The Legend of Kublai Khan, also known as Legend of Yuan Empire Founder, is a Chinese television series based on the life of Kublai Khan and the events leading to the establishment of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in China. The series started shooting in 2011. It premiered at the 2013 Shanghai Television Festival from 11 to 13 June 2013, and was first aired on HBS from 21 to 30 July 2013. The series was directed by Tsui Siu-ming and starred Hu Jun and Charmaine Sheh as Kublai Khan and Chabi, along with Cai Wenyan, Wu Yue, Tang Guoqiang, Gao Fa, Steven Ma and Ray Lui in supporting roles.
Contents
Plot
The series, spanning over 70 years, romanticises the life of Kublai Khan and the events leading to the establishment of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in China.
Kublai was born in 1215 as a son of Tolui, the fourth son of Genghis Khan. At the time, Töregene, the wife of Ögedei (Genghis Khan's third son), sees Tolui as a potential threat to her husband. As Tolui gains more glory from his victories in battle, Töregene frets that Genghis Khan will choose Tolui instead of Ögedei to be his successor. She also feels uneasy because the young Kublai is highly favoured by his grandfather.
Ögedei eventually succeeds his father as the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. After Töregene secretly poisons Tolui to death, Tolui's eldest son Möngke gathers his brothers to discuss avenging their father. Töregene plans to use this opportunity to accuse Möngke and his brothers of plotting treason against Ögedei, and thereby get rid of Tolui's descendants. At this critical juncture, Kublai and his mother, Sorghaghtani, manage to convince Möngke and the others not to do anything rash. Instead, they would secretly build up their forces, lie low, and wait until the time is ripe to take revenge.
Following Ögedei's death, Töregene becomes the Regent of the Mongol Empire for some years until her son Güyük is elected as the new Great Khan. When Güyük dies in a conflict against his cousin Batu, his wife Qaimish takes over as the Regent for a brief period of time until Möngke becomes the new Great Khan.
A few years later, after Möngke dies in a battle against the Song Empire, Kublai and his younger brother Ariq Böke get into a power struggle over the succession. Kublai eventually overcomes his brother, and secures his position as the Great Khan after defeating all his rivals. He conquers the rest of China and establishes the Yuan dynasty, becoming its founding emperor.
Production
The Legend of Kublai Khan was produced at a cost of about 150 million yuan.
Awards
The Legend of Kublai Khan won the Golden Angel Award for Outstanding Television Series and Best Director of Chinese TV Series at the 2013 Chinese American Film Festival.
Controversy over title renaming
The Legend of Kublai Khan was released under the title The Genius of War – Kublai (打仗天才忽必烈) when it was aired on Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS) in July 2013. Apparently, this was done without the approval of the producers, and the reason behind the renaming is believed to be that HBS wanted to attract higher viewership. Director Tsui Siu-ming and lead actor Hu Jun expressed unhappiness over the renaming; Hu even wrote on his weibo, "Who changed the title? What genius of war?", and added an angry emoticon.