds me why I didn't like to watch historical dramas in the old days, in particular the palace genre. This is because most of these stories are very heart-breaking, portraying all the pains of human life. I have become "braver" in the recent years, consuming historical dramas as soon as they're airing. Most of these are pretty light-hearted. The Promise of Chang'an is one of those once-in-a-blue-moon type - sad, depressing and yet realistic.

This is a heavy drama with a lot of torments and emotional turmoil. It is not recommended for viewers with depression or high blood pressure as the story may make you feel so helpless and hopeless which is indeed a rotten feeling. Having said that, this is a very well written and produced drama. There are no apparent plot holes nor flaws. Everything is tied up properly and concluded plausibly. Most of all, Xiao Qiyuan and Helan Mingyu have both redeemed themselves towards the end. Despite how some viewers have condemned the storyline and how unsatisfactory they feel some of the characters are being written, I have thoroughly enjoyed this drama. For me, this is how a drama should be written, directed and acted. This is a story of forbidden love, regrets and resignation. Power, duty and country take over.

At this end, I've always pondered, is it ever possible for a love like what Chengxu and Mingyu share, after everything that has happened between them, to last for decades till death, and hence how realistic this drama is? And yes, perhaps it does exist. I find the answer in the current British royal family, Prince Charles and Camila Bowles. Their story could be quite an excellent live example. Only that this British couple has a happily-ever-after ending.

Incredible story. Incredible production! TWO THUMBS UP!

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Watch it ............with a bottle of depression medication and tissues

Tbh the only reason I made a MDL account was to come cry about this show. This show starts out phenomenally strong and draws you in to make you invest your emotions and interest, but then throws all of those into the gutter towards the end. There is nothing actually wrong with the show. But at point some shows exceed the tragedy tag because "life simply cannot be so damn cruel" to a single person. This show does exactly that so be ready for multiple stabs to your oh so poor heart.It took me a while to recover from the blows that were dealt to me.

Good things about :

Cheng yi's acting is absolutely mindblowing. I am head over heels for this man. His expressions of happiness, pain and crying are so so natural that you want laugh with him and cry with him.

The costumes, sets and production is high budget. Visually it is appealing.

Bad things :

The story starts out very strong. But then goes totally in an unexpected direction. Many plot points are introduced which should been executed but end up going nowhere which is frustrating as hell.

Some characters are extremely repetitive and predictable to the point of you wanting to pull your hair out.

There is no emotional payoff or satisfaction towards the end of the show. Not a single one.


TLDR : Cheng yi is the MVP of the show. Overall a good watch but definitely not a happy or satisfying one.

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1 and 1/2 thumbs up

The lead actors were great, especially the male lead: Cheng Yi... now a fan. The chemistry, the dialogues between the two was wonderful.

The development of the lead characters was great. There was growth. The acting was believable... so I was invested emotionally in their wellbeings.

Beautiful cinematography.

Great interactions/dialogues.

Saraj Zhao: performance was great!

Vicki Liang: supporting actress. Great!

Overall worth watching. The conclusion should have been at 50... unnecessary last few episodes. I believe condensing the entire drama to maybe 40 episodes would have made the drama tighter.

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Great acting and lots of tears

Basically,
if you're looking for great acting and strong characters, this might be your drama.
if you're looking for fluffy and romance, I suggest you to skip this. It'll make you starve and live from crumbs, * very few crumbs. *

I started this with no previous information, but simply because I fell in love with Cheng Yi after watching him in LaR. And in matters of acting, he did not disappoint. At all. The guy is amazing and I'll make sure to follow his dramas from now on. Prove? I've been watching cdramas for 3 years now but had never really cried watching them, also, had been long since I cried over dramas in general these days, but this guy just got me ugly sobbing for 3 days.
Cheng Xu has my love, and my heart badly aches for him.

The actress playing Ming Yu did also great and I really enjoyed her character. Her smart brain, her confidence, her righteous way of thinking are to be praised and admired!

Tbvh, I can't remember a better matching couple in dramaland. My problem then? The plot development. A highly frustrating and stressing plot development, that I'd have dropped if not for the acting and how I became attached to these poor souls.

So my suggestion, if you're looking for a tearjerker with great leading characters and superb acting skills, grab your tissues and enjoy the ride!

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I HAVE NEVER CRIED WITH A DRAMA UNTIL NOW!!

This is the most melodramatic drama I’ve ever watched. Don’t understand why the ratings are not higher. I just ached with Chengxu. The pain and regret he had his whole life was heartbreaking. And his tears, my goodness. Every time he cried you could feel his agony.
I also liked Helan Mingyu’s role. Although at first I felt for her as the drama went on she hardened her heart for the sake of responsibility. All the while Chengxu was waiting and hoping. But, this drama tries to prove that you can’t mess with fate because it’ll bite you right back! I heard there is a longer version in the Asian countries. Would like to watch it if I could.
Overall, great acting from everybody!

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A drama full of contradictions

I couldn't stand it anymore and I left the series until the last episode. I got cramps in my stomach. Such a disgraceful scenario cannot happen. It shouldn't be. The story is well thought out. One of the royal princes whose fathers passed away, who was named as the new emperor with the word of their fathers, could not get the throne he deserved, and on top of that, the same person used his royal position to get the daughter he loved, and therefore the lovers could not be together, the pains, heartbreaks, resentments, anger, betrayals, revenges, etc. Becoming a heroic soldier and general to show yourself beyond. Dreams of establishing a throne in the eyes of the nation, ultimately leading to the regency, but again conflicts, traps, betrayals, desires for revenge. Pain, not being able to meet, being in the shadow of this. It's a great idea, millions of scenes could be shot on this. But unfortunately our scriptwriter ruined the series. If a person does not have any ideas, dhikr, decisions, thoughts or logic, what is the use of saying he is writing a script? Logical errors throughout. Shaky transitions, show-offs, crazy logic. For example, I can't say that I love him. As a result, the disgrace of enduring this never ended. Someone's snitching, talking behind their back, back and forth statements, traps. Even though these are known, they do not speak out. Don't say it to your face. Don't use each other. Give the same boring things over and over again. It didn't happen. In the end, the queen mother, who was supposedly unable to reunite with her beloved, finds a thousand excuses not to reunite her son with his beloved. He says it's in the interest of the country. While she was getting married, the emperor said, "You can't say no to her, it won't end well, you'll both be beheaded, even seven of your dynasties will be killed." Now they want the girl the Emperor loves for someone else, or rather for his brother, the prince, for whom everything they eat and drink does not go well. But they cannot tell each other. They love the same girl. My brother Emperor, he was brought to the palace for me. He can't say how you can hit on that girl. On top of that, the emperor's very good friend, the prince, wants the girl through his mother. She's making herself a fiancée. The Emperor cannot do anything. He's watching. Because his mother made a promise to another imperial princess. He promised again for that brother to marry, too. He gives his word knowingly. The prince's mother says they love each other, but if they don't, why should I tell you this? However, that girl is unaware of these events. The girl is never asked. The Emperor is tearing himself apart. He says, "I will marry this girl." His mother says No. Well, you encountered the same situation, you could not reunite with your loved one. When I asked if this could be done, yes, I was very upset. I experienced pain. He says imperial interests come first. It makes you want to tear your hair out. Also, why can't the emperor tell his dear friend, brother, I love this girl, we even love each other? You saw it here, if it was your acquaintance, wouldn't it be possible if he said "no, but no, we love each other". Why does such a scenario occur? And the man is the emperor. How can one say that the girl he wants won't happen? It is also served to a prince. It's not something that makes sense. It is not appropriate for the time. It is not appropriate for the command and domination of an emperor. What the emperor says requires absolute obedience. If you don't obey, you die. In this situation, that prince brother infuriates the emperor by telling events about the girl as if he were kidding. It's not going to happen. What a pity. In other words, the writer, the screenwriter, or rather, has a contradiction within himself. There are hundreds of other incidents in the same way, where people are wrong, have contradictory ideas, and do not keep what they say. There are at least a hundred in 50 episodes. It's a shame for the series, the idea is good but the scripting is terrible. I got angry while watching it. It's a shame for the players. I had ideas about them. I don't even have the words to say them. The director did his part, I guess they told him to shoot it like this, so he shot it that way. It was very good. A series of nine became series of six. I say disgrace. I don't recommend it to anyone. I was disturbed while watching, I don't want anyone to be disturbed. Do not even think about it!

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A pathetic hero in the name of love

I had no intention of writing about this drama since the hero dies in episode 50 which means to me the end of the drama. Still I watched the 6 further episodes which were full of painful love and sadness. You have no option : love is everything but happiness. Get out your handkerchiefs...
I realised then that I had to share my feelings with you and explain why this drama is such a disappointment although the production did a good job with the sets, the direction, the OST and the actors.
First of all, the hero ( Cheng Xu) is pathetic : who on earth would be stupid enough to renounce his legitimate right to take the title of emperor and just settle for the title of prince regent because of a woman ? Certainly not a general whose aim is victory no matter what ! Who would give up his right to be happy in his mariage just because he didn't marry the girl he was in love with ? Certainely not a prince who can have as many concubines as he wants to ! I really didn't like the way the hero was shown : an outstanding general on battlefields but a simple idealistic boy obsessed with his lost love and unable to live his own life ! How can he be so heartless with his wife who shows him so much love and just wants to be happy with him ? His whole life, he is obssessed with Ming Yu, he can't let her go and thinks that they can still be together... He is just throwing his life away ! Is she worth all the sufferings he is going through ? Is she worth to put his ambitions and goals aside ? Is she worth to be saved by him so many times ? Cheng Xu is the one who makes the great country Sheng where people can find peace and serenity (Chang'an) but he is just the Empress puppet ! How pathetic !
So, the hero is unable to get the woman he loves, nor to revenge, nor to get the emperor status which was originally his. Okay, an ill-fated hero, why not after all ? Still, to me, we can't expect a great storyline out of feminist ideas and idealist romantic love exposed in an unappropriate historical context.

What really bothered me was that this drama was mostly a whole nonsens. Fortunately, nothing is based on historical events, this drama is pure fiction. Ming Yu is a woman more clever than anyone. She actually is this drama's main character. She is beautiful, brilliant and is a war strategist (but not only, she is fated to rule the world). When she becomes the Emperor's consort she thought that the man she loved and whom she promised to wait for was dead. But the man she loved, Cheng Xu the 9th prince, was still alive : she betrayed him. So she depressed and did everything she could not to fulfill her marital duties. The Emperor was so much in love with her that he thought she was homesick. Honestly, we all know that no one can say no to an Emperor ! What he wants he just gets it. l really didn't appreciate her nor couldn't find her interesting. She is manipulative and only use her true love Cheng Xu in order to make her son the crown prince who will become an incapable and pityful immature emperor...

Who else than Cheng Yi could have been the 9th Prince Cheng Xu in this drama ? Without him and his awsome acting I would have rated this drama 6,5. Thank you Cheng Yi for saving this drama !

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Initially was great and then it just start to get lame

Initially it was interesting and I started to get addicted but after a while, it started to get lame as the writer just recycle the plot where consort Xian kept annoying the Emperor and then tit for tat and it just kept repeating. Then the contradiction of repeating being framed but kept being nice and kept repeating again d again. I think the writer ran out of idea. The story did not move much as it just go round and round.
The writers of Chinese drama need to be more creative and stop using old lame and contradicting plots. It is already 2020 and audiences want better story. Stop wasting time and repeating same plots to drag out the episodes.

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One of the most memorable dramas I've watched.

At first, I was skeptical to watch the drama since I barely have heard of the lead actress (which is one of the ways I assess on whether to watch a drama or not - based on the cast). Didn't watch the drama when it aired, until now. For some reason, it popped on my YT feed and I am not regretful at all that I checked it out since it's one of the most memorable dramas I've watched. I've always liked dramas which would make me cry and Yanxi Palace is my ultimate favorite, and this might have entered my top 5 Chinese dramas.
Star crossed lovers - check. Political warfare - check. Romantic scenes - check. Heartbreaking scenes - check. And my God, the acting, Great acting - check. The way Cheng Yi just acts with his eyes, just brings my heart to tears. Everytime the camera zooms in on their eyes with those tears threatening to fall, oh I reach for my tissues right away (well some are sentimental heart fluttering eyes, but mostly teary eyes, anyways I applaud the actors and the director for this). Really made me go gaga over Cheng Yi because of this.
There are a few things I really liked about this drama:
1. The growth of the main characters from naughty youth to powerful people with grace. It's just wonderful how the character developments were staged. The interlocking of their characters, the backstory of each, including supporting characters all were well written in my opinion
2. Antagonists had justified reasons of being bad - well most of them like Yu Ying, Qi Han, Cheng Rui, Wan Yin. They had humanity in them. The only real bad person I think was 4th Prince who had to die in a boring way thru heart attack.
3. The supporting angels - I love that there were quite a few characters who subtly were supporting MingYu and ChengXu (other than their usual confidants), like 2nd brother and his sons, Li Nanny, He Shao Yong (though last eps only).
4. The purest heart of ChengXu was the most heartwarming in this drama. I've seen a lot of star crossed lovers who eventually had to sacrifice their love for the betterment of the country - FuHeng, Han Derang, LuBuwei to name a few (because a few people could not even obey the Bro Code). But the winner of them all was ChengXu since it's not only love that he sacrificed, but also his empire. How much of a sacrifice can one do, really, might as well just give up on your own life. 虐, that's all to describe ChengXu's life. One might think that the world was too harsh on him, but the way he tried to be strong in the hopes of realizing a happy ending was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It hurts because we all know that it won't happen, but also warm because of his constant hope and the lesson taught on what's important in life.
But also there's a few I didn't like
1. How late it was for QiYuan to realize his wrongdoings despite being a grown child. He could have seen it earlier that ChengXu was sincere and did treat him like his own child.
2. How the two leads did not get the ending they deserved. I mean, why couldn't they be happy in the end, we've cried too much already, and the drama had to kill every relevant person except MingYu and ZhenEr. Maybe if QiYuan and RuoXuan had instead realized the unfinished story of MingYu and ChengXu.
So in conclusion, I cried a lot this time (my eyes are puffy while writing this) and has definitely logged this drama as one of my fave, and Cheng Yi as one of my fave actors officially. I will rewatch this but maybe only the scenes I love of MingYu and ChengXu which is quite a lot now that I think about it.
Quite excited about Stand By Me though it's another martyr drama for Cheng Yi

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I was highly upset when Chengxu was killed off. I skipped episodes 51, 52, 53, and 54. I watched 55 and 56. The 6 episodes were not good at all. I wanted to drop it but after Queen Dowager was still alive, I decided to watch the last two episodes. The perfect ending to this drama would have been if the Queen Dowager died when her son died that her spirit would be with Chengxu spirit until they are reborn.

I'm not blaming any of the actors or actresses for this story. I didn't like the way it was told towards the end and I hated the fact that Chengxu was kidnapped and Ming Yu was set up with his brother... for me, her love was not strong enough to go back with Chengxu. This is the writer's fault. I don't know if this was fiction or a true story... I could've given it a really low rating but didn't because I am a fan of Cheng Yi.

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