I’m going to be real with you guys. I don’t watch many modern mainland Chinese dramas, which is why this list is so short. I adore historical Chinese dramas, but modern ones are very hit or miss for me. I don’t know if this will sound insensitive, but I hate hate hate the way characters treat one another in these dramas. I understand and accept the cattiness of women in harem dramas because they are literally fighting for the lives of themselves and their families. What excuse do these people have nowadays? I find that too many modern dramas rely heavily on the characters destroying one another—for dumb and vapid reasons—to move the plot along.
Title: Love O2O
Synopsis: Xiao Nai is a gaming expert who, courtesy of his basketball skills, academic excellence, swimming talent and game company presidency, also happens to be the most popular student on campus. When he first comes across the gorgeous computer science major Bei Wei Wei, the infinitely talented wunderkind immediately falls in love. But it’s not Bei’s looks that he notices; it’s the ridiculous mastery with which she is commanding her guild and owning everyone in an online multiplayer game that makes her impossible to forget. Now, Xiao Nai must use his skills both in real life and online to capture the adorable but dorky Bei’s heart. But does their love have the XP to succeed, or will this relationship never level up?
Stats: 30 Episodes / 2016
Thoughts: Love O2O is probably one of the better modern Chinese dramas. The overall story is sweet and well realized. I had some problems here or there(FULL Review Here), but Yang Yang was especially well cast and pretty much carried this drama to the top of this list.
Score: 8.5/10
Title: Fiancee
Synopsis: Lan Xiao Yi left her job in Nanjing to follow her boyfriend Tian Fei to Shanghai. In Shanghai, Xiao Yi struggles with her low-paying job but is happy to be with Tian Fei. At the same time, Tian Fei's colleague Xiao Lu, a new college graduate, has fallen in love with Tian Fei and is determined to snatch him. As emotions become more tangled, Tian Fei cheats and Xiao Lu fakes a pregnancy to force Tian Fei to marry her. He leaves Xiao Yi, not knowing that she is actually pregnant.
Stats: 20 Episodes / 2013
Thoughts: The synopsis doesn’t mention Dennis Oh’s character, Hou Zi, at all, but believe me, we’re all here for him. Hou Zi pretty much fell for Xiao Yi at first sight, and after she disappears because of the pregnancy, he’s still holding a torch for her years later when he finds her again. The nice thing is that even though we as the audience know that he fully intends to be marry her(he’s says so himself to his sister), he’s never pushy with her or overbearing. He’s her best friend until she needs him to be something else. The only downside of this drama is the second lead couple, Tian Fei and Lulu. Their scenes are just them fighting constantly. Tian Fei’s mother is also a gross human being so fast forward through their scenes and you’re golden.
Score: 8.0/10
Title: Boss and Me
Synopsis: Big conglomerate president Feng Teng has a younger sister, with a very rare blood type, who needs a transfusion. He finds an employee at his company named Xue Shan Shan and asks her for a blood donation. Afterwards brother and sister are rather indebted to Shan Shan, but rather than using Feng Teng's typical method of paying her off, his sister suggests sending her nutritious packed lunches so Shan Shan can recover from the blood loss and to make the thank you more personal. Shan Shan loves to eat and her enjoyment of the lunches, along with her general bright and sunny personality, slowly start melting cold Feng Teng's heart....
Stats: 33 Episodes / 2014
Thoughts: This was a cute drama, though it suffers from the cliche of the ‘poor girl isn’t accepted by the rich guy’s family’. I’m sorry the 21st century began almost two decades ago and that idea is so played out. :/
Score: 7.5/10
Title: Let’s Go Watch the Meteor Shower
Synopsis: Chu Yu Xun is a very clever and smart high school girl. Her dream is to get into the prestigious Aliston University, in which she managed to get in with her uncle's help. Murong Yun Hai, Duanmu Lei, Shangguan Rui Qian, and Ye Shuo are the four richest students in the university, and they became the idol of all the girls there. These guys are not happy with their lives their parents planned for them. They perform a series of pranks to get attention from the headmistress to expel them from the university. Yu Xun fights for justice for the victims of the group and she becomes their instant target, trying all sorts of methods to expel her. Meanwhile, Yu Xun gets protection from Duanmu Lei, who was her childhood friend. Through fighting and arguing, Yun Hai starts to fall in love with Yu Xun but faces numerous rejections. H4 and Yu Xun eventually become friends. Through hardship, they all grew up and learned to control their own lives, chose their own futures, and to strive for their dreams.
Stats: 36 Episodes / 2009
Thoughts: Alright, let’s be real. This is a total rip off of Hana Yori Dango/Boys over Flowers. Allegedly the production company didn’t want to shell out for the rights, so they just made this drama, which is similar but different enough to stave off a lawsuit. I remember watching this a few years ago and actually enjoying it, but I recently went to revisit it and I wasn’t as enamoured. I’d recommend this for new drama watchers, but not necessarily for seasoned drama fans.
Score: 7.2/10
Title: Pretty Li Hui Zhen
Synopsis: Li Hui Zhen used to be gorgeous, but years of declining family fortune added much pain to her life, and her looks slowly drifted away. Her friend Bai Hao Yu, on the other hand, was once an ordinary looking guy and grew up to be suave, successful, and immensely likable. So when she comes across him years later and witnesses their reversal of fortune, Li Hui Zhen is too embarrassed to even meet him and instead asks her stylish friend and roommate Xia Qiao to assume her identity.
Stats: 40 Episodes / 2017
Thoughts: So let’s skip over the fact that Dilreba Dilmurat is probably one of the prettiest peeps on the planet and that the producers apparently think that putting freckles on her and making her hair curly somehow makes her ‘ugly’ . . . This drama was way too freaking long. That being said, I really did enjoy the interactions between Hui Zhen and her bff as well as enjoying Zhang Bin Bin’s acting as always.
Score: 7.0/10
Title: Scarlet Heart 2
Synopsis: Zhang Xiao is a southerner, who moved to Beijing working as an OL, with dreams of romance and a stable job. By coincidence, she gets a job at a conglomerate ‘Zhen Tian'. Like all newbie, she’s bullied and stepped on, the saving grace is her boss Yin Zheng.
As she gets the hang of it, she and Yin Zheng develops mutual feelings for each other, when a gentle, considerate guy Kang Xi Hang steps into Zhang’s world. Yin Zheng, Kang Xi Hang both are fore-runners in next in line inheriting the firm. Zhang is twirled into the eye of the corporate battles. After twists and turns, Zhang finally realizes where her heart is at, and bravely chooses to spend her future with her true love.
Stats: 35 Episodes / 2014
Thoughts: This is the sequel to the time-travel drama Scarlet Heart(which is on my historical master list), but the drama literally throws that all away in the first couple of episodes by making the lead character forget that ever happened. This is a really crazy drama that is totally all over the place, and the only reason i would recommend it is that the two leads, Cecilia Liu and Nicky Wu, are actually married IRL so their chemistry is totally real.
Score: 6.8/10
Title: I Love My President Though He is a Psycho
Synopsis: Shi Xiao Nian is a third-rate cartoonist living an ordinary life. Until one day Gong Ou, a rich CEO of an IT company, suffering from paranoid personality disorder, captures her and asks her to return their child, which she “supposedly” gave birth to 3 years before. He utilizes every mean to force an answer and to pursue her, including low-EQ techniques. But as he faces her gentleness and courage, they fall in love…
Stats: 10 Episodes / 2017
Thoughts: I tried watching this, but the subs were very poor and so while I could get the gist, it was hard to enjoy . . . well that and the fact that the male lead is literally a psycho. The guy is straight up disturbed—I mean padded walls and pills in a cup disturbed. His family is rich so he’s able to do illegal things like kidnapping and torturing women without consequences. He can act normal when he needs to but underneath that, he’s completely unhinged. He ends up falling for the girl he kidnapped, but of course we have to throw in the cliche of his family not accepting her like ‘wtf, your son is crazy! Take what you can get!’
Score: 6.0/10
Title: Stay With Me
Synopsis: Li Wei Wei is a 30-year-old successful fashion designer. But a near-drowning makes her lose the memory of the past seven years of her life. In her current life, Wei Wei is surprised to learn that she had broken up with her boyfriend, Chen Yi Du, and is now engaged to a man she does not remember, Qi Cheng. Unable to believe her life choices, Wei Wei tries to find out whatcaused her to break up with Yi Du while Qi Cheng tries to win back his fiancée’s heart. Which man is Wei Wei’s one true love?
Stats: 38 Episodes / 2017
Thoughts: I went into this drama expecting to like it because it has Wang Kai starring and I loved him in Nirvana in Fire, but after this drama and ‘When a Snail Falls in Love’, I’ve discovered that the man has no range. He was perfectly cast in Nirvana in Fire, but now he’s just doing the same thing over and over. Joe Chen on the other hand, used to be one of my favorite actresses, but whoever is picking her scripts the last couple of years isn’t doing her any favors. Her character here is whiny, manipulative, and just straight up unlikeable. This drama was boring and I quit it after like five episodes.
Score: 2.0/10
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