Best (mostly) historical dramas from various countries

Best historical dramas

Beijing TV, Dragon TV

Ancient China is being torn apart by a bitter feudal that pits the Northern Wei dynasty against the Southern Liang. With help from the Liang general and his formidable 19-year-old son Lin Shu (Hu Ge), the Liang secure a famous victory over the Wei. But treachery – rather than rewards – await the Lin family. A treacherous plot undermines the family, and many members are ruthlessly massacred.

Lin Shu escapes, but is poisoned. With his life in danger, a healer gives him an antidote that radically reduces his strength and robs him of his fighting powers. The antidote also leaves him looking very different. He assumes the name Mei Chang Su and begins on the long path to revenge. The journey brings him into contact with the Emperor’s son and unfavored Prince Jing (Wang Kai), whose brothers are locked in a vicious battle for the Imperial throne. He is also reunited with Mu Ni Huang (Liu Tao), a fearsome female general who does not want to be married off to a controlling husband. Will Lin Shu get what he is after? And will the truth of his identity ever come to light?

“Nirvana in Fire” is a 2015 Chinese drama series that was directed by Kong Sheng and Li Xue.

Nirvana in Fire

Lang Ya Bang

KBS2

During the Joseon Dynasty when women were not expected to be smart or allowed to be educated, Kim Yoon Hee (Park Min Young) was both. 

After her father passes away and her brother becomes ill, Yoon Hee disguises herself as a boy and takes on her brother’s identity to get odd jobs and help support her struggling family. When she realizes that there is good money to be made, Yoon Hee begins to take the entrance exams in the place of other students who want to get into the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University. 

During one such test, Yoon Hee is discovered to be perpetrating the illegal activity by the morally upright Lee Sun Joon (Park Yoochun), who threatens to turn her in. 

But believing that Yoon Hee is a boy, Sun Joon encourages her to take the test herself (with her brother’s identity). Both pass the exam and get into the university and become roommates. As Yoon Hee is now enjoying the glories of getting a higher education, she befriends the playboy Goo Yong Ha (Song Joong Ki) and the rebellious Moon Jae Shin (Yoo Ah In) and starts to develop feelings for Sun Joon – all the while trying to keep her true gender a secret from her new friends and the other male students. 

Can she keep up the charade long enough to get the education she desires and keep her emotions at bay? 

“Sungkyunkwan Scandal” is a 2010 South Korean drama series directed by Kim Won Suk and Hwang In Hyuk. It is based on the bestselling novel The Lives of SungKyunKwan Confucian Scholars by Jung Eon Gweol. The series won numerous drama awards, and Park Min Young and Park Yoochun received numerous Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Couple awards.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

After being found in 918, the kingdom of Goryeo faced a critical existential crisis when the powerful Yuan dynasty tried to subjugate them. In the fictional setting of this drama, a warrior living in the timeline of Goryeo meets a plastic surgeon living in the present day. The plastic surgeon gets kidnapped by the warrior who got an order from the king to find a doctor who can cure the fatally injured queen. The two individuals who were not meant to coexist are brought together to fight their way through the ordeals on the land of Goryeo. The warrior makes a promise that he will return her to her world, but a scheming royal advisor persuades the king to force the surgeon to stay as she can be useful to him. There, the surgeon falls in love with the warrior who is the leader of the royal guard. In this era of change and chaos, love that transcends time and space blooms.

The Great Doctor

The Faith Team

In the middle of the 18th century in Joseon, the social class's severe contradiction and rapid change are vividly described through the main character of this story, who was born into the lowest-class family. This is a story about the hope and self-consciousness of the lowest class of people, who were evaluated only by the value of wealth without being recognized for the minimum value as a human being. In addition, it introduces the reality of the underground organization of the lowest class of people, which emerged as a serious social problem during the Manchu Invasion of Korea in 1636.

Jewel in the Crown

Sign of the Heavens Team

Young Jang Geum is caught up in palace strife, loses her parents, and enters the palace as a court lady of the royal kitchen. Jang Geum, possessing the finest palate, becomes a court lady of the royal kitchen recognized for her abilities in the palace. With her food, she pleases the royal family who has abstained from food and drink or is ill and saves the royal family fallen into crisis. She leaves the palace caught up in incidents that slander her, but Jang Geum overcomes adversity and begins life in the palace again as a nurse. With her special qualities of a challenging spirit and tenacity, Jang Geum masters remarkable medical treatments and begins to earn the king's trust.

Jewel in the Palace

The Jewel Polishing Team

Hunan TV

During the time of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty, a lady-in-waiting could never become a princess because of the rigid social hierarchy and the actions of many jealous rivals. Lu Zhen (Zhao Li Ying) flees from an arranged marriage and her evil stepmother and enters the palace as an attendant. She meets Prince Gao Zhan (Chen Xiao), and the two fall in love but know that their social differences would never allow them to marry. As she rises through the ranks of the palace with her pottery skills, Lu Zhen tries to help Gao Zhan against a power struggle from Empress Lou and his brother, Prince Gao Yan (Qiao Ren Liang). In turn, although Gao Zhan could never make Lu Zhen his wife, he helps her to attain the highest position in the kingdom – that of female prime minister. “Legend of Lu Zhen” is a 2013 Chinese drama series directed by Li Hui Zhu and Deng Wei En.

Legend of Lu Zhen

The Legendary Team

Lee Do is the third son of King Taejong of the Joseon dynasty. He becomes Sejong the Great, a well-known king with brilliance, but he is deeply traumatized as he has seen massacres committed by his father since he was young. Being a workaholic and an insomniac, he strives day and night to understand ordinary people and become a righteous king. Chae Yoon comes from a family of slaves, but he has become an officer working in the Royal Guards. He thinks his father died because of Lee Do and plans to take revenge on him. So Yi is the court maid that Lee Do's son loves. Although aphasic, she is smart, insightful, and passionate about creating the Korean alphabet. Ki Joon earns Lee Do's trust and gets involved in his project to create the Korean alphabet, but he secretly plans to stab Lee Do in the back. With all these people entangled with each other, serial murders happen at the palace, and the project to create the Korean alphabet doesn't go smoothly.

Tree With Deep Roots

Deep Rooted Friends Team

Based on the life story of Baek Pa Sun, Jung Yi faces the struggle of being a woman who happens to be the best in her craft in the middle of the Joseon Era. She happens to be close with Prince Gwanghae and also masters the art of ceramics. She's out to find justice for her father and re-enter the palace of Bunwon as the best ceramist of the kingdom.

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