The Legend of Banshu (2016)

The Legend of Banshu aka Ban Shu Chuan Qi 班淑传奇 is a 38-episode Chinese palace drama starring Jing Tian as the titular heroine. It follows the story of the Legend of Lu Zhen and was conceptually created by producer Yu Zheng to compliment the former.

Even though Yu Zheng has earned a bad rep as the destroyer of Jin Yong novels, he has had a number of successful projects under his belt. Nevertheless, his fame wasn’t enough to hype up this drama given that it has been buried under the stack of so many high-profile period dramas these days.

Ban Shu grew up in the grasslands of the Western region until she was reunited with her family. In order to gain their approval, she enters the palace to learn proper etiquette but often ends up in amusing situations due to her unorthodox background.

Zhang Zhe Han (Demon Girl) stars as Jing Tian’s leading man. I recognize him as the teenage counterpart of Hu Ge in Nirvana in Fire. Also in the cast are Guan Xiaotong, Sophie Zhang Xueying and Dilraba Dilmurat. I probably won’t watch this unless I hear good things about it but if you are interested, the series premiered last Feb 8, 2016 on CCTV8.

For synopsis, cast and ratings, see 2016 popular cdramas.