A Dream of Splendor
A Dream of Splendor is a 2022 Chinese historical drama television series directed by Yang Yang and starring Liu Yifei, Chen Xiao, Liu Yan and Lin Yun. Set in the Northern Song dynasty, the series is based on the drama Zhao Pan'er Fengyue Jiu Feng Chen《赵盼儿风月救风尘》 by the Yuan dynasty playwright Guan Hanqing. It is airing on Tencent Video and WeTV from June 2, 2022, to July 24, 2022. Hong Kong's TVB was the first television station to broadcast this drama on TVB Jade from September 5, 2022, to October 14, 2022, previously on its streaming service MyTV SUPER from June 9 to July 2, 2022. It later went on national broadcast and aired simultaneously on Beijing Satellite Television from 22 November 2022.
Synopsis
Zhao Pan-Er is the owner of a famous tea shop in Qian-Tang. She supported her fiancé, Ou-Yang Xu, for three years before he went to Eastern Capital to take the imperial exam, promising to marry her once he passed.She meets Gu Qian-Fan, an upright commander from the Imperial City, and they become entangled in a big case in Jiang-Nan where he is framed and becomes a wanted man. During that time, she finds out from Ou-Yang Xu's servant, Uncle De, that though her fiancé won third place in the imperial examination, he agreed to marry the daughter of an official, and can only take Zhao Pan-Er as a concubine instead of as his legal wife.
Unwilling to accept her fate, she decides to go to the Eastern Capital and find out the truth, and seek justice. Before going, Zhao Pan-Er, helps an injured Gu Qian-Fan escape the authorities by getting him onto a ship. She also finds out that her friend, Song Yin-Zhang, was tricked into marriage by a gambler who only wanted her money, and is being abused by him. Along the way, she finds Sun San-Niang, a chef who was driven to suicide by her callous, cheating husband and ungrateful son, clinging to a large piece of driftwood. Sun San-Niang is rescued by Gu Qian-Fan. Sun San-Niang becomes ill from overwhelming grief and is nursed back to health by Zhao Pan-Er and Gu Qian-Fan. Zhao Pan-Er comes up with a plan to rescue Song Yin-Zhang and get justice for her. After successfully saving Song Yin-Zhang, the three sworn sisters decide to go to the Eastern Capital together to find the truth about Ou-Yang Xu.
When Zhao Pan-Er arrives in the Eastern Capital, she finds out what Uncle De said is true. She confronts Ou-Yang Xu, and he confirms his plans to marry Gao Hui. He again asks her to be his concubine, but she refuses and asks him to return the things she gave him, including a damning painting sought after by several court officials. He is unable to comply, and, convinced by Uncle De that she would be detrimental to his career, frames her for a violation, and has her driven out of the Capital in shame with her friends.
When Zhao Pan-Er encounters Gu Qian-Fan at the capital gates, he convinces her to stay in the Eastern Capital after he hears what Ou-Yang Xu did, and has the trumped-up violation revoked. In order to remain in the Eastern Capital, Zhao Pan-Er, Song Yin-Zhang and Sun San-Niang pool their funds and start a small teahouse in an undesirable area. But after several of Pan-Er's innovative ideas challenge the status quo, the teahouse becomes a success. They then decide to start up a restaurant in the Eastern Capital. In the beginning, they encounter issues with the restaurant guild, but are eventually able to create a successful restaurant catering to all kinds of customers. The three sworn sisters experience a lot of hardship and obstacles, but are finally able to find success and happiness. Their restaurant becomes a place where entertainers can work and make a decent living. With the help of the emperor, Zhao Pan-Er is able to have the pariah status and restrictions removed. 9
Broadcast time
Caste System
An unusual aspect of this series is that it explicitly addresses and explores the caste system of the Northern Song dynasty. Caste systems existed in China, though they are not as famous or rigid as the ones in India and Edo period Japan. Broadly speaking, the general citizenry were classed as either "Dastardly" or "Virtuous" based on their profession and ancestry, with a complex system of sub-castes within these two broad classifications. "Dastardly" citizens were restricted in various ways, had fewer civil rights, and were ineligible for imperial examinations and public office. It was not explicitly illegal for women from a "dastardly" background to become the main wife of an official, but it was severely frowned upon and considered to be a mark of poor character."Dastardly" professions in this series include merchants, businessmen, and "entertainers", a category which includes the sub-castes of instrument players, singers, dancers, and prostitutes. Scholars have always been highly regarded throughout Chinese history, so of course, they are considered "Virtuous".
Zhao Pan'er's father was a general who violated military orders in order to save citizens from slaughter. As part of his punishment, his family were demoted to "sinners" and Zhao Pan'er was trained as a government-regulated "entertainer". She was later "ransomed/redeemed" by her father's comrades and regained her freedom, but her time as a "sinner" would forever be regarded as a blemish to her reputation if it was ever found out. After being "ransomed/redeemed", Zhao Pan'er opened a tea shop and became a business owner.
Zhao Pan'er's background as a business owner and former sinner was the primary motivation behind Ouyang Xu concealing his relationship with her and later on, reneging on marrying her as his main wife, the inciting incident which sets the story in motion. The Empress was also a former entertainer, and her attempts to protect her identity, and her schemes against those who criticize her for being unworthy of her position, all play key roles in the story.
Song Yinzhang, a talented Pipa player, also struggles with her identity as an "entertainer" of the "dastardly" caste.
Cast
Main cast
| Actor | Role | Introduction | Cantonese Dubbing |
| Liu Yifei | Zhao Pan'Er | Astute, sharp & independent businesswoman. She is introduced, in the beginning, as the proprietress of a tea shop by the Qiantang River. Both beautiful and brilliant, anyone who sees her can't help but call her stunning. Born as the daughter of an official, because of her father's unfortunate crimes, her family was forced to relinquish their status as an official, and she was sold off to a brothel to be a lowly entertainer/performer at a very young age. Throughout her time as a performer, she only displayed her talent, but did not sell herself. Afterwards, her father's former ministry subordinates begged, on her behalf, for forgiveness, they managed to change her status to a commoner, but she felt her time as a performer would always her greatest shame and embarrassment. After Cong-Liang, she made a living running a tea shop by the Qian-Tang River and, in the Eastern Capital, she met up with her fiancé Ou-Yang Xu, but Ou-Yang Xu was favored by the Gao family and engaged to Gao Hui after Ji-Ji. He regretted breaking his marriage contract to Zhao Pan'Er, but explained, because of her status, his career would suffer. He needed to marry a noble lady to advance his career. Even though, he loved her, he couldn't marry her as promised, so he proposed to accept her as a concubine instead, which was rejected by her. When she first met Gu Qian-Fan, they had some misunderstandings due to unfortunate circumstances. Later on, when Gu Qian-Fan was framed for a crime he didn't commit & had to escape Qian-Tang, Pan-Er helped the injured Qian-Fan escape. Qian-Fan, in turn, helped her out of difficult situations many times. Eventually, she and Gu Qian-Fan, fell in love and he proposed to her. Unfortunately, there were still a lot of misunderstandings in their relationship & Pan-Er thought, at one time, Qian-Fan abandoned her like Ou-Yang Xu after getting a promotion to Commissioner of Capital Security Office. Not realizing, Gu Qian-Fan really didn't know how to face her after he discovered what had happened to her father. | Zhang Songxin |
| Chen Xiao | Gu Qian-Fan | Commander of the Intelligence Office Agency of the Capital Security Office, also known as the "Living King of Hell ". He was born as a noble son of Prime Minister Xiao Qin-Yan, who later abandoned Qian-Fan's mother and him for an official career, so he changed his surname to his mother's surname, Gu. He is both civil and military official, upright and righteous, and takes upholding justice as his sworn duty. He shows no mercy to the prisoners sent to the Imperial City Division. He is cold-blooded and ruthless during interrogations, and because he has no mercy when seeking the truth, he is called, the "Living Yama". He met Zhao Pan'Er while on his way to his assigned mission. Even though she was a woman, he would show no sympathy for, but the two got to know each other better in crisis after crisis. He, reluctantly, let go of his perseverance and strength because of Zhao Pan'Er's beautiful face, independence, intelligence, strength, and character. He gradually, developed deep roots of love for her. He was promoted to the post of deputy commissioner of the Capital Security Office after solving the case in Qian-Tang. He was, later, promoted to be a 5th ranked official title of Commissioner of Capital Security Office of the imperial city after the hat demon case. He hoped with this promotion, he could give his mother a posthumous title & be buried with honors. | |
| Liu Yan | Sun San-Niang | Zhao Pan-Er's neighbor in Qian-Tang. Born as a butcher, she has great strength, excellent cooking skills, especially good with Jiang-Nan dishes and desserts. She has known Zhao Pan'Er for a long time and talks about everything. She is a virtuous woman and worked hard to give her husband and son everything. She discovers her husband is having an affair with a widow, her cousin, and her only son did not even recognize her as his mother. In despair, she jumps into the river and tries to commit suicide. She is saved by Gu Qian-Fan and Zhao Pan-Er. She opens a tea shop in the Eastern Capital with Zhao Pan-Er and Song Yin-Zhang. At first, Du Chang-Feng, a good friend of Ou-Yang Xu & a presented scholar, could not understand why Zhao Pan-Er didn't accept Ou-Yang Xu's proposal and tried to persuade her to be Ou-Yang Xu's concubine. Later, when Du Chang-Feng was bullied by his students as usual, because of his poor eyesight, Sun San-Niang stood up for him. Du Chang-Feng and Sun San-Niang soon became friends. San-Niang helped cure Chang-Feng poor eyesight with pig liver. To repay San-Niang for her kindness, he went out of his way to help her and her friends. They gradually got together and fell in love. Finally, he asked the emperor to allow them to be married which was granted. | Liu Huiyun |
| Lin Yun | Song Yin-Zhang | Highly accomplished pipa musician. Her pipa skill is considered the best in the Jiang-Nan region. The pipa she plays is called Gu-Yue. Although she is an official Jiao-Fang music performer, she does not sell herself as a performer. She, together with Zhao Pan'er and Sun San-Niang, swore themselves as sisters. In the early years, she is shown to be naive and confident personality, which always makes Zhao Pan-Er and Sun San-Niang worry. Sparing no effort to get out of 贱书, she doesn't use good judgment to get out of the county. Regardless of Zhao Pan-Er's advice, she elopes with Zhou She, who is a gambler and indecent man with cruel intentions. She is imprisoned and beaten by Zhou She, and her savings are all stolen. Later, she had a crush on Gu Qian-Fan, but after learning Gu Qian-Fan's sweetheart is Zhao Pan-Er, she becomes buried in the darkness, heartbroken and angry. She agrees to let Shen Ru-Zhuo's pursue her, but once again entrusts herself to someone immoral. After exposing Shen Ru-Zhuo's true face of charming beautiful young ladies for his boss, Minister Lin, to have an affair with, she completely sees through the false love between them. She realizes, overnight, she needs to grows up, not be impetuous & take charge of her life & the responsibilities that come with it. | Ling Xi |