Wonderland of Love is a quality Chinese historical drama with chemistry, storyline, and acting that exceeded my expectations. If you’re still considering watching this, read my review of Wonderland of Love below!
Drama Details
Title: Wonderland of Love (乐游原)
Episodes: 40
Release Date: November 6, 2023
Genres: Historical, Romance, Drama, Political
Country: China
Original Network: Tencent Video
Available On: Viki
Synopsis and Plot Summary
The story of the drama “Wonderland of Love” follows Li Ni, the grandson of the emperor who guards the border and is forced to take responsibility for quelling a rebellion.
He hides his identity by being a carefree frontline border general and has no intention of fighting for power from his father.
One day, during a military campaign against the rebels, Li Ni met the ambitious girl Cui Lin, who was the only daughter of General Cui Yi, commander of the Cui family army.
Cui Lin also hides her true identity from others and disguises herself as Lieutenant He, in order to fight alongside the army. On the battlefield, Cui Lin and Li Ni often passed each other.
In their competition with each other, from time to time they always predict each other’s moves to fight as the winner, but all this only leads them to the path of falling in love.
Wonderland of Love Ending Explained
Wonderland of Love Chinese drama has a happy ending. At the end of the episode, the Queen told Her Majesty that through this incident you should be able to see that Li Ni is a very filial child. The Emperor finally understood that he felt very lucky to have Li Ni as his son and had decided to hand over the throne to Li Ni.
His Majesty felt that in the future Li Ni would definitely become a good emperor. The Emperor then summoned Li Ni to teach him how to play cricket and he was very happy.
At that time His Majesty recalled his temperamental youth and said that fortunately Li Ni was not at all like him, and he was ready to hand over the country and the world to Li Ni. He knew that he was neither a good emperor nor a good father, but he had a good son.
Li Ni asked him what he should do if he did not want to be emperor. His Majesty said that if he didn’t want to be emperor, then he shouldn’t be emperor.
As long as he was happy, he knew that Li Ni would find a reliable person to become emperor. His Majesty asked Li Ni to be less serious and smile more before becoming emperor.
After that, Li Ni held a canonization ceremony, and he sat on the throne that many people wanted to sit on. Cui Lin was also canonized as queen.
Meanwhile, Gu Wan Niang was stripped of her membership as a noble and is now a commoner. Gu Wan Niang went crazy on the street and shouted that she was the princess.
After the inauguration ceremony, Cui Lin made another bet with Li Ni. If Li Ni closed his eyes and heard what she said but didn’t open his eyes, he would win.
Li Ni told her that he would definitely not open his eyes, even if Cui Lin kissed him. Unexpectedly, Cui Lin told Li Ni that she was pregnant, Li Ni looked at Cui Lin with wide eyes.
Li Ni then told Cui Lin that he wanted a daughter, so he would take his daughter and Cui Lin back to Laolan Pass.
The scene cuts to Chang Er standing in a daze, Li Ni asking what happened, and Chang Er asking how he can get Tao Zi to agree to marry him.
Li Ni told him that he couldn’t help him in this matter, the key was his sincerity. Chang Er goes to tell Tao Zi that he doesn’t want to be as smart as Li Ni, and he doesn’t know what sincerity means, so he tells Tao Zi that he will always be with her and take good care of her.
After Tao Zi heard what Chang Er said, she happily said that she agreed. Chang Er was very happy and hugged Tao Zi and spun her around a few times.
While Cui Lin and Li Ni were chatting together, Cui Lin suddenly started having a stomach ache. Cui Lin waited in the room all day to give birth, and Li Ni stood outside all day.
Finally, Cui Lin gave birth to a son safely, Li Ni immediately came in and took great care of Cui Lin. After Li Ni reigned for ten years, he handed over the throne to Li Xuan Ze.
Li Ni then took Cui Lin and her son and daughter to Laolan Pass. Tao Zi and Chang Er also come to Laolan Pass, and they live happily together. End!
Wonderland of Love Chinese Drama Review
This is one of the best Chinese historical dramas I’ve watched this year. With the show pacing appropriately and the male lead having the most screen time, Wonderland of Love is a decent drama and there isn’t a boring moment here.
For the plot that looks promising, it pays off according to reality. The story is that there was a kingdom called Da Yu which was ruled by the Li Family. The kingdom had three Great Generals: Sun Jing, Pei Xian, and Cui Yi.
Sun Jing rebelled against the emperor and massacred the Royal Family, Pei Xian was loyal to the emperor, and Cui Yi was loyal to himself and his country but not to the emperor. Everyone has their own army.
The story follows the emperor’s seventeenth grandson Li Ni (Xu Kai), who is by no means heir to the throne, and Cui Lin (Jing Tian), Cui Yi’s only daughter.
Li Ni lost his mother right after his birth, was hated by his own father and grandfather because of his mother’s humble background and was exiled to the border to guard the country.
Cui Lin was a lieutenant in the Cui Army who was known as ‘Lieutenant He’ and lost her mother when she was young in the war because her mother sacrificed herself while guarding the city with courage. The plot is amazing and met my expectations.
The depiction and character development are very good here. Li Ni, also known as ‘Shiqi Lang’, is a smart, loyal, brave, and free-spirited man. He was a kind, warm-hearted, and emotional young man.
He leads Zhen Xi’s army to quell Sun Jing’s rebellion and intends to make the world peaceful by passing the throne to the original heir. Not an ambitious person and never wanted to return to the palace, let alone become emperor.
He just wants a peaceful life (because he never had a loving and peaceful family). His intelligence, abilities and war strategies are second to none. He loves Cui Lin with all his heart and wants to travel to Wonderland after marrying her.
Meanwhile, Cui Lin also known as ‘Lieutenant He’ and A’Ying is a woman who is cunning, strong, arrogant, cruel but practical and warm-hearted. She is ambitious and wants to rule the kingdom if there is no one suitable to rule in the royal family.
Her intelligence could be considered superior to Li Ni’s because she knew how to manipulate and take advantage of someone. When she lost her mother in the war, her motivation in life was to make the world peaceful by stabilizing the court and ending the suffering of the common people caused by constant war.
Cui Lin is one of the best female characters I’ve seen in a drama so far. The only person who can match him is Li Ni and he loves her but wants her to assume the responsibility of the throne to create peace for the world.
Two characters who may be toxic to fans are Liu Cheng Feng and Gu Wan Niang. Liu Cheng Feng is an orphan, raised by Cui Yi as his own son under the identity of Cui Lin (meaning he is a fake Cui Lin) to deceive the court.
Liu Cheng Feng grew up with Cui Lin and was obsessed with her. He turned into a poisonous person because he expected too much from Cui Lin.
Meanwhile, Gu Wan Niang is an intelligent woman, who wants power and a strong husband, namely, Li Ni. I would admire his character if she loved Li Ni sincerely but she is almost a toxic person who only wants her own good.
Other supporting characters like Xie Chang Er, Tao Zi, Lao Bao, and the people in the Zhenxi squad are good characters, not very interesting but good.
As for acting, Xu Kai is great as usual doing a wonderful job in portraying his character. I was also impressed by Jing Tian’s acting and it was quite stunning.
Here, Xu Kai and Jing Tian have burning chemistry. Starting from flirting, arguing, their fights about support and love…
There are many sweet moments when you can’t help but feel butterflies in your stomach….and emotional moments when you can’t help but tear up looking at them.
The costumes and OST are good. I loved the costumes and armor of the main cast when they were in the army. The designers could also have done better in the other actors’ costumes.
The slight drawback here is that the story seems to be a little delayed in the middle, but it manages to pick up again after a few episodes and doesn’t drag on after that.
The thing I complain about is, that the makers made Cui Lin a weak and stupid woman when dealing with Liu Cheng Feng and her actions didn’t make sense even though she is a cunning person.
Is Wonderland of Love worth watching? hundred percent feasible. In terms of story, acting, cinematography, and all aspects of this drama, it exceeded my expectations.
The Cast Wonderland of Love Chinese Drama
Main Role
Xu Kai as Li Ni / Shiqi Lang
Jing Tian as Cui Lin / A Ying
Support role
Zheng He Hui Zi as Tao Zi
Gao Han as Liu Cheng Fen
Zhao Jia Min as Gu Wan Niang
Liu Dong Qin as Xie Chang Er
He Feng Tian as Pei Yuan
Dai Yi as Steward Qiu
Zhu Hong Jia as Old Bao
Jiang Kai as Cui Yi
Yuan Ran as [Empress]
Cui Peng as Li Jun [King Lin]
Leo Li as Li Lai
Guo Xing Qi as A Shu
Wu Hao as Huang You Yi
Jin Long as Zhao You De
And More
My Verdict
Overall, Wonderland of Love is a quality Chinese drama with good chemistry and storyline. After many ups and downs, it finally has a happy ending. If you are considering watching it, do it without thinking twice. I recommend this. So, for this Wonderland of Love Chinese drama review, I would give it a score of 9/10.
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