Let’s talk about The Autumn Ballad (嫣语赋)! The riveting historical-mystery-romance series that everyone is watching.

I’ve fallen *HARD* for this new historical chinese drama called “The Autumn Ballad” or Yan Yu Fu. Have you heard of it? I blame the main couple’s off-the-charts chemistry and generally addictiveness of this show. I don’t know what it is! Here’s some screencaps, maybe it’ll help! Infinitely more watchable than the new season of Love Is Blind that everyone is rolling their eyes about.

When I came across the synopsis for The Autumn Ballad (tbh a confusing title), it sounded like a light-hearted version of Story of Minglan. It actually does share background similarities between the female protagonists, but it’s a totally different story! There’s witty one-liners, satisfying mystery-solving, and the charming interactions between the protagonist and the duke.

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Nirvana In Fire II Episodes 1-25 Thoughts 琅琊榜之风起长林

As a huge fan of the 2015 Chinese hit “Nirvana in Fire”, truthfully I expected that Nirvana 2 would suck, but by-golly, I would have to admit that it’s untrue. NO NO, NIRVANA 2 IS GOOD! Solid pacing, solid acting, and solid plot. As a casual viewer, I definitely

Three MUST-WATCH Chinese Modern TV Series (2017 Update)

Time flies – 5 years ago, I handpicked 5 must-watch Chinese modern TV series based on the hundreds of titles that I’ve seen. Why recommend Chinese “modern” drama? Here’s a quick refresher on the western world’s awareness of asian tv shows: korean drama > all other asian drama > chinese historical drama > chinese modern drama.

 

Well seeing as the purpose of my blog is discovering the best Chinese dramas, of course I had an obligation to update this after five long years! The good news is, Chinese dramas are getting way better than before, in both production quality, acting, and storylines. The wait is over… so what are they?

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” 那年花开月正圆 Chinese Drama Review

Wow, if someone told me from the start that Chinese TV series get this long nowadays (I swear the norm used to be 30-40 episodes)… I may have been too intimidated to watch it. Glad I ended up “trying it out” as the show started airing. From the trailer, I was captivated by the interesting dynamic between the Sun Li and Chen Xiao duo, but more on that later. Without further ado, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” has been on my mind since the moment I completed the 74th episode (??). It was, CAPITALIZED LETTERS, AMAZING. Chinese audiences seem to agree with me. 

 

 

 

 

Reasons you should be watching “Nothing Gold Can Stay”:

1. Storyline is about a #girlboss (named Zhou Ying). In the freaking Qing dynasty era. Can someone say, badass? It’s not easy starting your own business in modern times, never mind being a woman battling the traditional Chinese patriarchal society and changing up entire industries! At this point, you’ll realize you

Ode to Joy 欢乐颂-it’s about time to add to that “modern chinese tv to recommend” list

Don’t be scared. Somehow TV show premises where a bunch of beautiful strangers get stuck in a broken elevator (like that scene in tamaki hiroshi’s Love Shuffle)… just works. Ode to Joy is a clink of champagne glasses to sisterhood, to the many ways different personalities deal with confusing relationships, and explores the Chinese social standing and modern worklife.

Key takeaway for me:

• it’s relatable and personal
• but not soo deep that you can see Adele rolling in it
• the girls made the mistakes in their love life so that you don’t have to?

I highly recommend it if, like me, you haven’t touched a modern Chinese drama in a while because of the dreaded “mid-show hump” that seems to plague every show out of the mainland, ever. And even though I promise you will end up hating all the female leads at least once in the show, you’ll grow fond of them all over again.

With that said, who is excited for season 2?!

 

Introducing Epic Chinese Drama: Nirvana In Fire (Lang Ya Bang)

PSA: This is not a love story.

At first, I was like pssh this show looks boring. The trailer made it look like it was 10% warfare, 10% angst, and 80% of Hu Ge pondering. That said, I am SO GLAD I ended up watching it. Actually, this is one of the few genuinely high quality and well-thought out stories I have seen in a long long time. It appears to be ‘slow’, but every scene has its purpose. On top of that, a very entertaining watch (funny too!) and the eye candy doesn’t hurt either.

Lang Ya Bang is currently the top watched TV drama in China, with over 14,628,775 views on Sohu.

This guy looks so PEACEFUL for most of the first 20 episodes, but