Best movies & TV Shows like War and Beauty

In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. For years, the Black Tiger’s fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader’s head after a fierce fight. Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei’s childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port…

The story of Wilson Bond, a pimp who after saving Chan, the leader of the Heaven and Earth society, a revolutionary group, is made a member. After a botched first assignment for the group, he is made a servant to the Prince, the very person the Heaven and Earth society want to overthrow. What follows is plenty of mayhem and laughter.

Following on from the Royal Tramp I, after discovering that the Empress is actually Lone-er, a member of the St Dragon Sect, and that she imprisoned the real empress. Lone-er is bent on eliminating the person who disclosed her true identity, Wilson Bond. But more complications ensues when Lone-er is assigned to protect the Prince, whose servant is none other than Wilson Bond.

Shaolin practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung kill the merciless Pai Mei. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus takes revenge; killing most of the Shaolin disciples, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving only Wu's pregnant wife and Hung as the only remaining practitioners of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung's kung-fu will not be powerful enough so he must learn feminine kung-fu techniques to help him try and defeat White Lotus.

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled "Farewell My Concubine" that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Douzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo's explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.

In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate picks up three years after the infamous Dragon Inn was burnt down in the desert when its innkeeper Jade vanished. A new gang of marauders had taken over - innkeepers by day and treasure hunters by night. The inn is the rumoured location of a lost city buried under the desert, and its hidden treasure would only be revealed by a gigantic storm every 60 years. The gang used the inn as a front to locate the lost treasure.

Two elderly Taoist priests, Chi Men and Dun Jai, who learn their magic from the same teacher always quarrel with each other. They provide mirth and expert kung fu tuition to young man who is mistakenly presumed to be the crown prince of the Imperial Court, missing since childhood. The emperor dispatches an eunuch with the magic powers to apprehend the young man. But he must first deal with Chi Men and Dun Jia who are the young man's protector.

The story of an innocent girl who is destined to become one of the emperor´s concubines. Initially she suffers from a loss of innocence and the intrigues of the other concubines but over the course of time she becomes less and less scrupulous and finally is impregnated by the emperor and thus becomes his wife - the empress of China. However, her "career" has corrupted her once innocent soul and so, after the emperor dies she rules the land with terror.

In eighth century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their influence over the court. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen whom they groom to present to the Emperor. The Emperor falls in love with her and she becomes the Princess Yang Kwei-fei. The Yangs are then appointed important ministers, though An Lushan is not given the court position he covets. The ministers misuse their power so much that there is a popular revolt against the Yangs, fueled by An Lushan.

Zhan Zhao is a court officer who learns of a plot to assassinate Judge Bao. While on holiday he meets a young man named Bai who turns out to be a woman. Zhan Zhao tries to recruit Bai to help him stop the assassination of Judge Bao.

During the warring period of the three kingdoms, ancient China is in turmoil. To unify the country, general Cao Cao, the real power behind the Emperor, enlists the aid of the greatest warrior in the land, Guan Yu. However, Guan Yu is a loyal friend of Cao Cao's enemy Liu Bei so to persuade the peerless warrior to fight, Cao Cao takes his beloved Qi Lan hostage. After leading Cao Cao's forces to victory Guan Yu sets out with Qi Lan to rejoin Liu Bei. Now Cao Cao has deemed him too great a threat to live, and on the journey he must face all the forces at the Emperor's command sent to destroy him.

A pair of country thieves make friends with a general rising within the imperial army. After the general finds himself falling in love with the beautiful sister of one of the thieves (who is the fiancee of the other) he decides to do whatever it takes to get rid of the competition and have her for himself. Viewer discretion advised: this film contains extreme violence and sexual situations.

The Emperor's armies have developed a new weapon: a thrown blade that can remove someone's head from long distance. As the paranoid Emperor begins decapitating anyone he fears might be a threat, his guard Mau Tang becomes disillusioned with the excesses of his master. He leaves his post and takes up the quiet life of farming and raising a family. Eventually, though, his past catches up with him, and he must find a way to fight the flying guillotine if he is to save his head.

The emperor's reign of terror expands. Heroic outlaw Ma Teng joins a squad of female rebels, whose leader is torn between family loyalties.

A band of fighting Ming Dynasty loyalists branded as enemies of the state are driven underground following the burning of the Shaolin Temple by Qing Dynasty officials. Due to a misunderstanding, Shaolin kung fu prodigy Fong Sai-yuk is duped into helping Qing agents to capture leading Shaolin rebel Hung Hei-gun. Upon discovering his mistake, Sai-yuk teams up with the remaining rebels to free Hei-gun before his planned execution. Plotting to stop them is General Che Kang, a formidable Tibetan kung fu master who commands an army of fighters including four deadly Tibetan llamas.

Emperor Chien Lung uses disguises to experience life among his subjects.

An Iron Bodyguard called Wang Wu meets a scholar and forms a strong friendship with him after they fight some villains together. The scholar is a member of the reformists - a group of scholars pressing for social reform in China towards the end of the Qing dynasty. The Emperor is actually all for reforms, and appoints this group to run the country. This doesn't suit the Empress Dowager though, as she has no intention of losing her power. She orders the reformists to be arrested, and Chen Kuan Tai hence gets drawn into politics despite having no real political views himself.

In the Qing Dynasty, the only people who lived in the Forbidden City are the Emperor's concubines, their maids, the eunuchs and the Emperor himself. Li Lianying is an eunuch who enters the Forbidden City with a big secret. One that will have his head on the floor if the wrong people find out.

This Category III period drama featuring power struggles and naughty things within the imperial palace walls definitely has effort put forth but immense chunks of plot holes are nowhere near filled up. Much seem missing in the story of poor Ru Yee who applies to be the nurse maid of the Emperor’s son. She gets help to gain access by Wei (Tan Lap-Man) and soon they are both heavily involved inside the palace. She as the nurse maid and he as a eunuch in training. Wei also finds time to murder Ru Yee’s sick husband and child… a fact barely mentioned after it’s happened.

A modern retelling of Shakespeare's Othello set within the music scene of East London. Oz and Ivan are lifelong friends and music producers. When Oz gets offered a lucrative recording contract, he makes the decision to separate from Ivan professionally. This rejection turns to rage, as Ivan plots to undermine Oz's success and get him kicked off the label. The plan kickstarts an escalation of jealousy and paranoia in Oz. With deadly consequences.

There were three women lived with Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, during 1922 and 1924. Wan-jung, the Queen, ended up with being insane. Tan Yuling died. Wenxiu, a concubine, was eliminated from the Royal family. This is the story of the fate of three women, including the wife and cousin of who have a lesbian relationship

It seems that Li Zhenfei was once an imperial concubine, who often found herself competing with her rival Madame Liu for the emperor's sole, undivided attention. When Li gives birth to the Emperor's child, the jealous Liu switches the boy with a cat and commands a servant named Kou Zhu to kill the baby. However, Kou Zhu ignores the order and gives the prince-to-be to the emperor's brother, a decision which eventually leads to the boy being adopted by the emperor himself! But as fate would have it, to go along with his new son, the emperor has a new wife as well - Madame Liu! As this strange new family unit is being constructed, poor Li Zhenfei has been confined to the forbidden palace, condemned to never see or speak to her son, the prince. But destiny reunites her with her son, but will this family reunion be a happy one? And will Madame Liu finally be punished for her treachery?

Many years ago, five evil spirits were trapped inside ornate jars to protect humanity from destruction. When a power-hungry general raids the secret chamber that hides the jars, he finds his five concubines have become impregnated with evil fetuses, hungry for human flesh. Its up to the palace cooks and a slacker Taoist priest to stop them before they destroy the world.

The story of the Medici family of Florence, their ascent from simple merchants to power brokers sparking an economic and cultural revolution. Along the way, they also accrue a long list of powerful enemies.

The third daughter, Princess Chiu Yeung, of the Tang Emperor, is known throughout the kingdom for her beauty, but she is also known for her unreasonable and stubborn personality. For this reason, no one wants to marry her - that is, until the second son of the formerly wealthy Kam family, Kam Dor Luk, is persuaded to marry her to save the family business. Princess Chiu Yeung resists the arrangement but realizes that it is a better alternative than being forced to marry the Tibetan king as schemed by her father's evil concubine. When the princess moves in with her personal servants after the marriage, family drama and conflict ensues, but is Princess Chiu Yeung stubborn enough to stay and win the heart of her new husband?

"The Confidant" depicts how a group of eunuchs survive in the weakening Qing empire, and closely traces imperial eunuch Li Lianying's early life from the first day he entered the imperial palace to become one of the most powerful political figures in the latter years of the Qing Dynasty. The drama also follows Li's relationship with Empress Dowager Cixi, and how he eventually becomes her closest confidant.

Ko Tin Bo had been an experienced eater since youth, he knows everything about food and the taste as soon as it goes into his mouth. Unfortunately due to a family crisis he and his loyal follower Lee Wai were forced to wander the streets and made a living off selling buns. Because of food, Tin Bo met a female street entertainer Gei Mo Suet, the Capital's most beautiful woman Lin Yeuk Bik and female chef Mai Siu Yue. It is also because of fate that he encountered the Fourth Royal Prince Yan Chan who discovered his talent and recommended him to the palace to work as a palace chef. In the palace, Tin Bo meets his old enemy Choi Hok Ting and set off a series of battles in the kitchen. Tin Bo also didn't know he was getting himself involved in the Eighth Royal Prince Yan Yik's evil plot.

Zhang Peng is a playboy who hits his head as he falls into a pool when he's trying to run away from an ex-girlfriend. He wakes up to find that he's traveled a thousand years into the past but that's not even the biggest problem, he woke up as the crown princess, Zhang Peng Peng, of the dynasty. Hilarity ensues as Peng weighs between trying to get back to his time and leveraging his new female identity to seduce all the concubines and women he can. Did I forget to mention the hot crown prince and his equally handsome brother the 9th prince, who eventually fall in love with her.

The Story of Ming Lan, based on the novel written by Guan Xin Ze Luan, follows our heroine through her youth, into her adulthood, and well into her marriage life as well. She’s the 6th child of the Sheng household. Though she is an intelligent and beautiful child, she was not loved by her family (her dad, her sisters, her mom dies early.) She has to hide her intelligence and suffers through the years, hoping to avenge for her mom. During this process she will meet many friends and foes, one of which is our male lead, Gu’s second son, Gu Ting Ye. He has helped and mistreated her before, but also the one to witness her sharp wits and lonely soul. After they get married, they will work together as a power couple, managing the new King’s regime as well as harvesting a world of happiness on their own.

A behind the scenes look through the corridors of power in ten of the most opulent and historic royal residences on Earth. We reveal the stories behind the Kings and Queens who lived in these grand homes and uncover the secrets of the architects, engineers and courtiers who brought them to life.

During the late reign of the Qing dynasty skilled physician To Chung is named the new Imperial Palace Physician when he successfully heals Empress Dowager Chee Hei from her illness. To Chung eventually grows close to the Gwong-seoi Emperor who is under house arrest at the Forbidden City and stripped of his powers after angering Dowager Chee Hei due to losing the First Sino-Japanese War and rebelling against her authority. To Chung also heals Gwong-seoi Emperor from his illness and helps the young emperor with his relationship with Consort Tsan. However how great he is as a physician to the imperial family, To Chung cannot heal his crippled wife Hung Bak-hap. Desperate to heal his wife he seeks out the services of bone-setter Fuk Ling. Fuk Ling's treatments help Bak-hap relieve some of her pain. Impress by Fuk Ling, To Chung refers her to the Forbidden City where she becomes Empress Dowager Chee-hei personal bone-setter. To Chung and Fuk Ling's friendship eventually turns romantic but his loyalty to his wife Bak-hap prevents him from further pursuing his romance interest in Fuk Ling. Fuk Ling, however, has ulterior motives for getting close to the imperial family as she has been tasked to kill the Gwong-seoi Emperor.

During the later years of the Kangxi Emperor's rule, his many sons were vying for the throne. The fourth prince, aided by Lusi, Nian Gengyao, and Han Chong, while the fourteenth prince had the support of martial arts master Zeng Jing. The competition between the two became intense. Lusi developed a romantic relationship with the fourth prince while Zeng Jing also had feelings for her, making their situation more complicated. Later, the fourth prince killed Kangxi and altered the imperial edict, successfully usurping the throne and naming himself Emperor Yongzheng. From then on, Yongzheng ruthlessly eliminated dissidents and even betrayed those who helped him, causing Lusi to regret her involvement. Ultimately, the fourteenth prince plotted to assassinate Yongzheng with the help of Zeng Jing and Lusi, igniting a fierce battle.

Happy Ever After is a 1999 Hong Kong grand-production television period drama. A TVB production, the drama was produced by Chong Wai-kin, written by Chan Ching-yee and Choi Ting-ting, and stars an ensemble cast. The drama is set during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of Late Imperial China's Qing dynasty. The drama tells of a story regarding the struggles of a poor chef and his best friend earning an opportunity to serve the Qianlong Emperor, also befriending the emperor along the way. The drama also places an emphasis on Chinese cuisine with documentations concerning the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. Happy Ever After acclaimed positive reviews from critics and was TVB's third highest-rating drama of 1999, peaking to 40 points. Happy Ever After was re-broadcast on the same channel in 2007 between January and March.