Perish In The Name Of Love (TVB)
| Perish In The Name of Love (帝女花) |
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Perish in the Name of Love promo poster
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| Genre | Period Drama, Romance |
| Created by | Kwong Yip-san 鄺業生 |
| Written by | Cheung Wai-biu 張華標 |
| Starring |
Steven Ma Charmaine Sheh Sonija Kwok Michael Tong Moses Chan Maggie Shiu Annie Man Jay Lau Marco Ngai Anne Heung |
| Opening theme | "帝女芳魂" by Steven Ma & Charmaine Sheh |
| Country of origin | Hong Kong |
| Original language(s) | Cantonese |
| No. of episodes | 32 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 45 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | TVB Jade |
| Original release | March 24 – May 3, 2003 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Perish In The Name Of Love was a TV drama series made by TVB. It is based on an old Chinese opera play titled Tai Nui Fa, and takes place during the final years of the Ming Dynasty. The story follows the romantic relationship of the Chinese Emperor's daughter, Princess Cheung-Ping (Charmaine Sheh) (which means "Enlasting Peace"), and the son of a Royal Courtier, Chow Sai Hin (Steven Ma).
The entire series takes place in a continuing flashback.
The drama is not faithful to the original opera script and is not considered to be canon because of several discrepancies. Firstly, the sister of Princess Cheung-Ping (Charmaine Sheh) in the series is portrayed as a conniving, evil Princess who betrayed the Ming Royal Family, submitted herself to the Manchu forces and aimed to destroy her sister in every way possible. In the original opera, the Princess is very friendly with Princess Cheung-Ping (Charmaine Sheh) and is not portrayed as evil. In the series, the Empress supposedly escaped Beijing with the crown prince. However, this is not true in the opera script as she hanged herself back in the palace.
Also, the ending of the series differed wildly from the original script. In the original script, the Princess and her lover agreed to get married in the Forbidden City after the Manchus gained power in China. However, during the lavish ceremonies, the couple committed suicide in an obscure place inside the palace grounds. In the first episode, it appears that the main characters were to die, similar to the original. However, in the final minutes of the last episode, the couple appeared as normal citizens in a remote town, and viewers discovered that the couple pretended to die in exchange for several concessions for the defeated Ming Forces.
The beginning shows Chow Sai Hin (Steven Ma) and Princess Cheung Ping (Charmaine Sheh) growing up together. They were best friends, and it shows how deeply their friendship grew as each day passed by. Unfortunately, Yuk Fung (Maggie Shiu), the Empress, was punished for killing Tin Fei's (Jay Lau) son. She was framed for this because Tin Fei (Jay Lau) wanted to become Empress by getting rid of Yuk Fung (Maggie Shiu). Therefore, Yuk Fung (Maggie Shiu) and her two daughters were banned out into Po Ting palace where all guilty and unfavored concubines lived.
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Wikipedia