#cdramas are lit

[mysteriousboo]

Why I prefer cdramas over kdramas(as an international fan)

kdramas ive watched - business proposal, sweet home, rookie historian goo hae-ryung, mr queen, link: eat, love, kill , the glory , crash landing on you, what's wrong with secretary kim, true beauty, romance is a bonus book, goblin, meow-the secret boy, hometown cha cha cha, see you in my 19th life

cdramas ive watched - the untamed, word of honor, blood of youth, ten miles of peach blossom(i regret watching this one), love between fairy and devil, the starry love, till the end of the moon, put your head on my shoulder, mr honesty, the romance of tiger and rose, love o2o, go go squid!, love and destiny, currently watching back from the brink

1) Cdramas tend to have more developed side characters

ive seen a good variety of kdramas, and i always find the side characters to be lacking! they are often treated as props or only used for comical purposes. meanwhile, in cdramas, they tend to have more personality and are important to the plot as well rather than just being a plot device! (i agree that not all cdramas do it well, but the ones that do leave behind a good impression)

2) Cdramas make the characters interact well

one thing that i have noticed in cdramas is that they make character interactions to be deep and meaningful! personally, i prefer consuming media where both the main characters and side characters stand out, and while it's hard to create something like that, cdramas do it better than kdramas! side characters often don't get enough screen time or are too one-dimensional to make an impact on the viewers! im not saying that kdramas don't do it at all, im saying that a lot of times, it just doesn't hit as hard as in cdramas.

3)The angst hits harder in cdramas!!

now, don't get me wrong, im not saying that kdramas can't be angsty! it's just that a lot of angst in kdramas tends to be more romance related, and as an aroace person, i don't care much for romance and that's why the angst in cdramas(not just romance related) feels and hits way harder! yes, i absolutely adored the angst in the glory freaking loved it! i live for it, but angst in cdramas tends to focus a lot more on familial and platonic relationships, and my lil heart just loves it too much!!

4) kdramas have a lot more filler than cdramas

yes, ik that cdramas are longer, but just hear me out! i have noticed that a lot of times, if you remove a couple of episodes from a kdrama, it makes no impact on the plot whatsoever! or a lot of arcs just feel like they don't deserve as much screen time, and some arcs don't make much sense either after being dragged on for so long!! meanwhile, cdramas are definitely longer, but most of them, if not all of them, are adapted from a webnovel, and that, in general, leads to them being super long! yes, it feels like they are dragging some parts out, but it all seems significant to the plot and is not just filler!

5) relationships between females are better portrayed in cdramas!!

i absolutely adore female friendships or just respectful relationships between females. and cdramas definitely do it better than kdramas! look at li susu and pian ran from TTEOTM or jiele and xiao lan hua from LBFAD or WOH or back from the brink! female connections are better portrayed in cdramas!

6) cdramas tend to be more fantasy focused than kdramas

i enjoy fantasy as a genre a lot, and cdramas tend to be more fantasy based! chinese fantasy is so interesting, and i absolutely adore wuxia/xianxia as a genre! kdramas don't have something similar, and while i adore a lot of historical kdramas, fantasy just hits differently! especially cause there is just so much to explore in chinese fantasy! look at the blood of youth, i had so much fun watching that show. and the fight scenes were so well done!

7) cdramas have beautiful platonic relationships, and i adore the found family arc a lot more in cdaramas

there is definitely a found family arc going on in most of the cdramas ive watched, and i live for it! a lot of time, the characters might not have as much screen time, but they all seem to have depth, and that makes the drama so much fun! yes, kdramas also have found family arcs, but a lot of times, the characters are purely used for comical purposes and have no back stories! they are mostly just used to fill screetime! whether it's the untamed or the starry love, the found family arc would make my heart go so soft cause all those characters have back stories and depth and i am so in love with all of them and even losing one of them can make me go feral and that's exactly why i adore cdramas!!!!!!

shortcomings of cdramas:-

a) the re-dubbing in cdarams- as you all know that China re-dubs their drama, and that can be annoying cause it's always the same va!!

b) the chinese censorship is so strict, and a lot of times, some scenes don't make it into the final cut which can be frustrating or a lot of time even getting past the censorship can be impossible!!

c) i feel that fans seem to be more critical towards cdramas! people behind the scenes put way too much effort so that we can watch their work, but how the drama changes after the censorship is not in their control! they try their best, and adapting novels is not easy!! yet the fans are less understanding towards them! i just wish the audience was a little more understanding!!

d) another problem that's persistent with most cdramas are the poorly translated subtitles! sometimes, the subtitles can be very unclear, or the translation is not accurate at and that can create a disconnect with the international fans in general!!

this is just my opinion! im not saying that cdramas are better than kdramas. i adore them both a lot! im just saying that i PREFER cdramas more! please be understanding and try to be polite when interacting with this post!! that being said, feel free to leave recommendations cause i WILL check em out ;))

[lostinadrama]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 (2024)

[pangzi]

can i just say it does really annoy me that people will gladly pay like €14 for one month of N*tflix or whatever streaming service but refuse to pay less or the same for youku/iqiyi/wetv and also complain about these services making their shows vip for/after a certain amount of time while we should be thankful they even give us these shows subtitled for free at all

[zhoufeis]

[pronouncingitwang]

.

[aikaterini-drag]

The vibes they emit✨✨✨ Effortlessly amazing!!

Plus, Wang He Di that stare of yours 😍😍😍

[myladytara]

Two green flags right for each other♡

Maybe in another world,they would get together as a couple and marry each other.

Maybe the writer of this drama will also get the happy ending she wrote...♡

Thanks to her for portraying something so pure in this generation. Something that felt true and perfect,even with imperfections... Something that's right.

Maybe that's what it's all about.

Maybe that's what people call love.

The love that lasts...

[ziseviolet]

Hi my friend wanted to ask about Chinese Opera and the red pom poms on their hats and their significance. I asked my mom and she said they were for decoration so I just wanted clarification

Hi! Thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply!

The pom poms you see on 盔头/kuitou (Chinese opera headdresses) are called 绒球/rongqiu (lit. "velvet ball"). They are often red, but can also be other colors, and vary in size. Ronqiu are decorative and serve to distinguish the many different types of kuitou from one another. Each type of kuitou is distinct in the number, size, and color of rongqiu that it's decorated with (of course, not all kuitou have rongqiu).

Below - a few different types of Beijing opera kuitou decorated with rongqiu (x):

Rongqiu isn't used just for Chinese opera performances - it's a very common decorative item for Chinese headwear, especially for traditional/folk performances.

Below - examples of rongqiu use in folk custom/performance costumes, left to right: 1) 游神/youshen (wandering gods) procession in Fujian (x), 2) 英歌舞/yingge wu (yingge dance) performer in Guangdong (x), 3) & 4) 高跷/gaoqiao (stilt walking) performers in a 社火/shehuo parade in Gansu (x):

As a festive decoration, rongqiu was also widely used on bridal guan (crowns) from the Qing dynasty into the modern day.

Below - examples of rongqiu use in historical bridal guan: Left - a bride during the late Qing dynasty, circa 1890 (x); Right - a bride during the Republican era/minguo, in 1939 (x):

For some reason it's been extremely difficult to find sources on the origin of rongqiu that would shed more light on its significance, but based on historical paintings the use of rongqiu as a head ornament may have originated in the Qing dynasty. During the late Qing dynasty, it was fashionable among women to wear rongqiu on the sides of their hair, as can be seen in the paintings below (x):

This particular style of rongqiu hair ornament was depicted in the 2012 historical cdrama 娘心计/Mother's Scheme:

For more references, please see my rongqiu and kuitou tags.

If anyone has more information on the significance of rongqiu, please do share!

Hope this helps ^^

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

random ask but should love and deepspace become a cdrama or an animated series, which actors do you think will fit the bill?

I think this is a really interesting and meaningful question. Thank you for the question. Tbh I don't think any actors will fit. This involves an idea or unwritten rule of chinese fandoms including xianxia fiction and especially otome game (by especially I mean If Paper is going to do this, it's crazy, it's suicidal, it wants to go out of business, and no game company would dare to do this, including genshin impact. Chinese players will kill them no kidding lmao. Because of this, such attempts also face a vacuum market that no consumer or audience will buy into. If they ever do this, it must be all of them possessed by aliens). Chinese fandoms think no real persons can be compared with or can cast zhipianren纸片人(lit. paper people, referring to all fictional characters born in two dimensions such as art, novels, animations and games, etc., with positive overtones). They call the practice of capitalists trying to bring live-action revival on zhipianren/paper people 真人化zhenrenhua(real people casting paper people, slightly pejorative in fandoms and neutral in non-fandoms). They think zhipianren is pure and remains artistry given by their creators. And actors for otome game characters? I asked my chinese friend and she said shockingly 真人请勿碰瓷纸片人 meaning real people stop piggybacking on paper people's popularity and clout. So that is basically the fundamental viewpoint of chinese otome game fandoms. I don't think they are haters of actors because so many players believe that otome characters are real in another dimension, in fact not only otome but also many other fandoms, and artists also believe that their OCs are real in another dimension. It's almost a kind of pure faith. In addition they believe that the appearance and grooming of zhipianren is perfect, and this perfection does not refer to their bodies or faces, but to a kind of demeanor and temperament of theirs, which, because it exists only in a two-dimensional space, can be fully imagined and experienced by people. Zhenrenhua will completely ruin the imagination and the pleasure. Besides the point, chinese fandoms always get the first hand information of chinese entertainment industry so they've seen too many nasty scandals and flops of male actors especially idol actors. Cnetizens are pungently honest, and most of them just despise male chinese actors, especially idol actors (excluding a few with both talents and personal morals and proved himself with years of efforts, e.g. zhang songwen张颂文 in The Knockout/狂飙 but he is not idol actors so). Just because these idol actors have a large following on social media doesn't mean the general public likes them. I asked my friend and she said there's also the fact that people are extremely picky about the appearance of actors playing zhipianren, and it has nothing to do with discrimination, people just don't want their imaginations tarnished. But there are a few zhenrenhua that are big hit, and even though there are still a few hard-core fans of the original work who boycott them, the general public and a lot of fans of the original work love them, e.g. the Untamed陈情令, and Yi Ren Zhi Xia异人之下/The Outcast (the cdrama version, and they think the movie version recently released is a piece of shit). That's why I agree with them that there is no actor who will fit the bill.

[chinesehanfu]

[Cdrama Hanfu]𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀-𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘆 (𝟵𝟬𝟳–𝟭𝟮𝟳𝟵𝗔𝗗) 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿 & 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗳𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮【墨雨云间/𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲】

【Historical Reference Artifacts】

1.China Portrait of Qian Duo (10 March 852– 6 May 932), King Taizu of Wuyue (吳越太祖)<Ming Dynasty replica>

2.China Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period: <White marble relief sculpture of Musician> Unearthed from the tomb of Wang Chuzhi, the governor of Yiwu Army during the Five Dynasties period

3.Chinese Five Dynasties Period and Ten Kingdoms Murals: Tomb of Feng Hui冯晖墓

【History about Chinese Traditional Headwear: Futou】

Futou (simplified Chinese: 幞头; traditional Chinese: 襆頭/幞頭; also pronounced and written as putou), also known as fu (幞) and toujin (頭巾),[1] was one of the most important forms of Chinese headwear in ancient China with a history of more than one thousand years. The futou first appeared in Northern Zhou under the reign of Emperor Wu where it became prevalent. It was also commonly worn in the Tang and Song dynasties.  The futou was typically worn by government officials.The futou was originally turban-like headwear which was tied at the back of its wearer's head, with the two corners going to opposite directions and acting as decorations. From the Sui to the Ming dynasties, the futou evolved and was developed based on the fujin.The futou eventually came to assume a variety of shapes and styles.The shape of the futou worn by the government officials in the Song and Ming dynasties, the latter known as the wushamao (烏紗帽), was based on the futou of the Tang dynasty.

The Chinese futou was also introduced in both Korea Unified Silla and continued to be worn by government officials until the late Korea Joseon: 25  The futou with a jinzi (lining) was also introduced back in the Sogdian areas in Central Asia spreading to the Western regions through the Xinjiang region. The futou with jinzi was also introduced in Japan during the Japan Nara period through Prince Shōtaku.

Sui, Tang dynasty, and Five dynasties and ten kingdoms period

Prior to the Song dynasty, the futou was mostly made of black muslin.  In the early Tang, the futou was a sijiaoruanjin (四腳軟巾; 'Four-feet soft scarf'),where all four ribbons were allowed to hang down after being tied. Later on, the early Tang dynasty minister, Ma Zhou, was the first person to use a square kerchief in order to tie a futou and was also the person who added a lining to shape his futou making it more beautiful.The lining which was added to the inside of the futou from the year 614 AD was called jinzi (巾子); the jinzi was used to make the futou look more straight and beautiful in terms of appearance. After being cut into the desired shape, the jinzi was painted black with lacquer and would then be covered by the futou. The jinzi was made with soft and light tung wood and with other materials such as bamboo strips, timbo, miscanthus, silk, and leather. It was also possible to line the futou with a mount-shaped item made out of paulownia (Chinese: 桐木为冠; pinyin: Tóngmù wéi guān; lit. 'paulownia crown') in the front. The step-by-step process to wear the futou with jinzi was to tie the hair up in a topknot, followed by covering the topknot with the jinzi as hard lining, then wrapping the head and the jinzi with a black, square-shaped piece of cloth, and finally tying the cloth in the desired style. The futou with jinzi then became the standard form of futou in the early Tang dynasty. A form of futou with jinzi was a kerchief with two corners attached with two ribbons in opposite directions of each other; the ribbons would then be tied at the back of the wearer's head, allowing the two back ribbons to hang down freely as a form of decoration.With time, the futou with jinzi was further developed, and a ribbon was attached to each corner of the turban to make it more decorative; two ribbons were tied on the top of the head while the back ribbons were tied and were allowed to hang down freely. The futou with jinzi could also have all four ribbons tied at the back of the head and allowed to hang down freely. The yingwangboyang (Chinese: 英王踣样), a futou with a big and forward top jinzi, was created by Emperor Zhongzong and became prevalent during his reign when he awarded this type of futou to his officials. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the neiyang (Chinese: 内样), a futou with a small and round top jinzi became popular around the year 726 AD. Moreover, by adding wire or silk strings inside the added ribbons, the futou could take different shapes and styles depending on its wearer's liking. However, in the Tang dynasty, only the Emperors could use these hard ribbons; these hard ribbons would be bent upward.The Tang dynasties emperor wore a futou with two upturned tails until the Five dynasties period.The Tang dynasty emperors also wore the zhijiaofutou (Chinese: 直腳幞头; pinyin: zhíjiǎofútóu; lit. 'straight-feet futou').

For more the history of futou's evolution, please refer to:

The evolution of futou in China

—————-

Photo：Chinese Actor 曾柯琅/Zeng Kelang

CDrama name：【墨雨云间/𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲】

🔗Weibo：https://weibo.com/u/7823001376

—————-

[dangermousie]

we are gonna have a creepy encounter in the middle of the night with a scary dude in a suit with a fancy ominously lit car blackmailing ml over his parentage and threatening his now respectable mother like something out of a gangster movie or s 2004 melo starring so ji sub to force him to...

join a boring candy colored company as an employee

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ILY, drama, and I say this unironically.

(Clearly the weird old chaebol running the place has seen too many palace cdramas and is now trying to use his illegitimate kid as some sort of training to sharpen his legit kid and/or to set up a competition for the throne like in those dramas but to see this all in context of a ridiculously bland white collar company producing nothing of import is AMAZING)

[harocat]

for the ask meme... CLJ

Favorite Male Character: Dongfang Qingcang baby boy Favorite Female Character: Xiao Lanhua the world's number one princess queen. Least Favorite Character: Everyone is going to say Yunzhong (totally fair), so I'll say Moon Supreme Daddy. Favorite Ship: Canglan ofc Favorite Friendship: How to choose? DFQC and Xiao Run for funsies, and as extension, DFQC and CH... however much of a friendship it may be. Favorite Quote: This is SO hard, because this show is full of the most wonderful quotes. Like where do you even start? For tonight, let's go with Xiao Lanhua's weal and woe speech when she wants to go into Fuju Cave. For short ones? 'It's my destiny to save the world.' 'But it's my mission to save you.' Worst Character Death: XLH's (temporary) death is certainly the saddest, as well as of course, the aftermath. This made me so happy you have no idea Moment: Probably THAT scene in episode nine. The dopamine receptors were LIT UP. It's the kind of epic hype creating moment that most shows try, and fail to achieve. Can we talk about when the WINGS appear behind her. I GASPED. Saddest Moment: Dongfang Qingcang hanging the lock on the bridge with 'Xiyun'. Not just the saddest LBFAD scene, but still the Cdrama scene that has made me bawl the most. By far. Maybe the only one that's actually made me bawl. Favorite Location: I'm not sure how to choose between Arbiter Hall (lovely, home-y, filled with so many sweet moments) and Silent Moon Palace (particularly the 'living' areas- so gorgeous and plush, with the prettiest skies ever). I guess it makes sense that Canglan couldn't choose either, and they apparently reside in both. Shoutout to Destruction of Heaven though, which is gorgeous.

[lostinadrama]

𝐌𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 (2024)

[fruitdaze]

also i know that most of my followers are from danmei/cdramas/tlt and such but i am SO happy to talk about classics and especially rome + latin lit if anyone wants to, or wants to know more :')

[youraverageaemondsimp]

actor tom bennett x south-east asian chinese actress stem girlie who is doing her phd headcanon. this is inspired from the brazil event. instead of brazil, the studio sent them to reader's birth country, which is in south-east asia, to promote the show. the reader gets to flex her linguistic skills in her birth country, which led the studio to have an increase in viewership.

tom bennett: *talks about his character and his approach as an actor. cockily and openly flirts on reader on stage through witty banter. praises her work in both stem and acting that are both applied in the show. openly admires her ability to speak multiple languages. openly admires her comparison between acting and music and her defence why the stem field needs creativity, how the tech field is arguably art as well and how hard she had to fight to keep all of these careers. openly admires how she calls out the condescending attitudes of her fellow academics towards the creative field and for labelling her art career as a "little hobby". openly admires her nerdiness of her listing the similarities between HOTD and Ancient Chinese history and the parallels between the show they are in and the political chinese dramas. laughs at her reason on why she decided to join the show, which is because it reminds her of the political cdramas she loves so much. loving the way her eyes lit up whenever she talks about her country's food and traditional dresses. praises how beautiful she looks with her modernised traditional dress. praises her classical pianist and violin skills that she used for the show. praises her beautiful singing voice that was used for the soundtracks of the show. refer to this video to how i imagine her singing voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMmVgNRh-aM *

reader: sorry for rambling, guys! i just turned this into a masterclass for music, tech and history!

tom bennett: no worries, love! it's cute! and adorable! 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

audience: *notices the way he looks at her* awwwwwwww! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

host: are you two dating? is the kdrama coming out?

reader: *laughing* nahhhh! we are colleagues. he doesn't like me that way. and the kdrama is NEVER coming out, guys.

host: uhhhhhh, he does like you.

reader: *laughs* no he doesn't!

host: yes he does!

audience: yes he does!

the entire goddamned world: yes he does! 🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑

Tom joining Aemond in trying to convince the reader that they like her

She doesn't believe it one bit, JUST ACCEPT IT

HAHSHAHD

omg imagine a love triangle between tom, reader and aemond 😳

[dream-thief-forever-amen]

It’s an auspicious day, ya’ll! Today is the first time in my cdrama viewing history a male lead has lit my panties on fire for reminding me of men.

I have been captivated by the alluring male cdrama beauties that have graced my screen, and even swooned over a few delicately handsome ones like Cheng Yi.

Some of the men in cdramas remind me of women (I’m not saying they are feminine or girly, this is just how my gay brain works when I like pretty boys cause I’m gay, folks). Sometimes cdrama men remind me of myself (behavior wise). Usually they are just characters, however, that I can enjoy in the context of the stories without my lizard brain screaming at me to tear their clothing off.

But sometimes… very rarely… I’ll see a dude on screen and think “Yeah. Ok. Huh. Wow. Shit.” And then proceed to fantasize about straight sex. In a strange disassociated way that it still quite enjoyable to experience (if ya know you know).

So let’s thirst over Darren Wang in The Wolf together. Have ya’ll seen him???

Sexualizing men in a heterosexual context is wild. But my wolf guy has made demands and apparently I must comply. Why fight nature? The brain is mad science, no one understands it, just go with the flow.

The Wolf is mucking about with my internal chemistry and I like it.

(Also this absolutely stunning FL is a work of art but I’m sorry my gorgeous lady that human beside you has 100000% of my attention)

Cause… WTF?!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!!!

I’m speechless.

I popped this drama on randomly this morning thinking I needed a break from the intensity of Joy of Life and got another type of intensity.

The Wolf is very cheesy and over the top in all the best ways. It was giving me Gu Family Book vibes in the first few eps… with the sweet monster boy in love with a lone beauty on a mountain top. The music is a bit too loud when they bring in the OST but it has 2010-2014 kdrama vibes. And I liked a lot of kdramas from that era… they were unique. They had these angsty plot lines and featured people who actively contributed to their own suffering in a very sexy smoldering way. This show came out in 2020 but whatever, it fits the bill.

Darren Wang was amazing as the smiling snarling wolf boy… but when he showed up in that black uniform with that hair cut and started disrobing his silky black undershirt to expose all his honey colored perfect skin I thought I was going insane. INSANE. I had to pause the show and walk away (metaphorically. I just picked up my phone and ran here obviously)

Our boys got a Bidam glow up.

Friends. Help me!

I already saw possible spoilers searching for gifs so I’m gonna hide from the net for a while before I ruin this show plot line and just enjoy this brief lapse into lust for men.

The hormones have been activated. I am powerless against them. Ladies and gay boys, I’ll return to you after this brief interruption of normal broadcasting…