Chinese dramas and films

UPD: An official announcement made 1 hour to premier. Starting from July 28 at 18:55, "Royal Court Ballad" one episode per day, with online updates beginning on July 29 at 12:00. Hunan TV will broadcast it on air starting July 28 at 20:10.

 

Let’s wrap this topic up and start to watch. Oh that premiere!

The drama «Royal Court Ballad» (Yu Ting Yao, Jiang Shan Wei Pin, 江山为聘, 御廷谣, The Empire as Betrothal) is in a state of quantum uncertainty regarding its premiere date.

Based on announcements from Hunan TV and Mango TV, the drama was supposed to be released on July 28 at 12:00 Beijing time. However, the drama did not air.

Since the series features top stars such as Wu Jin Yan and Chen Zhe Yuan, the public has become worried.

What information is available at this moment.

The drama received its distribution certificate and was cleared for broadcast only on the evening of July 27, that is, less than 24 hours before the intended release, with the number of episodes reduced from 36 to 32.

On July 24, the drama changed its title. During the project preparation stage, it was listed as «Royal Court Ballad» (Yu Ting Yao, 御廷瑶). After filming began, the creators renamed it to «The Empire as Betrothal» (Jiang Shan Wei Pin, 江山为聘). On July 24, 2026, the creators announced that they were reverting to the previous title, «Royal Court Ballad». The reasons for this decision have not been disclosed.

However, such a move entails a complete redesign of all promotional materials. That takes time.

The first promotional materials began to be posted on the drama’s Weibo page on the afternoon of July 28. A new trailer was released, along with an animated announcement of the title change and several posters.

An announcement was made that at 20:45 on July 28, Wu Jin Yan and Chen Zhe Yuan would appear in a live broadcast and share behind‑the‑scenes production secrets. Evidently, the actors are being used to buy time while the materials are being reformatted.

Most importantly, there is still no information about advertising placements within the drama. This is an S+‑level project with top stars, and releasing it “naked” (as projects without commercial integrations are called) would be simply indecent.

So the delay is quite understandable, but such aerial manoeuvres in the spirit of a Nesterov loop leave viewers’ ears popping.

We await 20:45; perhaps Wu Jin Yan and Chen Zhe Yuan will clarify something about the release.

At present, director Yi Jun, who helmed «Fireworks of My Heart» and is also the director of Chen Zhe Yuan’s next project, «Tales of the Floating World», has booked 1,000 seats in the online cinema.

Cheng Lei has booked 888 seats in support of Chen Zhe Yuan.

Bai Lu has booked 1,000 seats in support of the series.

Wang Chu Ran - 1000 seats

The total number of bookings has exceeded 1.5 million.