Is the Empress making beautiful music with the General for real?
The entertainment grapevine is abuzz with word that Fan Bingbing, who plays the female lead character in "Empress of China", has developed a real-life romance with Li Chen, who plays General Li Mu in the said drama.
The two have been close friends for years as they worked in the same media company, but reportedly felt the sparks fly in the course of their frequent interactions while filming the "Empress".
Those privy to what was going on behind the scenes say Li had eagerly accepted the project upon learning that he would have a lot of romantic scenes with Fan.
The rumored closeness also seems to be backed by the fact that Li has been actively interacting with Fan on Weibo.
On Christmas eve, he posted a photo of a mystery gift online, which netizens believed was for Fan Bingbing.
Further fueling speculation of a budding romance were eyewitness accounts that the couple had paid visit to Fan's parent on New Year.
Although airport photos at Yantai Laishan International in Shandong only showed Fan leaving the airport with her father, and Li exiting the airport alone, witnesses said the two were indeed together during the holiday break.
The 33-year old actress, whose own film studio produced "Empress of China", portrays Empress Wu Zetian, described as a ruthless, powerful woman who ruled China in the seventh century following the death of Emperor Taizong and his son, Emperor Gaozong, who both married her.
Despite her marriage to both rulers, Empress Wu's first love was General Li Mu, portrayed by 37-year old Li, hence the numerous romantic scenes between Fan and Li in the drama.
"Empress of China" was temporarily pulled off the air on December 21 due to the revealing costumes worn by the female characters that showed a lot of cleavage. When it returned on air a week later, the plunging neckline shots had been zoomed in to show closeup shots of the women.
