''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'', also released under the title ''The Emperor Han Wu'' in some countries, is a 2005 Chinese

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

television series based on the life of Emperor Wu of the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. It uses the historical texts ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

'' and ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

'' as its source material.

Plot

The series covers the life of Emperor Wu from his early childhood to his death and some events in the reign of Emperor Jing (Emperor Wu's father and predecessor), such as the

Rebellion of the Seven States The Rebellion of the Seven States or Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms () took place in 154 BC against the Han dynasty of China by its regional semi-autonomous kings, to resist the emperor's attempt to centralize the government further. Background ...

. It follows the conflicts that defined the pivotal war between the Han Empire and the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

, and depicts the major victories that the Han scored over the Xiongnu during Emperor Wu's reign. Prominent historical figures such as the generals

Li Guang Li Guang (184-119 BC) was a Chinese military general of the Western Han dynasty. Nicknamed "Flying General" by the Xiongnu, he fought primarily in the campaigns against the nomadic Xiongnu tribes to the north of China. He was known to the Xiong ...

Wei Qing Wei Qing (died 106 BC), courtesy name Zhongqing, born Zheng Qing in Linfen, Shanxi, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Western Han dynasty who was acclaimed for his campaigns against the Xiongnu, and his rags to riches life ...

and

Huo Qubing Huo Qubing (140 BC – 117 BC) was a Chinese military general and politician of the Western Han dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. He was the nephew of the general Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu (Emperor Wu's wife), and the half-bro ...

, as well as the diplomats Su Wu and

Zhang Qian Zhang Qian (; died c. 114) was a Chinese official and diplomat who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable inf ...

, also make appearances as supporting characters in the series.

Cast

: ''Note: Some cast members played multiple roles. The roles are separated by a slash.'' *

Chen Baoguo Chen Baoguo (; born 9 March 1956) is a Chinese actor. He graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, Erjia in 1977 and has since acted in many films and television series, including ''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'', ''Da Zhai Men'' and ''Rob-B-Hoo ...

as Emperor Wu **

Du Chun Du Chun (, born 22 May 1983) is a Chinese actor. Early life Du Chun was born in Hebei, China. His parents are also in the performing business. His father, Du Zhiguo is also an actor, and his mother, Yang Li, is a dancer and dancing instructor. A ...

as older teenage Emperor Wu ** Bai Yu as younger teenage Emperor Wu ** Wan Changhao as child Emperor Wu * Jiao Huang as Emperor Jing *

Gua Ah-leh Grace Gua Ah-leh (born 2 June 1944) is a Taiwanese actress and singer. Gua has portrayed over 200 roles in film and television since 1965. She has won the Golden Horse Awards 4 times and the Golden Bell Awards twice. Life and career Also know ...

as Empress Dowager Dou * Song Xiaoying as Empress Wang * Tao Hong as Liu Ling * Lin Jing as

Wei Zifu Wei Zifu (; died 91 BC), posthumously known as Empress Si of the Filial Wu () or Wei Si Hou (衛思后, "Wei the Thoughtful Empress"), was an empress consort during ancient China's Han dynasty. She was the second wife of the famous Emperor Wu ...

* Wang Wang as

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

* Yang Tongshu as

Princess Pingyang Princess Pingyang (, formally Princess Zhao of Pingyang (, 590s–623) was the daughter of Li Yuan (later enthroned as Emperor Gaozu), the founding emperor of the Tang dynasty. She helped him to seize power and eventually take over the throne f ...

Jin Su Jin Su (金俗; 150s- 140s BCE), also known as Lady of Xiucheng (修成君), was a Chinese noble woman during the Han Dynasty. She was a half-sister of Emperor Wu. Jin Su was the long lost daughter of Empress Wang Zhi and her first husband, Jin Wa ...

* Ma Shaohua as Dou Ying * Xu Zuming as

Zhou Yafu Zhou may refer to: Chinese history * King Zhou of Shang () (1105 BC–1046 BC), the last king of the Shang dynasty * Predynastic Zhou (), 11th-century BC precursor to the Zhou dynasty * Zhou dynasty () (1046 BC–256 BC), a dynasty of China ** West ...

* Chang Shih as Tian Fen * Guo Xiao'an as Guan Fu * Shen Baoping as

Liu Wu, Prince of Liang Liu Wu (刘武) (–144 BC), posthumously named Prince Xiao of Liang, was a Han prince. He was a son of Emperor Wen and Empress Xiaowen, and a younger brother of Emperor Jing. He played a prominent role in the suppression of the Reb ...

* Sun Feihu as Han Anguo * Su Xiaoming as Liu Piao * Xu Hongna as Empress Chen * Lu Jianmin as

* Yang Lixiao as Princess Linlü * Zhu Yi as

Chao Cuo Chao Cuo (, ca. 200–154 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was a political advisor and official of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), renowned for his intellectual capabilities and foresight in martial and politic ...

* Sun Jifeng as Liu Wu (Prince of Chu) * Chen Weidong as Liu Rong ** Sanmao as young Liu Rong * Zhao Xuelian as Princess Nangong ** Luoqin Yingge as young Princess Nangong * Li Danjun as Chuntuo * Jian Dan as Consort Su * Liu Sha as

Empress Bo Empress Bo () (personal name unknown) (died 147 BC) was an empress during the Han Dynasty. She was the first wife of Emperor Jing, and also the first empress to be deposed in Chinese imperial history. Empress Bo was from the family of Empress D ...

* Ma Yong as Han Yan * Zhang Guoqing as Chen Jia * Wang Yanjing as Su Ben * Su Chongshan as Liu Pi (Prince of Wu) * Chen Jinhui as Liu Ang (Prince of Jiaoxi) / Shi Qing * Gao Fa as Ichise Chanyu * Chen Changhai as Zhonghang Yue * Li Le as

* Zhao Shuijing as Liu Ju * Zhang Jialiang as Liu Tong * Li Shiji as Prince of Dongyue / Prince of

Minyue Minyue () was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the dynasty expanded southward. The kingdom existed approximately from ...

* Lu Ying as Han Tuidang * Wang Jingyi as Qiuxiang * Bo Hong as Queen of

Yuezhi The Yuezhi (;) were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat ...

* Yan Jie as Zhao Xin (Ahu'er) / Jumeng * Mengmeng as Chun'er * Lin Zi as Xiaoqing * Zhou Yingping as Ling'er * Wang Wei as Prefect of Yongxiang * Zhu Xianmin as Jifu * Lin Zhonghua as Chao Cuo's father * Xu Ming as Luan Bu *

Lu Shuming Lu Shuming (; 15 August 1956 – 1 November 2022) was a Chinese actor best known for his role as Guan Yu on the 1994 television series ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms (TV series), Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', and also garnered recognition f ...

* Chen Youwang as Wei Wan * Zhao Gang as

Yuan Ang Yuan Ang ( Chinese: , ''Yuán Àng''; died 148 BC) was a Han minister who served the emperors Wen and Jing. His biography appears in the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' and a parallel one is included in the ''Book of Han''. During the Rebelli ...

/ King of

Dong'ou Dong'ou () also known as Ouyue (), was an ancient kingdom in modern Wenzhou and Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The realm of Dong'ou was given to Zou Yao by Emperor Gaozu of Han in 192 BC. During the Han campaigns against Minyue in 138 BC, ...

* Li Ping as Gongsun Gui * Hu Miao as Qian'er * Gao Yicheng as Su Qing * Yang Jun as Yang Sheng * Tong Zhongqi as Zhi Du * Yang Yazhou as Zheng Huaiguo * Bo Guanjun as Ji An * Ren Zhong as

* Jin Ming as Yuan Gusheng * Cong Lin as Gongsun He * Zhang Shan as Guo Jie * Li Ping as Liu She * Huang Wei as Huang Sheng * Yang Jun as

general * Fu Xuan as

Sang Hongyang Sang Hongyang (Chinese: ; c. 152–80 BC) was a Chinese politician. He was a prominent official of the Han Dynasty, who served Emperor Wu of Han and his successor Emperor Zhao. He is famous for his economic policies during the reign of Emperor ...

* Qin Fan as Zhi Buyi * Liu Dianxin as Cheng Bushi * Guo Xirui as Zhuang Qingdi * Ren Wu as Wang Zang * Cui Yugui as Gongsun Hong * Daliehan as Right Xiongnu Prince * Xiaobate as Left Xiongnu Prince * Xue Xiaolong as Zhao Wan * Zhang Jingdong as Liu Qian * Fu Li as Princess Consort * Yang Dawei as

Dongfang Shuo Dongfang Shuo (, c. 160 BCE – c. 93 BCE) was a Han Dynasty scholar-official, ''fangshi'' ("master of esoterica"), author, and court jester to Emperor Wu (r. 141 – 87 BCE). In Chinese mythology, Dongfang is considered a Daoist ''xian'' ( ...

* Huang Wei as Yang Deyi * Wan Cang as Chen Yuanliang / Ying Gao * Shi Zhishan as Feng Lin * Li Xiaoding as Luo Yushan * Zhang Hongbin as

Zhang Tang Zhang Tang (traditional Chinese: 張湯; simplified Chinese: 张汤; pinyin: Zhāng Tāng; died 116 BC) was a Chinese politician of the Western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. He and his colleague, Gongsun Hong were Legalist bureaucrats. Backgroun ...

* Zhu Weican as Wang Fei * Zhang Jialiang as Zheng Dangshi * Gao Tingting as Li Yan * Erentuya as Zhang Qian's wife * Jia Wei as Su Jian * Hao Hanfeng as Zhang Cigong * Chen Yu'er as Liu Qian's wife * Ba Yin as

Gunchen Chanyu Junchen (, Old Chinese ( ZS): *''kun-gin''; r. 161–126 BCE) was the son and successor to Laoshang Chanyu. As chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire, Junchen outlived the Han emperors Wen (r. 180–157 BC), Jing (r. 157–141 BC). He died during the ...

* Bilige as King of Baiyang * Xiaobate as Marquis of Guishuangxi * Hui Jianguo as Liu Pengzu (Prince of Zhao) * Nuqian as Yimei * Hasibate as King of Xiutu * Zhang Chaoli as

* Zhang Lei as

Huo Guang Huo Guang (; died 68 BC), courtesy name Zimeng (子孟), was a Chinese military general and politician who served as the dominant state official of the Western Han dynasty from 87 BCE until his death in 68 BCE. The younger half-brother of the re ...

/ Lei Bei ** Fan Binbin as young Huo Guang * Xu Chong as

Jin Midi Jin Midi (134–86 BC) (, courtesy name Wengshu (翁叔), formally Marquess Jing of Du (秺敬侯), was a foreign prince and a warrior of the Western Han Dynasty. He was a Hu (胡) "barbarian" from a kingdom in central Gansu area and ser ...

** Sun Xun as young Jin Midi * Ren Wei as Liu Ju ** Gu Guangpeng as young Liu Ju * Wang Yingqi as Li Guangli / Sima Wangcheng * Shen Baoping as Liu Qumao * Liang Wei as Su Wu * Qi Jie as Yu Chang * Ba Yin as Hu Yafu * Qin Jiahua as Tian Qianqiu * Xia Zhixiang as Zhang Ou * Huang Wenguang as Tao Qing * Sun Zhanxian as Feng Jing * Xu Dengke as Zhou Gongzi * Chen Dazhong as Dou Pengzu * Lin Zhonghua as Xu Chang * He Ming as Zhou's wife * Yang Pingyou as Yan Zhu * Liu Wei as Dong Zhongshu * Chen Zhigang as Yu Dan * Cheng Wenxuan as Princess Linlü * Balazhu'er as Xiongnu sorcerer * Huoercha as Right Xiongnu Prince * Jin Song as Left Grand Viceroy * Jia Mingling as Ning Cheng * Lou Jicheng as

Liu An Liú Ān (, c. 179–122 BC) was a Han dynasty Chinese prince, ruling the Huainan Kingdom, and an advisor to his nephew, Emperor Wu of Han (武帝). He is best known for editing the (139 BC) ''Huainanzi'' compendium of Daoist, Confucianist, an ...

* Zhong Hanhao as Shen Gong * Zhang Xuehao as Gongsun Ao * Hou Xiangling as

Zhu Fuyan Zhufu Yan (主父偃, died 127 or 126 BCE) was a Chinese politician who served as a high-ranking court official and advisor to Emperor Wu of Han. He proposed the ''Tui'en Ling'' (推恩令 ‘Order to Expand Favours’), a decree that was meant to ...

/ Di Shan * Jiang Guoyin as Wang Hui * Gao Fei as Gan Fu * Xie Hui as Nie Yi, Su Wen * Song Jianhua as Li Xi * Jiang Jing as Dou's wife * Wang Guangjun as Li Yannian * Dong Yunbo as Zhang Qian's son * Liu Zhenbao as Li Gan * Sengge Renqin as King of Loufan * Guo Wei as

Li Ling Li Ling (, died 74 BC), courtesy name Shaoqing (少卿), was a Chinese military general of the Han Dynasty who served during the reign of Emperor Wu (汉武帝) and later defected to the Xiongnu after being defeated in an expedition in 99 BC. ...

/ Xihou Jia * Wang Weimin as Xihou Wu / Du Zhou * Gu Weiwei as Tian Fen's wife * Li Jiang as Wu Bei * Xue Xilong as Liu Qi * Liu Changshan as Chancellor of

Dayuan Dayuan (or Tayuan; ; Middle Chinese ''dâiC-jwɐn'' < LHC: ''dɑh-ʔyɑn'') is the Chinese

* Bo Lin as Zhao Ponu * He Qi as King of Hunxie * Zhao Wanyi as Lady Zhao * Hao Gang as Jiang Chong / Liu De * Na Zhidong as Zhang Sheng * Sun Xinyu as

Liu Fuling Emperor Zhao of Han (Liu Fuling 劉弗陵; 94 BC – 5 June 74 BC) was the emperor of the Western Han dynasty from 87 to 74 BC. Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han. By the time he was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Prince Fu ...

Production and reception

The production cost for ''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'' ran high, with a budget of 50 million yuan, covering extensive battle scenes, period costumes, props and huge backdrops. The crew chose various scenic locations in China, such as

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

and

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

, to capture the vast expanse of the Han Empire and its frontiers. The casting featured four different actors playing Emperor Wu at different stages of his life, with the lead actor

receiving the most screen time portraying the emperor's adult years. The shooting of the series began in 2003 and coincided with the SARS outbreak, causing manpower shortage and delays in production. Post-production began in 2004 and marketing clips started to appear on television talk shows and the Internet later that year. The series was aired on

CCTV-1 CCTV-1 (CCTV General Channel) is the primary channel of CCTV, the national flagship terrestrial television network of the People's Republic of China. It broadcasts a range of programs from CCTV Headquarters at East 3rd Ring Road in Beijing and ...

on 2 January 2005 to great enthusiasm from audience. While some liberties were taken with historical details, ''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'' was generally well received by viewers as a faithful portrayal of history. The series was acclaimed and won the 2005 Flying Apsaras Award for Best Long Television Series, Best Director (

Hu Mei Hu Mei (born 2 September 1958) is a Chinese film director, television director and Film producer, producer. Usually classed as a Fifth Generation director, since she graduated from the Directors' class of the 1982 Beijing Film Academy cohort, she ...

) and Best Lead Actor (

List of featured songs

* ''Zuihou De Qingsu'' (最后的倾诉; ''The Final Outpour''), the opening theme song, performed by Han Lei. * ''Dengdai'' (等待; ''Wait''), the ending theme song, performed by Han Lei. * ''Xinling Shui Guo De Difang'' (心灵睡过的地方; ''Places Where My Soul Rested Before'') performed by Han Lei * ''Qianbai Nian Hou Shei Hai Jide Shei'' (千百年后谁还记得谁; ''Centuries and Millenniums Later Who Still Remembers Who'') performed by Han Lei

References

Facts and flaws make up epic TV tales

External links

*
''The Emperor in Han Dynasty'' official page on CCTV website
*
''The Emperor in Han Dynasty''
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:Emperor in Han Dynasty, The 2005 Chinese television series debuts Television series set in the Western Han dynasty Mandarin-language television shows China Central Television original programming Chinese historical television series Emperor Wu of Han