God of War, Zhao Yun

Zhao Zilong was a great military general who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. With unparalleled fighting skills, courage and charisma, Zhao Zilong initially served Gongsun Zan but switched his allegiance to Liu Bei for the rest of his illustrious career as a member of the famous Five Tiger Generals. However, when he becomes embroiled in a love triangle with the beautiful Xiahou Qingyi and another great warrior, Gao Ze, will he discover that battles of the heart are the most dangerous of all?

The series started filming in 2014 and wrapped up in 2015. Some footage from the 2008–2009 film Red Cliff was reused for the Battle of Red Cliffs scenes. The series premiered in mainland China on 3 April 2016 on Hunan TV and ran for 60 episodes.

The series was produced at a cost of nearly 250 million yuan (US$40 million).[4] The drama is featured at the Hong Kong International Film and TV market (FILMART), which was held from 23 to 26 March 2015; it is reported that the overseas copyright prices offered for the drama has soared to US$100,000 per episode, setting a record for Chinese costume dramas exported to overseas markets.[5] The series was sold to Japan at a cost of US$50,000 per episode and has become the most expensive Chinese television series exported to Japan.[6]

The reaction to the series was overwhelmingly positive. On Chinese video streaming websites, it recorded 2.35 billion hits in a mere 13 days after its official release.[7] Hunan TV also reported that the drama was being viewed 260 million times daily on average.[8] In total, the series garnered more than 10 billion views.[9] The drama's first episode had a 1.73% viewership rating, which in Chinese standards, is considered a tremendous success. The drama peaked at more than 2% in its later episodes.[9][10]

The series's broadcasting rights were sold to streaming site Viki with English subtitles as well as various other television networks such as Chunghwa TV, Sichuan TV and Guangxi TV, and other countries such as Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Cambodia and Thailand.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]