Still on Valentine's Festivity, I want to write something about the most romantic but also the most tragic drama that ever exist.
Scarlet Heart
Both dramas were adapted from a Chinese
Writer Tong Hua’s popular fiction novel 步步惊心[Bu
Bu Jing Xin] or Startling on Each Steps that was released in 2005. I’ve watched
the Chinese version before I watch the Korean version (Scarlet Heart Ryeo: Moon Lovers), and after watching the
two dramas, I can say, they are different story with the same base.
First things first, the Chinese Drama
was 98% based on the novel, and that the Chinese drama is actually the original
story for its history adaptation with the real tragedy of Emperor Kang Xi’s
sons competition for the throne. Meanwhile, the Korean Drama adapted only
(let’s say) 75% of its originality.
Also, I find it unfair when audiences said they can't stand Chinese version because the 'men were half bald', I mean, respect the ancient culture of the Qing Dynasty. In that era, the Manchurian made a law that said, "Cut your hair, keep your head. Keep your hair, cut your head." Besides, handsome men are still handsome bald or not.
On the other hand, I also find it unfair when some said the Korean version is like an Idol Drama because of the casts, in fact the acting are superb, some of them are even experienced actors. So let's focus on the plot only.
I'll start with the main ideas that exist on both
dramas;
below: King Taejo - King Hyejong - King Jeongjong - King Gwangjong)
Now comes the important parts that
will make us understand, that these two dramas shared the same concept but
different outlook. Let’s go through the story from the beginning to end (this
will be long, and full of spoilers for those who haven't watch one or both of
the dramas).
Ruo Xi is an accountant but she is also into design, due to being
stuck in the ancient times as a Palace Maid in charge of serving tea for the
Emperor, she has to learn everything about tea making and the art of serving
tea. She uses her skill to design specific tea cups for the Emperor and the
Princes according to their personalities, she also design some embroidery
patterns for Consort Liang (8th Prince’s mother).
Hae Soo is a licensed make-up artist and knows to
make cosmetics and skin care mixes (I don’t actually know how to name it), she
uses her skill in the ancient time to cover 4th Prince’s scar.
Ruo Xi is at the 8th
Prince’s manor because she was too wild and never listened to her father then
she was sent to live with her sister, the only one she would listen to, but
later she finds out that her father sent her to the capital so she could enter
the Palace for the Concubine Selection in hope she could be the Emperor’s
Concubine. She falls for 8th Prince who is charming and so kind to
her sister, Ruo Lan, 8th Prince falls for her because she is so
pretty and carefree (just like Ruo Lan before they got married).
Hae Soo is at the 8th
Prince’s house to take care of Lady Hae her sick cousin, but due to her ‘memory
loss’ she was confused and scared and had a crush on 8th Prince who
is so nice to her, 8th Prince also falls in her happy-go-lucky
personality.
8th Prince asked the Emperor to let him
marry Ruo Lan because he fell in love at first sight when he saw her riding
horse so carefree and she was so pretty when she smiles and laugh, but after
she got married to him, she never smiles anymore, she never loves him until her
death, she had pregnant once but got miscarriage when she found out her true
lover died in war, she even asked for a divorce before she died in fear her
true love would not accept her anymore in afterlife for dying as an Imperial
Member. The wife that really loves him is Ming Hui, his Main Princess Consort,
she was the one who always had a crush on him and begged her grand-uncle to
tell the Emperor to bestow her to marry 8th Prince, 8th
Prince married her but never loves her, at the end, she was the one who always
stays by his side, and killed herself to lessen his burden when Yong Zheng
Emperor got mad at her. Ming Hui is not a nice person to other.
Lady Hae was the one who wanted to marry 8th
Prince because she always had a crush on him, in their marriage she couldn’t
give him children, she died of her sickness and still wishes him for best luck
and love.
The first time 4th
Prince meet Ruo Xi is when he almost ran on her with his horse on the street,
but after Qiao Hui (the maid on Ruo Xi’s side) tells him they are from 8th
Prince Manor, he left. The second time, it was Ruo Xi tried to get ran on by a
horse because she thinks she could go back to the future that way, but 4th
Prince avoided her and asked her why she wanted to die, she told him it’s not
her intention and begged him to not tell 8th Prince or Ruo Lan about
what she had done.
The first time 4th
Prince meet Hae Soo was on the street when he almost made her fall and he helped
but then left her behind after a little ‘fight’.
Zhang Xiao is 25
years old, then she became 13 years old Ruo Xi in Kang Xi’s 43rd
year (1704), that makes Crown Prince Yin Reng is 30 years old, 4th
Prince is 26, 8th Prince is 23, 9th and 10th
are 21, 13th Prince is 18, and 14th Prince is 16.
Go Ha Jin is 25 years old, then she became 16 years
old Hae Soo. If the drama set on Goryeo, year 941, it means Crown Prince Mu is
29 years old, 3rd Prince Yo is 18, 4th Prince So and 8th
Prince Wook are both 16 years old, 9th and 10th
are 15, and 13th and 14th are 14.
Ruo Xi simply grew
up with the Princes around her, she play and fight with 10th and 14th,
even bullied Princess Ming Yu (Ming Hui’s sister) with 10th Prince,
and shared the same idea about ideal life with 13th. Even after she
entered the Palace and became official maid, 10th Prince, 13th
Prince, and 14th Prince often visits her to hang out together.
Generally, Hae Soo is a damsel in distress; most of
the scenes that show her relationship with the Princes are when they ‘help’
her. 8th Prince calming her, 10th Prince cheering her up,
13th Prince mourn for Lady Hae with her, 14th Prince
cover her from being hit. The Princes work together to get her away from
marrying the King.
Ruo Xi never had a
little servant that serves her personally until she became Emperor Yong Zheng’s
woman. Qiao Hui is Ruo Lan’d dowry maid, a servant given by her parents to
follow and serve her after getting married. Yu Tan is Ruo Xi’s assistant at the
Royal Tea Service Department. She got Mei Xiang as her personal servant while
living in Yang Xin Dian (Emperor Yong Zheng didn’t want to live in Qian Qing
Gong so he moved there), but when she left the Palace Mei Xiang couldn’t follow
her. At 14th Prince’s Manor she got Chen Xiang.
Hae Soo has Chae
Ryeong, a little servant that serves beside her from the beginning to end.
Ruo Xi slapped and
hit Princess Ming Yu for calling Ruo Lan a lowly woman, all the Princes were in
awed with her toughness even compare her to the tough 13th Prince
and called her 13th Sister, even the Emperor Kang Xi admired her
toughness.
Hae Soo fought with 10th Prince
physically, but scared of Yeon Hwa (8th Prince’s sister), the King
and Queens quite upset to learn that she hurt 10th Prince.
Ruo Xi was upset
because 10th Prince was bestowed marriage with Princess Ming Yu, she
blamed it on herself for fighting with Ming Yu that the marriage was Ming Yu’s
way of revenge on her. This made people thought she was going crazy because she
loves 10th Prince. This misunderstanding actually brings her closer
with 13th Prince.
Hae Soo doesn’t really show her empathy to 10th
Prince’s engagement with Park Soon Deok. She just talked to him after Soon Deok asked her to.
Ruo Xi’s friendship
with 13th Prince Yin Xiang started after they drink together on the
night of 10th Prince’s wedding. 13th Prince thought Ruo
Xi was heartbroken because 10th Prince got married, while Ruo Xi
thought 13th Prince was heartbroken because he liked 10th
Prince’s bride, their mutual misunderstanding brought them into the best
understanding friendship. Ruo Xi even speaks for 13th Prince to
Princess Min Min of Mongolia who fell in love with him and wants to be his Consort. Ruo Xi
also kneels under the rain for days to beg Emperor Kang Xi permission for Lu Wu
(Woo Hee) to serve 13th Prince in confinement; this caused her to
have bad knees (rheumatism).
First time Ruo Xi
helped 14th Prince is when she hid him at the Mongolian Princess Min
Min’s tent after being chased by Crown Prince Yin Reng, 14th Prince
going against the Emperor Kang Xi edict to not leave the capital while the
Emperor is on his southern trip. The Second time was when Min Min finds out
about their secret and wanted to tell the Emperor, Ruo Xi had to do a horse
race with Min Min and put herself in danger for him after stabbing her horse
with her golden hairpin. 14th Prince kept the bloody hairpin as a
token without her noticing. In the drama, there are a lot of scenes happened for these two where they play around together, laugh and fight, and to quote 13th Prince's opinion of them, "Those
two argue like cats and dogs, one will argue till his face is red and throat is
sore, and the other argues till the tears drop." 14th Prince is also care so much of Ruo Xi, he will come to talk with her at the tea room so she won't be bored, he will visits her when she's sick, they actually have the biggest ship in the fandom, that fireworks lit when he brought the 'marriage edict' to save her from the Palace.
Ruo Xi’s love with
8th Prince was deep; she loves him too much that she tried to get
him out of the war for the throne. She asked him to choose her over the throne
to keep him away from his end which she already knew how, but he refused to give up
the throne and broke her heart, even though she was breaking up with him, she
still tells him to be very careful of 4th Prince, and some ministers
that she learned from the history and (unsprisingly) TV dramas were not good people. Ruo Xi didn’t love 4th
Prince when she decided to be his woman, she only knows that he would be the
next Emperor, so if anyone could help her from unfortunate death, it must be 4th
Prince, the one she’s always scared of, but always help her when she got in trouble.
When Emperor Kang Xi died and Long Ke Duo announced that the chosen successor
is 4th Prince, Ruo Xi was the first one to salute him as an Emperor,
this is because she knows he would be the Emperor that won’t tolerate any kind
of disrespect. It was fear. Even when 4th Prince became Emperor, Ruo Xi still
tried her best to lessen the punishments given to 8th Prince.
4th
Prince Yin Zhen at first only admire her beauty and fun personality, while she
was always afraid and careful about him (because she knows he would be THE Yong Zheng), 13th Prince thought she had
a crush on him so he talks good about her to 4th Prince that makes 4th
Prince thought that they have mutual feelings.
At first 4th
Prince hated Hae Soo, then he pitied her, worried about her, and then wanted to
protect her, that becomes his obsession to make her his lady. Magical.
Emperor Kang Xi
never wanted to marry Ruo Xi, he sees her like his favorite 10th
Princess who's already married. The one who requested to marry her was the Crown Prince instead to
add more power in his part, but this is actually also the fall of the Crown
Prince, because Ruo Xi asked for help on 14th Prince and 4thPrince, they all work together to bring down the Crown Prince.
King Taejo wanted
to marry Hae Soo for her back ground, but she wounded her body so she wouldn’t
be eligible as a King’s Consort.
13th
Prince made friend with Lu Wu who is an entertainer in a brothel, but she’s not
a prostitute, they always drink together and shared their ideas just like with
Ruo Xi. Lu Wu was then sent to 13th Prince Confinement due to Ruo Xi
and 14th Prince begging on Emperor Kang Xi, they lived together in
confinement for 10 years, they have a daughter that Ruo Xi gets to name, and
raised by 4th Prince and Lady Ula Nara. Later when 13th
Prince is released by Emperor Yong Zheng, 13th Prince asked Lu Wu to
officially marry him, but Lu Wu left his Manor and killed herself because of
her background as a daughter of Ming Dynasty loyalist could burdened 13th
Prince and their daughter Zheng Huan. 13th Prince never finds out
that she’s dead, he only knows she went back to her hometown, but Ruo Xi and
Emperor Yong Zheng know and kept it secret.
Ruo Xi was punished
with 20 strokes with big plank then kicked out of Qian Qing Gong to work at the
Laundry department after refusing the Emperor Kang Xi’s edict to bestow her for
marriage with 14th Prince.
Hae Soo was kicked
out of the Palace and work at the washing department after being accused (but
proven innocent) of poisoning Crown Prince.
14th
Prince Yin Ti visited Ruo Xi at the Laundry department after he’s back from war
with Dzungar and told her that he begged Emperor Kang Xi to bestow her to marry
him so he can get her out of the Palace, but Emperor Kang Xi then told him the
reason why Ruo Xi is sent to the Laundry Department (which is refusing to marry
him) so he could only tell her that he is always willing to help her out of the
Palace whenever she is “willing”, he then went to another war in Tibet to
escort out the Dalai Lama for months, and only came back after Emperor Kang Xi
died.
Before 14th
Prince Jung sent away from the Palace, he told Hae Soo that he could help her
out of the Palace whenever she “wants” it.
14th
Prince Yin Ti according to history was the Commander-in-Chief of 300.000
soldiers on the war against Dzungars as he was the only child of Emperor who is
excellent in martial arts. In the drama 14th Prince Yin Ti gets
Imperial Edict to marry Ruo Xi with Emperor’s seal, even though Emperor Kang Xi
told him Ruo Xi already refused to marry him, he knows this edict could help
her out of the Palace someday so he still asked for it and kept it.
14th
Prince Jung was said to be leading an army of 300.000 in Khitan War (the war
and army was stated in history but Wang Jung wasn’t stated as the leader at
all). In the drama, Wang Jung gets a written edict from Wang Yo as the King
bestowing Hae Soo to be his consort.
Ruo Xi didn’t want
to marry Emperor Yong Zheng because she wants freedom as his woman, being his
concubine meaning waiting for her time to be called to serve, Empress Ula Nara
even tried to talk to her about giving Emperor Yong Zheng a chance on their
relationship because the Empress knows that the Emperor only cares for Ruo Xi
and marrying her will make him at peace. Because a subject should never disobey Emperor, in order to keep herself save, she
told Emperor Yong Zheng the only way he could marry her is to make her the
Empress, which he could never do.
Hae Soo can’t be
married to King Gwang Jong because she has a scar from avoiding marriage with King Taejo.
Yu Tan became Ruo
Xi sworn sister and never betrays Ruo Xi in any kind of way; she’s just a
secret informant of 9th Prince Yin Tang. After Yu Tan’s death,
Imperial Doctor announced that Ruo Xi is pregnant, but Ruo Xi refused to see
Emperor Yong Zheng so Qiao Hui was ordered to enter the Palace and be Ruo Xi’s
personal maid (this happened because Ruo Lan is already dead, so Qiao Hui is
Master-less).
Even though Chae
Ryeong did bad deeds secretly behind Hae Soo, she knows Chae Ryeong is sincere.
8th
Prince Yin Si’s Main Consort, Ming Hui, told Ruo Xi the same thing, and that’s
what makes Ruo Xi down and got miscarriage, her depression gets worse.
Yeon Hwa (8th
Prince sister) told Hae Soo that it was her fault for telling 8th
Prince Wook to be careful of 4th Prince So, it brings Hae Soo down
and feels guilty.In the Chinese
version 10th Prince also never loves or respects Princess Ming Yu,
even wanted to divorce her once, but after Ruo Xi talked to him about how
‘feelings’ changed, he understand he doesn’t really want to lose Ming Yu. Due
to 10th Prince being childish and spoiled, Emperor Yong Zheng wanted
to punish him hard, but because of Ruo Xi, Yong Zheng only sent him away and
confined him in Mongolian Borders, where he lives with Ming Yu under tight
surveillance.
10th
Prince never loves or respects Soon Deok, Soon Deok needs Hae Soo to talk to 10th
Prince when he’s being a child, Hae Soo had to keep them safe from King
Jeongjong and 4th Prince, but 10th Prince finally
respects his wife and give up his pride on her. At the end, both of them died
in the hand of King Jeongjong.
After telling
Emperor Yong Zheng that she was the one who make 8th Prince cautious
of him, and that she was the real cause of why 13th Prince had to be
in confinement for 10 years, Ruo Xi went unconscious for days. When she woke
up, she asked 13th Prince to tell 14th Prince that she is
now ‘willing’. Emperor Yong Zheng has no options but to obey the past Royal
Edict made by Late Emperor Kang Xi, however, in order to break the heart of the
Emperor as revenge, 8th Prince told him all the details when he was
still secretly dating Ruo Xi.
After the death of Chae Ryeong, Hae Soo couldn’t be
the same again with 4th Prince, she then asked Baek Ah to tell Wang
Jung that she ‘wants it’ now. In order to make King Gwangjong to let Hae Soo
leave the Palace and marry Wang Jung, 8th Prince Wook tells about
his past relationship with Hae Soo to King Gwangjong.
In Chinese version,
Ruo Xi was escorted out by 13th Prince and Zheng Huan to the Capital
border, 8th Prince was standing outside the Palace outer gate to see
her go, but Ruo Xi decided to hug him good bye and there she cried seeing how
pitiful he is, 8th Prince told her to forget about the Forbidden
City, but also told her not to cry because she is leaving as a bride, he knows
14th Prince will treats her well. Ruo Xi watched him from her
carriage until she can’t see him anymore. I tell you, these final goodbyes with 8th Prince and 13th Prince never failed to make me cry.
In Korean version,
Hae Soo was sent away to 14th Prince with sedan chair. 13th
Prince met her before she left, they share drinks as a parting drink. 8th
Prince also met her to send her away with peace.
In Chinese version,
Ruo Xi dying slowly while waiting for Emperor Yong Zheng to come see her and
forgive her, in the end she died thinking he hates her and will never forgives her.
Emperor Yong Zheng came and took away her ash and scatters her ash on a windy
day as her request to 14th Prince before she died. In the book version
Emperor Yong Zheng took away Ruo Xi’s golden hairpin that 14th
Prince been keeping too.
In Korean version,
Hae Soo gave birth to her daughter with King Gwangjong and 14th
Prince raised her after Hae Soo died. King Gwangjong late came and took away
Hae Soo’s ash, he recognized his daughter when he saw her wears Hae Soo’s
hairpin.
Now, here are some
important notes on things that were added in the Korean version but too different from the original.
- 9th
Prince Yin Tang is in 8th Prince Party. Also, in Chinese version, 3rd
Prince Yin Zhi is never the bad person; he’s actually trusted by the Emperor
Kang Xi to escort the Princes that got punished into confinement.
Hae
Soo came from a good family background, more like powerful enough for the King
to want to marry her.
- Ruo Xi’s father is a general at the Southern
border, she is also the Mongolian Princess Min Min’s best friend and sister
figure, her brother Prince He Shu treats Ruo Xi like his own sister, and the
Mongolian King rewarded her the Jade Pendant he made for Princess Min Min’s
deceased twin sister. Emperor Kang Xi also spoiled Ruo Xi even though she is
just a maid. This is why Ruo Xi is so special in the Palace, even the Empress
and other Consorts wouldn’t dare to mess with her.
Queen Yoo (Mother of Wang Yo, Wang So, and Wang Jung) hates Wang So, she done evil deeds, and very selfish. - Consort De (Mother of 4th Prince and 14th Prince) is very gentle and was Emperor Kang Xi favored consort (she lived in Yong He Gong, one of the 6 Easter Palace in Forbidden City that used to be given to favored Consort). She loves her children, but 4th Prince wasn't raised by her because he was her first born when she was still a lower rank concubine, however, after 4th Prince was born, she was promoted to a higher rank, so the other child born after 4th Prince could be raised by her, 14th Prince was the youngest, her spoiled one. She knows that Emperor Kang Xi loves 14th Prince and spoiled him too, that makes her suspicious of 4th Prince when he became Emperor, and refused to be Empress Dowager.
Queen Hwang Bo (Mother of Wang Wook and Yeon Hwa) is ambitious and would do anything to be Dowager, even betraying Wang Wook at the end.- Consort Liang (Mother of 8th Prince) is a nice and gentle lady, but she was from a lower rank and not favored by the Emperor. She always felt guilty towards 8th Prince because she felt it was her fault to be a lower rank that 8th Prince couldn't get Emperor attention.
To say that the
Korean drama was an adaptation of the novel, I don’t agree, I think it is more
of an adaptation of the Chinese drama version because there are some things
that are different from the Chinese drama to the novel itself but the Korean
version still keeps it.
In the novel, Ruo
Xi never tells 13th Prince that she came from 300 years in the future,
or tell Emperor Yong Zheng that she is Zhang Xiao not Ruo Xi. In the drama, Ruo
Xi does the opposites. In the Korean version, Hae Soo didn’t do it at all, just
saying some future ‘words’ that confused those in the ancient time.
In
the novel, Ruo Xi is always careful when she works or speaks in the presence of
Emperor Kang Xi, but in the drama, Ruo Xi speaks to the Emperor like he is her
father. In the Korean version, the thing between King Taejo and Hae Soo just
not right, even the way he told her important thing on his death bed doesn’t
make sense.
In
the novel, Ruo Xi spent a lot of time with 13th Prince and Lu Wu’s
daughter, Zheng Huan, and Emperor Yong Zheng’s 4th Prince Hong Li
(future Emperor Qian Long) always shows respects to her. In the drama, scenes
with Zheng Huan are limited and Hong Li never made appearance at all. In the
Korean version, this doesn’t happen at all.
In
the novel, when Ruo Xi died, she died for good. Means, when she died in the car accident, the Zhang Xiao was dead on the scene. But in the drama version, they make
Ruo Xi back to the future and somehow meet with Emperor Yong Zheng’s
reincarnation, this was because the Chinese production team already prepared
for its sequel (which not as successful as the original). The Korean version
only make Hae Soo back to the future and let her remember her past in the
ancient time, however we all know the deleted version shows that Hae Soo
actually met with Wang So’s reincarnation (or descendant) too.
In
the novel, there were 6 extra chapters about the Palace after Ruo Xi died. How
Emperor Yong Zheng still visits her empty place and sits there alone in the
night while reading her letters. How Zheng Huan became the favorite sister of
Emperor Yong Zheng’s sons, and how she married Princess Min Min’s son, how
Princess Min Min never forgets her best friend Ruo Xi and her old crush 13th
Prince, and how 14th Prince finally released by Emperor Qian Long in
1737.
Now, in conclusion, i'd like to say that both version are good, but to see it from history and ancient culture, Chinese version highlighted more of the Qing Dynasty's Imperial Custom and Emperor Kang Xi's Southern Trip accordingly, the characters development were also visible, the relationship building were also done step by step, and most importantly the main character really did 'startled by each steps' that her depression could be seen growing.
The Korean version did good with the Goryeo Kingdom ethical, costumes, details like sword dance and martial arts usage to portray the life in that ancient time, however things like Hae Soo's note book written in Hangul (which is not created until 500 years later) were found but never mentioned again is quite hanging the plot that it betrays the rule of time travel, nothing from the future should be left in the past. In the original book, Ruo Xi gave Emperor Yong Zheng an accounting tables to record treasure, but she didn't make it obviously similar to what she learned in the future, however this didn't make it in the drama. There was also a part where Emperor Kang Xi was doing geometric proofs using auxiliary line in a wrong way, she knows how to fix it but instead she told him to rest, there is no way a main in Qing Dynasty would know such a thing. Also, Hae Soo gave birth to a daughter opens another untold story line, one that might tell us that Hae Soo is Go Ha Jin's ancestor, but when she wakes up as Go Ha Jin again and met the future version of Astronomer Choi, she was told that surname Go was knows as Hae in Goryeo era, that kind of confirming about Go Ha Jin and Hae Soo's relation, but it's kinda weird to think that Ha Jin went back to past and live as the lover of her 'ancestor-father', and this also close the possibility of Ha Jin united with King Gwangjong's descendant (maybe that's why the scene where Ha Jin meets So's in the gallery reincarnation was deleted).
Alright, so that was my comparison of the two versions of the drama. Let me know what you think about this comparison? Tell me anything on your mind on the comment section!
