Perish In The Name Of Love (TVB)

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Perish In The Name of Love (帝女花)
Image:E065.jpg Perish In The Name of Love Poster
Genre	Period Drama
Starring	Steven Ma Charmaine Sheh
Opening theme	"帝女芳魂" by Steven Ma & Charmaine Sheh
Country of origin	Hong Kong
Language(s)	Cantonese
No. of episodes	32
Production
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Television Broadcasts Limited
Original run	March 24, 2003 – May 3, 2003
External links
Official website

Perish In The Name Of Love was a TV drama series made by TVB. It is based on an old Chinese opera play, and takes place during the final years of the Ming Dynasty. The story follows the romantic relationship of the Chinese Emperor's daughter, Princess Cheung-Ping (which means "Enlasting Peace"), and the son of a Royal Courtier, Chou Sei-Hien.

The entire series takes place in a continuing flashback.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Discrepancies

The drama is not faithful to the original opera script and is not considered to be canon because of several discrepancies. Firstly, the sister of Princess Cheung-Ping in the series is portrayed as a conniving, evil Princess who betrayed the Ming Royal Family, submitted herself to the Manchu forces and aimed to destroy her sister in every way possible. In the original opera, the Princess is very friendly with Princess Cheung-Ping and is not portrayed as evil. In the series, the Empress was supposely escaped Beijing with the crown prince however this is not true in the opera script as she hung herself back in the palace.

Also, the ending of the series differed wildly from the original script. In the original script, the Princess and her lover agreed to get married in the Forbidden City after the Manchus gained power in China. However, during the lavish ceremonies, the couple committed suicide in an obscure place inside the palace grounds. In the first episode, it appears that the main characters were to die, similar to the original. However, in the final minutes of the last episode, the couple appeared as normal citizens in a remote town, and viewers discovered that the couple pretended to die in exchange for several concessions for the defeated Ming Forces.