{ "id": "eph9ajrr30", "slug": "an-ancient-love-song", "title": "An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia", "label": "East Asian drama series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "label": "Titles symbols to Co", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "label": "China · 2021 and later: Titles symbols to Co", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021", "label": "China · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials", "label": "East Asian web and streaming serials", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "label": "Titles symbols to Co", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co" } ] } ], "excerpt": "An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲) is a 2023 Bilibili Chinese costume fantasy romance web drama, 14 reverse-ordered episodes about historian Shen Buyan time-traveling to meet the \"demon empress\" Lu Yuan on opposite timelines; adapted from Sanqianyu's fan-edit video, Douban 8.6.", "snippet": "An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲) is a 2023 Bilibili Chinese costume fantasy romance web drama, 14 reverse-ordered episodes about historian Shen Buyan time-traveling to meet the \"demon empress\" Lu Yuan on opposite timelines; adapted from Sanqianyu's fan-edit video, Douban 8.6.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.east_asian_web_streaming_serials.alpha-symbols-to-co", "markdown": "# An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲)\n\n**An Ancient Love Song** (古相思曲) is a 2023 Chinese costume fantasy romance web drama produced by Bilibili, in which a modern historian time-travels into an ancient kingdom and falls in love with a woman whose life runs opposite to his own in time. It ran for 14 episodes of about 30 minutes each on Bilibili from June 22 to July 12, 2023, and was released in reverse episode order, with the first episode viewers saw numbered as episode 14.[1](https://bangumi.tv/subject/444635) • [2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title / English title | 古相思曲 / An Ancient Love Song[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject//36155049/) |\n| Production | Bilibili; directed by Zhi Zhu (知竹); written by Heliyunduan (鹤唳云端), Dai Chaochao, Sanqianyu, and Cui Xixi[1](https://bangumi.tv/subject/444635) |\n| Cast | Zhang Yaqin as Lu Yuan, Guo Jianan as Shen Buyan, with Zhu Linyu, Quan Yilun, Zhuang Han, Huang Jingzhou, and Chunyu Shanshan[1](https://bangumi.tv/subject/444635) |\n| Broadcast | Bilibili, June 22 to July 12, 2023; 14 episodes, about 30 minutes each[1](https://bangumi.tv/subject/444635) |\n| Release order | Episodes released in reverse, starting from the episode numbered 14[2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710) |\n| Reception | Douban 8.6/10 from more than 226,000 ratings; Bilibili in-site score 9.8[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject//36155049/) • [4](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep758029) |\n| Origin | A 2019 fan-edit mashup video by Bilibili creator Sanqianyu, viewed over a million times[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and reverse-time structure\n\nThe story follows Shen Buyan (沈不言), a modern bestselling author of history books, who travels back in time to the fictional kingdom of Nansheng (南晟) and encounters Lu Yuan (陆鸢), the empress whom official history remembers as a notorious \"demon empress\" (妖后). Over six crossings, he gradually comes to know and love the real Lu Yuan and resolves to clear her name.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html)\n\nThe central device is that the two protagonists move through time in opposite directions. Each time Shen Buyan crosses over, he meets a younger Lu Yuan; his feelings grow from strangeness to deep attachment. From Lu Yuan's side, she meets Shen Buyan when she is young, as a knowledgeable and affectionate mentor figure, and her love deepens even as each successive meeting shows her a man who knows her less.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html) In the first episode, Shen Buyan's first crossing brings him to Lu Yuan's suicide from a city tower; he does not know that she has waited years for that meeting. The moment is the first episode of his story and the finale of hers.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html)\n\n**Reverse broadcast.** To match the story, Bilibili released the episodes backwards: the first episode released was numbered 14, the second 13, and so on. Producer Wang Zhejun said the arrangement was chosen because the story runs on a reverse time flow, so the numbering lets viewers see the innovation at a glance. Director Zhi Zhu said the reverse numbering also helped viewers grasp the structure quickly, since the show was filmed entirely from the male lead's perspective and cannot literally be watched in reverse as the female lead's point of view.[2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710) • [7](https://www.ctdsb.net/c1742_202307/1825662.html) Watching from episode 14 forward follows Shen Buyan's viewpoint, while watching from episode 1 follows Lu Yuan's life from youth onward.[8](https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/resfile/2024-02-10/A05/ycwb20240210A05.pdf)\n\n## Origin in a fan-made video\n\nThe drama did not begin as a novel IP. In 2019, the Bilibili creator Sanqianyu (三千鱼) made a mashup video titled 古相思曲, re-editing footage of actors Zhu Yilong and [Liu Yifei](https://www.edgepedia.org/liu-yifei) into an original story of a doomed love across a thousand years. The video spread widely, passing a million views, and viewers left comments wishing the story could be made into a real drama. Bilibili bought the idea and moved to adapt it.[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175) • [2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710)\n\nSanqianyu has described the original video as closer to an abstract emotional expression, like a prose poem, than to a plotted story.[9](https://finance.jrj.com.cn/2023/07/17073437695792.shtml) The title itself has a literary lineage: Sanqianyu's video took its inspiration from a poem of the same name by the poet Xi Murong (席慕蓉), which in turn drew on the Han-dynasty yuefu poem 古相思曲, whose line \"只缘感君一回顾，使我思君朝与暮\" the creators cite.[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175)\n\n## Production\n\nIn early 2020, producer Cai Yuchao contacted director Zhi Zhu, a well-known photographer in the gufeng (ancient-style) circle who had directed the popular short dramas 《长公主在上》 and 《东栏雪》. She agreed after seeing the mashup video. The screenwriter Heliyunduan, born in 1998, had made the Bilibili video 《中国历史年表》 with more than 20 million views; Dai Chaochao was a Bilibili planner and professional screenwriter. Sanqianyu, Zhi Zhu, and Heliyunduan formed the original creative core, all Bilibili creators with no prior experience on a full-length drama.[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175) • [6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html)\n\nThe reverse-time setting made writing unusually demanding: every change to a scene had to be checked both forwards and backwards, because a single adjustment could set off chain reactions across other scenes. The team went through at least six full rewrites and three closed-door script sessions during development.[2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710) Filming itself was short, running from September 25 to October 24, 2022, one month against a normal cycle of about 40 days.[10](https://www.sohu.com/a/695091892_121420533) To keep costs down, the finished series was edited by Heliyunduan on a single laptop.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html)\n\nThe production also drew heavily on the Bilibili community. Many UP主 (platform creators) appeared in cameo roles, and their behind-the-scenes material, such as the creator Lahongsang's on-set diary, doubled as promotion.[2](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe drama became a word-of-mouth hit of the 2023 summer season despite lacking major stars, a well-known IP, or a large budget. On Douban it opened at 8.5 and settled at 8.6 from more than 226,000 ratings, with 48.1 percent of raters awarding five stars; Bilibili's in-site score reached 9.8.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject//36155049/) • [4](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep758029) • [8](https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/resfile/2024-02-10/A05/ycwb20240210A05.pdf) Japanese coverage describes it as the highest-rated costume drama of 2023 on Douban.[11](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/196290) On IMDb it holds 7.9/10 from 137 ratings.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28488894/ratings/)\n\nCommentary credited the success to the script's structural innovation and its female perspective: the story of how the \"demon empress\" label was manufactured lets viewers see how women in history could be maligned, a thread critics called a distinctively female narrative.[13](https://wenyi.neamco.com/2023-07/21/content_36712640.htm) Viewers responded strongly to the tragic symmetry of the romance, in which each character's first meeting is the other's last. Common criticisms concerned the court-intrigue plot, which some found thin, and the modest production scale; the director said palace-conflict scenes were deliberately left blank because of limits on budget and length.[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175)\n\n## Later distribution\n\nThe series was later licensed abroad. In Japan it was broadcast and streamed by WOWOW under the title 古相思曲～君想う、千年の調べ～, and [NTT Docomo](https://www.edgepedia.org/ntt-docomo)'s streaming service Lemino began exclusive unlimited streaming on March 3, 2026.[11](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/196290) • [14](https://lemino.docomo.ne.jp/leminonews/articles/an-ancient-love-song-lemino-exclusive-streaming)\n\n## References\n\n1. [古相思曲, Bangumi 番组计划](https://bangumi.tv/subject/444635)\n2. [从一个混剪视频发展成一部剧集，《古相思曲》的\"神展开\", The Paper (澎湃新闻), July 13, 2023](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23834710)\n3. [古相思曲 (2023), Douban](https://movie.douban.com/subject//36155049/)\n4. [古相思曲, Bilibili official page](https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep758029)\n5. [今年最被低估的古偶，后劲好大, The Paper · 湃客 (新周刊), August 7, 2023](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_24125175)\n6. [全员90后团队 如何拍出今年口碑最高古装剧？, 辽沈晚报, August 11, 2023](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202308/11/content_201795.html)\n7. [倒着播的《古相思曲》成\"黑马\"，主创：逆向时间线是一大挑战, 新京报 via 极目新闻, July 12, 2023](https://www.ctdsb.net/c1742_202307/1825662.html)\n8. [YMLA0520240210C, 羊城晚报, February 10, 2024](https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/resfile/2024-02-10/A05/ycwb20240210A05.pdf)\n9. [UP主的混剪，居然能改成一部古偶黑马？, 金融界, July 17, 2023](https://finance.jrj.com.cn/2023/07/17073437695792.shtml)\n10. [一个没有知名IP、没有顶流演员的项目要怎么做？| Talk专访, 搜狐 · 文娱Talk, July 6, 2023](https://www.sohu.com/a/695091892_121420533)\n11. [古相思曲（こそうしきょく）～君想う、千年の調べ～, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/196290)\n12. [An Ancient Love Song (2023) – Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28488894/ratings/)\n13. [《古相思曲》：\"5%的创新\"让人耳目一新, 北京青年报 via 光明网, July 21, 2023](https://wenyi.neamco.com/2023-07/21/content_36712640.htm)\n14. [中国ドラマ『古相思曲～君想う、千年の調べ～』Leminoで見放題独占配信開始, Lemino News](https://lemino.docomo.ne.jp/leminonews/articles/an-ancient-love-song-lemino-exclusive-streaming)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles symbols to Co*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲)](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"An Ancient Love Song (古相思曲)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/an-ancient-love-song. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "An Ancient Love Song is a 2023 Bilibili Chinese costume fantasy romance web drama, 14 reverse-ordered episodes about historian Shen Buyan time-traveling to meet the \"demon empress\" Lu Yuan on opposite timelines; adapted from Sanqianyu's fan-edit video, Douban 8.6." }