This Thriving Land 生万物 36 episodes 杨幂、欧豪
Starting off is is 生万物 or This Thriving Land. This 36 episode drama began airing on Aug 13 on CCTV 8 and iQiYi and stars Yang Mi and Ou Hao.
Here’s the plot summary: Set in 1926 Shang Dong province, on her wedding day, Ning Xiu Xiu (ft Yang Mi 杨幂) is abducted by bandits and held for ransom. Her father, a parsimonious and odious local landowner, Ning Xue Xiang (ft Ni Da Hong 倪大红) refuses to pay the ransom. Instead, he makes an unspoken deal with Mrs. Fei (ft Qin Hai Lu 秦海璐) to move forward with the marriage. Upon hearing of Ning Xiu Xiu’s abduction, local farm boy Feng Da Jiao (ft Ou Hao 欧豪) makes a daring rescue in the middle of the night. The next morning, Ning Xiu Xiu returns to her local village, only to find that her world has turned upside down. Disappointed in her father, she makes one crucial decision that changes her life forever.
This drama has become the juggernaut of the summer, with ratings on CCTV-8 regularly breaking 3% and even peaking at 4%. This is now the highest rated drama this year on CCTV 8 and the second highest rated drama ever on CCTV 8. This drama easily broke the 10,000 mark on iQiYi and has topped every viewership chart from market share to popularity.
The biggest strength of the drama is the stacked supporting cast in the form of Ni Da Hong, Qin Hai Lu, Lin Yong Jian, and Chi Peng. After a string of lackluster projects in 2024, Yang Mi makes a strong return with this 1920s rural drama as she has top billing. However, she is merely ok as she’s overshadowed by her co-stars. Still, this is a big win for her. Her main co-star Ou Hao is also serviceable. The drama really tried to re-create rural 1920s Shandong and I think it does a very good job. I personally have quibbles with the characterizations of several characters.
When Destiny Brings the Demon 献鱼 33 episodes 陈飞宇、王影璐
Next is 献鱼 or When Destiny Brings the Demon. This 33 episode drama is adapted from the hugely popular novel called 向祖师爷献上咸鱼 which I’ll translate to – Offering the Master Ancestor a Dry Salted Fish. It began airing on August 16 on Youku and stars Chen Fei Yu and Wang Lu Ying.
Here’s the plot summary: Modern day everyday girl Zou Yan 邹雁（ft Wang Ying Lu 王影璐) unexpectedly realm-travels into a fantasy world in which celestial masters rule the land. She finds herself as Liao Ting Yan, a new disciple of the Qing Gu Tian sect. She is one of one hundred young female celestial disciples chosen by the various sect leaders to serve the Master Ancestor Sima Jiao (ft Chen Feiyu 陈飞宇). To the world, Si Ma Jiao is said to be in seclusion to strengthen his powers, but in reality, he has been sealed within the mountain for five hundred years. In those years, he has grown cold, reclusive, and volatile. He holds a deep grudge against the celestial masters against whom he seeks revenge. Liao Ting Yan finds her trying to navigate this tricky situation. Her life’s ambition is just to wade through life with minimal effort – similar to a Xian Yu or “Dry Salted Fish”. This indifference piques the curiosity of Sima Jiao and their stories become intertwined.
This is Chen Fei Yu’s first period / fantasy drama to air since his sex scandal in 2023 and only his second drama overall. His previous drama that aired in April was complete dud. Literally no one watched that. I’m sure his camp was hoping that with such a popular IP, this drama would perform extremely well. Unfortunately, this drama has also been a dud. It was no match for This Thriving Land and was fighting with Moonlit Reunion for eyeballs for period fantasies and has fared poorly against both. It’s a shame because the original book was hugely popular. It’s not long and I read it a few years ago.
I’m chasing this drama right now and it’s adequate. The best parts of the drama are when the drama closely follows the source material. Alas, the screenwriters decided to create a lot of bloat by adding new characters and changing others. The main couple grew on me after the first few episodes but they aren’t making my heart flutter. This is a fine drama with enough comedy and interesting reflection on human nature.
Moonlit Reunion 子夜归 38 episodes 许凯、田曦薇
Next up is 子夜归 or Moonlit Reunion. This 38 episode drama stars Xu Kai and Tian Xi Wei in this Tang Dynasty inspired period fantasy romance drama. This drama began airing on August 18 on Tencent.
Here’s the plot summary: A distant member of the Mei family, Mei Zhu Yu (ft Xu Kai 许凯) arrives in Chang An as a new member of Xuan Jian Si, the Supernatural Investigation Bureau. He encounters the beautiful yet apparently arrogant Wu Zhen (ft Tian Xi Wei 田曦薇). Mei Zhu Yu is determined to uncover the mystery of the Sky Fire that killed his parents 18 years ago, believing it has connections to demons. Wu Zhen is a half cat demon who gained her powers 18 years ago and is now the powerful Cat Protector of the Demon Market. She, along with the Snake Protector Liu Tai Zhen (ft Wang Jia Yi 王佳怡) maintain peace in Chang An. Unfortunately, there continue to be those who strive to disrupt this peace for nefarious reasons.
The series has struggled to cross 270,000 on Tencent’s popularity index and crumbled against heavyweight This Thriving Land (生万物). The situation was further worsened by Xu Kai’s cheating scandal, which broke just five days into its run. I’ve been following the social media posts for this drama and Xu Kai is nowhere to be found. He’s kept entirely out of the public space while his boss has been regularly featured on the trending topics on weibo. Go and listen to our last week’s episode on Xu Kai’s scandal to find out more.
Tian Xi Wei is the best part of this drama. I’m also really enjoying the relationship between the Snake Protector and the Cat Protector. I’d be totally ok with a drama just about the two of them and ignore the main female lead. Xu Kai is just a blank piece of paper in this drama. The drama also suffers from bloat. It’s fine to watch to just enjoy the beauty of the costumes and Tian Xi Wei.
Shadow Love 与晋长安 38 episodes 宋轶、丞磊
This historical romance features Song Yi and Cheng Lei. We just saw CHeng Lei in The Legend of the Female General where he uhh romanced a female general. Here, he falls in love with another female general.
What is this about. Song Yi plays female General Li Shuang who leads the army of Tai Jin. Cheng Lei plays Duan Ao Deng who is a prince of the Yue kingdom and lead general. However, an evil ritual causes him to become a blood puppet with immense power that recognizes Li SHuang as his owner. However, he loses all of his original memory. Li Shuang brings this mysterious man back to her camp and he proves himself as they fight off spies and various threats both within and outside the army. However, he recovers his true identity and the two must face off as enemies.
I watched several episodes of this drama and all I can say is…it’s totally wasted potential. Douban has it at 4.5 I believe which I think is a little low but not by much. I think Song Yi and Cheng Lei actually do as much as they can with the screenwriting available but the plot is ugh. Really bad. I’ll write up a short review for it so I can better express my frustration. If you want to see a hot shirtless guy in Cheng Lei, the first 3 episodes will be great eye candy for you. Then it just gets muddled between the various plot points and I’m left scratching my head as to why this needed to be a 38 episode drama. I feel like it could’ve done better as a movie. Maybe the last 10 episodes will be good and that’s what I’m waiting for. The lesson here is, Don’t take a random man with no memory back home!
Gui Dui 归队 34 episodes 胡军、李乃文
Sooo if you didn’t see, China held a massive military parade on September 3rd. Basically everyone in China was watching it. I took a sneak peak on Weibo’s livestream and there was probably like 400 million people streaming at the time. Insane. Anyways. That was to celebrate the 80y anniversary of Japan’s surrender.
This ties into our next drama. Right now, Gui Dui. I don’t even see an English translation for the title. Anyways. It is about the Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army’s 14 year battle against the Japanese. Specifically, it follows a small team’s struggles in battle and losing contact with the larger army and the party while surrounded by the Japanese.
This features Hu Jun 胡军、Li Nai Wen 李乃文、Chen Jing Ke 陈靖可、Yuan Shan Shan 袁姗姗、Ren Bing 任彬、Song Jia Teng 宋家腾 among others. As you can tell, it’s a war drama. It will be gruesome, it will be bloody and with lots of tear inducing deaths. Right up the alley for my dad. Probably not something folks listening to our podcast listen to but we point it out because we want to highlight that these dramas ARE being made and are akin to WWII movies for America. Ratings are decent on CCTV8, averaging around 1.9% and features a well known cast.
Footprints of Change 足迹 30 episodes 童瑶、丞磊
And lastly, Footprints of Change or Zu Ji featuring Tong Yao and Cheng Lei AGAIN. Talk about overexposure to Cheng Lei. He’s had 3 dramas air in quick succession so anywhere you look, it’s Cheng Lei.
This drama covers stories of three generations of youths in a westernized building in Shanghai. The first story starts in the 1930s where the building was purchased and changed into an OBGYN hospital. In the 50s, under the new China, the building was changed into a manufacturing location where workers and technicians gathered. In the early 90s, the building was used for business.
That’s all the synopsis is about. I don’t know if it’s my cup of tea to be honest but it’s there if someone wants to check out Cheng Lei mix it up.