The Story of Ming Lan (2018)

Both series focus a smart female character who hides her intelligence to protect and enable her to maneuver in the restrictive and dangerous role women had in historical china.

-Very intelligent female leads
-Both male leads are talented generals who are skilled in military strategies and martial arts
-The male leads are heavily caught up in politics

Although New Life Begins is more light-hearted, both dramas shine a light on the hardships and prejudice women in Ancient China are confronted with.

They take the audience on an enlightening and inspiring journey as these women fight against the patriarchal society to flourish both in business and marriage. We're shown not only the bad marriages but also the good ones, where husband and wife can work together to achieve gender equality, harmony and prosperity.

I'm recommending this as I recognised a few veteran actors and actresses from The Story of Ming Lan. ???

Both of the main character's love interests had a tough time growing up.
In both dramas the main character's sister(s) did unnecessary things to make her life hard.
Both of their mother's died when they were little.
Both are historical.
Both helped their love interests positively change their reputation.

Both dramas look visually amazing with fantastic acting from veteran casts. The chemistry between the two leads are really great, in fact the leads from Ming Lan eventually got married in real life. The lead females come from humble beginnings and struggle to overcome the familial expectations put on them. They are highly intelligent, but must hide it due to the the social stigmas that women should just be housewives. The male leads grow up in comparable wealth and comfort, but due to a series of events suffer a huge fall from grace at the hands of their own family. The romance is cute in how the leads bicker with each other, but both are a little darker in tone.

Set in the Northern Song dynasty, the story follows Sheng Ming Lan, an unfavored concubine-born 6th daughter of an official. After losing her mother at a young age, Ming Lan is raised by her paternal grandmother. Growing up, she learns to hide her true genius self and use crafty and cunning methods in order to survive the tough conditions where family members are plotting against each other and where no actual familial love exists.

She then meets Gu Ting Ye, the second son of a rich marquis household, who is supposed to inherit wealth from both the parents and a noble title. Unlike Ming Lan, Gu Ting Ye is straightforward with his actions and never hides his true self, causing him to fall victim to all the planning and plotting against him, where he ends up losing everything.

Ming Lan and Ting Ye join forces, and through cunning schemes and daring endeavors, they both rise in position and work to obtain justice from those that have wronged them.

The dramas are not very similar but the chemistry between the leads and how the leads support one another in the drama give me the same feeling. So if you are looking for a good Romance you can try it, you won’t be disappointed. :)

I mace this rec because both characters have to cross a lot of barriers because of their birth.
Both must face obstacles related to others with power trying to bring them down.
They hide in plain sight, in their own way, from enemies but the manner and method is different.
Both are intelligent but overlooked.
Both experienced loss that impact the choices they make.
The similarity ends there. I think Dong Yi is more dramatic (and it is subtle for a Kdrama) and this show is much more subtle and as grounded in reality as a period piece can be. Dong Yi is after all a palace drama. This drama is not campy at all. There is no fluff, in my opinion. No filler.

This apply mostly for the first half of Love in Flames of War:
- the male chases the female first & both are flirty
- in both their marriage is somewhat forced ( not so much in Story of Ming Lan )
- when they get married the male lead already likes the female lead, however the female lead will start to like & love him after the they get married
- in both the male leads are clever, scheming and have military power; however in Story of Ming Lan the male lead is more clever and charismatic
- both female leads are calm, quick witted and feminists ; though Ming Lan is by far smarter and more rational
- both have the scheming and unreasonable " third party " aka second male and female lead; however in Story of Ming Lan, the love triangle plots are very different in terms of dynamic, when they happen and how the main characters feels about them
- well-matched and beautiful OSTs

Extra things that are not similar but it makes Story of Ming Lan an outstanding drama:
- the story is longer therefore the female lead and male lead have a big character development ( which totally makes sense in justifying why certain characters & incidents are the way they are ) ; the plot is more complex and the quality is better
- far less misunderstandings between the leads and much more trust
- the story revolves a lot around the families of both female & male lead but is made very entertaining
- by the time the leads get married both have been through a lot of hardship and have matured
- every character is well played by the actors ( even support roles ) hence I've never found myself skipping forward
- when it was filmed the main actors were dating and later got married therefore all the romance scenes and the way they look at each other is something else and totally worth the wait
- no dubbing, using on set voices

To conclude, The Story of Ming Lan gives similar vibes, however the plot and characters are superior and more captivating. Hence I highly recommend watching it.

There is a heavy focus in terms of siblings love/relationship and a complicated Chinese family.

Also highlights and depicts how marriage is extremely important to women as it changes the course of a woman’s life especially back in the day…

Both dramas demonstrate the hardships of being a concubine, the struggle for power in the palace/household.

-FLs lead a hard life in their previous families and struggle to establish a strong foothold in their newfound families.
-Both MLs before they get their titles had children with some materialistic woman, who troubles who re-enters into their life when they became rich.

Both feature smart, strong heroines in historical slice-of-life stories. Both contain great romances too.

The dramas are differents because The Story of Minglan feels more gritty in some ways. Yet, there are similarities in that both the females leads are smart and astute while the male lead is a capable lord.

We also get to see these couple in their domestic lives.