Starting off our episode is this modern day romance drama with a surprising pairing! 狙击蝴蝶 Sniper Butterfly starring 陈妍希 Chen Yan Xi and 周柯宇 Zhou Ke Yu is a 30 episode drama that began airing on Dec 4 on Tencent and then on Zhejiang TV on Dec 14.
After experiencing her husband’s betrayal, Cen Jin starring Chen Yan Xi falls into the darkest period of her life. She encounters the young man Li Wu starring Zhou Ke Yu who asks for help. Due to family upheaval, Li Wu is forced to drop out of school and work to support himself. In doing so, he chose his chance to take the college entrance exam. With no other options, he places his hopes on Cen Jin’s parents, who once sponsored him. Cen Jin takes Li Wu out of the mountains and into the city. As they spend their days together, Li Wu gradually develops feelings for her. Cen Jin accidentally discovers the young man’s feelings for her and she must decide how she wants to proceed with this relationship.
This is a surprising older woman / younger man pairing! In real life Chen Yan Xi and Zhou Ke Yu have a 19 year age difference so this drama has a true age gap. This drama is Chen Yan Xi’s return to romance dramas, which was what put her on the map 20 years ago. There was plenty of marketing with this CP because there aren’t that many dramas with the female lead being the much older character. The drama broke 27000 on Tencent’s popularity index and Chen Yan Xi has looked great at recent events. Both she and her ex-husband Chen Xiao had dramas air in December. That also generated some buzz. For now it sure looks like Chen Yan Xi is back to focusing on her career.
Next up is 长安二十四计 The Vendetta of An starring Cheng Yi in his 3rd period drama of the year. This 28 episode drama began airing on Dec 12 on Youku and CCTV8.
This is a period revenge drama. Here’s the plot summary
Ten years ago, the ambitious Yan Feng Shan starring Zhan Han Yu, orchestrated the massacre of the former Tiger Guard commander’s entire family to replace him. Now, as the commander of the Tiger Guard, he is in firm control of the military forces and secretly occupies Chang An with even greater ambitions to seize control of Chang An. The sole surviving member of the massacre Liu Zhi assumed the alias of Xie Huan An starring Cheng Yi is now a county administrative clerk, searching for the opportunity to return to ChangvAn and seek revenge. After ten years of patience, the moment arrives. Upon entering Chang An, Xie Huan An joins forces with the weakened emperor, along with painter Bai Wan starring Xu Lu, swordsman Ye Zheng starring Tong Meng Shi, and others, laying out the “Twenty-Four Stratagems of Chang An,” to target the nefarious Yan Feng Shan.
This is Cheng Yi’s 3rd and final drama of 2025. While this drama did break 10,000 on Youku’s popularity index, average episode viewership has lagged. I feel like these was some marketing when the drama first aired and there is consensus that Cheng Yi is better in this drama compared to The Journey of Legend but because his performance was so bad in that drama, people just tuned him out here. He’s kept out of the lime light these past two months after some pretty bad PR during his press tour of The Journey of Legend. As I said during our end of year recap, I don’t know why the networks decided to air his 3 dramas in succession. A break would have helped with some of his backlash.
Next up is Speed and Love 双轨. This 29 episode drama stars Yu Shu Xin 虞书欣 and He Yu 何与. It began airing on iQiYi on December 12. In this modern day drama, Yu Shu Xin stars as Jiang Mu. She grew up with her mother after her parents’ divorce. As an adult, she travels alone to Thailand in search of her father Jin Qiang and her brother Jin Zhao starring He Yu. The two are not biologically related. Jin Zhao was adopted by Jin Qiang as a child and taken away by him after the divorce.
Over time, Jiang Mu gradually becomes part of his world and she develops feelings for him. However, an unexpected incident causes them to lose contact. Years later, the two reunite in Nanjing and must face those previous misunderstandings and secrets.
This drama aired with little fanfare. There was a surprise announcement and the drama began airing on the same day. Yu Shu Xin is still dealing with the fallout of the rumors of her family’s shady business dealings. Even though her drama aired, she did not have any trending topic related to the drama with her actual name. They were all related to the drama itself. She is still able to post on social media though and posted plenty during the airing of the drama. The show itself didn’t do that well, not breaking the 9000 mark on IQiYi. There was also a lot of criticism on the plot for essentially retreading a lot of tired tropes. Yu Shu Xin had a rough 2025 but there’s rumors that she’ll resume filming this month.
Next up is Shine on Me 骄阳似我. This 36 episode drama stars Song Wei Long 宋威龙 and Zhao Jin Mai 赵今麦 in this modern day romance drama. It aired on Dec 22 on Tencent.
Here’s the plot summary. Nie Xi Guang starring Zhao Jin Mai was once an optimistic college student brimming with youthful energy, now enters the workforce. In college, she had a bittersweet, unspoken crush on the aloof yet brilliant top student Zhuang Xu starring Lai Wei Ming. Now a working women, she crosses paths with Lin Yu Sen starring Song Wei Long, a rising star in the photovoltaic industry who changed careers from being a surgeon. Although Lin Yu Sen initially harbors misunderstandings about Nie Xi Guang, her sun-like warmth gradually draws him in. The two develop a loving relationship and it’s the whole hearted support from Lin Yu Sen that allows Nie Xi Guang to let go of her regrets and embrace her relationships.
This drama is adapted from a novel by the author Gu Man. This author penned smash hits over the past decade including 2021’s You Are My Glory, 2016’s Love 020, 2015’s My Sunshine. The stars of those romance dramas are still household names now including Yang Yang, Dilraba, Tang Yan, Zhao Li Ying, Zheng Shuang and a few more. Gu Man is a proven entity and there were a lot of hopes for this drama. The drama did not disappoint, breaching the 30,000 mark on tencent. There’s also been decent buzz on the CP between Song Wei Long and Zhao Jin Mai. This is certainly the best performing drama for either of them in many years. However, has it reached the heights of the previous dramas? No – this drama is doing well, but not spectacularly. Regardless, the leads can chalk this drama as a win.
Next up is The Punishment 罚罪2 a 40 episode drama that began airing on December 25 on iQiyi. This drama stars Huang Jing Yu and Wang Chuan Jun.
Here’s the synopsis. Qin Feng starring Huang Jing Yu is a police officer and who turns out to be the biggest crime lord in Han Zhou, Liu Tian Ye starring Wang Chuan Jun are close friends, akin to brothers. An event 15 years ago in a fishing village changed the lives of these two young men and they were raised together. But, Qin Feng grew up wanting to be a police officer while Liu Tian Ye had other plans. With mysteries around the events of the fishing village in the past as the catalyst for many of the cases in this drama, Qin Feng starts to crack cases and mix the interconnected web of criminals, all involving his closest friend.
As of Jan 8, this drama is just a hair’s breath away from breaching the coveted 10,000 mark on iQiyi’s popularity index, at 9927. It is currently the most popular drama by online episode views and market share. People I guess are enjoying a detective police drama to start the year. This follows Fa Zui 1 from 2022 or Chasing The Undercurrent. Looks like Johnny Huang Jing Yu is the same but he plays different people or at least the whole cast and story is different, except for him. The 2022 drama was very popular, breaching 10,000 on iQiyi and so The Punishment would be following in its footsteps.
Next is Light of Dawn 人之初. This short drama, only 18 episodes, features in real life good friends Zhang Ruo Yun and Ma Si Chun in another detective thriller drama. This began airing on Tencent on December 27.
Orphan Gao Feng played by Zhang Ruo Yun is adamant in seeking his birth parents. Wu Fei Fei starring Ma Si Chun, is the daughter in a wealthy business family but their lives intertwine. A car accident reveals the bones of a body that was buried for many years. The bones seem to be connected to Gao Feng’s past but also seem to tie to a secret that Wu Fei Fei’s entire family is trying to cover up. Gao Feng and Wu Fei Fei join forces to uncover the layers of mysteries and find clues to bring justice to a 20 year cover up.
This drama is short so it has already finished airing. There was quite a bit of marketing from Zhang Yuo Run and Ma Si Chun who have done interviews and live streams to promote the show. But, unlike The Punishment, this hasn’t done particularly well. Zhang Ruo Yun is a household name so it’s interesting that it’s done so poorly, ranking basically 5th in the viewership numbers amongst the currently airing shows. It only breached 24000 on Tencent’s popularity index which is incredibly low, especially for someone like Zhang Ruo Yun.
Next is The Unclouded Soul 逍遥. This 40 episode fantasy drama stars Tan Song Yun and Hou Ming Hao and began airing on iQiYi, Youku, and CCTV 8. This is Tan Song Yun’s first foray into fantasy dramas.
The human realm and the demon realm, driven by greed, all are searching a mystical fountain that has caused chaos and fighting for hundreds of years. Tan Song Yun portrays a young woman Xiao Yao, a human, who accidentally started a magical journey in the thousand demon valley which upends the demon realm. The king of the demon realm, Wang Hong Ye starring Hou Ming Hao reemerges in order to protect the thousand demon valley. Recognizing that Xiao Yao isn’t driven by the greed that drives those who seek the fountain, the two work together against various odd cases. In the journey, they also come against a mysterious and powerful enemy.
This drama didn’t do particularly well, considering Hou Ming Hao’s last drama Into the Clouds broke 10,000 on Youku. It wrapped up airing in just 11 days and basically made no splash. The only buzzworthy thing about this drama is actually the fact that THE Zhao Li Ying decided to join the cast in a cameo role and from what I understand, is actually more of an antagonist.
It is a bummer because Tan Song Yun hasn’t had a splashworthy drama in a while now and this is causing her to further be forgotten in the public eye. She does have a few more dramas in post production so perhaps those will help bring some better viewership numbers.
Lastly, there’s Glory 玉茗茶骨, a 36 episode period romance drama that began airing on December 29 on Hunan TV. This is another offering from Hou Ming Hao, this time paired with Gu Li Na Zha and finally, Na Zha is the bonafide female lead rather than some secondary character who shows up for a few episodes only.
Newly appointed magistrate Lu Jiang Lai ft Hou Ming Hao is swept up in a wife killing case and is almost killed. He is saved by the wealthy tea merchant family member, Rong Shan Bao ft Gu Li Na Zha. She rescues him and brings him back to the Rong family as a horse servant. Soon after, the Rong family announces their plans to find a husband for Rong Shan Bao which brings many suitors and conflicts to the Rong family that Lu Jiang Lai and Rong Shan Bao must face.
This drama is ridiculously beautiful, at least on the women’s side. All the women from the Rong family are gorgeous with stunningly beautiful costumes. I did a review for the drama already and it is a visually stunning drama with gorgeous costumes and beautiful cast, but held back by shallow villains, implausible plot points, and underdeveloped romance. Overall it’s entertaining fluff that requires you not to think too deeply about the writing. There are elements of everything in it that is enough to keep you engaged but the acting could be better and the execution if the various plot points could be improved.
There are strong themes of female empowerment and what not that I actually do quite enjoy, it just doesn’t land as strongly as I would like, largely due to poor acting.
The producer Yu Zheng has been marketing this drama everywhere. He predicted that it was going to be a new explosive series. That…has not happened. MangoTV does not release popularity index numbers but per episode metrics, the show is currently being beat out by the likes of Fa Zui 2 and Jiao Yang Si Wo. It is doing better on actual TV viewership as it is number one for local channels for the same time slot. BUT it is not at the same level as say Flourished Peony last year.
Both this and The Unclouded Soul I would say are only fine to underperforming for the leads.