Another daring list, this time to compile as many palace dramas out there as I can. At least, the ones that are famous or that I remember. I originally wanted to order the post, but it got difficult to manage so random order it is! Hope you can find something you like 🙂 I know this is not a complete list as China had been making Palace drama forever so sorry for this partial list. These dramas have the characteristic that they are inside the palace and women fight among each other to get the attention of the emperor/prince, receive more power/prestige and is set inside a palace.
《大清後宮之還君明珠》Concubines of the Qing Emperor
洪武大案 Hong Wu Da An
步步惊心 Bu Bu Jing Xin/Scarlet Heart
宫锁珠帘 Palace I
《宮鎖珠簾》Palace II
凤还巢之连城 Palace III
大汉情缘之云中歌 Song in the Clouds
唐宫美人天下 Beauty World
王的女人 Beauties of the Emperor
山河恋·美人无泪 In Love with Power
陆贞传奇 Female Prime Minister
凰图腾 War of Desire
《宮心計》Beyond the Realm of Conscience
太平公主秘史 Secret History of Princess Tai Ping
武則天秘史 The Secret History of Wu Zetian
后宫 Emperor’s Harem
《孝莊秘史》Legend of XiaoZhuang
《母儀天下》The Queens
《唐宮之美人天下》Beauty World
《武媚娘傳奇》Empress of China
大唐芙蓉园 Da Tang Fu Rong Yuan
《美人心計》Schemes of a Beauty
倾世皇妃 Qing Shi Huang Fei; The Glamorous Imperial Concubine
秀丽江山之长歌行 Singing All Along
《甄嬛傳》Zhen Huan Zhuan
《芈月传》 Mi Yue Zhuan
《金枝欲孽》War and Beauty
大汉贤后卫子夫 The Virtuous Queen of Han
寂寞空庭春欲晚 Chronicles of Life
Note: Feel free to list other dramas in the comment section, but I will sadly not add them to the post as there are just too many to have a complete list! ^^
Note 2: Instead of tagging ALL the dramas, I will jus tag the actors/producers that came out the most.
Cdramadevotee 
还珠格格..Princess of the returning pearl? Thats a classic. Anyway this list is impossible. The amount of palace drama is uncountable..you would do better with just listing the ones with good ratings or something.
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Haha, I was thinking of putting it. Believe me, it was one of the first that came to my mind. But Princess of Returning Pearl is more like a comedical drama than a palace drama. Like the girls lived pretty happily without needing to fight for their lives inside the palace? Haha, totally agree. I was trying to be too ambitious with this list hihi
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Which ones have you watched already?Which ones do you recommened?
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A lot actually, LOL. Definitely check out either Bubujingxin or Palace I, depending on your type of dramas (more angsy vs. more light-hearted). Zhen Huan Zhuan is THE best palace drama out there so you could check that out too ^^ I liked Zhao Liying (of course) in Female Prime Minister aka The Legend of Lu Zhen. The OTP was awesome in it!! ❤ I remember totally loving beautiful Fan Bingbing in Da Tang Fu Rong Yuan, but I don't remember much about the quality of the drama xD Else, Qin Shi Huang Fei is also a great one and I totally loved Yan Yikuan in it! hihi
Have fun exploring!!
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Love this post ❤
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❤ ❤
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Which one of these dramas do you recommend?
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Thanks for the list! Just a request stemming from laziness on my part, but maybe include a small summary for each drama or general commentary/recommendations?
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Welcome! I would recommend checking which poster/title interest you and search from there ^^
We previously did a recommendation post which you can check out here: https://cdramadevotee.com/2015/03/26/first-list-my-top-drama-recommandations/
In general, I can’t write a comment for each drama because I sadly didn’t check all of them… 😦
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Wow, I did not realise there were so many Palace dramas!
I started with Palace 1 because of FSF and finished it, my one and only Qing Dynasty drama that I completed XD
BBQX or Scarlet Heart, I dropped it after 8 episodes, too draggy and slow for me
However, I liked Sound of Desert which moved at the right pace and the story had me wondering who the lead girl will choose!
Song in the Clouds was boring but I managed to finish it though I was mad when my Emperor died! And fist time seeing Angelababy, not impressed with her!
Female Prime Minister, I finished it because hey, its Zhao Li Ying! LOL but tbh the political play went on too long, drama could have been 10 episodes shorter and we won’t miss a thing! Good female villians though!
My favourite this year is Legend of Mi Yue, now that is one smart woman and she knows how to use the men who loves her! I have another 6 episodes to finish but I am impressed with the actress Sun Li
I love period or historical dramas and i am influenced by who’s the actor playing the lead though at times I do venture in and discover new actors to add to my list, kekeke,
There are a few on the list that I have been looking for with subs but so far no luck, if anyone finds it please do share!
And lastly, thanks for doing this post ! xoxo
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The only Qing dynasty drama you checked? :O Not even the classic Huan Zhu Ge Ge aka Princess Returning Pear?
Feng Shaofeng looks so damn good in period dramas it is kind of sad that he is not doing many of those now.
xD Sounds like you tried to watch the original Tong Hua novels (BBJX, Sound of Desert and Yun Zhong Ge). I only checked out BBJX out of the three and really liked it!
Female Prime Minister == love for Zhao Liying and Chen Xiao. Haha, I agree. Palace dramas often end up being draggy and long, and very few have only good content (a lot of them ends up with tones of filler episodes).
Did you check out Zhen Huan Zhuan? It is apparently even better of Legend of Mi Yue AND it also stars Sun Li. 😉
Same. Some time, I follow the trend and others, I like to look at the poster to decide what to watch. That is why I wanted to write this post = to inspire other people to watch them!
Awwn, it is too bad some don’t have eng subs. Hope they will get picked up soon!
Welcome 😉
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Omo, checked Princess Returning Pearl has 3 seasons? Skipping that since the synopsis doesn’t catch me but I might attempt Zhen Huan Zhuan! XD
I love FSF in period gear, am waiting eagerly for Ice Fantasy to get subbed ! When I miss him I rewatch Detective Dees or parts of Lan Ling Wang! LOL
I am currently watching Female Assassins in the Palace, unfortunately youtube only has it to ep 20 and the video quality is really bad, sadly I can’t get to Dramafever in my country so am relying on my drama buddy to help me with the remaining episodes!
Don’t know the cast but except for the irritating females, the drama has been pretty ok and if I finish this one, it will be my 2nd Qing dynasty drama! LOL
Big fan of ZLY & Lu Yi so I am anticipating Rookie Agent Rouge to be sizzling? ZLY always has good chemistry with her male leads so this could be fun after the disappointing Legend of Qin and Yunge for Lu Yi !
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Yes it does! But you can be like everyone else and skip the third one 😉 Joke, the thing is that the third one pretty much changed the whole cast while as the first two are really the original good ones ^^ Yop, it is more of a silly fun drama. It is (was?) the most popular Chinese drama of all time!
Good luck with Zhen Huan Zhuan. It is not easy to understand at first because there is so much plotting, but it is trully the golden one in the category “palace scheming drama”.
Haha, yeah! I hope Ice Fantasy will be good because he definety does look good 😉 I like him a lot from Lan Ling Wang. ❤
Female Assassins in the Palace was actually on my watch list! Until I got caught watching the more hyped ones. Thanks for reminding me of its existence, will try to watch it when I will have time…
Same! Lu Yi was like the only good thing from Yun Zhong Ge LOL And he was passable in Legend of Qin too. He is such a nice person on variety show so I want to fall in love with him in a drama soon ^^
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Thanks for the list! Legend of Xiaozhuang is such a classic. Love it. China sure excels in producing palace dramas.
Personally, I have a huge preference for palace dramas set in the early Qing dynasty. A lot of mysterious, intriguing, debatable events take place within that period, which further inspire interesting plots and stories from screenwriters. E.g the ambiguous romance between Duo Er Gun & Xiao Zhuang, the mysterious death of Emperor Shun Zhi, the legitimacy of Yong Zheng’s throne, his mysterious death, the true ethnicity of Qian Long, etc which have been included and adapted differently in a lot of palace dramas.
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Welcome! I have yet to try out Legend of Xiaozhuang, but I have seen enough positive comments so far to want to see it for myself :3 China had been making Palace dramas since forever and I am glad they did because these series are addictive!
I love the Qing dynasty and I think it is the period with the most TV hits (Huan Zhu Ge Ge, Zhen Huan Zhuan, Palace series, Bubujingxin, etc). Curious what upcoming Ru Yi Legend will have to offer too. Personnally, I love the Tang dynasty the most because 1) I find Wu Zetian’s story fascinating and 2) The dresses are just so pretty during that period!
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Yay, thanks for the list! I LOVE palace scheming dramas so I can sit through countless episodes of it despite not being able to appreciate the look of those male leads. (How can anyone look handsome in those look?) And yes, the best palace drama got to be Legend of Zhen Huan. So many intricate schemings littered around the entire drama, you got to pay attention to really understand what’s going on. That was a drama truly based on schemings & not romance. I liked Schemes of a Beauty too but since I watched it after Legend of Zhen Huan, it’s hard to compare 😛
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Haha, it seems like not many people care about male leads because the emperors turn out to look really unappealing half of the time and still, the whole harem is after him! xD Nothing can compare to Legend of Zhen Huan. Schemes of a Beauty was a true treat though and I like to watch palace dramas for a mix of romance/scheming/eye-candy so I don’t demand my dramas to be all high quality like Zhen Huan hehe
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Idk if u consider korean dramas, but this one Empress Ki is AMA-ZING and perfectly well thought out. Let’s not mention the superrrrrr talented main actress Ha Ji Won and her chemistry with the yummy(!!) Hi Chang Wook. It’s definitely a must watch!! 🔥🔥
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