A healing drama about the romance between Shen Xi Fan (Xu Ruohan), a hotel manager battling insomnia, and He Su Ye (Zhang Linghe), a gentle traditional Chinese medicine doctor. Starting off in a doctor-patient relationship, they slowly get to know each other privately, sparking a mature slow-burn love story. Their interactions feel natural and authentic without exaggerated conflicts and their quiet yet intense chemistry shines through.
A slow paced (sometimes a little too slow), heartwarming romcom that also visually projects warmth and comfort with its greenbathing moments and soft lighting. The drama’s focus on traditional Chinese medicine adds an interesting cultural layer and is woven neatly into the storytelling.
It’s a calming, wholesome watch. Just what you need after a stressful day.
A slice of life drama with comforting vibes. It centers around a manager at a five-star hotel (Liu Yifei) who quits her job and takes time out in the countryside to reassess her life after her best friend dies unexpectedly. The young woman ends up sharing a homestay with a group of former city dwellers who try to escape the rat race and gets entangled with the local village beau (Li Xian). Their slow burn romance plays a minor part for the lion’s share of the show before it gets center-staged in the last few episodes.
Most of the drama takes place in a beautiful old village in Yunnan Province, set in a gorgeous landscape — just watching the scenery is already relaxing and feels like virtual green bathing. Village life is presented as rustic, authentic and slow — and so for our friends at the homestay there is always time for a chat or a walk, an opportunity to daydream or meditate. Just watching them, we slow down ourselves and happily spend time with these well-developed characters, listening to their often thought-provoking conversations and watching their relationships form. Lucky for us, acting and writing are top-notch so it never gets boring during the 40 episodes.
The misery of employees in big corporations is often shown in dramas but only rarely are solutions offered. This drama, however, gives us several role models who demonstrate how to get out of these situations. This is not done in a hitting-you-over-the head kind of way, which would compromise the multidimensional aspects of the characters. This show is too well written for that. Still, there’s clearly an underlying message for people considering leaving the big city behind.
For the characters who follow an artistic pursuit as a writer or musician, the village can be seen as a temporary escape from the expensive city. For musicians, however, the lack of audience and colleagues can turn life in a village into a dead-end unless they are willing to use their abilities to integrate into the community — as music teachers, for example.
Clearly the possibility favored in the drama to provide a realistic way out of the career rat race and switch to a quiet life in this gorgeous village is to become an entrepreneur — thereby not only finding a fulfilling and self-determined life yourself but at the same time improving the lives and prosperity of the village people.
While lifestyles with artistic pursuits, e.g. as a writer or a musician, are viewed non-judgmentally, one way of life pushes individualism too far and is criticized as foolish and egotistical: the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. It is symbolized here by former CEO Ma Qiu Shan, who is portrayed as a ridiculous character who spouts existential platitudes. He finds the right way again (and hopefully we do too if we ever had such leanings) partly through his conversations with an uneducated working-class woman who is apparently grounded in the realities of life.
Technically, the writers are employing here a set piece of classic communist thinking: Religion is nothing but opium for the masses, workers are superior in their understanding of life compared to the educated class. However, quite different from its original intention, this argument is not used to restrain individualism in favor of a social class but in favor of a different social group, the family unit. And, in an ironic twist, this Marxist line of reasoning is employed in these scenes to encourage Ma Qiu Shan to found a new company — and thereby become a member of the capitalist class again.
Hunan TV, Mango TV. China. Written by Shui Qian Mo and Wang Xiong Cheng.
A female hobby musician comes to the attention of her idol, a popular voice actor. The female lead is a super sweet, innocent and shy university student (superbly played by Zhou Ye), while male lead Tan Jian Ci embodies the perfect boyfriend: handsome, considerate and … with excellent cooking skills. A simple drama focusing on a very slow burn romance in an interesting setting of a niche entertainment sector.
Be warned, though: The drama has more of a reality show vibe. There is no conflict whatsoever and consequently no real story aside from the lead couple getting to know each other. Instead we are treated to a display of delicious food, eating, cooking, singing, sightseeing and beautiful people staring into each other’s eyes.
While I thoroughly enjoyed entering this rose-colored world, I can see how others might find it boring and overloaded with sweetness. However, if you are in the mood for a soothing and stress-free drama experience, go for it. Just don’t watch it when you’re hungry.
A Chinese romcom that puts the focus on the main romance – in this case, on the relationship between a scriptwriter (Huang Ri Ying) with a massive crush and the initially oblivious CEO (Wei Zhe Ming) of the film production company she works for.
This drama scores high for the things it does not do. There’s no office politics and no evil adversary, no false friends and no backstabbing, no break-ups and no love triangles, no annoying second leads and no evil parents. And – no angst.
Everybody is nice and pretty in this rose-colored world, the conflicts are low-key and the simple plot with the She-Fell-First-He-Fell-Harder trope flows along effortlessly. However, the show does get a little draggy in the second half as the back-and-forth of the main romance goes on for too long and the reluctance of the FL is not quite comprehensible.
So altogether a sweet (for some probably overly sweet) and fluffy escape from the stress and annoyances of everyday life. If you’re looking for a super-relaxing, light-hearted watch, give it a try.
A sensitive portrayal of a girl’s first crush that turns into a full-blown romance during her college years. This gem of a drama focuses on Sang Zhi, brought alive by Zhao Lu Si’s amazing performance, and how she comes to terms with her feelings for her older brother’s best friend. Male lead Chen Zhe Yuan is a great foil as the straightforward perfect boyfriend to the more emotionally complicated character of Sang Zhi.
Aside from a couple minor over-the-top plot lines at the end, this is a supremely well-written drama – especially when it comes to the roles of the main couple and Sang Zhi’s interactions with her brother. They probably felt so real because they were partially improvised by the actors (see interview with Victor Ma, who played Sang Zhi’s brother). The relationship with her brother shows us a completely different side of Sang Zhi – while she cares about him, she can be mean and obnoxious to him, a real brat. This darker side makes the character much more realistic and relatable – and very easy to identify with. She is a great role model: She knows exactly what she wants and she fights for it – defying her insecurities, social expectations (age gap) and interferences by other people, even family members.
This is a sweet, feel-good comfort drama – heartfelt, with top-notch chemistry, no love triangles, no noble idiocy and low on conflict. A beautiful depiction of the innocence and insecurity of first love that will put a smile on your face.
Youku. China. Written by Shen Fei Xian. Based on a novel by Zhu Yi.
A spectacular action-packed supernatural fantasy (xianxia) about the romance of a seemingly insignificant member of the Fairy tribe and the leader of its mortal enemy, the Lord of the Moon tribe. Esther Yu plays the sweet and bubbly fairy to perfection while Dylan Wang shines as the terrifying, emotionally dead anti-hero Moon supreme who can’t help himself from falling for the fairy. A captivating romance without a dull moment, easily switching between comedy, action, romance and melo.
Be warned, though, the mainly lighthearted tone of the first 20+ episodes changes later on. The last third has a good deal of angst, so sensitive viewers might want to skip from episode 26 to the end in their first watch to assure themselves of a happy ending. The ending, while happy, feels a little rushed — that’s probably why two short special episodes, mostly consisting of flashbacks, were added later.
A suspenseful story of forbidden love that is as exciting and addictive as it is visually stunning. Is this the most romantic drama of 2022?
iQiyi. China. Written by Cao Xiao Tian and Bai Jin Jin.
A romcom fantasy about an entertainment reporter and the leader of an idol group whose bodies get switched. Well written, often funny, sometimes self-ironic (“Doesn’t it feel like a scene in a Korean Drama?” asks one of the protagonist). The focus is on the leads Zhang Xin Cheng and Liang Jie (Hi Venus) who do a great acting job making the body swap visible by impersonating the other character.
Two negative aspects: First, the drama is framed by a meta plot that undermines the emotional impact of the story. So, for the first watch, I recommend eliminating the framing by starting episode 1 at 6:48 minutes and stopping at episode 26, 32:43 minutes. Second, the show has one of the most obnoxious product placements I’ve ever seen. If laughing it off doesn’t work for you, be prepared to skip, rather than be annoyed.
But these are minor points that only slightly detract from the overall excellence of the show. Another winner by screenwriter Wang Xiong Cheng who also penned Hi Venus. Highly recommended.
Heart-fluttering moments in every episode and the extra-cuteness of the leads (Darren Chen, Chen Yao) make this romcom about a crossdressing girl playing on a male hockey team worthwhile to watch. A rare drama in which haircuts (esp FL boyish cut) double the cuteness factor.
The plot involving our leads employs many typical drama cliches (face blindness, accidental kisses, fated love, etc.) in an entertaining and generally well thought out way. Their romance often plays out on kindergarten level (boy annoys/teases girl, girl has no clue (or does she?), boy acts like that because he likes her) but all is forgotten when they gaze into each other’s eyes. Sigh!
Sadly, other aspects of the drama are a lot less fun: While the sports part is generally okay, the second and third leads vacillate between barely tolerable to completely irritating. If you skip most of their scenes, you’ll enjoy this piece of sweet, silly and simply adorable super-fluff a lot more.
Chinese. iQiyi. Written by Fan Kan and Fang Qiang Qiang.
A feel-good Chinese romcom about a female doctor from a poor background who is forced to become the hospital director’s assistant.
This is not another one of your usual medical dramas – in fact, doctoring plays only a small role, as the focus is on the administrative aspect of health care. Not only are we spared medical case after medical case (can you tell I’m not a fan of most medical shows?) but this romcom also involves no major love triangles, no jerky boss, no evil parents, no childhood connection between our leads, and shockingly enough for K-drama fans … no serial killer! And still, I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode of this drama about two adults who kept bickering and verbally sparring while slowly becoming more and more emotionally attached.
After a bit of stumbling in the beginning, this series does everything right — plot-wise (no boring episodes) and character-wise (except dressing the FL in horrible frumpy clothes for most of the show). One other imperfection is the incredibly stupid plot twist in episode 22 and the FL’s nonsensical response. Despite this unnecessary annoyance, it’s great fun to spend time with our leads all the way to the perfect happy end. Light-hearted, humorous, blessedly stress-free.
dramaroma 