February 8, 2002 (2002-02-08) – March 5, 2010 (2010-03-05)
The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan (Chinese: 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚) is a Chinese television series about the life of Ji Xiaolan. The series was directed by Zhang Guoli and consists of a total of 173 episodes shot in high definition, each 45 minutes long and containing 10 minutes of 3-D effects.[1][2][3] The series is based on events during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor in the Qing dynasty.[4][5]
Plot
Season 1
Involved in several events, Ji Xiaolan always tried to achieve justice, while the corruptive Heshen and his fellows always held him back. After initial misunderstanding two swords-women Mo Chou and Du Xiaoyue joined Ji Xiaolan. Qianlong Emperor always knew what Heshen had done but never punished him severely.
Season 2
Mo Chou, who during the last episodes of Season 1 had become the Qianlong Emperor's imperial concubine and given birth to his son, did not reappear in the following seasons due to audience criticism and was only mentioned in a few conversations.
Season 3
Du Xiaoyue never appeared due to the absence of role Yuan Li, who was claimed to have been married off. A new girl named Lu Linlang was introduced to be her replacement.
Season 4
Lu Linlang, claimed to have left, did not reappear; After her husband was killed by corruptive officials associated with Heshen, Du Xiaoyue rejoined Ji Xiaolan.
Ji Xiaolan had a good relationship with Heshen while Fuk'anggan did not.
Qianlong Emperor and Ji Xiaolan were 39 and 26 years senior than Heshen respectively, but in the series the three were described as peers.
Heshen did not have 13 concubines, while Qianlong Emperor did not have 18 daughters.
When Prince Yunti died, Heshen and Fuk'anggan were only 5 and 1 respectively, but in Season 1 the three were described as peers.
During Qing dynasty the status of actors was low, thus Du Xiaoyue would never be adopted by the Empress Dowager as a princess and married to Scholar Zhu Junhao (claimed to have died of illness at the beginning of Season 2).
Qing emperors were never prohibited to take Han women as imperial consorts as Seasons 1 and 3 suggested, while the mother of future Jiaqing Emperor was of Han ethnicity.
The event of deposing the Empress in Season 3 happened in 1765, while the event of marrying a princess to Fengšeninde in Season 1 happened in 1789, 12 years after the death of the Empress Dowager. In history the Empress was deprived of her rights as empress but never formally demoted to a consort.
Fuk'anggan was implied to be a bastard of Qianlong in Season 4, which actually had been proven to be fictitious.
Contradictions in Itself
In later versions, some dialogues of Lady Liu that claimed herself to be the biological mother of Qianlong Emperor had been edited to only claiming herself a wet nurse, but Ji Xiaolan still referred her as biological mother of the Emperor.
The years appeared in the series spanned widely, while the age of Du Xiaoyue changed only a little.
In the series Heshen was described as a former imperial guard who was considered to be good at martial arts just as historical accounts recorded, but he always seemed to be without martial ability besides several certain episodes.
In Season 3 the Empress Dowager comforted the Empress that Qianlong Emperor would not dare to take Han women as imperial consorts, and warned the Emperor to obey the ancestral precept and he agreed; all these events are contradicted with the early event he had taken Mo Chou as an imperial consort in Season 1.
Critical reception
The series was one of the most watched ones in mainland China while it was broadcast.[6]