Hii, I am just starting to get into chinese period and fantasy dramas, can you give me some recommendations that are kind of beginner-friendly?
What I've watched and liked
- Destined
And I am really really enjoying Love Game in Eastern Fantasy-
Thank you in advance <3
- The Long Ballad (possibly? It might be a bit confusing/complicated as a first drama but based upon what you've watched I'd say it'd be fine and it has similar vibes to some of the stuff you've seen)
- Wonderland of Love (very beginner friendly, imo)
- The Romance of Tiger and Rose (fictional world, same ML, similar to Love Game in Eastern Fantasy)
- Story of Kunning Palace (similiar vibes to The Double but darker characters, and ML's story arc is a bit like the ML's of LLTG)
- General's Lady (arranged marriage to true love like Destined)
- New Life Begins (marriage before love like Destined)
- Jun Jiu Ling (swapped identity/revenge story like The Double)
- Love and Redemption (not sure how beginner friendly it is for everyone but it was an early watch for me and really good, particularly if you're interested in historical fantasy with demons - like LGIEF but with more complicated world building and such)
- Fall in Love (this was my first Republican Era drama and an easy one to get into if you want historicals set in a different time period than ancient times)
I hope that helps some!
An Oriental Odyssey
Ancient Detective
Chinese Paladin
Dance of the Phoenix
Demi Gods & Semi Devils
Good Bye, My Princess
Prince of Lan Ling
Princess Pearl (It's really old, but fun)
Princess Silver
The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion
The Great Ruler
The Legends
The Romance of Tiger and Rose
The Untamed
Tiger and Crane
Till the End of the Moon
Who Rules the World
Word of Honor
They are mostly costume fantasy dramas, but I can recommand them.
I see that some titles hasn't been mentioned
For xianxia (gods and immortals) genre, I really like:
- Ancient Love Poetry (a goddess save the world by sacrifice herself and being reborn meet again with a few familiar faces)
- Eternal Love (a fox queen arranged to marry future Heavenly Emperor but they had their past sad romance, adapted from Tong Hua's Three Worlds, Three Lives, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms)
- Chinese Paladin S3 (I kinda forget but it's an adventure story of a boy and 4 acquaintances, 1 of them is a girl-future girlfriend, 1 is his sister/junior sister, 1 is a future monk and 1 is a princess? I remember the two couples have karmic relationship from their past lives)
For fantasy wuxia, I really like:
- Ever Night (the adventure story of a boy and a girl, meeting various martial arts experts while also seeking for something important-I forget it)
- Joy of Life (a boy 'transmigrated' into a martial art novel getting involved in political battle)
- Lost You Forever (a princess disguising herself as a man meeting 'his cousin', 'his half-sister', a snake with 9 tails, 'a pauper', and more interesting people while also involved in political battlebetween 2 + 1 countries)
For wuxia, I really like:
- Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre (my favorite Jin Yong's newest remake, about the adventure story of a boy searching the two weapons with two girls who fight for his heart)
- Heroes (about a group of friends who during their life and death separated by powers, money, women, greeds, and evil thoughts)
- Mysterious Lotus Casebook (about a man who had only a few years left to seek the truth of the past incident together with his 'student' and his past enemy)
For historical drama:
- Blossoms of Adversity (a girl and her family being sent far away into an abandoned house given to the grandmother from the empress dowager try to survive by building business started from foods and expanding into various businesses)
- Nirvana in Fire (the new advisor coming to town is actually the nephew of the emperor who supposedly died, trying to drive the emperor to choose the right heir)
- The Story of Minglan (a smart and scheming concubine's daughter fights her way to find a husband while also seeking revenge for her dead mother)
For period drama, I really like:
- Decoded (about a school + organisation full of future decoder to identify morse code from the radio?)
- Killer and Healer (a police officer and a doctor try to solve opium problem in town)
- The Disguiser (about a family consist of a businesswoman oldest sister, a pro-Japan older brother and older adopted brother-who both are double agents-, and a good-for-nothing youngest brother-who later being recruited as a spy)
My recs:
- Arsenal Military Academy FL cross-dresses and assumes her brother's identity to attend an all-male military school. ML is her roommate who falls for her. Tags: Action, Love Triangle (Republican era)
- Fake Princess
- I Feel You Linger in the Air: Uncut Version Time travel, fated mates, amazing production. BL
- Knight Flower A widow who is filial by day but is a female Robin Hood at night, helping the poor and the helpless in a corrupt city.
- Our Blooming Youth FL cross-dresses as a eunuch to be part of the Crown Prince's circle, as she tries to solve her family's murder for which she is accused. Great chemistry between the leads.
- The Forbidden Marriage In the first couple of episodes, the FL's shaman acting was a bit over the top and was not meant to be taken seriously. This historical show has comedy, romance, action, and mystery. The chemistry and rapport among the FL/ML, ML/SML and FL/SML were so good. Satisfying ending.
- The Legendary Life of Queen Lau Prepare for campy. This show does not take itself seriously and neither should you. It is funny, has some drama as well as some political intrigue. ML and FL are in an arranged marriage.
- The Tale of Nokdu ML cross-dresses to enter a widows’ village where he believes he has traced the assassins that attacked his village. As he digs deeper, he finds more than he bargained for. Great action scenes, palace intrigue, comedy, romance.
- Who Rules the World Epic political wuxia with hidden identities. 100% enjoyable where the FL and ML are well-matched in skill and smarts.
