Rebel Princess resembles a lot like Ming Lan
Both females leads are strong characters who play a important role in the palace politics
and FL's in both dramas fail to marry their first love but they completely overcome it and devote themselves to the ML hmmm
In both dramas ML's are generals who gains favors from the emperors and they both act dead to win over their enemies
Recommended by Drama Empress
The female lead is both intelligent and witty + daughter of a concubine who becomes the main wife of a prestigious family. The story is similar in a sense that both leads were “forced” into marriage and slowly starts catching feelings. The plot is similar as the female lead is not favoured by her family and the male lead’s family, and therefore having to rely on herself through her smart and quick thinking. There is also a love triangle involved with several mystery to solve.
Recommended by qutie
The tones are drastically different. Story of Ming Lan is more slice-of-life, while Story of Yanxi Palace is more palace intrigue, but there are core similarities.

FEMALE LEADS - If you love Ming Lan's intelligence and loyalty, give Wei Yingluo of Story of Yanxi Palace a try. Yingluo's a more... cutthroat version of Ming Lan. She, too, if very clever and loyal to a fault. She doesn't set out to scheme against others to climb ranks or such, but try to wrong her, to frame her, to harm those she loves and she'll plan against it and set traps accordingly.

COSTUMES - Just... stunning. I'm not a huge fan of the Qing dynasty male hairstyles (that braided half-bald look) but I love this show so much I was able to get past it, haha. The hair pieces are stunning velvet flowers or metal jewelry. Clothing and accessories also have much to do with each 'palace's mistress and displays their character.

CINEMATOGRAPHY - Beautiful in both.

I would say the biggest difference that people may find difficult is the romance. I don't want to spoil anything so just watch the trailer if you want more information.
Recommended by BikiLee
In Northern Song Dynasty
Female view
Female rights and powers
Movie-like visual quality

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 endeavours, they both rise in position and work to obtain justice from those that have wronged them.
Recommended by CloudA
Both of these stories feature an unlucky female lead that struggles surviving within her upstart family. We get to know these smart and cunning female leads through childhood until her marriage. Both female leads fall for the 2nd male lead and almost marry but get separated by schemes. The cunning male leads scheme to marry the female leads and eventually are to be wed and have their fair share of a scheming family. Both of the mls are scheming and brought honor through war merits rather than the scholarly men we typically see. But war and unloyal subjects keep the leads on their toes. While these dramas have a very similar pacing LLTG is my more my style. The ml is work driven man with no time for females except for the girl he fell for at first sight. The female lead is a different kind of smart she is skilled in architecture and is not so great at studying literature. While in TSML the male lead already has children with another woman and eventually falls for the fl because she sets him on the right track. The fl is more of a book smart kind of girl with some schemes to help her in the family. This drama also puts way more emphasis on the true treatment of daughters during this time period. Both dramas have an excellent cast and are worth the watch.
Recommended by Susu
Protagonistas inteligentes que lutam contra injustiças que fazem contra elas. Doramas históricos que também tem luta política por tras. Protagonista masculino forte.
Recommended by Rosy Fragoso
Minglan's mother is harmed by a favoured concubine leading her to die in childbirth. Minglan grows up walking on eggshells to survive in a toxic family environment with only the loving care of her grandmother to keep her going. As she grows up, she uses her wits to investigate the death of her mother and get justice. As she starts to come out of her shell, she reveals her true talents and intelligence, which she will need on the path ahead!
Recommended by Firefly88
Both of the these dramas share well crafted scripts and well executed plots twists. Well integrated humor permeates thoughout both dramas. No useless episodes that drag or stupid secrets that go on forever. Enjoyable!
Recommended by Laney Castors
Both dramas has the same production team and it’s very familiar the studio and costume , both deserve to be watched
Recommended by BabysweetG
Female view
Female rights and powers
Movie-like visual quality

The story follows Sheng Ming Lan, an unfavored concubine-born 6th daughter of an official. Song of youth also follows the main character who loses her parents and has to survive and prove her parents' innocence.
Recommended by Max A
The setting of this drama where FL needs to marry the one that she doesn’t want to marry. And she and her mother are abused by another wife of her father. And ignorance father who loves another wive more. Those settings are very similar to minglan.
Recommended by Emmaline Zhang
Same male lead. A story about women overcoming adversity.;About a General and a strong Female lead. Looking forward to the journey.
Recommended by Val W
-Very smart/confident FLs and wiley/powerful MLs. (FL/ML maybe more clever/cunning in Ming Lan)
-Both manipulate people/situations in their favour; in particular both FL/ML families. The FLs are underdogs.
-Both try to comically outsmart each other initially, but grow together and end up a power couple backing each other up.
-Both FLs like another man initially.
-Both are slow-burn Historicals (Ming Lan more slow-burn, and has more episodes)
-Both met when they were younger, when young MLs helped FLs out of a tough spot.
-Ming Lan is maybe a bit more authentic with a slower pace, lots of characterisation and character growth.

**I'll update again when Autumn Ballad is finished airing.
Recommended by AThousand_PaperCranes
Female leads family situation in love like the galaxy is similar to female lead in the story of minglan
Recommended by Whiplash
Both series follows intelligent plot line with genius leads. In both series leads are trying to uncover truth behind death of their loved ones. Both leads teach harsh lessons to the people who tries to hurt their loved ones. Both leads are very good in foshadowing the future conditions and can manipulate other people and plays them like chess pieces.
Recommended by Kanika Sharma
The Story of Ming Lan (2018) poster

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