My C-drama List (Taiwanese too!)

If you're an impatient viewer like me, then Chinese dramas might just frustrate you. Cdramas usually have more than 20 episodes with a minimum of thirty minutes each. Prepare yourself to watch forty-five minutes of forty episodes, which is actually a good thing if you have that much time. Shows are usually long-winding with a lot of repetitive long shots, flashbacks and fillers. Don't let me start on the product placements. After forty episodes of obvious product placements, you'll just hate those products instead.

If you don't know anything about the Chinese culture, some of the motives, actions, reactions and dialogues within the scenes won't make sense but Cdramas are one of the best ways to immerse in this vibrant culture. Endings for each episode are also random. There's no concept of cliff-hangers. It's like they made a really long movie and they just chop it up so they can be called episodes. There are some similar underlying themes in all of the Cdramas I've watched. These dramas usually showcase all the beautiful and superior things in the country from their skylines, sceneries, universities, lifestyle, fashion, business, technology and architecture. You'll usually find one or two geniuses in a Cdrama, loyal friends, fun youth and triumph of the protagonists and the fulfilment of their dreams. Unlike the bleak Japanese dramas, which are the shortest and grounded in reality, and Korean dramas, which usually find the balance between entertainment and real-life depictions, most Cdramas tend to be grand, patriotic and idealistic.

With all these being said, it is still in the plot, production, acting and direction of any Show that viewers will watch until the end. Any show, either Cdrama, Jdrama, Kdrama or Taiwanese, which can both be educational and entertaining is, for me, worth the watch.

Only Side by Side With You (2018) - It's a story between Nan Qiao (Bai Baihe), CEO of a drone-making business, and Shi Yue (William Chan), a mysterious bar owner. Shi Yue approached Nan Qiao's company with a revenge motive but found himself falling in love for real. Despite the dragged out episodes, I really liked the maturity and logic flow of this Show. And despite the length, I thought it was well-written. Shi Yue's smile is swoon-worthy but I especially liked how Nan Qiao was portrayed—wise, cool, honest and straightforward. The love story between the main leads was organic, fun, mature and heartfelt. Their chemistry was sizzling! The storyline, backstories and personalities of the supporting leads, including the clueless Chan Jiang Xiong (Li Xian), were also entertaining to watch. I seriously enjoyed the last ten episodes. Overall, it's a solid, great watch.

Love Me, If You Dare (2015) - Show is a crime drama series featuring straightforward, unpredictable, arrogant, genius criminal psychologist Bo Jin Yan (Wallace Huo) and his observant, soft-spoken translator-assistant Jian Yao (Ma Sichun) and their journey in solving harrowing crimes and confronting a vicious psychopath. I actually put off watching this Show twice because I thought it was overrated but after watching it, I understood where all the praises were coming from. Show started off in a mysterious manner, hooking in viewers. Jin Yan's cold manner and lack of social skills create comedic relief and Jian Yao's sweet disposition, despite her exasperation with Jin Yan's attitude, was endearing. Jin Yan was drawn to Jian Yao's good heart and it's easy to root for them off the bat. Show's like Sherlock Holmes with Watson being a beautiful woman instead. I gobble up books, movies and series of this genre. Anyway, Show has a lot of swoon moments and I watched most of them on repeat.

It felt a little bit askew watching this Show AFTER watching When A Snail Falls In Love (2016). Both Shows are unrelated, though of the same crime-thriller romance genre, but they feel like they're in the same movie universe since Wang Kai is in both Shows. You should definitely watch Love Me If You Dare first before watching When A Snail Falls In Love.

When A Snail Falls In Love (2016) - This is the first Chinese drama that I liked. Maybe because it's a crime-thriller romance, a genre which I've always favoured, and there's the hot male lead, Ji Bai (Wang Kai). He's such my type with his strong, silent-type personality and female lead, Xu Xu (Ziwen Wang) was so quirky (like a snail!), naive but smart. Ji Bai is the ace detective and Xu Xu is the inexperienced but genius profiler. Together with their team of detectives, they solve drug and human trafficking crimes involving the company of Ji Bai's childhood friend. There's still a lot to be desired with this Show (e.g. steady camera).

I swear I had a migraine just watching those shaky scenes. The director of photography, production and editing needed improvement but what kept me going was the story. I haven't watched a lot of Chinese dramas because I'm very impatient with how they develop their stories and there were also the cultural aspects that didn't make sense to me. But this Show's plot and action scenes were interesting enough. The episodes in Myanmar spiced up the Show. Each episode of the Show was not too long unlike most Cdramas, the right amount of short and sweet. Show's content was also realistic and grounded.

Go Go Squid (2019) - Han Shang Yan (Li Xian),

a legend in the world of international hacking competitions, walks into an internet cafe that Tong Nian (Yang Zi) is looking after as a favour for her cousin. Tong Nian catches a glimpse of Han Shang Yan and immediately falls for him. She is usually brave, outgoing, and has tens of thousands of followers from singing covers online, but she fumbles whenever she encounters him. He is cold, hard to reach, and not the type of guy to be interested in girls, but Tong Nian's unique personality and persistence to get close to him begin to catch his attention. Honestly, at 41 episodes of forty-five minutes each, there's a lot going on with this Show, including ruined friendships, stressful competitions and parenting. Sometimes, Show is light and fluffy then sometimes, the drama gets heavy. I think what I liked best in this Show was Han Shan Yang's character and sense of responsibility. He's also not too bad to look at and with the aloof Wu Bai (A Love So Beautiful's Hu Yi Tian) in the mix, it's guaranteed to get fangirls hooked and wanting more.

Love 020 (2016) - Show is a college love story between genius game developer Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) and online gamer Bei Wei Wei (Zheng Shuang). They coupled up in an online game and later became a couple in real life, to the envy of all the girls in their university. If you're full of angst and is cynical, it's nice to watch this Show. It's so light, fluffy, idealistic and full of positivity you'll just want to puke and tear your hair out. Recommended for light watching—you just need to figure out most of the idioms and cultural references used there. Acting and production are like a theatre production with a bigger stage geared towards young people and how they should conduct themselves and what they should be doing in their youth. There are a lot of product placements in every episode, I don't even want to see Yakult, HP and orange juice for the next few weeks. There was an exciting hint of BL with two of the supporting actors, you just have to use your imagination and read between the lines. There was nothing much to the plot but hey, light watching, right? What I loved about the Show was Xiao Nai's maturity in handling his budding business and love life. He was always one step ahead, something which I greatly admired.

Put Your Head On My Shoulder (2019) - Si Tu Mo (Xing Fei) is a graduating student but she is at a loss about her future and can't find the courage to make a decision for herself. Because the school districts have merged, she met physics major Gu Wei Yi (Lin Yi). They clash repeatedly without noticing that they are slowly walking into each other's lives. To their surprise, they accidentally end up having to live together. Ahh, cohabitation, the perfect excuse to fall in love. I personally liked this Show more than Love 020. The story was more organic, has more substance and character development. I thought their progression of dating was how a college love story would pan out, but what do I know? (shrug)

"What is more important is that you do the job you love."

My Little Happiness (2021) - If you were disappointed Xiaotian Tang and Xing Fei's love story was thwarted in Put Your Head On My Shoulder, say no more. This sweet flick will make up for it and Xiaotian Tang looked more mature, hotter and a winner here too. Zhuo Rong (Xing Fei) has long dreamed of becoming a lawyer like her dad but her mother is determined to see her daughter study finance abroad. Zhuo Rong secretly returns home to begin work as a legal intern where her childhood friend, Wen Shao Qing (Xiaotian Tang) is working. Now a surgeon, Shao Qing isn’t just Zhuo Rong’s client, he’s also her landlord and next-door neighbour.

Eternal Love (2017) - Adapted from the Xianxia novel Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom. Generally, I don't go for xianxia or wuxia stories because of their length and content. I only tried this Show because of Vin Zhang and I was not sure I would last the whole fifty-eight episodes. Thank god there was Dong Huang (Gao Weiguang) to watch out for. He's such an eye-candy! The overall casting was great and the cinematography was beautiful, they added to the success of the Show. Anyway, if you must watch this Show, be warned it is a slow watch. Show is about the epic love story between deities Bai Qian (Yang Mi) and Ye Hua (Mark Chao), which expands three lives, and all their adventures and tragedies in between.

Additional: Taiwanese dramas!

Attention, Love! (2017) - It's a teenage love story between Li Zheng (Zi Wang) and Shao Xi (Joanne Tseng) who are destined to be married before they were born. Despite their personality clashes, they are drawn to each other. Show has a simple plot of misunderstandings and unrequited love. What I loved most about this Show were the friendships and loyalty portrayed. I also loved the second main lead, Wang Jin Li (Riley Wang). I thought he and An Xiao Qiao (Yao Yao) were the most who had character developments. I think the Taiwanese had perfected some of its coming to age movies like You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011), At Cafe 6 (2016) and Our Times (2015) and now this series.

"Memories are the scariest. You think you can just throw them away but the truth is there is no garbage bag big enough to hold them all."

Love Contract (2004) - You'll have to forgive the unsophisticated acting and production and even the poor resolution of this drama since Show is from sixteen years ago. Regardless, I really loved its nostalgic feel and the early 2000 fashion and culture. It's a college love story between the bad-tempered captain of the Kendo team, Xiao Feng, (Ariel Lin) and the aloof captain of the Swimming team, Ken (Mike He). Xiao Feng wanted to fall in love and her loyal friends asked Ken to take her out for a movie in exchange, they'll help Ken look for more members of the Swimming team. Show is refreshing and has its own originality. Who would have thought to add donating blood to the list of activities for a first date and a tooth extraction on the second date? Each episode gave me a nice break from most of the cliches in Asian romance dramas in the past five years or so since I can't predict where the story is going. Show also didn't have too much filter on issues like adultery, miscarriage, unhappy marriage.

I'm watching My Dear Boy (2017) this time and I'm personally relating to the female lead, who is afraid to make major changes in her personal and professional life despite her unhappiness. Maybe at some point in our lives, many people would feel the way too. Anyway, enjoy watching!