Latest Chinese Drama Reviews
In depth reviews for the latest popular Chinese dramas.
Chinese Drama Updates
The Chinese dramas currently airing
New Podcast Episodes Weekly
Available wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, iHeartRadio, Google
Chinese Pop Culture News and Drama Updates
Full series podcast episodes are available anywhere podcasts are available. Just search Chasing Dramas.
In The Know – Chinese Pop Culture News
Karen and Cathy explain cultural and historical references episode by episode in popular Chinese historical dramas as well as Chinese pop culture news. The podcast is in English with proper nouns and phrases spoken in Mandarin Chinese. Currently, they are discussing The Story of Yanxi Palace. Completed dramas/movies include: The Story of Ming Lan, Empresses in the Palace, Royal Nirvana, Palace (2013 film), and Mulan (2020 Disney movie) among others.
Happy Halloween! In China, many celebrities have been unmasked from their personas in recent reality shows or plain internet sleuthing. This includes well known actor, professor, and cook Huang Lei, who’s been unmasked as a regular cook and thin-skinned person who wants to have the last say. This also includes actress Zhou Yu Tong who’s appearance in Season 6 of Divas Hit the Road has set off a firestorm on social media about her potentially narcissistic personality, dragging the entire season down. Listen to our latest podcast to hear how and why these two celebrities have been unmasked!
Chinese Drama Updates!
Karen and Cathy explain cultural and historical references episode by episode in popular Chinese historical dramas as well as Chinese pop culture news. The podcast is in English with proper nouns and phrases spoken in Mandarin Chinese. Currently, they are discussing The Story of Yanxi Palace. Completed dramas/movies include: The Story of Ming Lan, Empresses in the Palace, Royal Nirvana, Palace (2013 film), and Mulan (2020 Disney movie) among others.
It’s October and we have a new slate of dramas! My favorite drama this year is She and Her Girls. This recounts story of teacher Zhang Gui Mei and her establishment of the first free all girl high school in China. It’s definitely a winner. Meanwhile, Ren Jia Lun just keeps having duds with Love In Nirvana alongside Li Lan Di. Uyghur beauty Ha Ni Ke Zi looks right at home in Love in the Desert with the handsome Fang Yi Lun but the plot is rather lacking. Karen’s most excited about upcoming Wu Xia drama Snowy Night: Timeless Love starring Li Qin and Zeng Shun Xi. Zhang Wan Yi and Ren Min star in The Rise of Ning, hoping to win some audiences with another period romance drama. Let us know your thoughts about these dramas!
Chinese History Through Chinese Dramas
In depth podcast series analyzing a specific Chinese historical drama
Currently Discussing: Joy of Life (庆余年）
The drama is the live adaptation of an essay that a modern day student is writing in order to enter a competition. The student wants to create a story that revolves around a modern day young man who is very ill but wakes up in the body of a young baby in a historical time period. The baby keeps all of his modern day knowledge as he lives in this new world that is entirely fictional.
The modern day young man is given the opportunity to live another life without his ailments and starts his journey as a child. The story begins with one of his mother’s servants, Wu Zhu, taking the baby to Dan Zhou, specifically the Fan family. The baby’s name? Fan Xian.
Fan Xian grows up in Dan Zhou as a ‘bastard” child of Fan Jian but has his “uncle” Wu Zhu and teacher Fei Jie as well as Grandma Fan that help raise him. When he grows up, he heads to the Capital city of the Qing kingdom. There, he experiences various aspects of life and we see how the modern way of thinking contrasts with the feudalistic society. This drama involves romance, friendship, family connections, political intrigue as well as martial arts. The first season had a grand cast and the second season is even bigger.
