View source for Lady Wu: The First Empress

{{for|a Singapore drama with a similar title (至尊红颜 / Zhi Zun Hong Yan)|[[Women of Times]]}}
[[File:Ladywu.jpg|thumb|300px|Lady Wu - The First Empress]]

==Details==
*'''Title:''' 至尊紅顏武媚娘 (至尊红颜武媚娘) / Chih Tsun Hung Yen Wu Mei Niang (Zhi Zun Hong Yan Wu Mei Niang)
*'''English title:''' Lady Wu: The First Empress
*'''Also known as:''' The Great Empress Wu Mei Niang
*'''Genre:''' Ancient drama, romance
*'''Episodes:''' 44
*'''Broadcast network:''' GTV
*'''Broadcast period:''' 2003-Apr-28 to 2003-Jun-26
*'''Air time:''' Weekdays 23:00-24:00
*'''Opening theme song:''' ''Zhi Zun Hong Yan'' by [[Zhang Ke Fan]]
*'''Ending theme song:''' ''Forget'' by [[Lin Chin Ru]]
*'''Related shows:''' [[Wu Ze Tian]]

==Synopsis==
Empress Wu Zetian was the only throned woman in the long history of ancient China. She was not born noble. Instead, she was a daughter of a wood merchant named Wu Shihuo. In ancient times, merchants were seen as an inferior group, as they tended to be greedy and cruel. Mei Niang's mother, Princess Yang, was actually a noble from the previous Sui Dynasty which had been replaced by the Tang Dynasty after many wars between Yang Guang and Li Shimin. Therefore, Princess Yang led a plebeian life until she was married in her forties. She bore two daughters, the second of which was Mei Niang.

Mei Niang was selected for the Imperial Palace at age fourteen, when Li Shimin was emperor. He fell in love with her beauty at first sight, but soon became interested in another pretty girl named Xu Hui who was also a clever and smart girl like Mei Niang. There was once a popular song in the streets of Chang'an City which sang that an empress with the surname of Wu would take the throne and kill all the descendants of the Imperial Li family. Li Shimin had once suspected that Wu Zetian might be the predicted empress, so he meant to kill her to extinguish any potential danger. However, he ultimately gave up and told her to be a nun in Ganye Temple together with some of his other wives. After all, it's ridiculous to believe in that time that a woman could became a ruler.

==User/Viewer Ratings==
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==Cast==
*[[Alyssa Chia]] as [[Wikipedia:Wu Zetian|Wu Mei Niang]] (voiced by [[Li Ye (voice actress)|Li Ye]])
*[[Vincent Zhao]] as Li Jun Xian (voiced by [[Ni Wei Jia]] (倪蔚佳))
*[[Yang Tong Shu]] as Xu Ying Ying (voiced by [[Feng Jun Hua]])
*[[Bao Jian Feng]] as [[Wikipedia:Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Li Zhi]] (voiced by [[Jin Feng (voice actor)|Jin Feng]])
*[[Sun Xing]] as [[Wikipedia:Zhangsun Wuji|Zhangsun Wu Ji]] (voiced by [[Zhang Xin (voice actor)|Zhang Xin]])
*[[Zhang Tong]] as [[Wikipedia:Empress Wang (Gaozong)|Empress Wang]] (voiced by [[Fan Chu Rong]] (范楚绒))
*[[Jessie Chang]] as Consort Xiao Shu (voiced by [[Huang Xiao Yan]])
*[[Fang Yuan]] as Ling Jing (voiced by [[Huang Xiao Yan]])
*[[Wang Dongfang]] ([https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%8E%8B%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9/24000 王东方]) as Yuan Bao (voiced by [[Tao Hai]] (陶海))
*[[Tian Zhong]] as Qian Xiao Duo (voiced by [[Shen Lei]] (沈磊))
*[[Xu Shou Qin]] as [[Wikipedia:Shangguan Yi|Shangguan Yi]] (voiced by [[Li Chuan Ying]] (李传缨))
*[[Shi Yu]] as Duan Chang De (voiced by [[Chen Wei Quan]] (陈伟权))
*[[Kou Zhen Hai]] as [[Wikipedia:Emperor Taizong of Tang|Li Shi Min]] (voiced by [[Wang Wei]] (王玮))
*[[Li Li Qun]] as Yuan Tian Gang (voiced by [[Li Chuan Ying]] (李传缨))
*[[Yue Yao Li]] as Wu Shi Huo, Wu Mei Niang's father (voiced by [[Ceng Bing Hui]] (曾秉辉))
*[[Dai Chun Rong]] as Wu Mei Niang's mother (voiced by [[Wang Su]] (王苏))
*[[Zhang Guo Qing]] (张国庆) as Jia Jin Yuan (voiced by [[Zhou Yong Guang]] (周永光))
*[[Wu Mei Ying]] (吴梅影) as Mother Jia
*[[Wang Ling (2)|Wang Ling]] (王龄) as Jia Zi
*[[Wu Qiang (2)|Wu Qiang]] (吴强) as Shi Quan
*[[Zhang Ming Jian]] as [[Wikipedia:Di Renjie|Di Ren Jie]] (voiced by [[Zhang Xin]] (张欣))
*[[You Jin]] (尤进) as Xiao Yu
*[[Ji Qi Lin]] as [[Wikipedia:Li Yuanji|Li Yuan Ji]] (voiced by [[Li Chuan Ying]] (李传缨))
*[[Ding Xiao Hu]] (丁霄虎) as Elder Jia Shi
*[[Peng Zheng Cai]] (彭正才) as Housekeeper Zhangsun Mansion
*[[Lu Yue Ying]] (陆月英) as Xu Ying Ying's mother
*[[Yeh Ching]] ([https://maoyan.com/films/celebrity/118437 叶青]) as Dong Shi (voiced by [[Fan Chu Rong]] (范楚绒))
*[[Ji Tian Fu]] (季天赋) as Xiao Jun Xian (voiced by [[Zhang Xue Yi]] (张雪仪))
*[[Zhang Dan Lu]] as Shangguan Wan Er (voiced by [[Feng Jun Hua]] (冯骏骅))
*[[Fu Xue Bin]] (付学斌) as Di An (voiced by [[Ni Wei Jia]] (倪蔚佳))
*[[Hu Da Gang]] (胡大刚) as Tian Sheng
*[[Xu Yu Lan]] as Abbot
*[[Wei Yi Bo]] as Wang Du Wei
*[[Sun Zhong Wei]] (孙中伟) as Wu Guan
*[[Yu Jian Guo]] (俞建国) as Chuai Fan Tian (voiced by [[Li Chuan Ying]] (李传缨))
*[[Wang Ning]] as Shi Yao Qian

==Production Credits==
*'''Screenwriter:''' [[Shan Zhe]] (单喆)
*'''Chief producer:''' [[Han San Ping]]
*'''Director:''' [[Hao Ran]] (颢然)

==External Links==
*[https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%87%B3%E5%B0%8A%E7%BA%A2%E9%A2%9C/15722 Baidu Baike]
*[https://movie.douban.com/subject/3010195/ Douban]
*[https://maoyan.com/films/368798 Maoyan]

[[Category:CDrama]] [[Category:CDrama2003]] [[Category:TWDrama]] [[Category:TWDrama2003]] [[Category:GTV]]
[[Category:Historical]]