Historical romance drama The Palace Stewardess (司宫令) starring Ding Yuxi and Song Zuer held its booting ceremony on March 16, 2026. There’s really no introduction needed for the two stars who have their respective hits, so to have them come together for a project is kind of a treat.
The Palace Stewardess, just like its title, has a female-centric narrative that follows Wu Zhenzhen, a commoner cook who rises to become a palace official. Ding Yuxi takes on the role of Zhao Kai, a prince who’s both strategic and a skilled fighter.
A New Rule Stop to Billing Wars?
Billing order, which determines whose name appears first, tends to become an issue among popular stars. However, the cast announcement comes at a time when China’s regulatory body, the NRTA, has called out the issue of billing wars and proposed a rather unusual solution: ordering names based on the number of strokes in their actual surnames, which no doubt sparked plenty of reactions. Some have joked that if it’s really implemented, the outcome will naturally put some actors first and others last. Incidentally, the frontrunner would be Ding Yuxi as his surname “Ding” has only two strokes.
The recent cast announcement appears to have adopted this very approach, noting that the names are presented “in no particular order; listed according to the number of strokes in the surnames.” Say what you will about this “solution”, I suppose it’s less fighting? And as a bonus, the two leads shared a cute photo together.
terryslvr
is billing order simply whose name comes first? or does it also mean who gets paid more? because this whole time i thought it also meant who got paid more, and if not, then all these fandom wars ive witnessed are really nothing but immature and giving children fighting
Kai
Obviously, if they can fight over a name list which sometimes get changed just to appease fans, it just means that there was never such a rule as the highest paid gets mentioned first.
Just that, it is the common courtesy to list the most important actor, who usually gets paid the most, first. And this gives pride to their fans. The fans of those named second or third gets upset cos they feel that their idols are not respected enough and especially so, if they feel the first listed is a “lesser being” than their own idols. So yes, it’s just crazy fans who have nothing else better to do than be manipulated by the “hidden hands” behind the scene.
That’s why it’s good that the authorities step in and impose such a rule. Removes one puppet string.
Applefish
Precisely. We don’t know who gets paid more, n I doubt they will let us know or the other party know. N even if say the FL get paid more, but the actor who act as ML get paid only say 1mil less n he has no important role before, then it’s still bad for the actress in general, as actors naturally get paid more.
Jajajaja
looking forward to their performances!
AJ
I wonder if we’ll get more collaborations between “same-level” actors.
Before, equal billing dramas (with the two actors having a loveline) seemed harder to come by, as every actor who felt they had become popular enough wanted to graduate to top billing, which then required finding someone much lower down the ladder (and thus willing to take that second billing) to pair up with as a drama couple. So it excluded many potentially fun collaborations between already established young actors.
Du
that is a tall order indeed. Female actresses (globally and in China) are in principle paid less than male actors (in some countries significantly less). In Chinese dramas male actors are also main earners, meaning they attract most viewers based on audience demographics analysis. Accordingly you would usually have top male and top female billing , but they are not equal, do not be mistaken.
Kai
Not true. A number of the highest earners and commercial worth are actresses. Comparatively speaking, the Chinese entertainment industry has a more level playing field than most around the world.