Chinese Dramas Airing in April 2024 

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Before discussing April Dramas, let me give a brief summary of the March dramas. I have written several drama reviews and posted them on our website.

The Legend of Shen Li is without a doubt the biggest winner of March and perhaps even the auarter. It maintained really strong buzz and discussion throughout its airing period and the main leads, Zhao Li Ying and Lin Geng Xin have been very open in marketing this drama together. Yesterday was hilarious because Zhao Li Ying posted a video of Lin Geng Xin while they were all in costume, karaoking in either a trailer or just somewhere. Then other cast members also posted videos of their karaoke session. It’s just been a lot of fun watching this cast interact both on screen and social media. Today, people are sad that the drama ended and Lin Geng Xin may be revealed to have a girlfriend. Lots of fans are heartbroken. 

Second place is War of Faith or 追风者. That was MY favorite drama of the month. It was SOOO addicting! My full review is up on the website already though I may add more comments. Like the fact that the cast, including Wang Yi Bo, Li Qin and Wang Yang, said they will dance to a pop song if the drama breached 10,000 on IQiYi’s popularity index, which it did. So now everyone is waiting for Wang Yi Bo to post that video. I mean, Wang Yi Bo, as we know, is a fantastic dancer. That is one thing you absolutely cannot deny. He is a stellar dancer. So you can bet all of his fans are eagerly waiting for his return to the dance floor. But hilariously, the main trio have not filmed a video of them dancing, but many other cast members have. And it’s been quite cute since uh. Let’s just say they’re not the most nimble on the dance floor. But hey, everyone is having fun and we get to enjoy the post airing interactions. 

Blossoms In Adversity 惜花芷

This 40 episode drama began airing 2024 4/2 on Youku. It stars 胡一天 and 张婧仪 with a supporting cast including 吴希泽、卢昱晓、边程、and 胡杏儿.

Here’s the premise. 张婧仪 stars as 花芷, the eldest granddaughter of a powerful government official. Since her youth, she was unique compared to other young women in the capital. She was well learned and taught by her grandfather not to only be restricted by the confines of the patriarchal society. She shied away from society by working on her different knick knacks at home. She is set to marry the young and handsome 沈淇. On a shopping trip, she is almost accused by the ill intentioned goons of 七宿司 for treason. Another handsome and mysterious young man stops these goons. This young man is 顾晏惜, nephew to the Emperor.  On the day before 花芷 and 沈淇’s engagement, the Emperor decides to exile 花芷’s grandfather for insubordination. All of the men of the Hua family over the age of ten are sentenced to exile. All that’s left are the women and children. The remaining Hua family members must fend for themselves. 花芷 takes up the mantle to lead the remaining family back to prosperity and save their family. 

I basically binged watched like 14 episodes of this drama. The biggest draw for me is the family relationship displayed by all of the women in the drama. It’s rather heartwarming to see a drama where the women in a family aren’t all backstabbing each other. Sure, there are some misunderstandings but everyone really is trying their best to look out for each other. I’ll write up my review for this drama but if you need just a fun, heartwarming drama, then this is a nice cup of tonic. The leads of 胡一天 and 张婧仪 are decent but i’d much rather watch the whole family. It’s a always a pleasure to see 胡杏儿 or Myolie Hu in a mainland drama. I’ve watched her TVB dramas growing up. Even though her voice is dubbed, you can tell she’s speaking mandarin in the drama. She has REALLY made strides to improve her mandarin, which is evident in her recent interviews.  This cough can’t be said about many other mainland actors and actresses. 

又见逍遥 – Paladin Legend 

Another drama that aired on the 2024年4月2日 is 又见逍遥 – Paladin Legend. You might have guessed it, another Chinese Paladin drama. This 40 episode drama is airing on both Tencent and iQiYi

This drama though, is an adaptation of the original Chinese Paladin video game which the drama Chinese Paladin 1 was loosely based off of. I’m reading some online comments that were like “did you know that 仙剑奇侠传 was a video game before? It wasn’t just a drama?” And I’m like, yes, I’m a millennial. I totally remember the controversy when the drama came out because even tho it was a great drama, it wasn’t as true to the source material. But also. Come on, I’m a millennial so I remember this. These comments are for the Gen Z and I guess Gen Alpha children who weren’t alive during the original Chinese paladin era. I remember trying to see if i could play the original Chinese paladin video game but couldn’t buy it since I was in the states. Lol

The basic premise is as such. The young 李逍遥 has dreams of becoming a legendary hero. He meets the beautiful and gentle 赵灵儿 and helps her try to find her mother. The two get separated and 李逍遥 tries to rescue her. On his journey, he encounters the haughty but ultimately kind 林月如, the studious 刘晋元, spirited 阿奴, and loyal 唐钰. These six go off on an epic journey to ultimately save mankind. 

This drama stars newcomers 何与、杨雨潼、徐好、李川、胡意旋、叶盛佳. This is the 3rd Chinese Paladin drama to air this year after the relative duds of Chinese Paladin 4 and 6 at the beginning of the year. This one is looking to be an even bigger dud because unfortunately there just hasn’t been any viewers. This is interesting because the main male lead He Yu, was actually just in The Legend of Shen Li as Fu Rong Jun and even the main lead of that drama, Lin Geng Xin, posted on Weibo to help market Paladin Legend. People actually have liked Fu Rong Jun but I guess there’s just not enough interest or star power to draw audiences in since he is a relative newcomer. 

手术直播间 – Live Surgery Room  – 28 Episodes on Youku

Stars Vin Zhang Bin Bin and Dai Xu as the main leads. With special appearances by Liu Min Tao and Yuan Shan Shan.

Genius doctor 郑仁 featuring Zhang Bin Bin is seeking the truth from a case that did not see justice 18 years ago and arrives in the 海城 hospital. He works with ER doctor 苏云 featuring Dai Xu and pairs up as a comedic but feisty duo. They work together on diagnosing a number of odd medical cases together while also uncovering dark truths of past events. This is a story about saving lives, curing ailments but also warming hearts as doctors. 

Zhang Bin Bin is someone we’re pretty familiar with. He was part of Jia Xing Management company before going solo and starting his own agency but I don’t think his career has reached the heights it did when he was part of Jia Xing. He was a bright spot in last year’s Fireworks of Love but I think his last big hit was Rattan in 2021. Since then he’s been in a number of dramas here and there but it doesn’t feel like he had a knockout hit yet. Dai Xu I know best from A Dream of Splendor or 梦华录 as 池衙内, a role that I absolutely adored. At least he’s getting second male lead roles now which is a step up for him I feel like so I’m wondering where his career takes him. Unfortunately, I dont’ think this drama will be a major win for either of their careers. 

This drama has only 28 episodes, half of which have already aired. I don’t think it’s gotten a ton of buzz and viewership ratings haven’t been amazing but it’s only on a local channel of jiang su television rather than CCTV so that’s kind of par for the course. My view is, if you’re looking for a show with two hot doctors, this would be a great place to spend some time. I can’t vouch for how good it’s been. It’s only breached 6500 on the popularity index for Youku which is definitely not great so this is more of a silent airing for Zhang Bin Bin and Dai Xu. 

承欢记 or Best Choice Ever

This 37 episode drama began airing on CCTV 8 and Tencent on April 9th. This stars 杨紫 and 许凯.

Here’s the basic premise. The young 麦承欢(杨紫饰), under pressure from her mother, begins discussions about marriage with her current boyfriend 辛家亮，(牛骏峰饰). The Xin family is rather wealthy and 承欢 recognizes the imbalance between the two as she comes from a relatively middle class background. That, coupled with her mother’s constant meddling, drives the couple to break up. 承欢 turns her focus to her job, in which she is a manager at a hotel. The grandson of the owner of the hotel 姚志明 (许凯) takes over the hotel. After some initial disagreements between them, the two gradually become closer and develop a relationship. 

This is another drama to air on broadcast TV for 杨紫 and CCTV8 to boot. She’s paired with 许凯 who we all know from The Story of Yan Xi Palace. It’s in the early days of airing but so far reviews have been a little mixed. Unfortunately in the 2 days since airing, ratings have dropped precipitously since the peaks that it took over from the surprise hit 追风者 or War of Faith. Hopefully 杨紫 is able to score decent ratings with this drama because her last drama 要久久爱 or Love Endures did not do too well ratings wise.

群星闪耀时 Shooting Stars

This 34 episode drama will air on Mango TV or Hunan Television starting on April 15. It stars 李现 and 任敏 in the lead roles. 

This drama is set in the 1940s era of China. You know when a drama is set in this time period, there’s gonna be a political bent to it and there’s gonna be pro China propaganda. Anyways, Li Xian plays a young man 华桢 from a wealthy KMT family that joins the navy in order to achieve his dreams. In an unexpected visit in Shanghai, his entire life is changed. He changes his identity and becomes an undercover cop. Here, he meets the two most important people in his life, CCP party members 陈浩（周游饰）和骆珉敏（任敏饰). And you can guess, they bring him to the light. 

I thought 李现 did a great job in Meet Yourself from last year so we’ll see how this turns out for him. 任敏’s performances have been a little unstable in different dramas but perhaps this will showcase her acting skills. I’m tentative on whether or not I want to watch this since this is another drama that will have that heavy dose of propaganda. I’m still not yet out of my stupor for watching War of Faith or 追风者. If I have an itch for a similar ish time period drama, maybe I’ll give this a go. But we shall see. I’m assuming there will be a lot of death in tears in this drama which is typical for shows set during this time period. 

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