A “Male” Zhang Tianai Greets Viewers in Tonight’s Premiere of “Fighting for Love”

At last, the end of what has got to be the longest January ever is here and with it comes a brand new drama in the form of Zhang Tianai, Zhang Haowei and Wang Ruichang’s Fighting for Love 阿麦从军. The story is adapted from Xian Cheng’s novel of the same name which narrates the story of A Mai, the first female general of the Southern Xia dynasty who traded in her elegant robes for battle armour.

Seeing the drama centers on a kick-arse female lead – Zhang Tianai does play a female general after all, I feel like the English title and the teasers focused more on the romance part of the story. People were pretty excited to be getting a drama with a strong female lead and I just wished the teaser could’ve pandered more to that. Nonetheless, our introduction to A Mai as a “male” still looks pretty intriguing.

Synopsis

After her family was murdered by her childhood sweetheart, the aristocratic A Mai is forced to make her own way into the world. Years later, she wanders the country disguised as a man whilst she goes in search of retribution from the man responsible for her family’s demise. By chance, A Mai stumbles upon  Shang Yizhi, the son of the late crown prince who was then adopted by his sister Princess Shenghua, when she saves his hide from a spot of trouble.  As A Mai continues to rescue him from all sorts of scrapes, their two fates become intertwined.

When war breaks out, A Mai enlists as an infantryman where she quickly rose through the ranks to become commander owing to her intelligence and her abilities.

Cast of Characters

On to the cast, Zhang Haowei co-stars as the suave and resourceful Shang Yizhi in the drama. For years, he quietly kept his head down even as he worked to regain the throne.  His relationship with A Mai is anything but straightforward. Meanwhile, Wang Ruichang stars as the arrogant and proud second male lead Chang Yuqing who faces off against “Mai Shuai”, as A Mai has come to be called, on the battlefield repeatedly. Off of it, the pair gradually grew feelings for each other after experiencing a freak accident together.

Actor Gao Ge appears as Tang Shaoyi, a famous general who is both loyal and honourable. He becomes good friends with A Mai. Yang Tongshu plays Princess Shenghua, Emperor Qi Jing’s sister who later raised Shang Yizhi as her own son. Yin Zhusheng stars as Emperor Qi Jing.

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