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The major storyline
Story of Yanxi Palace, the latest hitting TV drama set in the reign of the 18th century Emperor Qianlong, featuring the rise of a royal maid to be the ruler’s most-loved concubine, has went viral overseas.
《延禧攻略》，最近火爆全网的一部基于18世纪乾隆年间的电视剧，描述了一位普通宫女如何一路成为皇上的宠妃的故事，已经火到海外去啦！
A young girl named Wei Yingluo mingled into the Forbidden City to secretly dig out the truth of her sister’s death.
一位名叫魏璎珞的年轻姑娘混入紫禁城秘密调查她姐姐之死的真相。
With a pair of dab hands and a smooth tongue, she gradually established her status in the palace and made some powerful allies, including the Queen and her little brother, Fu Heng.
凭借着一双巧妙手和一张巧嘴，她逐渐在宫中树立了起地位并结交了一些有力的盟友，包括皇后和她的弟弟，傅恒。
After careful investigation, she confirmed that her sister’s death was related to an aristocrat, Hong Zhou, and was determined to seek justice.
经过仔细的调查，她确认了她姐姐的死和一位王爷，弘昼有关，并决心为姐姐伸张正义。
Queen Fucha, an elegant and sophisticated woman,worried that Yingluo would go astray and tried to give her warmth and help.
富察皇后，一位优雅而成熟的女性，担心璎珞会误入歧途，并尽力给她温暖与帮助。
Under the careful guidance of the Queen, Yingluo grew into a strong and courteous court lady, put down her resentment and started a new journey in the Royal Palace.
在皇后的悉心指导下，璎珞成长为了一位坚强而优雅的女官，放下了她的憎恨并在皇宫开启了一段新的人生旅程。
Unfortunately, the queen died mysteriously after a short period, causing the misunderstanding of Yingluo to Emperor Qianlong. The two went from being mutually hostile to eventually empathetic and supportive of each other.
不幸的是，皇后不久后神秘地死亡了，导致了璎珞和皇帝之间的误会。两人从相互厌恶，最终到相互理解与支持。
With great courage, an astute and flexible mind, as well as a generous spirit, Yingluo conquered a series of difficulties in the palace and eventually became a high-ranking imperial concubine who assisted Qianlong along his long-enduring and prosperous reign.
通过非凡的勇气，敏锐而灵活的头脑，和宽广的胸怀，璎珞在宫中克服了重重困难并最终成为了令贵妃，协助乾隆皇帝长久而繁荣的统治。
What made this “imperial-court-based” drama stood out from the others was that it didn’t follow the banal routines played over and over again by all kinds of crews.
使这部清宫剧从众多同类题材电视剧中脱颖而出的，是它没有延续其他各种剧组拍过一遍又一遍的陈旧套路。
The major patterns
Pattern No.1: an innocent, lily-white heroine against all b**ches?
套路一：无辜纯洁小白女主对抗一群心机女。
From the female character Liu Sanhao in Beyond the Realm of Conscience to the heroine Zhen Huan in The Legendary of ZhenHuan, it goes without saying that the female protagonist in imperial-court-based drama all start with being innocent, harmless and kind “bunnies” and then had to “grow up” under rivalry pressure imposed by other concubines. Only after about hundreds of “chicken fights”, will they become sophisticated“boss of the harem”.
从《宫心计》的女主刘三好，到《甄嬛传》的女主甄嬛，毫无疑问，清宫剧女主都是从单纯、无害和善良的“小白兔”，然后在其他嫔妃的竞争压力下“成长”起来的。只有在几百回合勾心斗角之后她们才会变为成熟的“六宫之主”。
However, in Story of Yanxi Palace, the heroine is smart and shrewd in the beginning, able to revenge anyone who meant to harm her, which is totally different from the orthodox“simpleminded white lily”character setting.
但是，在《延禧攻略》中，女主一开始就十分聪明而狡猾，有能力向故意伤害她的人报仇，与公认的“头脑简单的白莲花”女主人设截然不同。
When a new maid tried to bully her by wetting her beddings, she did not hesitate for a second to pour a whole bucket of water on the maid’s clothes and bedclothes,which cannot be denied —— was quite exciting and blood-boiling.
当一个新宫女通过弄湿她床单的方式欺负璎珞时，她毫不犹豫地就把一大桶水泼到了那个宫女的衣服和床单上。这看起来让观众觉得：真是大快人心！
And she managed a remarkable “Penta-kill” of those aggressive wicked b**ches. This has provided a huge satisfaction for the audience.
她还成功对那些好斗而邪恶的心机婊们完成了“五杀”。这为观众们提供了巨大的满足感。
Pattern No.2: “Plastic sisterhood”?
套路二：“塑料姐妹花“？
It is known to all, if you want to survive in the ruthless “silent battle” in palace, you’d better join some unions.
众所周知，若想在毫不留情的无声的宫廷战争中存活下来，你最好加入一些联盟。
In traditional Chinese imperial-court-based drama, the weakest union is the “sorority union”. Because sisters within the harem are born to mutually set up traps and slander happens all the time behind each other.
在传统的中国宫廷剧中，最不牢靠的联盟就是“姐妹联盟”。因为后宫的姐妹们生来就会互相挖坑、背后捅刀子。
This “mutual destruction game” always peaks at “the vicious queen”, who just cannot livewithout seizing undeserved political power and bullying other concubines.
这种“互相伤害的游戏”总是在皇后那里达到高潮。，就浑身难受。
However, the queen in Story of Yanxi Palace is neither sarcastic nor jealousy. She kept being kind and helpful to other concubines, and sheltered them from the attack of the Higher-ranking concubine, Mrs. Gao, who happened to be one of the few women who are seriously “fighting”in this drama. The queen managed to become the core of all positive energy in this show, all the way till her death.
但是，《延禧攻略》里的皇后既不爱讽刺人也不爱妒忌人。她一直保持着善良和乐于助人的品质，从高贵妃的攻击下保护了其他的嫔妃。高贵妃是本剧找那个为数不多的几位“认真宫斗”的女人了。而皇后成为了这部剧所有正能量的核心，一直到她去世。
This setting seems to be unusual, but it actually catered for the preference of modern audience —— spot “the clear stream” within ugly fightings.
这种看似反常的设定实则迎合了当下观众的偏好——看到勾心斗角中的一股清流。
Pattern No.3: Emperor, the staggerer?
套路三：皇帝是根墙头草？
Legend has it, ancient Chinese emperor usually had about 3 thousand concubines, and would basically choose a different one to sleep with each night.
传说古代中国皇帝通常有大约三千后宫佳丽。
When it comes to dealing with “chicken fights”, the sacred and almighty “Tianzi” would always become indecisive, irresolute, and easy to be fooled.
只要遇上处理宫中内斗，平日里神圣而万能的“真命天子”就会变得毫无头绪、犹疑不决，并且轻易被欺骗。
This universal rule does not apply to our Emperor Qianlong. In the drama, he is determined, concentrated, sensible and repellant to those scheming concubines.
这条世界通行的准则并不适用于我们的乾隆爷。在剧中，他坚定、专心、明智而且厌恶那些很有心计的妃嫔。
Once he heard a beautiful voice singing in the Royal Garden and was drawn to it. When he discovered that woman was deliberately waiting for him to pass by and seduce him with her singing as he stopped, he ironically punished her by demanding her to sing all night in the garden, non-stop.
一次他在御花园听到一个美妙的声音在唱歌并被歌声所吸引。但当他发现这个女人是故意在这里等他经过，并在他停下的时候用歌声诱惑他时，他讽刺性地命令她在花园里不停气地唱一整宿歌作为惩罚。
He even expelled a new concubine with no mercy simply because she had fragrant powder stuffed under her shoes and walked with lily-shaped pattern left on the ground, mimicking a provocative queen who caused the termination of an era.
他甚至毫不留情地驱逐了一个新贵人，只因为她在鞋底填充了香粉，走起路来会在地上留下莲花图案。他认为这是在模仿一代亡国之妃的不良行为。
Having a wise and right-minded emperor like Qianlong in this show should be defined as a “revolution” in character setting pattern, and a fairly successful one. Many Chinese audience stated that they became huge fans not for the heroine, but for the emperor in the show, praising him as such a “scarce king resource”.
在这部剧中，乾隆皇帝这样一位睿智而正直的人设，应当被称作一次“革命”，而且是相当成功的一次革命。许多中国观众表示她们对女主没那么感冒，反倒被剧中的皇上圈粉了，并称赞他是一个“用情专一、稀缺的皇帝资源”。
All in all, as a subject matter that had once swiped all over Chinese mainland but gradually come down in the tide of homogenization, Story of Yanxi Palace succeeded to rejuvenate with its unique characters and delicate plot design. Its shooting techniques and editing procedure also spoke for its international fame.
总而言之，作为一个曾经席卷中国大陆，但逐渐没落于同质化浪潮中的题材电视剧，《延禧攻略》凭借它独特的角色和精妙的剧情成功地实现了一次复兴。
它的拍摄技巧和剪辑手法也证明了它的国际化名声，不是浪得虚名。
So anyway, go and watch this “universal TV drama”! I bet you won’t regret it.
所以，去看看这部“全民电视剧”吧！你绝对不会后悔的
NOTES
mingle into： 混入
dab hands： 巧手
smooth tongue： 巧嘴
empathetic： 共情的
astute and flexible mind： 敏锐而灵活的头脑
stand out from： 从…中脱颖而出
banal routine： 陈旧的套路
lily-white： 白莲花般的，形容单纯的女性
harem： 后宫
sorority： 姐妹会
scheming： 有心机的
right-minded： 正直的
homogenization： 同质化
感觉这波操作完，雅思能上8.0！
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