General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Leyouyuan (web series)

Leyouyuan (乐游原; English title Wonderland of Love) is a 2023 Chinese costume romance web series in which an imperial grandson and a general's daughter, each commanding an army in a fractured dynasty, clash repeatedly on the battlefield and fall in love as rivals of equal strength. It was directed by Zheng Weiwen (郑伟文), written by the novelist Fei Wo Si Cun (匪我思存) from her own novel of the same title, and stars Xu Kai (许凯) as Li Ni and Jing Tian (景甜) as Cui Lin.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title / English title	乐游原 / Wonderland of Love²
Format	40 episodes, about 45 minutes each, Mandarin, mainland China¹
Broadcast	Tencent Video exclusive from November 6, 2023; finale November 30, 2023¹^•³
Key creatives	Director Zheng Weiwen; screenwriter and novelist Fei Wo Si Cun¹
Lead cast	Xu Kai as Li Ni, Jing Tian as Cui Lin; Zheng Hehuizi as Tao Zi²
Production	Filmed February to June 28, 2022 at Hengdian World Studios¹
Reception	Tencent Video heat value passed 24,500; Douban 6.5, Tencent Video score 8.8³^•⁴

Spoilers

Plot and setting

The story is set in a fictional dynasty in the year Chengshun 34 of the state of Dayu, when the general Sun Jing (于波) mutinies with the palace guard, kills the emperor, the crown prince, and the imperial grandsons, and holds the ailing Prince Liang hostage, leaving the throne vacant and the realm in disorder.⁵ Li Ni (Xu Kai), the emperor's grandson who had lived in obscurity at the border, is made marshal by the general Pei Xian and leads the Zhenxi army toward the capital to suppress the rebellion.⁵ At the same time Cui Lin (Jing Tian), the only daughter of the general Cui Yi, who has disguised herself as a man since childhood, marches south with the Cui family army under the banner of restoring the dynasty.⁵

The two leads maneuver openly and covertly against each other among competing factions, meeting as evenly matched opponents in repeated confrontations, and the series frames their romance as a pact to ride together to Leyouyuan once the realm is at peace.⁶ The title refers to Leyouyuan, a scenic height known from late Tang poetry, including a poem by Li Shangyin.⁷

Historical setting. The drama's background is a fictional dynasty that does not correspond to any specific dynasty in Chinese history, though the production includes traces of late Tang style, from the custom of visiting officials to enjoy scenery to Tang-era makeup.⁷

Production

The series was announced in April 2022 with Xu Kai and Jing Tian in the lead roles, together with concept and costume posters, and was filmed from February to June 28, 2022 at Hengdian World Studios.¹^•⁸ It was produced by Penguin Pictures (Tencent), Qishuo Film, and Xinguang Pictures, with ZhanYou Culture as co-producer.¹ Fei Wo Si Cun, known for tragic romance novels such as Donggong (东宫), wrote both the source novel and the screenplay; the novel was serialized on Tencent's WeRead platform in 2023 before the drama aired, her first new work in six years.⁸^•⁹ The supporting cast includes Zheng Hehuizi in a special starring role, Gao Han, Zhao Jiamin, and Liu Dongqin as main cast, Zeng Li, Yu Bo, Gao Shuguang, and He Zhonghua as guest stars, and Liu Yuning, who sang the ending theme "如果爱记得" (If Love Remembers).¹

Release and reception

The series premiered on Tencent Video on November 6, 2023, with four episodes released on the first day and eleven consecutive days of updates for members, and ran to its finale on November 30, 2023.¹⁰^•³ Its heat value on Tencent Video quickly passed 24,500, and it held first place for multiple days on the platform's rankings for women's favorite dramas, romance dramas, and costume dramas, while also topping Maoyan, Lighthouse, and Guduo web-drama charts.³ By late November the Weibo main topic had passed 3.1 billion reads and the Douyin main topic 3.4 billion plays.³

Critical reception. The series drew a Douban score of 6.5 and a Tencent Video score of 8.8, ranking third among Tencent's 2023 costume dramas behind Lost You Forever and The Longest Promise.⁴ Commentary noted that the two leads' performances were well received and that the "evenly matched" romance satisfied audience expectations, while observing that familiar plot patterns left the drama somewhat conventional and that its heat and topic volume fell short of Tencent's earlier costume hits.⁴^•¹¹ On MyDramaList it held 8.4 out of 10 from about 9,700 users, with praise for the story and production and criticism of one-dimensional supporting characters and some slow passages.¹²

International release. The series streams internationally under the title Wonderland of Love on Rakuten Viki and WeTV with subtitles in English and more than a dozen other languages.¹³^•² A Japanese dub-announcement trailer in May 2024 preceded broadcast on Japan's WOWOW channel from June 6, 2024, and Japanese home-video release followed in three DVD boxes from January 2025.¹^•⁹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026