Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia 2006 China, Later Tang Dynasty, 10th Century On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival, golden flowers fill the Imperial Palace The Emperor Chow Yun Fat returns unexpectedly with his second son, Prince Jai Jay Chou His pretext is to celebrate the holiday with his family, but given the chilled relations between the Emperor and the ailing Empress Gong Li, this seems disingenuous For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan Liu Ye, her stepson, have had an illicit liaison Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret love Chan Li Man, the Imperial Doctors daughter Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows worried over the Empresss health and her obsession with golden chrysanthemums Could she be headed down an ominous path The Emperor harbors equally clandestine plans the Imperial Doctor Ni Dahong is the only one privy to his machinations When the Emperor senses a looming threat, he relocates the doctors family from the Palace to a remote area While they are en route, mysterious assassins attack them Chan and her mother, Jiang Shi Chen Jin are forced back to the palace Their return sets off a tumultuous sequence of dark surprises Amid the glamour and grandeur of the festival, ugly secrets are revealed As the Imperial Family continues its elaborate charade in a palatial setting, thousands of golden armored warriors charge the palace Who is behind this brutal rebellion Where do Prince Jais loyalties lie Between love and desire, is there a final winner Against a moonlit night, thousands of chrysanthemum blossoms are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace