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Bao Shang En and Wang Hong Yi’s In the Moonlight character visuals drop as we still wait for premiere date

Michelle Topham May 15, 2026

Bao Shang En as Li Yao Ying in In the Moonlight

In the Moonlight likely to drop on WeTV some time in May

With all the promo pieces suddenly being thrown at us by Tencent Video, it seems pretty apparent we will likely be getting a premiere of Bao Shang En and Wang Hong Yi’s latest drama ‘In the Moonlight‘ some time this month.

I can’t say for certain, obviously, as no official premiere date has yet been announced by Tencent but, when the drama is released, we should see the first episodes dropping on WeTV international.

The six In the Moonlight character visuals released today, as you would expect, are for the main leads, three main supporting actors and a guest star. They are:

Main Leads and Supporting Cast

Bao Shang En who plays Li Yao Ying

Wang Hong Yi who plays Luo Jia / Sultan Gu,

Quan Yi Lun who is Li Wei Zhen

Ma Qiu Yuan who is Zhu Lu Yun

Ding Jia Wen who plays Bi Tan,

Guest Star

Yang Shi Ze who is Li Zhong Qian.

Wang Hong Yi as Luo Jia aka Sultan Gu in In the Moonlight

Promo pieces started being released for In the Moonlight yesterday when we got several posters dropping for the historical romance drama. Posters that are a bit dull compared to what Tencent usually releases, but you can’t have everything every time, right?

A group of stills then followed a few hours later featuring the two leads, as well as a couple of BTS videos on Weibo (here and here), and with today’s character visuals also hitting fast.

Yep, when things fall thick and fast as they are doing here, in most cases (not all) a Chinese drama is hitting within the next week to 10 days. I will keep you posted.

Quan Yi Lun as Li Wei Zhen in In the Moonlight

In the Moonlight plot

As for the In the Moonlight plot, no, it’s nothing different. In fact, I would venture a guess I have seen this plot 20 times already.

But, then again, it does star Bao Shang En and Wang Hong Yi, so it really isn’t likely to be anything more than yet another vehicle for “the pretty” now, is it?

Can’t you see why the CCP is starting to clamp down on Chinese dramas starring idol actors, as so many of them are the same of the sameness, sadly.

But I will reserve judgement as always until a few episodes are released, although Bao Shang En did not impress me with her performance in Generation to Generation, which I have still yet to finish, so hopefully she’s a fair bit better here?

Ma Qiu Yuan as Zhu Lu Yun in In the Moonlight

In the Moonlight is a 40-episode drama, by the way, so there should, hopefully, be some meat to the plot and is directed by Zang Xi Chuan who recently got off directing The Long Way Back, one of China’s most critically-acclaimed war-themed dramas in a while, so it does have a strong backbone behind it.

Anyway, the In the Moonlight plot is this:

Princess Li Yaoying ( played by Bao Shang En ) is forced to marry a foreign ruler and is soon stranded in a foreign land. At the brink of death, she is saved by the ascetic king Luo Jia ( played by Wang Hong Yi ), who serves the gods with his body (ie: he’s a monk).

The gears of fate begin to turn, and a glance under the full moon in the desert means he becomes the love of her life. From then on, as war rages, they conquer the world together, their love lasting in the chaotic world. Under the bright moon, they are not alone.

Yep, very poetic, but it doesn’t tell you a lot except that we have a love story between a princess and a monk.

Interestingly, they didn’t have Wang Hong Yi shave his head for this one, which, in my opinion, they should have done.

Ding Jia Wen as Bi Tan in In the Moonlight

The drama’s Chinese title, by the way, is 月明千里 or The Moon Shines Bright for a Thousand Miles, which is a much prettier title if the truth be known.

Especially as it implies a bright moon illuminating the vast distance between two people, with one or both of them missing the other person who is far away.

Look out for more news on In the Moonlight‘s release coming soon.

Yang Shi Ze as Li Zhong Qian in In the Moonlight

 

About the Author

Michelle Topham

Michelle Topham

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British-American journalist currently residing in Vienna, Austria and obsessed beyond measure with C-dramas, a subject I have been writing about for more than two decades. How many C-dramas have I watched? Many many hundreds. How many are still in my backlog? Hundreds more.

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A blog dedicated to Chinese dramas founded by Michelle Topham -- a British-American journalist who spent almost two decades living in Asia, and wrote about Chinese series for most of that time. That's me!

Come on, if I'm this obsessed with C-dramas, you need to be as well.

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