Drama Series Review: The Imperial Doctress (Mandarin)

Reading a good book at different stages of your life leaves you with different interpretations and reflections. I felt this after completing the Chinese drama serial 'The imperial doctress'. The first time I watched it I was still doing my bachelor's, this time I have had about a year of clinical experience. I didn't exactly complete it the first time, but this time I completed it, and also felt inspired enough to share my thoughts on the serial. Funny enough though, they're not mainly thoughts regarding TCM, but thoughts about the many other concepts that were portrayed in the serial. 

This serial came out in 2016, and is about a minister's daughter who became a female physician and eventually the empress during the Ming dynasty. As with most serials, it's part true part false- the lead actress plays a role that combines two historical figures, one the empress and one the physician. Despite the multiple times  of overdramatic coughing/vomiting of blood by various characters, I really enjoyed how the storyline portrayed and brought out concepts that were close to my heart. I'm going to be listing them out and sharing my thoughts for each of them. 

Feminism and breaking out of social norms

The series is set in a time when women could not become physicians. It was deemed deplorable, as physicians had to treat both males and females; it was against social norms for women to look at or touch body parts of a man. This is actually really close to heart for me, as my hubby who comes from quite a conservative society was upset when he learnt that I had to acupuncture men. In conservative societies, men and women cannot have any skin contact with one another. I was actually taught this when I was a young child, but because my parents are slightly on the liberal side, and also because I joined contemporary dance, my mindset swayed towards the liberal side during my junior college and university days. However out of respect for my hubby, I decided I wouldn't do Tuina, since it requires a lot more contact with patients. I told my hubby I normally treated elderly patients, so it was like treating my parents or grandparents. Also because he doesn't see me treating patients, so out of sight and out of mind- he was able to come to terms with my occupation. I believe it still poses as quite a difficult barrier to overcome for many, as the line between male and female becomes hazy in such situations. We want to help people, but we also don't want to get ourselves in trouble. It is a real issue, as seen from my previous post on how my hubby got a call from the police saying that he had made a girl feel uncomfortable, even though my hubby had no ill intentions (duh.) 

Conservative social norms limited women from many jobs, even when they had interest and capability. Even when there was an actual market and demand for women to take up such roles. The series portrayed this when the empress dowager fell ill and many of the imperial physicians were unable to diagnose correctly due to a hidden symptom, that could have been easily caught if not for conservative norms. The female lead was able to detect the symptom because of her gender (and also skill), since the dowager allowed her and only her to touch her neck area (the location of the important symptom). Other than this incident, the series also showed that there were many eunuchs and palace maids that required treatments from physicians, but because of their lower status, were unable to seek help from the imperial physicians. As women were seen as less capable and of lower status as compared to males, it was actually feasible to have female physicians or pharmacists help treat these eunuchs and palace maids. There was clearly a demand for female physicians, but many were unable to accept this solution due to the social norms. 

Hence in order for women to get equal opportunities as men, social norms had to be broken down. To me, the formation of social norms is actually due to a combination of past experience, emotional attachment, over protection and ego. Overprotection of the physically weaker gender, and the inability of the physically stronger gender to accept that a woman can be better than a man. Breaking down these social norms also meant sacrificing certain duties that a woman should do, such as taking care of the home and bearing children. Nowadays when our country is in a peaceful state, and when men can stay at home as well, it's much easier to break out of these social norms. But in the past when men had to go for war and stay away from their homes for long periods, it only made sense that the physically weaker gender stay back to take care of the home. It also made sense that men kept their egos and competitiveness as it helped build strength, bravery and ruthlessness on the battlefield. 

Hence the series portrayed the many sacrifices that the female lead had to make, including giving up having a family of her own. Had she not learned the art of medicine, she would not have been seen as such a threat or a witch. But it was also because she had this life-preserving skill that seemed almost Godlike, such that it saved her life multiple times since there were still many who valued her as an important asset. It was because of this skill (and yes her pure character), that led to the emperor and other leaders falling in love with her, and also rendering her help when it was needed. Well, you win some you lose some.

On hindsight, of course people who eventually succeed in their passion don't usually think of what they would lose. If they focus too much on what they would lose, they would never be able to succeed. Most of the time, they would feel it's nothing wrong to pursue a passion, and that if others really cared for them, they would support them regardless. In a way this is sort of a selfish type of mindset, since they are only thinking for themselves and doing what they love, instead of thinking of how their decisions would affect those around them. 

Today's feminist movement is rather different from that of the past. There is more focus on equal pay and freedom to wear whatever we want, while in the past it was a fight for equal opportunities in education. However it still boils down to two things: equal opportunities and safety. Today's fight is not only a fight for women, but for men as well. It is the blurring of lines, it is the breaking down of walls, it is the building of bridges so that women can do what in the past only men could do and vice versa. It is the recognition that gender roles are social constructs and not inborn characteristics. Nowadays, there are more females pursuing TCM as a career than there r males, partially because TCM does not pay as well as other career choices, and men still shoulder the responsibility of bringing home the bacon. My class of 23 only had one boy. It is a similar situation in China.

Statutory rape, chauvinism and female suppression

The serial left me a really strong impression regarding these topics. First the emperor raped the female lead (she was already his concubine but was unwilling, and there was violence involved, plus he said it was to check if she was still a virgin- obviously I couldn't stop rolling my eyes during the scene). In fact this point also touches on polygamy with an alpha male. Because the emperor had married someone else, and even though he claimed he didn't love her and that the marriage was just in name, he still slept with her. Maybe this also belongs to the theme of emotional vs physical cheating. It was straight up physical cheating but involved emotional cheating. And it seemed as though the emotional cheating occurred first because the emperor said at one point that he wished his beloved woman would treat him like how the empress treated him. It is a highly asked question on social media, but I think most monogamous women are more able to accept emotional cheating over physical cheating, since how does physical cheating occur without emotional cheating? Second, he always flared up at her even after he said he wouldn't do it again. He had a very Yang character with her and had many outward displays of anger towards her. (Men belong to Yang in Chinese philosophy.) Third, she kept most of her feelings to herself because showing her feelings wouldn't help the situation, in fact hiding her feelings was more useful. We live in current times where women are more empowered to speak up, so all these scenes tend to make us feel really frustrated for the female lead. If only she could just fight back! But in the past this was so normal. Women just had to swallow it up. It still happens today, but I believe less. One big factor is probably because society does not accept such men as readily anymore. So it's really important for women to speak up if they aren't able to cope with the emotional abuse from their spouses. But actually nowadays women can also mentally abuse their husbands- hey, again it's the blurring of gender lines! 

Love and platonic friendships

I really love how the serial portrayed this. It was shown with a cliffhanger ending, where the original emperor passed on his post and found the female lead. It is really up to the audience's belief and state of mind whether to think that they got together in the end or the female lead remained fidel to the man she had married. The man she had married came into her life before the original emperor, though she did have feelings for both men. But I believe she converted her feelings of love for the original emperor to that of friendship,  which sometimes can seem very close to that of love (married couples or long term couples would understand). Dude she was willing to die for the original emperor! And I believe some friends are so close that they would be willing to do that for one another. So do platonic relationships exist? I'm sure, but I think there's a lot of control and loyalty (to their partners) involved especially if everyone were good looking and attractive haha. 

Good and bad

It is easy to tell between good and bad when we are young. Life was simple. But as we grow older, more and more things get intertwined and situations are never so direct. That's why white lies exist. Which is why principles are so important. I had a friend who said keeping to principles is not always a good thing. It shocked me, and to this date I still disagree with that statement. Principles are not only for those around us, not only for society, but are also there to keep ourselves in check because temptations and desires exist. In the drama, the new emperor's mother would do anything including kill to become the dowager, though she said it was for her son's good. And the son (the new emperor) was also willing to hurt his brother (the original emperor) for the girl he loved. Is it ever okay to cross such boundaries? I think it's not, but I see similar things happening in the current world. Keeping to our principles makes us predictable and vulnerable, but not sticking to our principles can turn us into vicious people. What about in between though? Should we be accepting of those who aren't able to stick to principles? Should we be wary, or avoid those who don't stick to principles? I guess it depends how remorseful they are... 

TCM treating epidemics

I have to end off with this since 2020 is the year of COVID-19. It's great that this serial was made 3 years before. It's so frustrating when the world only listens when the US speaks or when the Western world speaks. But the fact lies that China has already been no stranger to such epidemics, and is definitely no stranger to treating them. It's crazy how things get blown out of proportion with the media, when other diseases are even more deadly but receive less coverage. COVID is bad. But everything is relative. There are way worse things than COVID. Like people dying of heart attacks outside the hospital because the hospital is full of COVID patients. It's not always about life and death, it's about quality of life. It's okay to live a short but fruitful life, but people are so afraid of death that many are willing to give up our freedom. Our whereabouts are now put into a cloud. Wearing a mask hides more than our identity, it hides our courage. 

TTFN