''The Royal Swordsmen'' () is a Chinese ''

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

'' television series directed by Deng Yancheng and Wei Liyuan, starring

Roger Kwok Roger Kwok Chun-on is a Hong Kong television actor and former singer, who works for the TV station TVB. Kwok was born in Hong Kong, and his native family roots are in Zhongshan, Guangdong. He is one of the three actors who won Best Actor three t ...

Li Yapeng Li Yapeng (; born September 27, 1971) is a Chinese actor. He starred in two CCTV television adaptations of Louis Cha's ''wuxia'' novels; playing Linghu Chong in the 2000 series, ''Laughing in the Wind'', and Guo Jing in the 2003 series ''The ...

Wallace Huo Wallace Huo Chien-hwa (, born 26 December 1979) is a Taiwanese actor, singer and producer. He is known for his roles in ''At Dolphin Bay'' (2003), ''Chinese Paladin 3'' (2009), ''Swordsman'' (2013), '' Battle of Changsha'' (2014), ''The Journey of ...

Michelle Ye Michelle Ye or Ye Xuan (born 14 February 1980) is a Chinese actress and producer. She is best known for her roles in, ''Eternal Happiness'', ''Triumph in the Skies'', and ''Lost in the Chamber of Love''. Her most notable role was in the 2009 f ...

Damian Lau Damian Lau Chung-yan (born 14 October 1949) is a Hong Kong film and television actor, executive producer and film director. Lau has starred in many television drama series of various genres, produced by Hong Kong's TVB and ATV. Biography ...

, Tammy Chen,

Gao Yuanyuan Gao Yuanyuan (, born 5 October 1979) is a Chinese actress and model. She ranked 64th on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 40th in 2014, 76th in 2015, and 86th in 2017. Career Gao Yuanyuan was born in Beijing and graduated from China In ...

and

Eva Huang Huang Shengyi (, born February 11, 1983), also known as Eva Huang, is a Chinese actress and singer. Early life and education Huang was born and raised in Shanghai. Her father was educated in the United States and lived there in the early 1990s, wh ...

. It was first shown on

Shenzhen Media Group Shenzhen Media Group () is a media company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. It owns twelve TV channels and four radio stations which broadcast Chinese music, report news and Chinese talk shows. Channels and stations Television cha ...

's Drama Channel on 30 January 2005.

Plot

The series is set in China during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. Zhu Wushi, the Emperor's uncle, had received an order from the previous emperor to establish a

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

to protect the monarchy. One of the most formidable martial artists in the ''

jianghu ''Jianghu'' () is a term that generally refers to the milieu, environment, or sub-community in which many Chinese wuxia stories are set. The term is used flexibly, and can be used to describe a fictionalized version of Historical China (usually u ...

'' himself, Zhu Wushi has recruited four elite agents who are known by their code names: Heaven Number One, Mysterious Number One, Earth Number One, and Yellow Number One. Heaven Number One is the calm and cool-headed Duan Tianya, who was raised as Zhu Wushi's godson and sent to Japan to learn

ninjutsu , sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term , is the martial art strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare and espionage purportedly practised by the ninja. ''Ninjutsu'' was a separate discipline in some tradit ...

from the Iga School. While in Japan, he had a romantic relationship with Yukihime, the elder daughter of Yagyū Tajima-no-Kami, the patriarch of the influential

Yagyū clan The were a family of ''daimyōs'' (feudal lords) with lands just outside Nara, who became the heads of one of Japan's greatest schools of swordsmanship, Yagyū Shinkage-ryū. The Yagyū were also Kenjutsu teachers to the Tokugawa shōguns and des ...

. He also meets

Nemuri Kyōshirō is a series of jidaigeki novels written by Renzaburō Shibata. The stories were originally serialized beginning in May 1956 in the ''Shūkan Shinchō''. The stories take place during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate and the rules o ...

and learns

kenjutsu is an umbrella term for all ('' ko-budō'') schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. Some modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century also included modern forms of ...

from him. However, he becomes an enemy of the Yagyū clan after taking revenge against Yukihime's brother, who had murdered Nemuri Kyōshirō. Torn between her family and her lover, Yukihime ultimately sacrificed herself to prevent her father from killing Duan Tianya in a duel. Years later, Duan Tianya encounters Yukihime's sister and starts a relationship with her, but this brings him into conflict with the Yagyū clan again. Mysterious Number One is the beautiful and intelligent Shangguan Haitang, who is well-versed in various skills and arts, including medicine and astronomy. Like Duan Tianya, she was also raised by Zhu Wushi as his goddaughter and trained by him in martial arts. She is in charge of an organisation made up of experts who are considered "Number Ones" in their respective trades, fields and professions. Through the organisation, she helps her godfather gather intelligence and scout for talents to join the secret service. Earth Number One is the cold and aloof Guihai Yidao, whose skill in using the ''

dao Dao, Dão or DAO may refer to: * Tao (Chinese: "The Way" 道), a philosophical concept * Dao (Chinese sword) (刀), a type of Chinese sword * Dao (Naga sword), a weapon and a tool of Naga people People and language * Yao people, a minority ethni ...

'' is unparalleled. He desires to avenge his murdered father and sees it as his purpose in life. In his quest for vengeance, he masters a powerful but highly perverse skill, and finds himself falling under its evil influence — to the point where he loses control of himself and starts to indiscriminately kill anyone who tries to stop him. He has also been secretly in love with Shangguan Haitang for many years but does not have the courage to confess his feelings to her. Yellow Number One is the streetwise Cheng Shifei, who used to be a gambler, thief and confidence trickster. By coincidence, he encounters a dying Gu Santong, Zhu Wushi's love rival, who had lost to Zhu Wushi in a duel and has been imprisoned for many years. Before his death, Gu Santong transfers to Cheng Shifei all his inner energy and knowledge about martial arts, including a skill that allows him to temporarily turn his body into impenetrable metal, in the hope that Cheng Shifei can help him fulfil his wish of defeating Zhu Wushi. Cheng Shifei also incidentally meets the Emperor's sister, Princess Yunluo, and starts a romance with her and marries her eventually. The secret service is in an ongoing political rivalry with the

Eastern Depot Eastern Depot or Eastern Bureau () was a Ming dynasty spy and secret police agency run by eunuchs. It was created by the Yongle Emperor. History After the Yongle Emperor usurped the throne in 1402 from his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, he attempte ...

, another imperial spy agency led by the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

Cao Zhengchun. The Emperor knows that Zhu Wushi and Cao Zhengchun are equally influential in politics, so he has been pitting them against each other in order to prevent either side from gaining too much power. The four agents help Zhu Wushi counter Cao Zhengchun's machinations on one hand, and perform their duties to the monarchy by protecting the Emperor from domestic and foreign threats on the other hand. Zhu Wushi ultimately overcomes and eliminates Cao Zhengchun and becomes the single, most influential figure in the imperial court. At this point, he finally reveals his true colours. All these years, he has been secretly plotting an elaborate scheme to usurp the throne from the Emperor and he is now in the best position to do so; the four agents are merely pawns in his quest for power. In the end, the three surviving agents combine forces to defeat their treacherous master and save the Emperor.

Cast

as Cheng Shifei *

as Duan Tianya / Takizawa Ichirō (Longze Yilang) *

as Guihai Yidao *

as Shangguan Haitang ** Gui Yun as Shangguan Haitang (child) *

as Zhu Wushi ("Tiedan Shenhou") * Tammy Chen as Princess Yunluo *

as Yagyū Hyōjo (Liusheng Piaoxu) ** Liu Sisi as Yagyū Hyōjo (child) *

as Yagyū Yukihime (Liusheng Xueji) * Kurata Yasuaki as Yagyū Tajima-no-Kami (Liusheng Danmashou) * Zhang Yapeng as Yagyū Jūbei (Liusheng Shibingwei) *

Dicky Cheung Dicky Cheung Wai-kin (; born 8 February 1965) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Early childhood Cheung grew up with a physically abusive father. His parents divorced when Cheung was 14. Cheung was educated in St Francis Xavier's College in Ho ...

as Gu Santong *

Deng Chao Deng Chao (, born 8 February 1979) is a Chinese actor, comedian, director and singer. His recent films, '' The Breakup Guru'' (2014), '' The Mermaid'' (2016) and ''Duckweed'' (2017) are among the highest-grossing Chinese films of all time in ...

as the Emperor *

Monica Chan Monica Chan Fat-yung (Chinese: 陳法蓉; born 28 October 1966) is a Hong Kong actress and model. She won the Miss Hong Kong 1989 pageant. Before her acting days, Chan graduated from high school in Canada and attended University of Hawaii. Befor ...

as Suxin *

Kent Tong Kent Tong (; born 29 September 1958) is a Hong Kong actor. He was a popular TVB actor during the 1980s, nicknamed "Prince" and one of the "Five Tiger Generals" of TVB. Early life Kent Tong was born to and grew up in a poor family in Hong Kong. His ...

as Wan Sanqian *

Adam Chen Adam Chen (born 24 June 1976) is a Singaporean television and film actor. Early life Chen was educated at The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College. Whilst a civil engineering student at the National University of Singapore he did ...

as Kobayashi Masa (Xiaolin Zheng) / Lin Xiaoquan * Li Jianyi as Cao Zhengchun * Lynn Poh as Xiaonu * Zuki Lee as Princess Lixiu * Tang Qun as the Empress Dowager * Tan Jianchang as Zhang Jinjiu * Lu Yong as Wuwan * Hu Ronghua as Zhang Laosan * Chen Fu as Li Tianhao * Yang Shu as Li Zhengkai * Zhang Lei as Guihai Bailian * Tong Tong as Lu Huanong * Niu Guanzhong as Tiezhao Feiying * Yao Jianming as Eunuch Sun * Ye Qing as Cheng Huan

Production

Shooting for ''The Royal Swordsmen'' started on 22 March 2004 in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

, and wrapped up on 21 June in the same year.

Broadcasts

The series was first aired in mainland China on

's Drama Channel on 30 January 2005. It started airing on 14 February 2005 on

CTS Main Channel CTS Main Channel is the flagship free-to-air terrestrial television channel of the Chinese Television System network and is the third oldest free-to-air terrestrial television channel in the Republic of China (Taiwan) after TTV Main Channel and ...

in Taiwan, and on 25 October 2006 on

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

in Hong Kong.

References

External links

*
''The Royal Swordsmen'' official page
on TVB's website *

on

Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Swordsmen, The TVB dramas Chinese wuxia television series Taiwanese wuxia television series Hong Kong wuxia television series Television series set in the Ming dynasty 2005 Chinese television series debuts 2005 Taiwanese television series debuts 2005 Hong Kong television series debuts Mandarin-language television shows