The Legend of Mi Yue 芈月传: what it is about

I had always been a huge fan of Chinese history, so I was rather curious about this character named "芈月" when the trailers came out early last year.

Image from pinterest

I have a confession to make- I gave up this series 30 episodes into it. This was late last year. I felt the ditsy and rash Mi Yue that the drama portrayed did not do any justice to the real historical figure Mi Yue was based upon, that is, Queen Dowager Xuan of Qin (秦宣太后). She was a shrewed politician who, together with her son, increased Qin's military dominance across the other 5 states in China. It didn't help that Mi Yue (in the show) was still trying to act so innocent and self-righteous after stealing her sister's husband and becoming his concubine. Like what's with the annoying "老伯 老伯"??? Disgusting, stuff it.

So in this entry, I am going to sum up the life of the historical Mi Yue.

1. Who is Mi Yue?

She lived during the Warring States era (475-221 BC), before the unification of China. She is the great-great-grandmother of Qin Shihuang.

Pic from nownews.com

Initially a lowly peasant or a distant relative of the King of Chu [1], she married King Huiwen of the Qin state and became a bazi 八子, or a lowly concubine. She had three sons, one of whom, Ying Ji, succeeded his half-brother as the King of Qin when he was 13 years old. She was then made Queen Dowager and was the first woman in Chinese history to hold that title.

As Queen Dowager, she was involved in politics behind a screen. Under her son (named King Zhaoxiang of Qin) and herself, the state of Qin established strategic dominance over the other smaller states like Zhao, Yan and Chu, setting the foundation for Qin Shihuang to unify China decades later.

2. Why would she be the first Queen Dowager of Chinese history, considering Queens have outlived their husbands before?

Before Mi Yue was Queen Dowager, Queens simply took on the title of their deceased husbands after their sons became the new King. So for example the Queen of King Huiwen is named "Queen Huiwen" after her husband passes away.

However, when Queen Huiwen's son passed away, Mi Yue and her son returned from the state of Yan where they were serving as political hostages. Her son Ying Ji ascended the throne, but since there cannot exist two Queen Huiwens, Mi Yue invented the title "太后" to use for herself and subsequent Queen dowagers.

3. How did she rise to power?

From the fact that she stagnated at the rank of Bazi despite bearing 3 princes for King Huiwen, it can be inferred that she was not of noble blood, and was likely either a peasant, or a very distant relative of the King of Chu. As she was a lowly ranked concubine, her son Ying Ji was not a prime choice for the succession of the throne. [1]

When Mi Yue's husband King Huiwen died, the throne was passed on to the son of Queen Huiwen, Ying Dang. After her son became the new King, Queen Huiwen sent Ying Ji to the state of Yan to serve as a political hostage. As there were no known important military alliances or political activities between the states of Qin and Yan at that time [1], it was very possible Queen Huiwen did so to remove all threats to her son's succession.

When Queen Huiwen's son Ying Dang died from injuries, there was a power struggle in the search of the new heir to the throne as Ying Dang had no sons. The state of Yan decided that sending Mi Yue and her son back to the state of Qin would mean future benefits for themselves, so Mi Yue was sent back to the State of Qin. With the help of her half-brother Wei Ran, Mi Yue's son ascends the throne, and Mi Yue declares herself Queen Dowager. To keep her power, she quashes a coup led by Queen Huiwen in the later years.

4. Why is there a caveman in this show?

Had the human race not completely evolved in the Warring States era or something?

The caveman is the leader of a nomadic tribe, the Yiqu people. Mi Yue had an affair with him during her tenure as Queen Dowager, even having two sons with him [2]. I know, I always thought this sort of thing was taboo in ancient China but apparently it was deemed normal [2] by the Chinese back then.

In the drama, he was portrayed to have been a crucial factor in Mi Yue's rise to power, although exactly how I have no idea, I did not bother to watch up to that point in the drama. Historically, however, the Yiqu tribe had little to do with Mi Yue's political ascension. Her son's rise to the throne were largely due to the support of Wei Ran and the Yan and Zhao states. The affair and the two sons, however, were real.

5. Is this show worth watching?

Personally, I'd say no. It's 81 episodes long, which means you'll be spending close to 100 hours on this drama if you don't skip anything. That is a lot of time to waste on a drama with a slow pace, a dumbed down plot, and a weak female lead character. It is like watching The Empress of China all over again-Mi Yue is witless and annoying to watch.

At least The Empress of China was historically accurate in terms of the conversations, characters and costumes. The Legend of Mi Yue was brimming with inaccuracies, and the costumes were strange. The colours are just too vibrant for the time period (in the Qin state, black and green were the fashionable colours and in the Chu state, it is red) and the pink/purple lipsticks look way out of place.

Tall hairstyles were not in fashion before the Han dynasty, which is at least a hundred years after the events of this drama.[3]

This is the reason I wrote this blog entry. Tadah, I just saved you 81 hours of your time. Here's the real story of Mi Yue.

Oh, and I translated a lot of the historical information from these sources. Do check them out!

[1] http://www.wenxuecity.com/blog/201512/69683/412320.html
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dymx_0Oy_NE&nohtml5=False
[3] http://history.people.com.cn/n/2015/1204/c372331-27890496.html