General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Qin Empire II (大秦帝国之纵横)

The Qin Empire II (大秦帝国之纵横, also known as 大秦帝国2) is a 2013 Chinese historical television series directed by Ding Hei, adapted from the second part of Sun Haohui's novel Da Qin Di Guo (大秦帝国), and the second installment of The Qin Empire series.¹^•² It dramatizes the reign of King Huiwen of Qin (嬴驷) after the death of the reformer Shang Yang, when the strategist Zhang Yi's "horizontal alliance" (连横) diplomacy broke the six states' "vertical alliance" (合纵) against Qin.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	大秦帝国之纵横 (The Qin Empire II / 大秦帝国2)²
Director / writer	Directed by Ding Hei; written by Zhang Jianwei; adapted by Li Meng from Sun Haohui's novel¹
Episodes	51 episodes (43 in the CCTV broadcast version), about 45 minutes each²
Broadcast	First aired from September 27, 2012; premiered on CCTV-1's 8 pm prime-time slot on September 5, 2013²^•⁴
Main cast	Fu Dalong (King Huiwen Ying Si), Yu Entai (Zhang Yi), Ning Jing (Mi Bazi), Fu Miao (Queen Wei Shu)⁵
Budget	Over 100 million yuan total, about 1.5 million yuan per episode⁵
Awards	27th Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding TV Series (2014); 30th Flying Apsaras Award for outstanding historical drama (2015)²
Douban rating	9.3, the same score as the first series The Qin Empire (2009)⁶

Spoilers

Plot

The story covers roughly the fifty years of Qin history after Shang Yang's reforms.⁷ In 338 BC, Ying Si, son of Duke Xiao, ascends the throne as King Huiwen of Qin. To placate the conservative faction, he has Shang Yang torn apart by chariots, then withdraws from court affairs while quietly restraining the conservatives.³^•⁹

As Qin grows stronger, the neighboring states panic. The strategist Xishou (Gongsun Yan, 犀首) leaves Qin for Wei and persuades six states to form a vertical alliance (合纵) that encircles Qin, while King Hui of Wei, whose state is declining, employs Su Qin's alliance theory to isolate Qin.³ King Huiwen responds by appointing Zhang Yi, whose counter-strategy of horizontal alliance (连横) breaks the encirclement again and again. Under this partnership Qin goes east to declare kingship, takes Ba and Shu in the south, and resists the Yiqu in the north, laying the foundation for Qin's eventual unification of China.²^•⁴

Production

Filming began on February 24, 2011, at a ceremony in Xi'an attended by Shaanxi provincial officials. The production was hosted by the Xi'an Qujiang New Area Administrative Committee and Shaanxi Television, and operated by Xi'an Qujiang Daqin Empire Culture Communication Co. and Xi'an Qujiang Daqin Empire Film & TV Investment Co.⁷ The stated investment exceeded 100 million yuan, about 1.5 million yuan per episode, with the producers emphasizing large-scale battle scenes, reconstruction of ancient architecture, and historically grounded character design.⁵

Ding Hei, who had previously directed the popular series Jade Goddess of Mercy (玉观音), Plain Life (平淡生活), and Everlasting Regret (长恨歌), led the production team.⁵ The series was produced by Xi'an Qujiang Daqin Empire Film & TV Investment Co., a state-controlled company founded on August 31, 2010 by Xi'an Qujiang Culture Industry Investment Group, Shaanxi TV Industry Group, and Shaanxi Guofeng Film Investment.⁸

Cast

Fu Dalong as Ying Si, King Huiwen of Qin⁵
Yu Entai as Zhang Yi, Qin's chief minister⁵
Ning Jing as Mi Bazi, the future Queen Dowager Xuan, who in the drama effectively controls state affairs for 36 years⁵
Fu Miao as Queen Wei Shu (惠文后)⁵
Yao Lu as Xishou (Gongsun Yan)¹⁰
Li Liqun as King Hui of Wei (魏罃)³
Sun Feihu as Gan Long, leader of the conservative faction³

The producers listed more than a hundred named historical figures in the series, including Wei Ran, Bai Qi, and the Four Lords of the Warring States.⁵

Broadcast and reception

The series first aired from September 27, 2012, and premiered nationally on CCTV-1's 8 pm prime-time slot on September 5, 2013, four years after The Qin Empire (大秦帝国之裂变) aired in 2009.²^•⁴ A 51-episode version circulated online, while the CCTV broadcast ran 43 episodes.² The series is distributed internationally on iQIYI in 4K with Dolby audio.¹¹

Critical standing. On Douban the series holds a 9.3 rating, equal to the first installment and above the 8.5 of The Qin Empire III (2017).⁶ It won the Outstanding TV Series award at the 27th China TV Golden Eagle Award in 2014 and the Outstanding Historical Drama award at the 30th Flying Apsaras Awards in 2015.² Reviewers noted that the series follows a serious historical-drama line, respects the historical record with only moderate artistic license, and incorporates recent archaeological material in its discussion of the period.²

Place in the series

The Qin Empire II is the second of the Da Qin Di Guo adaptations, which trace Qin from Shang Yang's reforms to the unification under the First Emperor. The first series, The Qin Empire (裂变, 2009), centered on Duke Xiao and Shang Yang; the second follows King Huiwen continuing Shang Yang's laws while expanding the state through diplomacy and war.¹² The third, The Qin Empire III (崛起), aired in 2017.⁶

Sun Haohui, the novelist, later took a critical view of this installment. At a 2017 industry conference he said that while he had written the screenplay for the first series himself, Zongheng and Jueqi were not written by him and "deviated too far from the original novel" and were produced less satisfactorily, one reason he launched a new adaptation of the series.¹³ Ning Jing's portrayal of Mi Bazi (Mi Yue) in both Zongheng and Jueqi remained a point of comparison when later dramas dramatized the same figure.¹³

References

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