“Let’s get down to business/to defeat the Song-equivalent of Huns.” More pictures here.

This is an excellent way to get girls into history; cast Huang Xiaoming as Yue Fei and then have him strip down. The drama will also feature Liu Shishi, Cheng Pei-pei (as the famous mother of Yue Fei), Shao Bin, Zhang Yuqi, and Gallen Lo as the infamous Qin Hui. The epic 72-episode drama will begin broadcast on July 4th. (Wrong date for Chinese patriotism, but it’ll do).

Yue Fei was a hero of the Song dynasty, who escaped from a flood with his mother in a bathtub (enchanted by a slip of paper a Daoist priest had attached for him). A popular Chinese folktale relates how his mother taught him to write using a bucket of sand and a stick because they were too poor for paper.  His mother also used a hot needle to tattoo a reminder into his back; “serve the country with utmost loyalty.” He did; without regards for his own safety, in spite of the plotting of ministers such as Qin Hui, Yue Fei would remain staunchly loyal to an (easily manipulated!) emperor to the last. 

Look below the cut for more fanservice. (Also pictures of “Yue Fei” with his wife, played by Ruby Lin).