Additional info about characters, history etc
The real Huafei 敦肃皇贵妃 - DunSu Huang Guifei
- Madam Nian was never conferrered as Huafei. It's a fictitious name made up by the show. She was always known by her surname, Nian guifei.
- Her initial rank was Gui Fei, not Fei.
- She was acknowledged as Yongzheng's most favored concubine and recorded in history as a gentle person.
- While she was still alive, no other woman bore a child for Yongzheng for a period of 11 years.
- She had given birth to 4 children. 3 of them died in infancy. The longest living of them died when he was 8 years old, outliving her by only 2 years. None of her children lived to adulthood.
- Only her children were not named using the same ancestral naming system. The next generation were to be named with a "Hong". For example, Qianlong emperor's name is Hongli. Her children were named with Fu.
- She died on 23rd Nov 1725, just 2 months before her brother's death in Jan 1726. Yongzheng only gave the order to execute her brother after her death due to being mindful of her sickness. She was promoted to Huang Guifei on her sickbed.
- She died in the 3rd year of Yongzheng's reign.
- Her brother's downfall did not affect her standing and she was not disgraced in death. She was still honoured and buried with Yongzheng in the royal manuselom. Her father was also buried with honours. That is to say, only Nian Gengyao's line was exterminated but the rest of the Nian family was alright.
- Yongzheng had only 1 more child (with concubine Qian) after her death.