While K-drama ratings have been down in the past five years consistently year after year, with 2012 in my mind as the last year ratings could get above 20% for more than just one or two prime time dramas a year, C-dramas haven’t yet reached its peak or decline, and in fact is still on the upward trajectory for its industry. A recent media coverage showed that the weekday drama ratings have seen quite a few hit dramas, and impressively the top two rated C-dramas both had the same leading lady, no wonder Zhao Li Ying is so insanely popular in China. The average rating for the number one rated C-drama in the last three years was The Journey of Flower with an incredible 2.123%, followed by recently aired Princess Agents averaging 1.702%, and a close third and the first non-period drama is Whirlwind Girl with 1.680%. Just for comparison this year’s early hit Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles Peach Blossoms averaged 1.11% ratings which already made it successful, so Journey of Flower is really something to average over 2%.
If you haven’t already checked out these three top C-drama hits then maybe it’s a good recommendation for a summer marathon as these were the dramas that resonated with domestic Chinese viewers.
I’m glad my all time favorite C actress Li Ying is still popular as ever. I first seen her in Female Prime Minister and I become a fan for life ????
me too! i love her soooo much!
I have watched Whirlwind Girl and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms and currently watching Princess Agents. Ia m actually planning to watch Journey of Flower after that.
Though I have not yet finished watching Princess agent (currently at ep40), I can say that its really a good drama with great acting skills from its main cast Shawn Duo and Zhanilla, not really digging the lead guys acting the one acting as Yuwen Yue. With Ten Miles Peach Blossom, that drama was a real surprise to me. I never thought I could ever appreciate a Chinese drama so much than this. I have watched ‘Princess Weiyoung’ before that as well as ‘Emperial Doctress’ and though both are OK dramas, I almost didn’t believe that Ten Miles of Peach Blossom could be of any greater but Iwas wrong. Even my love for ‘Bu bu Jing Xin, Scarlet Heart’ was replaced by this drama and I think it will stay as my number1 chinese drama despite my great liking with ‘Princess Agent’ (I though love Shawn Dou more than Mark Chao, his character and acting as Yan Xun is impressive.
Whirlwind girl made me a fan of Yang Yang. It was a simple, sweet drama. Roubai is the most handsome Taekwondo instructor ever,e vere existed lol. I also suggest for people to watch his other popular drama “LOVE O2O” with Zhen Shuang, its also a good drama.
ZLY is totally my female bias! Love her to bits and I’m glad that her dramas are doing so well but I just couldn’t finish Journey of Flower despite my combined love for ZLY and Wallace, that series drives me batty!
Am currently following Princess Agent but imo it’s not a well made series, editing is choppy, story pacing is uneven, directing is not very smooth and the series is supeeeer draggy! But I love ZLY and LGX (leftover adoration from BBJX’s 14th prince!!) and Shawn was a total surprise hit. His Yan Xun was acted extremely well I think. So basically I’m just hangin in there for the last mile for the cast.
And Yang yang, well, who could resist that face! LOL. His O2O was also very good and enjoyable although Zheng Shuang’s acting makes me cringe!!
As enjoyable (and sometimes frustratingly draggy) these series are, I see them more of a youth idol kind of series. Great for time pass. In my opinion the best period series in terms of story, acting, directing and overall quality in the last few years have got to be hands down Nirvana in Fire!! No (minimum) romance there but it’s absolutely riveting and intricate and smart! I woukd recommend that to anyone in a heartbeat!
For HQG, just skim through episodes 1-47 and then watch 48-50 where the girl turns into the demon goddess (yay! to no more purity), those 3 episodes are the best and will make you emotional.
I’m quite surprised that In the Name of the People isn’t listed. IIRC, it never got rating below 2, and broke 6, which had never happened before.
I was equally surprised and shocked not to find In the Name of the People there. It had amazing ratings that PA can’t touch and it was critically acclaimed.
Also, we have Because of meeting you which came after Peach Blossoms and also averaged more than PA.
Koala chinese news is usually not accurate.
No. Her news is accurate because these ratings apply to weekday dramas ( a few episodes per week) . In the name of the people is aired everyday so it is in another category. The weekday drama format is kind of new. Chinese audience are more used to dramas airing everyday.
@maymay: Thanks for clarifying. I was wondering about the absence of ITNOP as well.
Hmmm I’m not enjoying Princess Agents much, currently still stuck on ep 13 without the drive to continue further. Imo The Advisors Alliance is surprisingly good, although the ‘ending’ kind of left us audience hanging due to second season coming up soon? I recommend watching this drama if you like Nirvana in Fire.
I dropped princess agents because I got bored. First drama with zly and I’m not feeling her character. Thought her character was bland and quiet detached and still didn’t feel her character after almost 40 episodes. Don’t know about JoF or Whirlwind Girl since they doesn’t interest me.
Ten miles of peach blossom is still the It drama of 2017 for me. ❤️
I am waiting for Princess Agents to complete subs, b4 watching it. I hope it doesn’t disappoint. My no1 fav to date is TMoPB, Journy of Flower would’ve been no1 if not for the ending. I hope Princess Agents is just as good.
I am happy that Princess Agents is doing so well, not only in TV ratings but online views.
I am enjoying the drama so far. Hoping for a good ending. I haven’t seen Whirlwind Girl, but I loved Journey of Flower.
Zanilia receives so much hype that I decided to check out her dramas; but most of her works are more hype than substance except for Boss and Me.
Loving her drama PA.Hoping it has a good ending.
I’ve been a fan of Zhao Liying ever since I saw her in 错点鸳鸯 years ago, and at least five of her dramas later, I love her more than ever. She deserves all of her success. I watched Journey of Flower and I’m watching Princess Agents now, and although I am enjoying them, I do feel like the plots are dragging (maybe partially due to the channel Hunan TV / Mango TV with its tendency to do weird editing and drag out episodes).
I haven’t seen Whirlwind Girl, but I’ve also been a long-time fan of Yang Yang since his debut. Although his acting can be stiff at times, he was absolutely perfect as Xiao Nai in Love O2O.
For this year, my favorite drama has to be Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. The drama adaptation was amazing, even better than the novel! Mark Chao’s acting was superb, and Yang Mi also surprised me with her improved acting in it.
I’ve loved all these dramas but I admit that I struggled to finish Whirlwind Girl – apart from Yang Yang’s pretty face, the rest of the characters, especially the main female lead who was really weepy, were kind of boring. I’m surprised Love O2O isn’t on here. I was reluctant to watch it initially but I got sucked in so quickly.
From this three dramas, journey of the flower is my last fave. I couldnt even finish that one. Currently watching PA and im on YWY-CQ ship. But i do love Shawn. He’s such a show stellar.
I liked Whirlwind Girl. First time saw Yang Yang. In kinda surprised with the rating. The story was typical and weak comparing to the other two.
And more surprised seeing Ten Miles’s rating wasnt that great.
By far, dramas i finished watching were ode to joy 2, fox fall in love (even the 3 last episodes of season 2 were meh), surgeons, ten miles. Hopefully i can finish other cdramas too.
hua xian gu is a funny drama for me because I don’t think it is good but definitely a crack and they censor the vampire kiss, come on
watching eternal love and princess agents rn
Uhm, I couldn’t past first episode with JOF…
I fell in love with Ten Miles despite thinking the book was bland when I read it a few years back, before the dramatization of novels become so popular. I fell in love with the author after reading her other novel, translated so I don’t know the English name. I couldn’t get into Ten Miles though until the drama popped out. I must say over the years, that drama really popped out. I think it was well directed, filmed, and acted out. They have pretty strong female/male leads.
As for Princess Agents, I couldn’t get into it. For some odd reason I couldn’t imagine ZLY as this strong, powerful warrior. Her whole physique was so…thin/fragile looking. It’s like, my arms are bigger than hers but i can’t even like…push a person. -_-: Anyway, that and the story doesn’t flow very well, I feel like it’s illogical. Plus the acting… I think they need a bit more work. I just see blank faces.
As for WG…hmmmm, didn’t watch it so no comment, lol.
PA has high rating because of ZLY. She has a face that easily loved by everyone. Quality wise TMOPB was Much better.
Even people rated it low due to the book controversy and how they didn’t think Mark and YM matched their roles in the beginning (was scored 3.8) but it went up to 6.4 in Douban after it aired and people realize it’s a good drama. PA might have higher TV rating but their Douban rating is lower.
I still cannot get into C-dramas.
Their leads are so..anooyingly one sidedly perfect.
I watched Journey Of Flower and Ten Miles, and was disturbed by how perfect the leads are.
How wonderfully self sacrifical, with flaws that are made to be cute or dashing or to get them into more “adventures”
I’m not commenting on JoF but how are the leads in TMOPB perfect? LOL
They are not… People are just blind to see their flaws….
you mean the character or actors/actress (leads in TMOPB) who are not perfect ???
Huh? How is Ye Hua perfect? He has very poor communication skill and there are a lot of conflicts that can be resolved with him giving his wife proper explanation about her situations but instead, he kept her in the dark to bear all the responsibilities for himself. Not to mention his recklessness and tendency to sacrifice his life without thinking things through to find better solutions. For western audience, his forceful actions of intimacy also leave a sour taste in our mouths. Some people find Bai Qian imperfect for her lack of maternal instinct. They are not at all perfect, which make them three-dimensional characters. Like Yen said above, people just choose to ignore these flaws and focus on the positive traits.
I didn’t know Whirlwind Girl was so highly rated! I’m glad though, cause I absolutely enjoyed and loved it. As for the other two… I’m hesitant to start either cause after Legend of Lu Zhen, I really can’t fathom liking ZLY. It was such an overrated and horrible drama to me. As a result, I find it really hard to convince myself to start on ZLY / Chen Xiao’s dramas… I’m just prejudiced.
The Chinese are spending millions upon millions of dollars not only promoting propaganda dramas but buying up movie studios all over the world. Their purpose is to change China’a image. When they start to be what they are trying to portray, I might start to watch their dramas. They can fool the people some of the time…I guess. I watch S. Korean Dramas because they are the best.
Hands down, PA is LGX’s show. Sorry ZLY fans, LGX stole the hype for PA. They cast the perfect person to play YWY and LGX does not disappoint, in fact I’m still watching it because of him. I went into PA with little knowledge of Chinese dramas but LGX’s YWY is both mesmerizing to watch and appreciative as the leading male. Plus, I still say this, if LGX has not found his leading lady, I think it is ZLY. Although PA does not have many romantic scenes with anyone, there is this chemistry between LGX and ZLY, can’t describe it, it’s just there.
Nee, I agree with you PA is LGX’s show.
TMOPB was broadcast on 2 channels at the same time, both channels achieved > 1.5 in ratings so it actually did very well. It also generated the most buzz and trending topics despite its packed broadcasting schedule (2 eps per day for the whole week which imo left too little room to maximize the potential of online viewing and discussions).
PA is the only Chinese drama I like it…because of LGX and his perfect YWY.
ZLY didn’t impress me at all. She’s good at gymnastics but her Xing’er didn’t convince me to be the woman for whom YWY could give up everything. Li Qin and Maggie Huang are better actress