History Series / PrincessReturningPearl

* BloodBrothers: And sisters. [[{{TwoGirlsToATeam}} Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei]] made a pact to be sisters for life, but their oath was sealed with wine, not blood.
** Xiao Yan Zi also wants to be sworn brothers with ''everybody''.

* [[{{PleaseSpareHimMyLiege}} Please Spare Her, Huang Shang!]]: Once every series.

* PutOnABus: Er Tai after his marriage to Sai Ya at the end of series 1. This becomes a LongBusTrip when it is talked of him coming back for his brother and best friend’s wedding but ultimately didn’t, and didn’t even come back for his brother’s [[spoiler:funeral in series 3.]]
** Also Liu Qing, Liu Hong, Jin Suo are only mentioned by name in the original series 3 but never show up.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/title1_6745.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: The cast of series 3 subtitled Tian Shang Ren Jian (Heaven on Earth).]]''Princess Returning Pearl'' (original name: 还珠格格; also known by its pinyin title ''Huan Zhu Ge Ge'', or ''Princess Pearl'' or ''My Fair Princess'' or ''The Return of Princess Pearl'') is a Chinese series set in the [[{{ImperialChina}} Qing dynasty]] in the time of Emperor Qian Long. It tells the MistakenIdentity story of Xiao Yan Zi, an orphan living in Beijing and Zi Wei, the illegitimate daughter of the emperor.

[[caption-width-right:300:Huan Zhu Ge Ge: original series and the remake]] ''Princess Returning Pearl'' (original name: 还珠格格; also known by its pinyin title ''Huan Zhu Ge Ge'', or ''Princess Pearl'' or ''My Fair Princess'' or ''The Return of Princess Pearl'') is a Chinese series set in the [[{{ImperialChina}} Qing dynasty]] in the time of Emperor Qian Long. It tells the MistakenIdentity story of Xiao Yan Zi, an orphan living in Beijing and Zi Wei, the illegitimate daughter of the emperor.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/title1_6745.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: The cast of series 3 subtitled Tian Shang Ren Jian (Heaven on Earth).]]

* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_%28game%29 weiqi]], as the case is. Explicitly shown with Qian Long and Zi Wei. We assume that Er Kang and Yong Qi are competent at the game too.

** [[{{FamilyThemeNaming}} Zhi Hua and her sisters]] are named after the four main accomplishments required of the Chinese scholar gentleman ''qin, qi, shu, hua'': playing the musical instrument qin, playing weiqi (a form of chess), calligraphy and [[{{MeaningfulName}} painting]].

** The entire drama of Xiao Yan Zi losing a blind Zi Wei in the crowd because she got caught up in a weiqi match.

* [[TakingTheBullet Taking the Knife]]: During a plainclothed inspection out of the palace, Qian Long comes under attack by an assassin armed with a knife. In response, Zi Wei jumps into the way and takes the resulting stab on his behalf and nearly dies as a result. This incident helped convince Qian Long and keep the girls on his good side later when the MistakenIdentity plot starts falling apart.

* DisneyDeath: After being forced to swallow poison and die, a swarm of butterflies flock all over Han Xiang's body and bring her back to life. Granted, she was still very weak and essentially bedridden for days but, [[LampshadedTrope as pointed out numerous times by characters in-Universe,]] she should not have still been alive after drinking poison.

* EiffelTowerEffect: In series 2, whenever scenes shift from outside the palace back to the palace, we get establishing shots of the golden roofs of the Forbidden City.

* DisneyDeath: After being forced to swallow poison and die, a swarm of butterflies flock all over Han Xiang's body and bring her back to life. Slightly downplayed in that she was still very weak and totally bedridden but, as pointed out numerous times by characters in-Universe, she should not have still been alive after drinking poison.

* TheAtoner: The Empress and Rong Mo Mo, after the end of series 2 [[spoiler: and after having their lives saved from Qian Long's wrath by Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei.]] They spend the rest of that time, burning incense and generally trying to make amends for the way they had treated the princesses before, going so far as personally sewing gifts and reconciling with Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei just before the latter pair's double wedding.

* DisneyDeath: After being forced to swallow poison and die, a swarm of butterflies flock all over Han Xiang's body and bring her back to life. Slightly downplayed in that she was still very weak and not completely fine but, as pointed out numerous times by characters in-Universe, she should not have still been alive after drinking poison.

* InMediasRes: This is essentially how the second series starts, with Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei, arrested and being taken to the execution block, surrounded by a crowd of disbelieving commoners. This sequence stops when the commoners stop the procession and [[PleaseSpareThemMyLiege ask the official in charge to spare the princess' lives,]] only to receive a message from the emperor ordering them to kill without pardon. We then later find out how things got to this point.

* InMediasRes: This is essentially how the second series starts, with Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei, arrested and being taken to the execution block, surrounded by a crowd of disbelieving peasants. We then later find out how things got to this point.

* InMediaRes: This is essentially how the second series starts, with Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei, arrested and being taken to the execution block, surrounded by a crowd of disbelieving peasants. We then later find out how things got to this point.

* IAmSpartacus: A rather heartwarming example occurs in the second series. When asked who made the voodoo doll cursing Qian Long that was found in Shu Fang Zhai and knowing that admitting to doing so basically leads to a death sentence, the entire residents of Shu Fang Zhai (Xiao Yan Zi, Zi Wei, and their servants) admit to the deed and that only they and they alone had anything to do with it. Ironically, it was this very act that helped convince Lao Fo Ye (and Qian Long) that they were ultimately innocent of the crime.

* CostumePorn

* DaddysGirl: Both Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei are this to Qian Long.

* DistressedDamsel: Mostly Zi Wei.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Liu Qing starts out as this to Zi Wei.

* EmergencyImpersonation: Xiao Yan Zi for Zi Wei for most of series 1

* GenkiGirl: Xiao Yan Zi, [[{{LampshadeHanging}} lampshaded]] by Liu Qing.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: Er Kang, Er Tai, Yong Qi.
** To a lesser extent, also Xiao Jian, but he is portrayed more as a [[{{KnightErrant}} wandering hero]].

* GrandeDame: Lao Fo Ye.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Yong Qi.

* TheIngenue: Zi Wei.

* MultigenerationalHousehold

* NobleFugitive

* ObliviousToLove: Xiao Yan Zi.
* OddCouple: Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi.

* PlayingWithFire: Xiao Yan Zi and her fireworks.

* PlotDevice: Xin Rong and Yong Qi’s mother Yu Fei in the remake basically boil down to this.
* PluckyComicRelief: Xiao Yan Zi.

* PrincelyYoungMan: Er Kang.

* RagsToRoyalty: Both Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Xiao Yan Zi to Qian Long, several times.
* RebelliousPrincess: Who else but [[{{TomboyPrincess}} Xiao Yan Zi]]?

* RedOniBlueOni: Xiao Yan Zi's Red Oni to Zi Wei's Blue Oni.
* RedStringOfFate

%% definitely zce material. * TheReveal: One per series.
* RichPeople

* RoyalBlood

* RuleOfDrama
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Xiao Yan Zi and Yong Qi.
* SceneryPorn: The remake.

* UnwantedSpouse: Zhi Hua is this to Yong Qi.

* BookDumb: Xiao Yan Zi. This aspect of her character is far more pronounced in the first series, where she is portrayed as fairly street-savvy, easy capable of running a distraction to save Zi Wei and Jin Suo from an offcial's retinue in the first episode, albeit completely hopeless at anything literary-related. This unfortunately gets exaggerated in later series to the point of being TheDitz instead.

* AllLovingHero: Zi Wei. Even Xiao Yan Zi, sometimes.

%%* BadassAdorable: Xiao Yan Zi.
%%* BadassBoast: Xiao Yan Zi has many of these. Whether she lives up to it is…up for debate.

* BetterAsFriends: Qing Er and Er Kang.

* BookDumb: Xiao Yan Zi

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Xiao Yan Zi has this.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Xiao Yan Zi.

* EmotionlessGirl: Han Xiang to Qian Long.

* FinalSeasonCasting: Original series 3.

* TheReveal: One per series.

* ShelteredAristocrat: Qing Er

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Qing Er.

* WalkingDisasterArea: Xiao Yan Zi.

* WideEyedIdealist: Both Xiao Yan Zi and Zi Wei in their own ways.

* InelegantBlubbering: Creator/ZhaoWei as Xiao Yan Zi does not cry prettily in this series. Contrast with Zi Wei's CryCute.

* DysfunctionalFamily: The imperial family is definitely this. UpToEleven in the remake.

* StarCrossedLovers: Yong Qi and Xiao Yan Zi are this, increasingly, due to FeudingFamilies. The trope is UpToEleven in the remake.

The original show consisted of three series broadcast in China in 1998, 1999 and 2003 respectively. The series was extremely popular in Mainland China, Taiwan and South East Asia. The first two series helped four of its main actors( Creator/ZhaoWei, Ruby Lin, Creator/FanBingBing and Alec Su) shoot to fame. Series 3 was [[{{FinalSeasonCasting}} significantly recast]] and thus suffered CriticalBacklash.

The original show consisted of three series broadcast in China in 1998, 1999 and 2003 respectively. The series was extremely popular in Mainland China, Taiwan and South East Asia. The first two series helped three of its main actors, Creator/ZhaoWei, Ruby Lin and Alec Su, shoot to fame. Series 3 was [[{{FinalSeasonCasting}} significantly recast]] and thus suffered CriticalBacklash.

In 2011 the show was remade into a new TV series, retelling the story but with significant changes to character and storylines.

* AnachronismStew: Unique to the remake. Whilst the franchise has never claimed to be perfectly historically accurate (wuxia elements, such as qinggong, are abundant in the series), the remake introduces [[TokenMinority court artist Benjamin]], who regularly introduces full body-and-mask fencing gear, a thinly-disguised association football and cheerleading and so on to mid-18th century [[ImperialChina Qing China]] all with the justification that they came from his native Great Britain, despite the fact all of these concepts would have had their foundations in much later time periods.

* AnachronismStew: Unique to the remake. Whilst the franchise has never claimed to be perfectly historically accurate (wuxia elements, such as qinggong, are abundant in the series), the remake introduces [[TokenMinority court artist Benjamin]], who regularly introduces full body-and-mask fencing gear, a thinly-disguised association football and cheerleading and so on to mid-18th century [[ImperialChina Qing China]] all with the justification that they came from his native Great Britain, despite the fact all of these concepts would have had their foundations in the 19th century.