A special team, including prosecutors Lin Zhi Tao and Bai En Yu, works to protect children through the legal system. They come across crimes that test their emotional strength, but despite the horrifying cases, they have to fight for justice for one of society’s most vulnerable: the children. Characters Lin Zhi Tao...

When Magistrate Lu Jianglai is assigned to solve a controversial case, he is targeted; he escapes but ends up falling off a cliff, his life hanging by a thread. Fortunately, he is rescued by Rong Shanbao, the eldest daughter and heir of the powerful matriarchal Rong family. He wakes up with no memory, and Shanbao,...

After he is seriously injured in a battle, the Marquis of Wu’an is found by Fan Changyu, a butcher from the village of Li’an. As he hides from his enemies in the village, he grows closer to Changyu and they eventually get into a marriage of convenience so that she can keep her house. Meanwhile, schemes are afoot...

Dark River is a mysterious assassin organization which we first saw in The Blood of Youth. In Blood River, when the Patriarch of Dark River is severely poisoned. This presents a golden opportunity for the three Blood River families (Su, Xie, and Mu) to seize the “Dragon Sword” which will give them control over the...

I had always wanted to watch My Mister, but I never seemed to find the time to do it. Then, Lee Sun-kyun sadly passed away. The drama is already heavy to begin with, and the tragic way the actor passed away … seeing him play a depressed character just felt like I’m watching Lee Sun-kyun suffering for real. So,...

February brought Chinese New Year, which always means chaos for me, so I wasn’t able to write last month’s newsletter. But I’m back, and in March I find myself inundated with so many good Chinese dramas that I’m having decision paralysis deciding what drama to watch first. If you have a wide range of tastes like I...

Admittedly, this isn’t a typical Chinese drama post (but it has CDrama actors!), but I was so wowed by the Spring Gala Festival 5-minute performance, 贺花神, that I had to share it with everyone. This is the kind of performance that you need lots of context and knowledge to truly appreciate. Most Chinese audiences...

Did you hear? Apparently, Chinese entertainment is dying. If you listen to CDrama pundits or spend enough time on Chinese social media, the narrative for 2025 is pretty bleak: the Chinese entertainment industry is “devolving”, production numbers are down (we’re looking at just over 200 dramas this year, with fewer...

Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’ This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing. Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the...

A group of strangers, each grappling with a difficult past, pass by each other in a spooky neighbourhood. They are all drawn to a mysterious light shop on a secluded alleyway. There, we discover that the shopkeeper is certainly more than what he seems, and the frightening events in their lives hold a deeper...

November was a bit of a struggle, personally and drama-wise. Personally, I ended up dealing with a medical issue. Drama-wise, I’m still recovering from the masterpiece that was Fated Hearts, and finding a drama to fill that void has been tougher than expected. But I did attempt a few shows, as you can see below!...

The Story The drama is technically xuanhuan with some wuxia-ish elements thrown in: it’s both genre-bending and experimental. At its core, it revolved around Tang Lici (Luo Yunxi) and Liu Yan (Alen Fang), two characters with a complicated history involving a misunderstanding over what Liu Yan thought Tang Lici did...