I want to watch my FIRST historical chinese drama with NO wuxia & xianxia (no fantasy)

As the title says.. I have always been interested/fascinated by chinese history, but I never watched any chinese historical dramas! I want to watch a great, realistic historical chinese drama.., If there are any fight scenes I don't want them having flying in the sky, I want REALISTIC fights (if there are any fight scenes to begin with)... So NO fantasy please (no wuxia/ xianxia). I will definitely in the future watch fantasy chinese dramas with wuxia/ xianxia, but for my first historical chinese drama I want something realistic :) 

Thanks beforehand :)

 Thousand_Paper_Cranes:

Story of Ming Lan, I feel might work... might be quite long for a first time, takes some time to warm up too... but its worth it :) x

Thanks! I only heard positive things about that one, I'm checking it out for sure :) 

 PrettyCarEye:

Cuo Dian Yuan Yang

There's also a sequel but this first part is far superior to it in my personal opinion.

Thank you! I'll look it up :) 

 looktothestars:

Cuo Dian Yuan Yang may not be wuxia but it's not a realistic drama either. It's SUPER campy lol, I don't recommend it. 

Story of Ming Lan is such a good drama. There are a lot of characters with a bunch of different titles which can be confusing for newcomers so I might recommend looking up the character names to be able to keep track of everyone. Other than that it is fantastic. I've gotten three people hooked on it despite the fact that they don't watch asian dramas at all.

Royal Nirvana is a drama that came out recently and it's really good. It's quite political and somber most of the time, but the writing and acting are top notch. 

Thank you:) I only heard good stuff about Story of Ming Lan :) I will be sure to look up the characters names when watching it...Wow, getting 3 other none-asian drama watches to watch Ming Lan is cool :O Means it must be sooo good! It's on my highest priority list to watch , thank you  .. you made me even more interested in this drama! :)

I'm  not fond of dramas with too much politics but I will check our Royal nirvana too. Thanks, =) 

I personally really enjoyed: Battle at Changsha- although it's set during the 1900's so IDK if it's the time period you were looking for 

Nothing Gold Can Stay was also pretty good. Can't say for sure there weren't unrealistic flight scene and it's also a bit long for a first time drama

Story of Yanxi Palace - was really good, but also maybe a bit long and a Palace drama

Red Sorghum - Can't say for sure there weren't unrealistic flight scenes, but to my memory it was pretty realistic. Also set in the 1900's

Scarlet Heart- some time travel, but pretty historic/realistic otherwise

I really enjoyed watching Joy of Life. Don't let the 'time-travel' tag deter you because it wasn't really apparent in the plot. The tag is there just because it's based on a novel that incorporates time traveling. I would ignore the first few minutes because they had to make it seem like the male lead is telling a story (China's censorship on time-traveling).

A classic would be Scarlet Heart. It's quite old so the quality may be poor depending on where you find it to watch. There are troupes, time-traveling theme (before the ban), and a tragic ending...but they just did it all so well.

I second The Story of Ming Lan! It's one of my favorite dramas, but it's not for everyone. It's a very slow burn following the life of a Ming Lan and details the life of a noble-born/wealthy family during the Song period.

Dramas I've heard great things about, but I just cant pick them up:
Nirvana of Fire - Heavy politics
The Rise of Phoenixes - Length and politics
Story of Yanxi Palace - Palace schemes and politics is one of my least favorite combinations
Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace - Same as above

I also second Battle of Changsha if you're okay with the time period. The female lead is quite immature in the beginning though...If you're okay with/interested in republican era dramas:
All Quiet in Beijing
The Disguiser
Sparrow
Arsenal Military Academy - On a less serious tone; this one is more on the friendship/relationships built.

I'm keeping an eye out for: Held in the Lonely Castle
Good luck and I hope you enjoy your first Chinese historical!

Princess Weiyoung

Empress ki (korean)

Empress of China

scarlet heart ryeo (korean)

bu bu jing xing

Empresses in the palace

Legend of Luzhen

Jung yi

Queen for seven days (korean)

Cruel romance

Jang ok jang

Jewel in the palace

 ShotaSidePart:

Nirvana in Fire- Best historical I've EVER watched. The first 4-5 episodes are confusing but trust me when I say, just stick with it cause you wont regret it.

With any Chinese historical, the first handful, or if it's really long- dozen episodes, tend to be confusing and sometimes downright boring. I guess it comes down to if you really want to invest your time with the potential. Case in point, I'm about to finish The Rise of Phoenixes a 70 episode Chinese historical and no lie, it didn't really start to get my interest until episodes 30+. Stuck with it cause the production is like watching a movie, the sets and costumes are GORGEOUS and the acting is really natural. 

Good luck

I did watch the first ep of nirvana in fire but yes it was confusing haha, but if only the first 5 eps are confusing and after that it gets less confusing, then i will check it out :) it does look epic after all and EVERYONE loves it so it must have done something right :) 

I see, yeah I guess its understandable that historical chinese dramas can start out as slow since there are so many episodes, therefore they have time to take it slowly and not rush anything... oh the Rise of Phoenxies sounds familiar, you are really awesome that you are able to stick to that drama despite it not getting your interest after 30(!!) episodes. Good job! :) 

Thank you so much for the recommendations and thank you for wishing me good luck :)