Drama Guide · Fan Favorite
延禧攻略Yánxǐ Gōnglüè · Story of Yanxi Palace
2018 · Qing dynasty · palace drama
Wei Yingluo enters the Forbidden City as a low-ranking palace maid with one goal: uncovering the truth behind her sister's death. Sharp-tongued, quick-thinking, and unwilling to simply endure the court's cruelty, she clashes with — and survives — one scheme after another, catching the eye of Emperor Qianlong and rising, step by step, from maid to one of the most powerful consorts in the palace.
Wei Yingluo
The protagonist
A palace maid whose wit and refusal to back down turn her from a target into one of the court's most formidable players.
Emperor Qianlong
The reigning emperor
One of the longest-reigning and most consequential emperors in Chinese history, navigating his own court as much as anyone in it.
Empress Fucha
The reigning empress
A gentle, dignified empress whose friendship with Yingluo is one of the series' emotional anchors.
Consort Gao
The court's chief schemer
A powerful, jealous consort whose rivalry with Yingluo drives much of the early intrigue.
The real history behind it: Wei Yingluo is loosely based on a real woman — a consort of the Qianlong Emperor from a Manchu Han-banner family, posthumously honored as Empress Xiaoyichun after her son became the Jiaqing Emperor. Her real rise from a comparatively modest background to becoming the mother of an emperor was remarkable for the rigid hierarchy of the Qing court, even if the show's palace schemes are largely dramatized. Story of Yanxi Palace was a genuine global phenomenon — China's most-searched show of 2018, streamed more than 15 billion times — and is often credited with renewing worldwide interest in Qing-dynasty costume dramas.
Yingluo's rise is dramatized, but the Qing court she navigates was real — explore the dynasties and rulers that shaped ancient China.