Manga: Chang Ge Xing (長歌行) – Xia Da (夏达)

Author/Artist: Xia Da

Status: 6 Volumes, 47 chapters, ongoing

Summary: Chang An in the Tang Dynasty of China (618-907): The demon star is passing through the sky, calamity is about to befall the Tang Dynasty – because of a woman.

(credits to Mangafox)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Gender Bender, Historical, Tragedy, Seinen

Review

Has anyone read this manga yet? If not, I highly recommend Chang Ge Xing 長歌行manga. The artwork is amazingly beautiful and the story is filled with many twists and turns, involving Tang Dynasty politics. The author incorporates a couple of real historical figures in the story, but apart from that, it’s entirely fabricated through the author’s imagination.

We’re first introduced to a young princess, Li Cheng Ge, our female heroine. In order to seek revenge on her family, she disguises herself as a man and sets off on a journey to find talented people to aid her on this mission. Not only intelligent (I love reading about smart heroines) but she is also physically capable taking down all her enemies that appear in the story. A quote from the manga describes her perfectly “Women are small and fragile… yet the power they hold, is immeasurable.”

I love how the story developments, its intriguing with no dull moments at all, which is why this is my most favorite manga of all time. Perfect combination of political politics, witty female heroine, equally fascinating male lead. I believe its a must read!

If you can read Chinese then here the link to the Chinese version, if not you can read the English translation on mangafox.

I’m not too sure if this manga has the same story line has the drama currently being name with the same title (Ruby Lin and Yuan Hong) 秀丽江山之长歌行 because in dramawiki the drama summary is somehow different.

Following a civil war, Liu Xiu, a distant descendant of Emperor Liu Bang, was tapped to lead the restoration of Han Dynasty. To amass political power, he annulled his marriage to first love Yin Li Hua in order to marry Guo Sheng Tong, a niece of a powerful warlord. Upon unifying the country, he remarried Yin and had his heart set on making her his Empress. But political pressure, once again, forced the choice upon him and Guo became the Empress. Years later, Yin family’s growing influence helped turn the tide. When scandals erupted in Guo’s family, he used the opportunity to depose Guo and promote Yin to the position. Yin remained his Empress until his death.