The Ming Dynasty 1566

This drama tells the story of Emperor Jiajing and Hai Rui. In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing's reign, corruption was rampant and the people were suffering. The treacherous minister Yan Song (played by Ni Dahong) had a powerful faction that dominated the court, while the upright official Hai Rui (played by Huang Zhizhong) was not afraid of power and dared to challenge the decaying feudal authority of the emperor. Emperor Zhu Houzong (played by Chen Baoguo) practiced Daoism for twenty years, consistently grasping the military and political power as well as the economic control of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, China had a flourishing economy and a thriving commercial culture, yet conflicts among various social classes were prominent. The widespread land consolidation by the state left millions of farmers without land overnight, jeopardizing their means of survival. Yan Song's tyranny sparked dissatisfaction among local officials at all levels, leading to outcries against him, which were heard everywhere—from the top to the bottom, from inside to outside, the court to the local governments—filled with treachery and political intrigue. Loyal ministers and traitorous villains alike took to the historical stage of that time...