r/CDramaRecs

I have watched 39 CDramas (many with rewatches) and need help choosing my 40th!

I have a list of shows that I'm not particularly motivated to watch. My expectations are not high so need some convincing to give them a shot.

1. Love on the Turquoise Land -- I like the ML and FL. Didnt hear anything about it in social media so not sure what to expect
2. Glory -- Just bc HMH, is the FL any good in this? I get mixed reviews
3. Story of Minglan -- No idea what this is about, but it keeps showing up in Reddit
4. Back from the Brink -- I think I saw somewhere that this has a sad ending, not 100%
5. Who Rules the World -- Just bc ZL
6. Nirvana in Fire -- I know, classic, must watch. I'm deflated on classics bc The Untamed ranked #38 for me...
7. Dream within a Dream -- I watched the first couple episodes but found all the characters to be annoying. Other reddit posts suggest it doesnt get better.. for better or worse, that made me drop it
8. Royal Betrothal -- I'm defeated by the reviews of the ending..
9. Blossoms in Adversity -- I like the song, not sure about the rest
10. Not big on modern shows unless there's a really good hook in there for me to watch.

Basic expectation is filler content while I wait for all episodes of new shows to drop. Not expecting these to place that high on my rankings.

I just got off an excellent drama, A Dream Of Splendor (i need to find the person who gave me that rec and send them virtual flowers) and I'm wondering if I should ride this high and watch one of the following three dramas or rest. I'm hoping to get these dramas off my list before introducing any new ones.

Overdo? I've been waiting since it got announced, and I do love me some Zhang Linghe, but I hear it's kinda tragic. No spoilers, should I watch?

Fall In Love (2017)? I'm having trouble finishing this. Ngl a major player is the picture quality. Everything feels like that early in the morning shot from an iPhone. Its not bad, but it feels flat enough that even when the plot is interesting I feel like being on my phone as if I can understand Chinese.

Genius Girlfriend? I recently fell in love with my girl Tian, anyone else excited for her other upcoming drama? Anyway, the first 20 minutes feel so much like Our Generation and I practically dragged myself through that to see Jinmai and Linghe on the same screen again. Does it get better? Am I to be excited?

Love For You? Is this drama no4? Yes, but I just remembered how it was on my list as well. It kinda felt like struggle love and I really don't wanna be depressed. Would I be depressed? Also giving Our Generation vibes.

Without giving me spoilers (I beg you, put it behind a white bar if you must), please tell how you felt about these dramas and which ones are great for continuing the high of a good drama. TIA

What’s a Chinese drama you genuinely think deserves more love? Or it's so misunderstood you feel like defending its honour?

This is the place to recommend the shows you’re constantly trying to get other people to watch.

It may not have been perfect, but it:

• had incredible chemistry
• surprised you emotionally
• had an amazing storyline nobody talks about
• became your comfort drama
• was completely overshadowed by bigger releases
• made you wonder why more people aren’t obsessed with it

Tell us:

• the drama title
• what it’s about (without major spoilers please!)
• why you loved it
• who you’d recommend it to

And if you're brand new to the sub, this is your chance to grill your seniors about their best recommendations! Drama propaganda is encouraged here. (wink wink)

I'm thoroughly enjoying Road To Splendor, it feels like we've finally gotten a decent drama for 2026. What else could I watch? Maybe something that's escaped my eyes.

I have watched a lot of dramas over the years. I can't name them all. I'll mention a few of the top that I loved

1. Joy of life-11/10

2. How dare you-10/10

3. Legend of Zhou hua-9/10

4. A plendid match-8/10

5. Destined with you

6. Blossoms

7. Blossoms in adversity 9/10

8. New life begins-7/10

9. Pursuit of jade-5/10-Ml was not convincing at all, but I loved the fl.

10. Prisoner of beauty-10/10

11. Are you the one-8.5/10

Dramas I didn't like for some reason

1. The heirs

2. Ruyis love in the palace-too toxic

3. Royal betrothal-the investigation was severely lacking.

4. The first frost

5. The best thing

6. The first Jasmine

7. Blossoms of power-50/50. I might pick it up again

I hate harem dramas. I love political intrigue even if there's no romance. But if there's romance, it better be convincing

I can modern. Only that they have to be office romance with deep/heavy office politics. I've pretty much watched all modern so I doubt there's one I'm missing. I don't like school/coming of age romances. They have to be adults.

Thank you.

So I wanna try start watching historical cdramas and I don’t know which I should start watching. I have already watched pursuit of jade and I’m not so good at complicated storys. I was trying to figure out if I should watch generation to generation cause I love both Zhou Yiran and Bao Shang En. But I don’t know if it’s good to start with and I want your recommendations! I like romance

Someone asked me to ask for some recs on their behalf.

I’m looking for recommendations for Chinese historical dramas with stories that are a little different from the usual plots

I’m tired of plots where the female lead’s entire family gets massacred so she disguises herself as a man joins the army and seeks revenge

I also don’t want the female lead to be betrayed by her husband die and then come back to life or take another woman’s identity just to get revenge

A few more things I dislike

I don’t like childish female leads who constantly cause problems but at the same time I don’t want a female lead who is unrealistically good at everything and acts like the entire world would stop spinning without her

I also hate when characters are overly glorified like when the male lead is introduced as the God of War and then suddenly becomes childish just because he falls in love with the female lead

I’m not a fantasy girl either I tried Till the End of the Moon because of all the praise it got and finished it but honestly it was a 4/10 for me

I absolutely hate resurrection time travel and the whole “a writer enters her own novel” type of plot these are probably the worst scenarios for me

One important thing I’m looking for is romance but it has to serve the story and feel naturally integrated into the plot rather than taking over the entire drama

Here are the dramas I finished

- The Long Ballad — 9/10

- Fated Hearts — 8/10

- A Journey to Love — 7.8/10 I watched about half of it but suddenly lost the mood so I’m leaving the rest for later

- Prisoner of Beauty — 8.3/10 I really like forced or political marriages especially when they are harsh in the beginning rather than cute and fluffy like Destined or New Life Begins so I’d especially love recommendations where the marriage starts off really badly and gradually softens

- The Princess’s Gambit — 6.8/10 it was average to good

- Till the End of the Moon — 4/10 because I’m really not a fantasy person

Dramas I dropped

- Love Like the Galaxy — all the constant family arguments gave me a headache

- Wrong Carriage Right Groom — a little too calm and boring for me

- The General’s Lady — the female lead confessed way too quickly and there wasn’t much happening afterwards

- Destined — it was too slow and I couldn’t get past episode 10 there was also way too much business and trading which is definitely not my thing unless it’s just a minor subplot

- Blossom — I found it boring and stopped around episode 14 don’t trust fan edits on TikTok lol

- Love of Nirvana — because I already knew the ending

- Are You the One — I skipped through most of it and I’m basically just watching to find out how it ends because I didn’t really like it

- Pursuit of Jade — too commercial for my taste I couldn’t finish it because of how exaggerated and illogical it was

So please recommend me something that actually fits these preferences 😭

Plus what I rated them.

1. Coroner's diary - 8/10
2. Legend of zang hai - 9/10
3. Angels fall sometimes - 8/10
4. I am nobody - 10/10
5. Back from the brink - 5.5/10
6. Love game in eastern fantasy - 7.5/10
7. Romance of tiger and rose - 7/10
8. Mysterious lotus casebook - 10/10
9. Immortal samsara - 7.5/10
10. The starry love - 10/10
11. Reset - 10/10
12. Moonlight Mystique - 9.5/10
13. Till the end of the moon - 8.5/10
14. Destined - 7.5/10
15. Blossom - 8/10
16. Lighter and princess - 8/10
17. When destiny brings the demon - 10/10
18. Si Jin - 10/10
19. The long ballad - 8.5/10
20. Blossoms in adversity - 8/10
21. Reborn - 10/10
22. Shadow love - 6.5/10
23. Nancheng Banquet - 6.5/10
24. Mobius - 9.5/10
25. The seven relics of ill omen - 7.5/10
26. 19th floor - 8/10
27. Love in the clouds - 9.5/10
28. Twelve letters - 8.5/10
29. A dream within a dream - 9/10
30. The blood of youth - 10/10
31. Dashing youth - 6/10
32. Fortune writer - 10/10
33. The legendary life of queen lau - 9/10
34. Deep affectionate eyes - 10/10
35. Glory - 8/10
36. How dare you - 10/10
37. Love story in the 1970s - 7.5/10
38. The dark romance - 10/10
39. Veil of shadows - 9.5/10
40. No pain no gain - 9/10
41. Moonlit reunion - 7/10

I like costume cdramas more than modern cdramas, don't like harem or reverse harem. I couldn't get into /dropped / lost interest in Story of yanxi palace, story of kunning palace, unveil: jadewind, love beyond the grave, you are my glory, love between the lines, when I fly towards you, ashes of love, legend of shen li, empresses of the palace, brocade odyssey, dream of splendor, princess agents, snow sword stride, snow eagle lord, falling into your smile, the first frost, hidden love, joy of life, generation to generation, and some others i can't remember at the moment. Ik it's a pretty huge list but I wrote it since I wanted to avoid people recommending what I dropped ;-;

I'm honestly not sure what I'm looking for in modern cdramas, but very few seem to hit the spot for me.

I don't usually like full-on romance, but don't mind it when mixed in with other genres (slice of life, mystery, etc.). My weakness is detective shows, but I don't usually like the "all cops are good (or at least do their best)" moral posturing. No office/business-focused dramas, please. I'd like for the main character to be female, but a male main character in a drama that treats its female characters well (existences beyond romantic object/murder victim/sexual assault victim) is fine. Taiwanese recs are fine, as well.

For reference, my favorite modern cdrama is A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower. Other than that, I also enjoyed To the Wonder, Shining for One Thing, and Derailment.

My favorite Taiwanese dramas are Someday or One Day and Oh No! Here Comes Trouble.

Historical/costume dramas I've enjoyed include Heroes 2024 (fav), Nirvana in Fire, Flourished Peony (not part/season 2, too much romance there), Ripe Town, Blossoms in Adversity, and Kill My Sins.

my mdl for further reference

So, here’s the thing, I started learning Chinese and I want to improve my skills of listening. Could you recommend something light (for a person that rarely watches anything or drops a series at some five episode) and with easy language? Also, where do you watch c-dramas? Is there some app (are there any subtitles)? By the way, do C-dramas include movies or is this an absolutely different sort of thing?

Rec a show where the male lead is a super smart. In life and death situations he turns it around in the last second. Someone that may look weak or innocent but is always 2 moves ahead of everyone.

I just watch Story of Kunning palace and like this type of male lead a lot.

The show must have some form of action.

I haven't been keeping up with many new crdamas this year and want to start back up with a really good one. Like if I only watched one, which would you suggest I go with?

My current options are:

Blossoms of Power

The First Jasmine

Unveil: Jadewind

Road to Splendor

A Splendid Match (is the FL playing the same character in this as her other roles? I didn't really enjoy those characters)

Vendetta of An (this is older I think, but it was on my list)

I've heard good and bad things about all of them so it's kind of hard to pick. Any help would be appreciated!

i enjoy historical/wuxia/xianxia dramas more than modern or 20th century settings but i am finding myself very tired of the mainstream idol drama formula, especially in recent dramas. for example, i dropped pursuit of jade bc although it was good, i also felt like it was going nowhere i hadn’t been before.

however, i have seen glimpses of what i think i’m looking for, but i don’t know what these types of dramas are called or how to find them. for example, i came across a clip on twitter that looked like a stereotypical idol cultivation drama, but i was surprised at the fact that it was explicitly BL (i mean they were shirtless and kissing and everything wow!) and when i looked up the drama i think it was a Thai production (but set in what i assume was a Chinese fantasy/cultivation setting). of course ive forgotten the name… but i thought ok you wont see that in a mainstream cdrama. similarly i remember reading a recommendation for a wuxia type drama that had a lesbian romance, which i think was an independent web production?

i’m not looking for non-censored GL/BL dramas exclusively, these are just the examples that come to mind, it’s more that these have given me a glimpse of a more independent drama scene and i’d love to know more about it. i hear a lot of things like ‘oh this censorship rule is only because the show was broadcast on mainstream TV’ so id love to know what’s being produced beyond mainstream TV. obviously there are a lot of good serious historical dramas about real figures, classic wuxia etc., but i think what im looking for is maybe shows that have idol-type aesthetics or settings or tropes but do something different or interesting with them. if there is romance maybe something more interesting than innocent 20 year old girl meets stern 30 year old general and the miscommunicate and kiss once in thirty episodes… are there historical or fantasy dramas like this? where should i be looking? short dramas seem more like what im looking for i think but i dont know where to start. or are these types of shows inaccessible due to lack of english subs?

i’ll take any recommendations anyone has, can be a no budget web show or a classic from 30 years ago. also i’m more than interested in stuff from outside mainland china, if thats within the subs rules. romance or no romance, politics, slice of life, historically accurate, fantasy, serious drama, high camp, whatever! as long as it’s fun and different and interesting and the characters behave like human adults

I finished a cdrama that Viki listed as “friends-to-lovers,” but I didn’t really get that vibe. So I’m curious if there are historical/fantasy cdramas that actually have that..?

I’m currently watching TFF and fell in love with Sang Yan.

This man is clearly a fictional character. 😭 I mean, “HOW IS THIS MAN THIS IN LOVE WITH HER???”

He’s just mature enough to go “My feelings are mine. I don’t need to force you to respond to them.”

LIKE???? SIR???? WHO RAISED YOU????? 😩

I want to watch another drama like this one. Please recommend 😭

Edit: I’ve already watched POJ, When I Fly Towards You, and Twelve Letters. I tried Hidden Love but I couldn’t finish it :(

2nd edit: Sorry, I forgot to add that I’ve also watched The Best Thing and it’s good!!

Hi allll, recently started the road to splendor and that has reinvigorated my love for romance costume dramas. I think what appeals to me regarding the couple in the show is that in my opinion there is no 2nd male lead (jingxiu is not even an option) so there's no character I feel bad for for not getting the fl (which is usually my feelings towards 2nd male leads) so I'm here today ro see if anyone has romance recs where there are no 2nd male leads, easily detestable 2nd mls, or ones that come into the story later on, (after I've already gotten attached to the main couple). I think the prisoner of beauty is also similar in that aspect? Anyway, for general plot I'm not really looking for anything in particular but i do tend to like more political, plot heavy shows; but everything else is welcome.

Dramas i think don't fit this: A splendid match, Blossoms of power.

Edit: I should also add that I prefer more plot heavy shows and non- problematic couples lol. I like easy, simple falling in love and staying that way. No misunderstandings, no big thing that forces rhe two away from each other and..yeah!

Ever since I finished The Legend of Shen Li, there's been a hole in my heart that I just can't fill. It was the first xianxia I was able to get into and now I'm desperately trying to find another, but none of them have that same spark. I recently finished Eternal Love, which I had such high hopes for, but I found the writing to be shallow, especially regarding the female characters, and >!once he took Su Su's eyes, I knew there was no coming back for me. I can forgive many a ML sin, but I draw the line at eye harvesting.!<

I've also gotten a few episodes into both Ashes of Love and Love and Redemption without much success (Ashes of Love I enjoyed the most but it still was no Shen Li....), and dropped Love of the Divine Tree almost immediately. This rut reminds me of when I finished The Story of Minglan, so maybe my lesson is that Zhao Liying dramas are just too powerful and should be avoided. Please save me.

For reference, the dramas I've seen:

10/10 - The Story of Minglan, New Life Begins, Go Ahead, Meet Yourself

9/10 - Love Like the Galaxy, The Legend of Shen Li, When I Fly Towards You, Blossom

8/10 - A Splendid Match, Hidden Love, My Journey to You, Pursuit of Jade, Will Love in Spring, Love Between Lines, The Best Thing

7/10 - The Prisoner of Beauty, Eternal Love, Love Between Fairy and Devil

6/10 - The Double, Youthful Glory, Love in the Clouds, Love for You

5/10 or lower - The First Frost, Go Go Squid!, Speed and Love

DNF - Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, Shine on Me, Find Yourself, Lighter & Princess, Our Generation, Flourished Peony, When Destiny Brings the Demon

Thank you!!

Veteran watchers: if you had to recommend one Chinese drama to hook a complete beginner, what would it be?

And newbies — this is your chance to grill the seniors for recommendations 👀

Tell us:

• what genres you usually enjoy
• whether you like romance, fantasy, historical, mystery, comedy, etc.
• happy endings or emotional damage?
• fast-paced or slow burn?
• short dramas or long epics?

Meanwhile, experienced watchers:

• recommend a drama you think is perfect for beginners
• explain why it works so well as an introduction
• help new fans avoid accidentally starting with a 75-episode emotional war crime

Whether someone is looking for:

• modern romance
• xianxia
• wuxia
• palace drama
• mystery/thriller
• comedy
• angst
• comfort watch

…help a newbie out, drop your gateway drama recommendations below ✨

Very new to c-dramas in general. Just listing down some of the shows I've seen and some preferences.

• I like the Qin series and the state-building involved, as well as the imperial politics aspect of it.

• Serenade of peaceful joy is also nice for how authentic it feels(at least to me, a layman) and also scratches the politics itch.

• I also watched some episodes of Ming in 1566. Its pretty good, but I'm hoping for more recent-ish shows(post 2010) before I resort to more dated ones.

• Swords into plowshares is another I wartched, and thoroughly enjoyed.

I'd also consider fantasy, as long as the tone matches, and absurd fight scenes are kept to a minimum, though my prefernece is still historical and authentic-feeling. Any rec that matches or gets close would be very appreciated.

Also would like recommendations of some way to find shows similar to what I like, if there is something like that!

Hi all, I havnt seen anything since Pursuit of Jade this year, what should I watch from 2026 either finished or ongoing? I love costume dramas. whats your favorite from this year?

thanks for recs

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for recommendations for modern Chinese romance dramas, especially ones that are cute, funny, romantic, have great chemistry, and preferably a satisfying/happy ending.

I feel like I’ve already watched most of the commonly recommended modern romances, so I’d love to discover some lesser-known/underrated gems.

Here’s what I’ve already watched & liked:

• Hidden Love
• When I Fly Towards You
• Put Your Head on My Shoulder
• Love O2O
• You Are My Glory
• Go Go Squid!
• Moonlight
• Love Me, Love My Voice
• Everyone Loves Me
• I May Love You
• Meet Yourself
• Amidst a Snowstorm of Love
• Will Love in Spring
• As Beautiful as You
• Love’s Ambition
• The Best Thing
• Shine on Me
• Love Between Lines
• You Are My Secret
• The Love You Give Me
• Here We Meet Again
• She and Her Perfect Husband
• Unforgettable Love
• The Rational Life
• Falling Into Your Smile
• Intense Love
• Begin Again
• Perfect and Casual
• My Little Happiness
• The First Frost
• Love Is Sweet
• Go Ahead
• My Boss
• Love Scenery
• Once We Get Married
• Love in Time (2020)
• Love in Time (2022)
• Only for Love
• Our Interpreter
• Best Choice Ever
• Meteor Garden
• Ski Into Love
• You Are My Fateful Love

Please give me your best recommendations! ❤️ I feel like I’ve run out of things to watch :|

Thanks in advance!