近两年看了不少连续剧. 属历史片为多. 因为初中只念了一年便移民美国, 对中国历史了解甚少. 5000 years of Chinese history contains so many classic stories, fables passed down generation by generation. While I grew up with some familiar ones, I was never a good student of history and could never string the stories together in their proper timeline… And perhaps it’s just another aspect of getting old. As one gets on with age, one is more interested in one’s past and by association perhaps the history of one’s ancestry origin…
Following list of TV series are my personal selection which helped me in piecing together many of the famous stories I have heard or known about growing up. Many of these series made in recent years have also become more creative in how the stories are told, engaging and helping modern-day audience to relate to the historical characters and background. I haven’t found representative movie or TV program for every single dynasty. If you know of any that you liked, please let me know.
Dynasty (朝代) |
Years Spanning |
Movie/TV Series
|
Commentary (评语) |
| 民国– 孙中山 |
1912 – Present | 1911 (movie) | Netflix instant streaming. There are many great actors casted for this film. But there are also too many events lumped into this movie which could be told better if stretched out into a mini-series. |
| 清(Qin)-乾隆 | 1736 – 1795 | 乾隆王朝 2002 | Youku, 4 star (I didn’t watch this one. So can’t comment.) |
| 清(Qin)-雍正 | 1723 – 1732 | 步步惊心 (2011) | Youku, 5 star, one of my favorites.The actors for 四爷, 八爷, 十三爷 all did fantastic job, not to mention the leading actress, 刘诗诗. This series is more of romance story, a tear jerker for those of you usually don’t care to watch historical flicks.The history part of the series is concentrated on the struggles between the 14 sons of emperor Kangxi to get the succession of the throne. Using time travel to bring the main character back to that era in time really helped to bring more interest and modern perspective on the turn of events. As long as you separate the story related to the main character personally from the main events that were true in history, you can still gain a lot of insight to the situation at the time. |
| 清(Qin)-康熙 | 1662 – 1722 | 康熙王朝 | Youku, 4 star. Acting of all 3 actors portraying the emporer KangXi’s 3 different age are all very good. The very popular female leading actress, 斯琴高娃 plays the role of 孝庄太皇太后. This series starts with the resignation of the first emperor of Qin dynasty to become a monk and the inheritance of the throne of Kangxi at the tender age of 8. The struggle Kangxi had during his youth against his own lead of council, 傲拜 as well as the remaining uprising riots of the people trying to re-establish the Ming dynasty all made the young emperor’s life a very thrilling one. |
| 明末 (Ming’s end) –崇祯, 朱由检 | 1628 – 1644 | 江山风雨情 (2005) | Soku, rating 8.3 Story involve end of Ming dynasty and the revolution process led by李自成 and betrayal of 吴三桂 to多尔衮. It mainly portrays the eventual down fall of the last emperor of Ming dynasty starting with 朱由检登基. I like how the writer was sympathetic to all sides, not a pure political propaganda for either Ming or the Manchu’s reign, but tried to tell the stories true to each party and character’s background and circumstance and letting the audience decide for themselves. One Tip: Don’t be fulled by the first episode which is long-winded with the dialogue among the officials. It is not at all representative of the pace of the rest of the series. If you can’t stand the first episode, just skip to the 2nd. |
| 元末明初– 朱元璋 (Ming’s beginning) |
1368-1644 | 朱元璋 (2006) | Youku, 4 star. It’s a very comprehensive story telling of the one and only emperor who rose from the bottom of the society, as an orphan of a farmer, who grew up in absolute poverty and even had to become a monk during youth. The series follows his success in coming up in ranks in the military fighting with the Yuan imperial army and follows his own political reign through end of his ruling. |
| 元 (Yuan) | 1206-1368 | ||
| 金 (Jing) | 1115-1234 | ||
| 宋 (Song) | 960-1279 | 大宋提刑官 (2010) | Soku, rating 8. If you like crime investigation stories like Sherlock Holmes, this series is pretty cool. I learnt a lot of the old techniques I never knew that were possible for forensic research way back then. This series is comprised of mainly crime stories the famous investigator Song Ci solved. It’s a good series to watch as each episode contains a complete story and can be enjoined independently. Also, t hrough watching these, you can learn a lot about how the people lived back then and how corrupt the Song imperial rulers and local governing officials were. |
| 五代十国, (5Dynasties 10Kindoms) |
907-960 | ||
| 唐 (Tang) | 618-907 | 武则天秘史 2011 | Youku, 4 star. This is perhaps the most popular, most told story about the Tang dynasty as this is the only time in Chinese history where we had a female emperor, Wu. So this series is about Wu’s life. They cast 3 popular actress to play the queen’s role from youth to middle age (刘小庆) to old age (斯琴高娃). All three of them are terrific actress. Compared to the previous versions of the same tale, this one beats all the rest whether you’re comparing the acting skill or the cast or the craft of good story telling. |
| 北朝 (Northern Dynasty) | 386-581 | 西施秘史 2012 | The story of Xisi took place around 482 AD. There is very little recent movie or TV production about this era. There isn’t too much war scene in this series although there are plenty of epic conflicts and battles involved. There is espionage and romance. The main characters’ struggles between loyalty to your country vs being true to your heart are well portrait. |
| 三国 (The Three Kingdom) |
220-280 | 三国 2010 | Youku, 4.5 star. This remake of the 3 Kingdom is the most thorough of all previous efforts. It does take quite a bit of patience to follow through to the end of the series. But as the characters are so well known, it’s fun to watch even if it’s just to review those well told parts of the era. |
| 汉 – 汉武帝刘彻 | 156BC –87BC | 汉武大帝 (2005) | Youku, 4.5 star – talks about the 5th emperor of Hang Dynasty who reign over the most prosperous period of Hang dynasty. |
| 西汉 (West Hang) |
206BC – 8AD | 美人心计 2010 | Soku, 8.3 out of 10 pts. This series focuses on the queen, Lu (吕后), who was the one with the real power and the female/concubine spies she trained who eventually betrayed her. Queen Lu is not as well-known as emperor Wu of Tang or Cixi of Qing, but she is the first woman who gained real ruling power of China. Emperor Wu in Tang dynasty followed her example to gain control over the emperor. |
| 王昭君 2007 | Wang Zhao Jun is a biographic story about the first Hang “princess” to be married to Xiongnu territory, the start of a historical trend of Hang emperor marrying off princess to the north-west region to maintain peace. I liked this series of Zhao Jun as it’s not so serious as many other historical series. There is a sense of humor and endearment in this one. | ||
| 楚汉传奇 (2012) | Made in 2012, this series has the best casting for the infamous roles for Liu Bang and Xiang Yu and their epic uprising and battles to over throw Qing dynasty and the establishment of Han. | ||
| 秦 (Qing) | 221BC – 206BC | 古今大战秦俑情 2011 |
Youku, 4 star. Story about Qing Shi Huang (秦始皇), the first emperor who united the separated states and standardized the Chinese written language, money and measurements used for trade and commerce. He is most known for building of the Great Wall of course. Although his reign is only 15 years, but he is remembered for his brutality and the wall. This series is another one of my favorites as the story line involves the same characters reincarnating into later generations in the 40’s and again in present time. |
| 春秋战国 (Warring States) |
770BC – 221BC | ||
| 周 (Zhou) | 1029 – 771BC | ||
| 商 (Shang) | 1600 -1046BC |
Following Chinese dynasty timeline is copied from Chinese Wikipedia. I like this version as it illustrates the overlap of some dynasties/kingdoms well.
| 中国历史系列条目 | ||||
| 史 前 时 代 |
旧石器时代 | |||
| 中石器时代 | ||||
| 新石器时代 | ||||
| 黄河文化 | 长江文化 | |||
| 传说时代 （三皇五帝） |
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| 夏朝 约前21世纪–约前16世纪 |
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| 商朝 约前17世纪–约前11世纪 |
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| 周朝 前11世纪 | 前256 |
西周 前11世纪–前771 | |||
| 东周 前770–前256 |
春秋 前770–前476 | |||
| 战国 前476–前221 | ||||
| 秦朝 前221–前207 （西楚 前206–前202） |
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| 汉朝 前202 | 220 |
西汉 前202–9 | |||
| 新朝 9–23 | ||||
| （玄汉 23–25） 东汉 25–220 |
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| 三国 220–280 |
曹魏 220–266 |
蜀汉 221–263 |
东吴 229–280 |
|
| 晋朝 266-420 |
西晋 266–316 | |||
| 东晋 317–420 |
十六国 304–439 |
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| 南 北 朝 420 | 589 |
宋 420–479 |
北魏 386–534 |
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| 齐 479–502 |
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| 梁 502–557 |
西魏 535–557 |
东魏 534–550 |
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| 陈 557-589 |
北周 557–581 |
北齐 550–577 |
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| 隋朝 581–619 | ||||
| 唐朝 618–907 （武周 690–705） |
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| 五代十国 907–979 | （契丹） 辽 916–1125 |
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| 宋朝 960 | 1279 |
北宋 960–1127 |
西夏 1038–1227 |
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| 南宋 1127–1279 |
金 1115–1234 |
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| （大蒙古国 1206–1271） 元朝 1271–1368 （北元 1368–1388） |
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| 明朝 1368–1644 （南明 1644–1662） |
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| （后金 1616–1636） 清朝 1636–1912 |
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| 中华民国 1912至今 | ||||
| 中华人民共和国 1949至今 |
中华民国（台湾） | |||
All a Chatter 