Pursuit of Jade Wraps with Douban Ratings of 6.8, Accusations of Watering the Viewership, and Inverse Buzz to Screentime Ratio for Leads Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei
So what was a great start for March 2026 iQiyi period C-drama Pursuit of Jade will see it suffer the same high to low trajectory as most dramas these days. With a hot start and strong reviews, the drama starring Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei looked poised to deliver a much needed win for C-drama land after a series of mediocre to just good drama premieres in the first two months of the year. Alas the drama’s second half of its run has been marred by a series of bad news – allegations that the viewership was watered by fake data, complaints that the male lead had considerably less screentime and was basically a glorified extra at times, the collapse in logic of the plot in the second half, the villain dudes getting more buzz and breakout from the drama, and the female lead delivering a solid performance but not getting the commensurate buzz versus the less screen time male lead getting way more buzz compared to her. All in all, this won’t be the breakout hit that both leads wanted but still not being a flop is a relief. And to cap it off, the opening Douban ratings of 6.8 is on the weaker side for a drama that purported had really high views.
This drama is supposedly a bigger hit than Joy of life, Knockout or some other dramas that are still relevant years later. What a joke.
I really want to know what was the purpose of this from the two platforms? It’s now infamous for the tsunami of water and fake ratings. That isn’t going to go away and will taint their dramas further on.
Anyway, the only way ZLH got more attention was that people spoke how he was the worst actor on screen and overshadowed by others. She on the other hand got quite a few compliments.
Overall what a waste.
I expected higher score because overall the acting and directing was good. Plot did give up at the last 10 episodes, but that is already way better than many hyped dramas that didn’t make it through the first 10 episodes.
Outside of this. I personally feel that somehow a lot of scenes seemed to be cut off or edited out which made the flow of the story towards the end seem off. Not sure if it was a censorship issue or maybe an episode restriction issue but it kind of was a let down. But I still feel the drama was good despite this. It is a shame but it makes you wonder with the last 10 episodes released illegally what the heck is going on with whoever is in charge of airing this drama sounds like there is a lot of fishy business more than watering the viewership ratings. I don’t think it is the casts fault at all and people should really not blame them but throw the shade on the broadcasting network.