Mainland Chinese dramas have taken great leaps forward in quality in recent years, but the sheer quantity of output makes it a veritable smorgasbord of offering too voluminous for the novice to sort through. I only watch what interests me, quality not withstanding, and sometimes the sheer awfulness makes it worth the lulz factor alone. But for those looking for critical and popular acclaimed C-dramas, look no further than China’s Douban website for viewer feedback.
The top 20 highest rated C-dramas on Douban, which is China’s equivalent of Rottentomatoes, will be a great launching off point for those wanting to watch the legit good stuff. Topping the list of highest audience ratings for any C-drama is the Hu Ge and Wang Kai period drama Nirvana in Fire (Lang Ya Bang). Coming in second is Battle of Changsha, the war and romance drama with Wallace Huo and Yang Zhi. And rounding out the top three is serious war era drama All Quiet in Peking. Peruse the top 20 full list below, which is heavily skewed towards war and war-era dramas, but has one romance drama in Remembering Lichuan.
Top 20 C-dramas Based on C-audience feedback on Douban
1. Nirvana in Fire
2. Battle of Changsa
3. All Quiet in Peking
4. Romance of Our Parents
5. The Stand-in
6. With You
7. Candle in the Tomb
8. The Chinese Old Peasant
9. The Disguiser
10. Wu Xin The Monster Killer
11. Remembering Lichuan
12. Bu Liang Ren
13. The City of Warriors
14. Yu Zui Season 1
15. Dating Hunter
16. Soul Ferry
17. Ordinary World
18. A Civic Yuppie in Countryside
19. Forty-nine Days Memorial
20. The Fight of Changsha
Dating Hunter at #15 is also another romance drama, or rather, romcom. Loved it. There was also news of the drama being optioned for the US market?
I’m glad to see that a few web dramas have made the top twenty list. I find that web dramas have been improving in quality the last few years, and some web dramas have even better production value than the traditional television dramas. With SARFT having strong restrictions on TV series, I think the internet platform allows a bit more freedom for creative content. Last but not least, I’m not surprised Nirvana came in first place, it was amazing!
2016 is a great year for China’s web dramas. I wholeheartedly agree “Bu Liang Ren” is awesome. It is thoroughly entertaining and I wouldn’t mind watching it again.
As for “Soul Ferry” (aka. “The Ferry Man”), it has its ups and downs. In the end, it’s chemistry between the ferry man and his boy toy (joking!) that won me over.
“Remembering Lichuan” is love. I cried, wept, felt comforted and uplifted by it.
How can anybody not love “Wuxin: The Monster Killer”? The trio can conquer the world if they wanted to.
“With Me” was great until the characters graduated high school. Then, it was just a drag.
“Candle in the Tomb”, “Nirvana in Fire”, “The Disguiser” all have one thing in common: The almighty Jin Dong.
Both “Ordinary World” and “Battle of Changsha” had good storytelling and strong cast except the topics didn’t interest me.
Nirvana in Fire was a perfect adaptation of the original novel and was an amazing drama overall. It totally deserves its number one spot!
Thanks so much for this list. I might check some of them out. I still need to finish Wuxin. I have to admit I didn’t love Battle of Changsha, but it is one of those dramas where I felt I learned a lot. In k-dramaland, I felt the same way about Joseon Gunman; has some flaws, but I learned so much about a part of history I didn’t know much about I felt the watch was still worthwhile. That’s how I feel about Changsha.
I watch the first episode of Nirvana in Fire because it was rated so high that it makes me curious, the unrealistic high jumpings and overall plot confuses me, does the story picks up late…? or I’m just impatient…?
It started out slow and the pace is steady, however don’t overlook any details as they will connect few episodes later. This is not a romance story so don’t watch for romance (very very little romance) but watch it for strategy.
The high jumping is a Chinese wuxia (martial arts) genre trope. It’s qinggong, a type of Chinese martial arts technique in which the user can make their own body lighter, causing them to make lighter strides and to jump higher and farther.
The overall plot for Nirvana in Fire is quite complicated and involves a great conspiracy that gets unraveled by Mei Changsu (played by Hu Ge).
Nirvana in fire, Battle of changsha, The disguiser are all created by Shandong Production, a company known for quality.. I am glad they made it.
I love Nirvana in Fire, Huge is such an amazing actor as well as Wan Kai, i love the story, they said it was the Game of Thrones in China.
Can only agree with the top pick Nirvana in Fire. I even consider this one a rare gem in Asian drama, top notch both in depth and entertainment elements, beating all the K, T, and other C dramas I’ve watched. But I have to admit I’m not the one for Battle in Changsha and the Disguiser, mainly I may have some prejudice against any C period dramas post-Quing era, for its obvious political and ideological propaganda that I don’t buy into.
Nevertheless, I appreciate the mentions of other rom coms or melo dramas (non war related). Will check them out.
Disguiser is one thing when it comes to usual propaganda but I don’t think there are any in BoC, at least not as noticable. Also All Quiet in Beijing is a very good watch if you want something that presents both sides equally
All Quiet in Peking was amazing, would 100% recommend!
With You is great, probably the most realistic youth drama I have seen. The only problem the availibility, or lack of it outside of iqiyi…
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