Chinese Drama: Princess Huai Yu (怀玉公主) and My Bratty Princess(刁蛮公主)

Rating: 9.5/10 (for both dramas)

This is one of my favorite Chinese period dramas. The two dramas story plots are pretty the same. However, Princess Huai Yu has 105 episodes, which I feel is a bit too long for my taste. My Bratty Princess is much shorter with 33 episodes. (Note: I have the full 33 episodes of My Bratty Princess in English Sub linked at the end of this post. Enjoy!)

The main story is about the forbidden romance between the Qing Dynasty emperor and the last remaining Ming Dynasty Princess. To understand why their love is forbidden, you need to learn a bit about Chinese history. The Ming Dynasty preceded the Qing Dynasty. When the soldiers of the future Qing Dynasty fought into the Ming Kingdom, they preceded to kill everyone in the royal family in order to prevent a revolt in the future. However, the Queen of the Ming Dynasty had a daughter whom escaped the tragedy and was brought home to be raised by a Qing Dynasty general. The reason is because he felt honor bound to raise the child due to a life saving situation. The details differ within the two series. (For example, in Princess Huai Yu, the general of the Ming Dynasty was trying to get the princess out of the castle, but ended up fighting with the Qing Dynasty general. He gets the Qing Dynasty general at knife point, however, he decides that there is no way he can make it out alive with the princess, so he decides to switch places with the general and kills himself and asked the general could help raise the child for him.)

Years later, the princess has grown up and is quite mischievous. She likes to dress up as a man and wander the streets. She happens to become good friends with two other men. They, however, didn't reveal their true identities. One of the men is the Qing emperor while the other is the man who opened the castle gates to the enemy (or Ming Dynasty traitor)'s son. They both end up falling in love with her and the drama begins.

Major differences between the two series:
Princess Huai Yu added an extra character, the emperor's grandmother who I felt was funny and I was quite happy with her addition because the main character finally have someone else on her side.
Princess Huai Yu also has the more traditional Qing Dynasty costumes while My Bratty Princess is a bit more modern.
Although, if you are looking for more comedy, My Bratty Princess is more funny in my opinion. If you are bothered by how the main character's mouth and voice don't match, it is because she is Korean and her voice was dubbed. Therefore, try to just ignore that.

Main Cast for Princess Huai Yu (courtesy of DramaWiki):

• Eric Suen as Ai Xin Jue Luo Xuan Ye (Emperor Kang Xi) / Bai Shi Er
• Zheng Jia Yu as Fu Huai Yu
• Yang Bao Wei as Cheng Yun (Yun Gui Ren)
• Wang Hao as Wu Ying Xiong (Wu Shi Zi)
• Zhang Feng Shu as Princess Jian Ning
• Chen Sha Li as Empress Dowager Ci He
• Liu Xue Hua as Grand Empress Dowager Xiao Zhuang
• Shi Yu as Tu De Hai
• Jiang Zu Ping as Yun Er

Main Cast for My Bratty Princess (courtesy of DramaWiki):

• Jang Na Ra as Situ Jing/Xiao Long Xia
• Alec Su as Emperor Zhu Yun
• Lu Xing as Bai Yun Fei
• Bao Lei as Princess An Ning
• Wang Gang as Wen Zhang
• Chen Xiu Li as Wen Mei Er
• Gu Yong Fei as Tai Hou (Empress Dowager)
• Wang Dao as Situ Qing Yun
• Gao Lu as Wen Qiang
• Zhong Liang as Wen Tao
• Chen Ji Ming as Chen Lin

Update: I have added embedded videos for My Bratty Princess with English subs.
NOTE: I did not upload any of these videos. If there are any links not working, please let me know.
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
Episode 28
Episode 29
Episode 30
Episode 31
Episode 32
Episode 33 (last episode)