Cecilia Liu studies traditional medicine for new series

13 Jul – Actress Cecilia Liu recently admitted that playing the role of Ming Dynasty's famous female Chinese physician Tan Yunxian in her upcoming series, "The Imperial Doctress", has its own sets of challenges compared to her other costume drama characters.

According to Sina's Daily News, Cecilia stated to the media at the press conference of the drama in Hangzhou on 7 July, that she had taken brief lessons with a traditional physician to learn the basics of Chinese medicine and treatment in preparation for the role.

"I was taught how to handle acupuncture needles properly, learn the important pressure points of the human body, as well as several massage techniques," disclosed the actress. "It poses a different kind of challenge."

She continued, "There's a lot of jargon in the script and you can get confused very easily when it comes to the Chinese medical terms. Some of them sound quite similar to each other, though they have very different meanings."

Set in the 1400s, "The Imperial Doctress" tells the story of Tan Yunxian, the granddaughter of a physician who broke tradition and became a female physician, eventually becoming one of the most famous female imperial physicians of the Ming Dynasty.

Wallace Huo also stars in the series as Zhu Qizhen, along with Huang Xuan as Zhu Qiyu. The two will play as Tan's love interests and royal siblings who eventually became the Emperor of China.