Story of Yanxi Palace is my very first chinese drama and I must say this is one of my favorite asian dramas. The cast is superb! There were two actors that stood out for me. First is the actress playing Empress Nala. She was amazing. You can feel her frustrations and sadness from unrequited love. She nailed it! The star of the show for me is Nie Yuan. He had amazing chemistry with every single character on the show. I mean, seriously? Even his scenes with Li Yu were as memorable as his scenes with his concubines. I didn't see him as an actor or a character. I see him as "The Emperor". Excellent acting skills! Wu jinyan isn't so bad but she still needs to improve in my opinion. Some of her scenes are not doing it for me and seemed a bit over done. All in all, great script, good plot and outstanding performance from the actors. It was fun watching this drama. I enjoyed it!