The Advisors Alliance

The Advisors Alliance
Promotional poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	大軍師司馬懿之軍師聯盟 / 大軍師司馬懿之虎嘯龍吟
Simplified Chinese	大军师司马懿之军师联盟 / 大军师司马懿之虎啸龙吟
Literal meaning	The Great Military Strategist Sima Yi: The Military Strategists' Alliance / The Great Military Strategist Sima Yi: Growling Tiger and Roaring Dragon
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin dà jūnshī Sīmǎ Yì zhī jūnshī liánméng / dà jūnshī Sīmǎ Yì zhī hǔxiào lóngyín
Genre	Historical drama
Written by	Chang Jiang
Directed by	Zhang Yongxin
Presented by	Zhuang Baobin Xiao Wenge Jin Hongxing Xu Jiaxuan Zhang Jian Wu Bing Cao Huayi Mu Xiaoguang
Starring	Wu Xiubo Liu Tao Li Chen Yu Hewei Janine Chang Tang Yixin Zhai Tianlin Liu Huan Wang Jinsong Wang Dong
Composers	Cao Dongdong Jin Qilin
Country of origin	China
Original language	Mandarin
No. of episodes	42 (Part 1) 44 (Part 2)
Production
Executive producers	Wu Xiubo Xiao Yan Wang Yang Gu Wenjuan
Producers	Zhang Alin Zhang Jian Xu Jiaxuan
Cinematography	Zhang Wenjie
Editor	Liao Wei
Running time	45 minutes per episode
Production companies	Dongyang Meng Jiang Wei Film and TV Culture Jiangsu Huali Culture Media DOMYS Entertainment
Budget	¥400 million
Original release
Release	22 June (2017-06-22) – 14 July 2017 (2017-07-14)

The Advisors Alliance is a 2017 Chinese two-part television series based on the life of Sima Yi, a government official and military general who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China. The series starred Wu Xiubo as the main character, with Liu Tao, Li Chen, Janine Chang, Tang Yixin, Yu Hewei and Wang Luoyong playing supporting roles. The first part of the series started airing on Jiangsu TV and Anhui TV on 22 June 2017.^[1] The second part started airing on Youku on 8 December 2017.^[2]

Synopsis

The series follows the life of Sima Yi through the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China.

The first part covers Sima Yi's early career under Cao Cao, the warlord who controls the central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. Sima Yi becomes an adviser to Cao Cao's son Cao Pi and assists him in defeating his younger brother Cao Zhi in a power struggle over the succession to their father's place. Following Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi usurps the throne from Emperor Xian, ends the Eastern Han dynasty, and declares himself emperor of the newly established Cao Wei state. This part ends around the middle or towards the end of Cao Pi's reign.

The second part covers Sima Yi's career in the Cao Wei state during the Three Kingdoms period and his service under the emperors Cao Pi, Cao Rui and Cao Fang. He leads Cao Wei forces into battles against its rival states, Shu Han and Eastern Wu, and rises through the ranks to become one of the most powerful figures in Cao Wei and ultimately a regent for the third Cao Wei emperor, Cao Fang. In his final years, Sima Yi successfully stages a coup d'état against his co-regent Cao Shuang and effectively becomes the de facto ruler of the Cao Wei state. About 15 years after Sima Yi's death, his grandson Sima Yan would eventually usurp the Cao Wei throne and replace it with the Jin dynasty (266–420).

Cast

Part 1

Part 2

Production

The series took five years and cost a total of 400 million yuan in production, with most of the money going into the sets. More than 6,000 costumes were made for the series.^[3] Wu Xiubo, the lead actor, serves as the executive producer of the series. Filming lasted for 333 days, beginning on 13 February 2016 and ending on 10 January 2017.^[4][5][6]

Soundtrack

Reception

Critical response

The series received high praise for its plot, cinematography and cast performance. The first part of the series generated six billion hits on Youku and 8.2 points out of 10 on Douban.^[7] A mobile game adapted from the series was also released.^[3] However, some viewers have criticised the series on the grounds of historical inaccuracies, and said that the additional details and modern lines in the series serve as distractions and ruin the mood.^[3]

Ratings

• Highest ratings are marked in red, lowest ratings are marked in blue

Awards and nominations

References

External links