2020 Chinese Dramas Sampler

Historical Mysteries

2020 gave a rise to many mystery, detective, or investigation-based dramas that are set to days of yore.

Even the more romance-focused costume dramas often had some kind of mystery or crime that the main leads were investigating that drove the plot (and their relationship) forward.

Samples: See Top 10 plus Under the Power, I’ve Fallen For You, Miss Truth, My Roommate is a Detective, Ancient Detective.

Light-hearted Costume Dramas

As with previous years, 2020 had tons of light-hearted romcom costume dramas.

These are shorter (20–36 episodes) web dramas, and sometimes seem massively produced, with recycled plot-lines, tropes, costumes, and even whole scenes (those mandatory scenes with the fireworks or the lanterns) – but no surprise, given their success!

Samples: See Top 10 plus Love is All, Fake Princess, General’s Lady.

Cut Down (Xianxia/Xuanhuan) Webnovel Adaptations

There was a general trend of cutting down/edited out/missing scenes in 2020 (costume) dramas. These cuts sometimes seemed to be made at the last moment, with various editing and incoherency issues in the final product, due to reasons not to be discussed here (*cough* censorship *cough* new regulations).

Chinese web novel adaptations were the most susceptible victims, especially the fantasy, time-travel, xianxia, xuanhuan, wuxia, or transmigration ones.

Samples: Love of Thousand Years, Dance of the Sky Empire, Dance of the Phoenix, Renascence.

Epic Romance Xianxias

Neither the Epic genre nor the Romance (female oriented) Xianxia genre had many exhibits this year, quantity-wise, but they were (all… two of them) tremendously successful, so I had to mention this!

Samples: See Top 10.

Honest Dramedies

Dramas that take a more realistic – or, at least, more honest – look at contemporary life, with characters that could very much be your next-door neighbours – if you live in China – and their relatable problems.

Besides life, they incorporate genres like family, business, drama, comedy, friendship, and youth, instead of just focusing on romance (although romance is also a part of them, usually).Being more character-driven than plot-driven, and usually slower, they’re understandably not everyone’s cup of tea. But give them a chance, and they may move you in unexpected ways!

Samples: See Top 10 plus Find Yourself, I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You, Lovely Us, Nothing But Thirty, I Will Find You a Better Home.

Gripping Suspense Mini-Dramas

There were several quality suspense/thriller/crime dramas coming out of China this year, most with a lower number of episodes (12-24) but high production values.

The most famous of them are those that belong to the "Light on Series" iQiyi originals compilation.

Samples: Reborn, Missing Persons, Light on Series: The Bad Kids, A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower, Light on Series: The Long Night, Miss Gu Who is Silent.

COM-rom

Those dramas were not only light-hearted romantic comedies that make you smile. They were laugh-out-loud hilarious!

And so I dub them... comroms. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Samples: See Top 10 plus Oh! My Sweet Liar!, Su Yu.

This is Not What it Seems!

So you thought you were watching a revenge story all along? Surprise this whole thing was… Or, you thought this was set in a parallel universe, but in fact, it was all… Or, you thought this was real, but it wasn’t, really. Or, you thought this guy was a righteous police-officer seeking justice and the truth, but in reality, he was…

Plot twists in dramas can be a huge hit or a huge miss. Sometimes, they’re predictable, and other times nobody understands them even when supposedly explained.

There were a few 2020 dramas with really mind-boggling plot twists, but I’m not gonna give examples here to not spoil the fun! Feel free to discuss them in the comments below (don’t forget to mark those spoilers!) ;)

Gender-bender

This is an old cliché that’s a favourite of many people (myself included): the girl who dresses up as a boy and, as if by magic, nobody recognizes her true gender, even if dim-wittedly apparent!

But, at least this year, there was a minimum effort in a couple of these dramas to make the disguise more believable…

Samples: See Top 10 plus Dr. Cutie, In a Class of Her Own, The Heiress, My Unicorn Girl.

Fake it till you make it

Arranged marriages (used more in historical settings) or contract/pretend relationships and marriages (in modern settings), also known as the "fake it till you make it" trope, is one of the most utilized romance cliché, and this year was no exception.

Samples: See Top 10 plus The Sleepless Princess, Midsummer Is Full of Love, Love in Time.

Workplace Romance

Nothing like the typical office headache-inducing background noise or the stress everyday rat-race gives you to keep romantic passion burning, right? What’d you mean no? These dramas beg to differ!

But if you really fall in love with your boss or the other way around, please don’t forget the (ethical) consequences of a possible power imbalance in such a relationship. ;)

Samples: See Top 10 plus Well Dominated Love, My Girl, Mr Honesty.

Not much Fuss - Not much Angst

In place of the very dramatic and super angsty stories, it’s good to relax with some simple, uncomplicated romance from time to time, with not much trouble, misunderstandings, conflicts, and breakups going on between the main couple!

Samples: See Top 10 plus My Dear Lady, Be With You, Forever Love.

Puppy Love

Dramas set in a school setting in China must follow the regulations and not focus too much on the romance between the characters to not "negatively impact" youth and prevent them from working hard and focusing on their studies instead, or something to that effect.

Nevertheless, there’s almost always some cute puppy first love thrown in the mix (even at the degree of being the centric plot sometimes).

Samples: See Top 10 plus The Love Equations, First Romance, Meeting You, Professional Single.

Gender Role Reversal

It’s not like we’ll suddenly see a change in mostly patriarchal societies as they’re depicted in dramas, but at least there was a noticeable amount of proactive female leads, physically strong female leads opposite physically weak male leads, women bosses/CEOs, female leads saving the male lead for a change, and other non-traditional gender roles depicted in some 2020 dramas.

Samples: See Top 10 plus The Eight, The Moon Brightens For You, Begin Again.

Following Your Dreams

This is a theme that some people find optimistic and lovely, while some others find boring or overdone. Stories about chasing your dream and persevering despite the odds can sometimes get unrealistic, but they’re truly inspiring when done well.

Samples: See Top 10 plus Chef Hua, The Best of You in My Mind, Youth Unprescribed.

Sacrificing for the Common Good

A politician is a fellow who’s always willing to lay down your life for his country, they say. But, hey, at least those drama leads sacrifice their own life or their own happiness instead (if they’re urged by a politician or not is for another discussion).

Anyway, this form of social justice, sense of chivalry (or noble idiocy, if you will) is an admirable quality in a hero/heroine – as long as they don’t drag the melodrama too much!

Samples: Serenade of Peaceful Joy, Love in Between, The Song of Glory, The Legend of Xiao Chuo.

Found Family

People staying together, growing up together, or being very close without having blood ties, and their relationship being equal on importance or even more precious than their "real" family ties – this theme was present in some of the most beautiful dramas of 2020!

Samples: See Top 10.

Youth Bonding Through Sports

Common interests are always an ice breaker, but it’s really marvellous how close young people can get with those who share their passion in life, especially for competitive sports/mind sports/e-sports.

Samples: See Top 10 plus Love of Summer Night, Cross Fire.

LGBTQ+ Subtext Everywhere!

After the huge success of 2019’s The Untamed, numerous danmei novels’ rights were bought to be adapted into dramas.

But even beyond the (censored) adaptations of LGBTQ+ original works, 2020 dramas made it look like drama makers were determined to include at least some LGBTQ+ subtext and/or queer-baiting into everything!

Samples: See Top 10 plus Winter Begonia, The Silent Criminal, Dear Missy.

Steamy Kisses

If you’re tired of the "dead fish" kisses or the usual minor pecks in the mouth, don’t worry. 2020 Chinese dramas got you covered!

Samples: See Top 10 plus Girlfriend, My Love, Enlighten Me, Love Designer, Dating in the Kitchen, To Dear Myself.

Back from Limbo

One good thing that happened during the chaotic 2020 is that dramas gathering dust on some forgotten shelf for years were released at long last!

Samples: God of Lost Fantasy, The Wolf.

The Romance of a Legendary Love

...Of the Youthful Princess and the Sweet Prince Dancing under the Moon at the Sound of a Girl’s Song who’s like a Blooming Flower.

If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, just take a look at the official English titles of various Chinese dramas, and count how many have the word "Love", "Romance", or "Legend" in them! If they don’t, I have 11 more words for you to pick, and voila, you’ll probably get 80% of all Chinese drama titles! xD

A trend that unfortunately carried on from previous years, and too bad, ‘cause some of those original Chinese titles were so beautiful and poetic, especially of the historical dramas!

Samples: See Top 10 plus Legend of Awakening, Love a Lifetime, Eternal Love Rain.