General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Princess Siliver (白发)

Princess Siliver (白发), also translated as Princess Silver and known in Chinese as Bai Fa or Bai Fa Wang Fei (白发王妃), is a 2019 Chinese costume drama directed by Li Huizhu (李慧珠) and adapted from the web novel The White-Haired Imperial Concubine (白发皇妃) by Mo Yan Shang (莫言殇). It stars Zhang Xueying as the amnesiac princess Rong Le, Aarif Rahman (李治廷) as the Beilin prince Wu You, Jing Chao (经超) as the general Fu Chou, and Luo Yunxi (罗云熙) as Rong Qi, the ruler of Xiqi.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	白发 (also 白发王妃); English titles Princess Silver, The White-Haired Imperial Concubine³
Source	Web novel 白发皇妃 by Mo Yan Shang, a popular author on Xiaoxiang Academy under China Literature (Yuewen)⁴
Premiere	May 15, 2019, streaming on iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku¹
Format	58 episodes of 45 minutes each (JustWatch lists a 66-episode season cut)¹^•²
Production	Shanghai Yaoke Media; producer Zhang Meng; filmed at Hengdian World Studios, April to August 13, 2018¹
Viewership	Over 2 billion cumulative views within about three weeks of release¹
Ratings	Douban 5.7 from 38,673 users; IMDb 7.1; Rakuten Viki 9.3³^•²^•⁵

Spoilers

Plot

The story is set in a fictional world with two rival states, Xiqi (西启) and Beilin (北临). Rong Le, the eldest princess of Xiqi, wakes from a coma with her memory completely lost, and signs around her, such as calluses on her palms, make her doubt the identity everyone asserts.⁶ To seal an alliance with Beilin, she is ordered to marry the seventh prince Wu You, who refuses the match at court; she proposes a six-month agreement before the emperor accepts the marriage terms anyway.⁶

A second identity. In Beilin, Rong Le takes the name Man Yao (漫夭) and becomes the proprietor of a teahouse while secretly searching for a legendary book of statecraft left behind by the Qin family. She and Wu You, each unaware of the other's true identity, meet by conflict and fall in love.⁶ Once the book is found, her brother Rong Qi, the Xiqi ruler, changes his mind and orders her to marry the Beilin general Fu Chou; she and Fu Chou agree to a marriage in name only.⁶

Revelations and resolution. Man Yao learns that she is in fact Qin Man (秦漫), a lost daughter of the Qin family, and that Fu Chou and Wu You are brothers. Facing family vendetta and state crisis, Rong Le, Wu You, and Fu Chou set aside personal grievances and, with Rong Qi's self-sacrificing help, crush the scheme of treacherous ministers and stabilize the court, each finding a new direction in life.⁶

Cast and characters

Zhang Xueying plays Rong Le and her alter ego Man Yao; Aarif Rahman plays Wu You, the favored seventh prince of Beilin, described in promotion as outwardly arrogant and unrestrained but inwardly calculating and controlled, a man whose coldness traces to witnessing the tragedy between his father and his mother, Consort Yun.²^•⁷ Jing Chao plays Fu Chou, a morally ambiguous general whose performance drew recognition as the series concluded.⁸ Luo Yunxi plays Rong Qi, the Xiqi emperor and Rong Le's brother, a character the cast jokingly voted the most tragic, prompting the fan phrase "Qi can hardly be more tragic" (齐惨无比).¹ Supporting roles include Chen Xinyu as Hen Xiang, Shu Yaxin as Wu Yu, Wang Yu as Ling Yue, Tian Hairong as Fu Yuan, and Xu Ke as Ning Qianyi.⁶^•²

Production

Filming began in April 2018 at Hengdian World Studios and wrapped on August 13, 2018, spanning the summer heat. Aarif Rahman said the layered period costumes in high temperatures affected the actors' emotional expression, so the crew converted many daytime scenes into night shoots.¹^•⁹ The series was the first production on which the actress Zhang Meng moved from acting into the producer's chair; she reported that one role was recast four times because of casting difficulties and unforeseen circumstances.¹⁰^•¹

The production team included costume and styling specialists such as Zhong Yifeng and Liang Tingting, and the visual design favored a restrained, cool-toned palette; Rong Le's two identities carry distinct wardrobes, plain dress and simple wooden or jade hairpins as Man Yao, ornate gilded headpieces as the princess.⁴^•¹

Release and reception

The series was announced for a May 15, 2019 online premiere with a "fate"-themed trailer and a "chaotic world romance" poster, and a launch event was held in Beijing on the premiere date.¹ On its first day it reached the number-one position in playback heat and held a top-three position afterward; within about three weeks cumulative views exceeded 2 billion, and the topic "TV series Bai Fa" reached 570 million online reads by May 31, 2019.¹

Audience scores diverge by platform. Douban users gave the series 5.7 out of 10 from 38,673 ratings, with 38.7 percent awarding three stars; IMDb lists 7.1, and Rakuten Viki, where the series streams with subtitles in English and more than nine other languages, shows 9.3 from over 24,000 users.³^•²^•⁵ Commentary at the premiere noted the hashtag around Wu You's rejection of the marriage and described the series as an attempt to fuse a woman's self-determination story with matters of state, an approach reviewers linked to the source novel's reputation for strong female leads.⁴

International distribution

Outside China the series streams under the title Princess Silver: on Rakuten Viki with subtitles including English, Hebrew, Romanian, and Hungarian, and on Tubi in the United Kingdom free with advertisements.⁵^•² In Japan it is available as 白華の姫～失われた記憶と3つの愛～ on FOD.¹¹

References

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 My to So

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

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