The Legend of Shangguan Wan'er

During the Linde era of the Tang dynasty, Shangguan Wan'er, the prized daughter of a chancellor's household, is falsely implicated alongside her family and sent to the palace laundry as a slave, branded the daughter of a criminal. In the depths of despair, she draws on her gift for remembering everything she sees and her patient, resilient nature. Guided by a mentor, she studies tirelessly through the dark nights. Her extraordinary talent eventually wins Wu Zetian's favor, and she rises from palace maid to the heart of power, becoming a legendary female chancellor.

She endures the upheaval of the founding of Wu Zhou and the restoration of the Tang dynasty. Navigating the blood-soaked struggles of the imperial court, she balances competing forces and, guided by her belief that the people's livelihood comes first, reforms the civil service examinations, punishes corruption, and pacifies the frontier, using her wisdom to resolve one crisis after another. She leads literary culture with the Shangguan style, compiles classics, and establishes the Xiuwen Institute, using her talent to shape the literary tradition of her age. Though she cares deeply for the people, she is not free to choose her own path. She holds fast to her principles amid the whirlpool of power and safeguards her ideals in the contests of the court, witnessing the transition between two dynasties.

From struggling to survive in the palace laundry to governing with the grace of a phoenix, from games of political intrigue to a legacy of loyalty, this epic follows the extraordinary life of Shangguan Wan'er. It tells of a woman's struggle to break through in a male-dominated court and of a devotion to home and country that holds firm through turbulent times, restoring from the dust of history the image of a remarkable woman endowed with both talent and wisdom.