My Fair Princess  My Fair Princess, also known as Return of the Pearl Princess or Princess Returning Pearl (), is a 1998–1999 television costume drama jointly produced by Yi Ren Communications Co. (怡人傳播公司) in Taiwan and Hunan Broadcasting System in Mainland China. Season 1 (1998) was filmed in 1997, and Season 2 (1999) in 1998–1999. Both seasons were filmed in Beijing, Chengde and the Bashang Plateau on the mainland, and first shown on China Television in Taiwan. Written by creator Chiung Yao, the story is set in 18th-century Qing dynasty during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. It follows tomboyish and innocent Xiaoyanzi, originally an orphaned and semiliterate vagrant in Beijing who, after befriending the emperor's illegitimate daughter Xia Ziwei, becomes a princess by accident. Although some characters, the plot premise, and certain sections of the story are based on historical events and figures, considerable artistic license was employed. Originally made with a small budget with a cast of unknown actors, it became massive international hit in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the drama is considered the most commercially successful Chinese-language series in history. Hunan Broadcasting System, after achieving ratings as high as 65% of audience shares, permanently became China's second largest network. Meanwhile, little-known cast members were made household names and huge teen idols over night, like the actress trio of Zhao Wei, Ruby Lin and Fan Bingbing, who are still among the biggest stars in Chinese entertainment more than 15 years later. After a successful writing career which saw many of her works adapted into films and television, Taiwanese romance novelist Chiung Yao and her husband Ping Hsin-tao established Yi Ren Communications Co. (怡人傳播公司) in 1985 to produce television dramas. (The company later transferred to Chiung Yao's son Chen Chung-wei and daughter-in-law Ho Hsiu-chiung.) In 1987, Taiwan's government allowed visits to Mainland China for the first time since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In her first trip in 1988, Chiung Yao became friends with Ouyang Changlin, then a reporter working for Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS), who encouraged her to start producing dramas in Mainland China due to more diverse landscape and cheaper labor cost. In 1989, Chiung Yao began filming for the first time in Mainland China in Changsha, Hunan, assisted by HBS and Beijing Television (BTV).