Who are the actors over 40 that still make you stop and stare whenever they appear on screen?

My pick is Yan Yikuan

I started I Am Nobody because of Hou Minghao’s cute face 🥹 Then Peng Yuchang and Wang Yinglu showed up and suddenly Hou Minghao’s acting looked like a cultivator who had accidentally wandered into a gathering of immortals💀

I’ve watched Back From the Brink, Glory, Fangs of Fortune, Love in the Clouds, Dashing Youth, and now I Am Nobody. I still don’t really understand why his acting never comes up during discussions like which actor’s acting isn’t impressive.

The dramas I have seen are where he keeps getting cast as the impossibly handsome demon, immortal, genius, or mysterious heartthrob. Its like being ridiculously good looking is doing half the acting for him 😭

I am asking you guys if Hou Minghao looked like an average guy instead of well Hou Minghao, would his acting still get the same level of praise?

I couldn’t believe some of them made the final cut like how??? 😭

Any other different or bizarre kisses?

I always find it funny when people say they watch modern dramas because their more relatable, while they can’t stand xianxia or wuxia because they’re too unrealistic.

I’m way more willing to believe someone can cultivate to immortality, wipe out an army with a flute, and become completely unrecognizable by putting on a mask than I am to believe half the plotlines in modern Cdramas 😓

I love these dramas, no shade or hate on them. But we are expected to believe 😝

>!You Are My Glory-!< The nation’s biggest actress reconnects with a rocket scientist through a mobile game and somehow neither their schedules nor reality get in the way.

>!The Best Thing-!< A stressed hotel manager’s insomnia is cured not by therapy, medication, or lifestyle changes, but by a devastatingly handsome traditional Chinese medicine doctor who keeps appearing in her apartment complex.

>!Speed and Love-!< A young woman spends her entire childhood believing a boy is her biological brother. Years later she discovers he’s adopted, flies across the world to find him, and they fall in love.

>!Hidden Love-!< A high school girl develops a crush on her brother’s best friend. After years of pining, the grown man who watched her grow up suddenly realizes she’s the love of his life.

But sure. The unrealistic part is the guy flying on a sword.

Is there a trope or plotline that was harder for you to believe than actual magic?

Sharing Luo Yunxi for attention 🥰

I respect prestige dramas. Unfortunately, I am a simple creature. Give me beautiful people, beautiful costumes, emotional damage, slow motion eye contact, and camera angles so close I can count Wang Xingyue’s eyelashes 🙊

I love my idol dramas 💕 I totally respect those who watch dramas for substance and want realism. I am superficial and thirsty 🙇🏻‍♀️

I loveeeee cute little stories about Wang Xingyue like he is so young and does such regular people things 💗 such as riding a bike, taking a subway after an award show, getting drunk and starting a live video! Totally normal stuff 😂 No big ego or stardom. Such a humble guy 🥺

Today I found out that he told someone that he has a girlfriend because she asked for his WeChat 😭 she didn’t recognize him!!!! How do you not recognize Xiao Heng? He was hiking and did a live video for his fans to show them the scenery then did a little bye bye - video link in comment

Low key jealous of the fans who can meet their stars

I was talking to BBR about upcoming dramas and 520 posts, and somewhere in that conversation it occurred to me that almost all upcoming dramas that most people are interested in have something in common

LOOK AT THE PLOT FOR ANY OF THESE DRAMAS

A) Blossoms of Power (Meng Ziyi + Heyu)
B) Empress Reborn (Wang Hedi + Meng Ziyi)
C) Yunchu's Vengeance (Esther Yu + Zhang Yunlong)
D) Ashes to Crown (Chen Duling + Zhou Yiran)
E) Where The Mask Ends (Tian Xiwei + Yan An)
F) The First Jasmine (Bai Lu + Ryan Cheng)

And there are even more. Looking at upcoming costume dramas and realizing almost everything people are hyped for falls into rebirth or revenge somehow.

Maybe Blossom and The Double proved the formula works. Girl is wronged and she comes back with a second chance or a new face, girl burns everything down in gorgeous hanfu. I get it, because I've watched it. I will probably watch it again 🤓💗 Or the boy seeks revenge looking stunning or sometimes even doing despicable things looking GORGEOUS cough DENG KAI cough 🤭

I’m not blaming The Double or Blossom because I loved both of them. But it does feel like studios looked at the numbers, looked at the fandom reactions, and immediately decided this is THE formula now.

It got me questioning whether cdrama viewers are genuinely still hungry for this specific formula or if the industry is just feeding us variations of the same meal because they know it works. Thoughts? And spare me the idol drama watcher debate PLEASE 😭 I’m obviously asking fans who are anticipating the dramas I listed above.

I noticed something and it got me thinking 🤔

It feels like most of the recommendations and discussions are about romance dramas especially costume romance and xianxia. I rarely see anyone asking for modern dramas or non romance shows unless there's a specific actor involved. I realized that I also do the exact same thing 😅

I pretty much only watch romance. I will only check out a modern drama or something without romance if an actor I really like is in it. I watched Born with Luck because of Tian Xiwei and before that I discovered Reset and Mobius purely because I was curious about Bai Jingting after seeing him in New Life Begins. 😇 All of these dramas are honestly so good?? I would have never given them a chance if I had not been following Tian Xiwei. Pursuit of Jade had me fangirling for her

In short, I realized I only watch romance unless there's an actor I love and now I'm curious about y'all. Do you stick to romance too? 👀

Have you found any non romance gems just because you followed an actor there? Or are there people who watch everything they find interesting.

Let’s talk about our drama comfort zones and maybe share some non romance dramas we actually loved 💖

Anddddddd before anyone starts idol drama versus non idol drama debate, please I know the divide already. The question is for new cdrama fans.

I am on a roll today as I got handed Douban scores by the big mods 😂 cos I was watching both Fate Chooses You and Born with Luck. They said go and ask if the ratings are worth it but I promise this is my last post on ratings today.

I haven’t watched Light to the Night but I see the Douban score on the lower end compared to Born with Luck yet it’s still number 6 so it didn’t do bad at all. It’s on Netflix but even Netflix didn’t recommend it to me possibly cos I watch costume dramas more. All of this is making me a bit confused.

Is this drama worth a watch?

My first Ren Jialun drama and I am still slowly finishing it (episode 31 currently) but honestly this ended up being such a refreshing surprise.

After surviving transmigration, rebirth, revenge, you killed my clan 800 years ago, and couples spending 14 episodes misunderstanding each other because nobody believes in communication. This drama genuinely felt fresh 😭

I get why the Douban score is considered good for a costume drama but I think the MyDramaList rating is way too low for what this drama actually delivers.

For me personally, it clears some of this year’s releases like Veil of Shadows and Love Beyond the Grave pretty comfortably 🫣 Please don’t get your pitchforks out. Not everyone likes the same thing.

Also I need to address the real issue here which is Ren Jialun’s gaze in this drama.

That man looks at people like he already buried you once in a past life, spent 700 years mourning you in the snow, and just found you again beside a cursed lotus pond under a blood moon - oddly specific, I know 😂

If Lu QianQiao asked me for a spare kidney while staring at me like that I would already be in the hospital filling out paperwork before he even finished the sentence.

Like sir why are your eyes doing full emotional monologues.

What are your ratings of the drama? Or did you not even watch it because RJL dramas are not for you?

For a comedy police series, the Douban score is really good maybe cs the acting, plot and pacing were all top tier 🥇

I am a bit disappointed with MDL score because this series deserved a higher rating and more audience!

Tian Xiwei fans won’t be disappointed by her performance and for those like me who had no idea of Lawrence Wang’s skill would be pleasantly surprised. They entire cast did a phenomenal job.

What are your thoughts on the ratings and the drama?

I just saw that Youku announced new seasons for some dramas and it got me thinking, which dramas do you want have more episodes of?
Link to post

For me, it’s the Double! I need to know how they lived after eliminating their enemies. Another one is Love and Redemption because I want to know if Yu Sifeng is still spitting blood and sacrificing himself or has he taken wisdom pills 😭

Which drama’s ending made you wish for a season 2?

It’s one of those dramas for me that I started for Tian Xiwei and now I’m hooked because Lawrence Wang is a whole damn mood 😭 See him recite poetry like it’s the perfectly normal thing to do. So in love with the whole cast for their acting chops.

Let’s get into what happened in episodes 4 and 5

🪙 Episode 4: The God of Wealth Looks Familiar

Hu Jianren hires a feng shui master to bless Zhou Rong. The master gifts him a God of Wealth statue, but something about it is deeply wrong. The statue looks exactly like Fang Yong, the director of the local administrative committee. Nothing says blessed and cleansed like a deity that doubles as the official you are trying to bribe.

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi are at the train station hunting for corrupt officials to rob when they accidentally startle Jiang Ying and her husband Li Feng, the very fleeing couple Zhang Yi'ang has been hunting. The bumbling crooks have no idea they just stumbled into the middle of a murder investigation.

Zhang Yi'ang follows his so called intuition to the station. He decides he is too cool for proper procedure, hops a gate like a movie star, and immediately eats pavement. SPLAT. But his luck holds. He spots Jiang Ying holding her baby on the platform, secures his alibi with a voice recording, and gets Li Feng arrested. The man pulls a knife and confesses to something. We are not sure what yet. Li Feng is a fugitive wanted for multiple robberies and murders, including killing the men who abused his wife throughout her life.

News of Captain Ye Jian's death finally reaches Zhou Rong. His reaction is explosive. Rage, disbelief, and a full meltdown that lands him in the hospital. Once discharged, he immediately suspects his own brother figure Lang Bowen of being the killer. In a scene that bounces between tragedy and farce, Zhou Rong pulls a gun on Bowen, then drops it. A three way scramble for the weapon follows. Bowen wins but instead of turning the gun on his boss, he tearfully begs to be shot if Zhou Rong truly does not trust him. They cry, they hug, the bromance survives. Barely.

In the interrogation room, Li Feng finally cracks under Zhang Yi'ang's persuasion. He drops the bombshell. An old cellmate named Xiao Fei, also known as Scarface, once hired him to murder Deputy Director Lu Zheng. The cold case suddenly has a name attached. But before Zhang can act, Hu Jianren gets there first. He sends men to bury Xiao Fei alive. Some witnesses are too dangerous to keep breathing.

And that creepy God of Wealth statue? It is the exact same one Fang Chao and Liu Zhi stole from the jewelry store back in Episode 1. It has been circulating through the criminal underworld and has now landed on Zhou Rong's desk. The robbers literally handed the police their biggest clue and nobody knows it yet.

🏃 Episode 5: The Great Escape NOT

Zhang Yi'ang leads a raid on Xiao Fei's apartment, but Hu Jianren's henchman Li Penggai is already inside, frantically dismantling Xiao Fei's computer to destroy a critical hard drive. Li Penggai spots the police through the window and bolts, blending into a crowd to escape. Zhang's team misses the evidence by seconds. The hard drive, and whatever secrets it holds, slips through their fingers.

Zhou Rong, increasingly paranoid about the police investigation, pressures Hu Jianren to cozy up to official Fang Yong. When they learn Fang Yong has a weakness for classical poetry, Zhou Rong decides to cultivate a refined, literary persona to win him over. Nothing screams honest businessman like suddenly quoting Tang dynasty verses over dinner.

Meanwhile, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi are actually doing something resembling detective work. They break into a newsroom, in disguise naturally, release a cockroach to terrorize a female employee, and copy Fang Yong's files to confirm he is a corrupt official worth robbing. Their plan is classic Robin Hood logic. Rob from the corrupt, keep the proceeds. What they do not notice is a security camera capturing every move. Someone is watching them from a laptop. Is it Chief Qi? Who else is tracking these two idiots?

Zhang Yi'ang, exhausted and nursing a twice injured ankle, formally requests a transfer back to the provincial capital. He is done. But Li Qian is not buying it. She replays the entire case file and sees something nobody else has. Zhang's hidden investigative framework. Every coincidence, every lucky break, it was all part of a deliberate strategy he has been too modest or too traumatized to take credit for. She also learns the truth about five years ago from senior colleagues. Zhang did not push that suspect off a roof. He was trying to talk him down. The man jumped, and Zhang has carried the guilt ever since.

Zhang's farewell is interrupted by Li Qian arriving with an empty suitcase, on the verge of tears, announcing she will take responsibility for his injury. She almost goes full Fan Changyu on him. Then colleagues arrive, one after another, singing Zhang's praises and begging him to stay. The sun quite literally shines on him, and then his newspaper photo starts moving and straightening its tie. Zhang is absolutely hallucinating. Right? Right?!

Zhou Rong attends Captain Ye Jian's memorial service, where we learn the two grew up together and maintained what appears to be a genuine, lawful friendship. Zhou Rong approaches Zhang Yi'ang directly and, with apparent sincerity, begs him to find Ye Jian's killer. Is this a genuine plea from a grieving friend, or a master manipulator inviting the detective into his parlor?

Fang Chao and Liu Zhi have officially selected Fang Yong as their target. The corrupt official who loves poetry. The same man Zhou Rong is trying to bribe with poetic dinners. All roads are converging on one man, and none of these idiots know they are about to collide.

I only started this for Tian Xiwei discovering Lawerence Wang is a happy coincidence. His comedic timing is impeccable. The drama is so good that I asked if I could recap episodes whenever possible. It’s a must watch comedy. This is what happened in the first three episodes. The video is from episode 2’s explosion. It’s the dumbest in history of all explosions I have ever seen on TV 😆.

🤡 Episode One: The Comeback & The Clowns

Five years ago, detective Zhang Yi’ang (Lawrence Wang) caused a suspect's death during an arrest and was permanently pulled off the frontline. He is banished to the Retired Cadres Affairs Department, his biggest crisis now is organizing a marathon and he promptly lands a retiree in hospital. The old man recovers, no permanent damage.

Meanwhile, two spectacularly hopeless crooks, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi, pull off a credit union heist so bizarre it leaves the entire police force scratching their heads. They follow it up by blowing up a septic tank, then don disguises to rob a jewelry store but dim witted Liu Zhi only grabs worthless trinkets. There is no real loot but a statue supposed to bring money.

At their explosion site, Zhang Yi’ang finds a tattered whistleblower letter. It claims the death of Sanjiangkou’s Deputy Director Lu Zheng six months ago wasn’t an accident but a meticulously planned murder. There is a huge problem. The whistleblower’s name and the mastermind are missing. The lead is maddeningly incomplete. Murphy’s law in action full time.

Inspired by a newspaper article, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi decide their true calling is robbing corrupt officials in Sanjiangkou. With the anonymous letter gnawing at him, Deputy Director Gao Dong decides to send someone to dig into Lu Zheng’s death. Every department claims to have no suitable personnel until Gao Dong remembers Zhang Yi’ang, sidelined for five years. It’s a chance to close the case and give Zhang a shot at redemption. He is partnered with a brilliant rookie, Li Qian (our very own Tian Xiwei), Zhang boards a train to Sanjiangkou. By pure, terrible coincidence, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi spot them.

💥 Episode 2: Doubt the Doubts!

Local tycoon Zhou Rong (Wang Chuanjun) learns at his birthday banquet that Zhang Yi’ang has been sent to Sanjiangkou, and it immediately sours his mood. He orders his people to keep a low profile. Sure enough, when Zhang and Li Qian arrive at the Sanjiangkou bureau, they hit a wall. The local cops serve up a masterclass in passive aggressive stonewalling, hoping to drive this parachuted in investigator straight back to the province.

The bumbling Fang Chao and Liu Zhi, on the other hand, smoothly fence their stolen goods. Zhang Yi’ang ignores his unwelcoming colleagues, drags Li Qian into the archives, and pores over Lu Zheng’s accident files. He even tracks down the original drive but learns nothing. Meanwhile, Ye Jian privately reexamines the traffic footage and catches a suspicious figure for the first time. While Zhang launches a citywide sweep to shake the trees, Ye Jian sneaks down to the riverbank to verify his hunch but he is violently run down. He’s left fighting for his life.

🕵🏻‍♂️ Episode 3: The Detective Becomes the Suspect

Zhang Yi’ang is still reeling from his chaotic ant vice operation when Fang Chao and Liu Zhi, having bought a near-dead wreck to carry out their “rob a corrupt official” scheme, almost crash the thing. Furious, they hunt down the sleazy car dealer. The dealer tries to flee to the riverbank and stumble upon Ye Jian’s body. At the scene, police find a stone carved with the characters Yi Ang. Overnight, the paratrooper detective becomes the prime suspect 😭. I told you, it’s Murphy’s law in full force.

Zhang protests he was fast asleep at home during the murder. His sole alibi is a delivery driver named Jiang Ying who has now completely vanished.

Desperate to clear his name, Zhang sneaks into Jiang Ying’s apartment with Li Qian’s help. The place has been ransacked and the duo has fled. Zhang triggers a citywide manhunt, but in a darkly ironic twist, he’s forced to argue that the only person who can prove his innocence is the very killer who’s disappeared.

---

What do you think of the story and setup? Are you also watching it for Tian Xiwei? She hasn’t had as much screen time as I would like but her screen presence is undeniably hot 🥵.

The synopsis promised six calamities and a contract marriage. What I got is Ren Jialun staring at Wang Herun like she is oxygen and he plans to inhale deeply and never exhale. I am completely sold on the vibes. He is radiating love, longing, devotion, mild obsession. I feel everything. Unfortunately I understand nothing.

If your entire motivation is that she avenged your very tragic and very wrongful death, why are we playing riddles. Just pull her aside and say, I cannot explain everything yet but trust me and maybe stop running directly into danger like a spiritually gifted sword

Done. Communication achieved. Plot unlocked. And before anyone accuses me of being an A’Xin anti, absolutely not. I adore her. She has that frog leaving the well and immediately choosing morality over immortality energy. Bold, principled, slightly chaotic but morally upright. She is doing her best within her plot given capabilities and I respect it.

Now back to the confusion. The marriage ended by episode 3. By episode 4 we are already in memory wipe territory. I am on episode 16 and the writer is feeding me war demon with soft eyes but refusing to deliver actual romance progression. It is emotional edging at this point.

Even if I forgive the romance, where is the story going. It feels like we are walking forward and events keep happening but the destination is classified information. When do we actually get Lu Qianqiao’s backstory. Is there a timeline for this revelation or do I just keep watching and hope enlightenment strikes around episode 30.

I am not dropping this drama. I will see this through to the bitter end out of pure spite. But someone please explain the plot before I ascend into a higher realm of confusion.

It is the long weekend. And I have already accepted that I will not see sunlight until Monday. I have two modes for a weekend like this.

Mode one: Rewatch a favorite. Something I have already seen so I can skip the boring parts and just cry at the same scenes again. For me that is Till The End of The Moon. I know exactly when Tan Taijin steals my heart. He loses consciousness while kneeling outside in the snow. I still gasp.

Mode two: Binge that drama everyone has been yelling about. The one I have been saving for a weekend with no consequences. Right now that is Empresses in the Palace. I have been warned about the schemes, the politics, the emotional damage. I am walking into a harem for the first time with zero survival skills. Please keep me in your prayers 🛐

What about you? Tell me this instead of just dropping random titles. What is a drama that is actually worth disappearing into for a whole weekend. And what makes it that kind of watch?

Cdramaland is full of mythical creatures and I love the concept of nine tailed foxes even if I learned about them first from kdramas. Need to also shout out to Veil of Shadows cos I loved learning about the tale of nine dragons and the cultural background.

These are some spirit animal types and actors who played these characters. Do you have a favorite spirit animal or demon? Or even an actress or actor that played a certain character?

I was just stuck with it because the whole time it felt like watching something that could have gone right at any moment but it never really does.

Tantai Jin isn’t a normal tragic male lead because he literally learns how to feel from zero and the second he does, everything around him turns into a situation where those feelings cost him!

And Li Susu, I still can’t decide if she loved him in a way that was fair to him or if she was always choosing the world first and him second. I know choosing him was never really on the cards for her but didn’t she feel anything for the man who was grateful to her for her care?

Ok logically she’s right but emotionally it never feels that simple. I believe this is the part that stayed with me more than the plot. It’s not the suffering or the ending. It’s just this lingering feeling that they were never on equal ground and he never stood a chance. Like he loved her with everything he had

and she loved him with conditions attached.

And I don’t even know if that’s wrong or just inevitable but it’s good story telling for sure.

Those reading this, please be honest because I feel like people don’t say this out loud. Did you ever actually doubt Tantai Jin or were you on his side no matter what the story tried to tell you?

And if you were Li Susu, would you have made the same choices or would you have hesitated just a little longer?

Eight hundred finished its run time, The Epoch of Miyu is still on air and I see Light to the Night on Netflix. My costume drama loving heart is eager to see Fate Chooses You but I am waiting for more episodes to drop. Which modern dramas are worth watching, are there any others worth checking out? And I am dying to know how is fate chooses you looking?

Please no spoilers 🥲