Show Time Part 2

Honestly, I'm not that late. It's only been 6 days since part one.

Following on from the last post about my favourite K-dramas, we now move on to my favourite Chinese dramas that I watched in 2025. Unlike Korean dramas, where picking the top shows were much easier to decide, I had a lot of trouble with the Chinese list as I enjoyed all the dramas so much. But there have to be winners and, as I said several times last year, 2025 was definitely Liu Yu Ning’s year. 

Chinese Dramas

A Dream Within a Dream – 40 Episodes

Third-rate actress Song Xiao Yu (Li Yi Tong) is mysteriously transported into the plot of the script she's reading and becomes its tragic female lead, Song Yi Meng, who is used and discarded by the villainous male lead Nan Heng (Liu Yu Ning), and even tortured to death. Knowing her story ends in tragedy, she decides to change the plot. Unfortunately, no matter what she does, she becomes trapped in a never-ending loop of ‘bugs’, dying in unique and absurd ways, waking up right back up where she started – in Nan Heng's control. In a last-ditch attempt to create a better ending for her character, Xiao Yu decides to hatch a plan to kill him, but eventually comes to a painful realisation that no matter how hard she tries, the ‘plot’ always pulls her back to the male lead, forcing her to re-enact the script’s iconic scenes repeatedly.

Only when Xiao Yu realises that she is no longer living in the old plot and Nan Heng isn’t the villain she thought he was, can they both find the truth and perhaps love along with it.

This was, hands down, one of the funniest dramas I’ve seen in a long time, and definitely in 2025. From the opening scenes of her transmigration onwards, it was a non-stop rollercoaster, taking the piss out of every trope ever used in dramas, and it did it brilliantly. My only complaint would be that it took far too long for her hatred of the Nan Heng to be resolved – Yi Meng soon worked out that everyone else wasn’t necessarily what they seemed, compared to her script, and were even changing as a result of her efforts. But she refused to believe that despite everything he did to prove his worth, Nan Heng could be anything other than the villainous character she knew only from her limited view of him in the script. It had me, and many others, if my C-drama Discord is anything to go by, screaming at her stupidity, as time and again Nan Heng revealed himself as the true hero of the story, and she dismissed it ‘because he’s the villain’.

 

The Prisoner of Beauty – 36 Episodes

Xiao Qiao (Song Zu Er), a clever girl from the Qiao family, is arranged to be married to Wei Shao (Liu Yu Ning), the sharp and kind master of the Wei family, in order to create a strategic alliance between the two feuding clans. With years of bad blood between their families, the two start off on a rocky path, constantly wary of each other and testing each other’s boundaries in both funny and tense ways.

However, over time, they begin to appreciate each other's quirks and talents and gradually begin to trust each other as they face issues that require working together. Before they know it, Xiao Qiao and Wei Shao begin to develop genuine feelings for each other. Through ups and downs, they learn to work as a team, tackling family drama and bigger issues to bring some peace to their world. It’s a story of partnership built through trial, error, and a bit of chaos.

To be honest, it was a toss-up between this and A Dream Within a Dream as to which one would take first place. It could have been either, depending on my mood on the day, and they’re both firmly up there with New Life Begins, which until now has been my all-time favourite C-drama. I was completely blown away by this drama when I first watched it as the characterisation is so strong for both the leads and the supporting cast that you become so deeply invested in the story you really feel like you’re living through it rather than just watching.

 

Fangs of Fortune – 34 episodes    

During the Zhenyuan era, the accidental death of the Bai Ze goddess, who governed the realms of humans and demons, causes the disappearance of the Bai Ze Order, leading to chaos from rampant demon beasts. In response, the demon leader, Zhu Yan (Hou Ming Hao), disguised as Zhao Yuan Zhou, volunteers to help form a demon-hunting bureau.

Wen Xiao (Chen Du Ling), the new goddess, suspicious of Zhao Yuan Zhou, joins the bureau alongside her childhood friend Zhuo Yi Chen (Tian Ji Rui), a skilled detective and swordsman, the aloof archer Pei Si Jing (Cheng Xiao), and the timid doctor Bai Jiu (Lester Lin). Together, they confront demon beasts from ‘The Classic of Mountains and Seas’ and uncover the truth behind their violent actions. As they face great responsibility and personal loss, will their friendship and the love between the top demon beast and the goddess overcome the challenges they face?

I would have watched this series at some point anyway because it’s right up my street, with all the demons and stuff, but my beloved Yanan (my bias from Pentagon) was playing Li Lun (one of the main baddies, and he was perfect both in character and looks), so it shot straight to the top of my watch list as soon as it arrived somewhere I was able to see it. I was trying to decide what to say about this amazing series, when I found this post, which sums it up perfectly:

Looking at the note I made about it, I asked who cried more, me or the cast? I’m still not sure, even now. While it wasn’t quite as good as the previous 2 dramas, it’s still in my top 10 of all-time favourites, so I liked it a lot.

 

The rest:

Filter – (32 Episodes) – When Su Cheng Cheng (Landy Li), an ordinary woman, acquires a high-tech ‘filter bracelet’ that allows her to change her appearance, her life changes completely. She begins to use the bracelet to adopt different identities, using her newfound abilities to help others. Unaware of her secret, Tang Qi (Tan Jian Ci), a man with gradually worsening eyesight, happens to fall for each and every one of her personas, only to lose them time and time and again. To protect her identity, Cheng Cheng weaves an increasingly tangled web of lies, deepening Tang Qi’s heartbreak and her own guilt. Will she ever reveal the truth to Tang Qi, and could they find true happiness together – with no lies or disguises?

Perfect Match – (36 Episodes) – During the Northern Song Dynasty under Renzong, Mrs. Li (Ni Hong Ji), from a wealthy Luoyang family, moves to Bianjing with her 4 daughters, Shou Hua (Liu Xie Ning), Kang Ning (Lu Yu Xiao), Hao De (Ke Ying) and Le Shan (Huangyang Tian Tian), each unique in personality, to reunite with her second daughter Fu Hui (Wu Xuan Yi) and resolve a family matter. Despite their beauty and talent, her daughters struggle with marriage prospects, prompting Mrs. Li to seek new suitors in Bianjing. However, their journey is met with challenges, including social setbacks and difficulties in settling down. Ultimately, through perseverance and twists of fate, the Li family finds suitable husbands for the daughters, creating a lively comedy about life and marriage in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy – (32 Episodes) – Mischievous Ling Miao Miao (Esther Yu) unexpectedly finds herself transported into the world of a fantasy novel called ‘Chasing Demons’ as a villainous supporting character. To return to the real world, she must complete a series of tasks – including winning the heart of Mu Sheng (Ding Yu Xi), the female lead's adoptive brother with a possessive love for her. Teaming up with Mu Yao (Zhu Xu Dan), a member of a monster-hunting family, and Liu Fu Yi (Yang Shi Ze), a monster hunter, they battle creatures, level up, and gradually work to dissolve an age-old animosity between humans and demons, rewriting the fated ending, and saving the world.

Mobius – (16 Episodes) – Homicide detective Ding Qi (Bai Jing Ting) accidentally gains a strange ability: under specific circumstances he can turn back time to the start of the day up to five times. Ding Qi utilizes his new power to solve difficult cases by traveling back in time to gather evidence, then putting all the pieces together on his fifth loop. However, when Ding Qi receives an ominous warning from a suspect nicknamed ‘Squid’, he starts to wonder if others have also gained the ability to time travel. His investigations lead him to a genetic research group where several executives have recently died, raising even more questions. Alongside researcher An Lan (Janice Man), Ding Qi commits to uncovering the truth behind these deaths – even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice. 

Blossom – (34 Episodes) – After losing her mother at a young age and later being abandoned by her husband, Dou Zhao (Zoey Meng) becomes disillusioned with family and love. However, when she unexpectedly finds herself reborn as a young girl years in the past, armed with the memories and regrets of her previous life and a mysterious prophetic book, she decides to use the opportunity to change her fate and protect her family. While Dou Zhao fends off malicious rumours started by her stepmother, she meets Song Mo (Li Yun Rui), a noble in disguise who is trying to find out the mysteries behind his family's downfall, and who shares her secret of rebirth. Together, they navigate court intrigue, hidden conspiracies, and personal vendettas, slowly building trust and affection as allies who get a second chance to right the wrongs of their first lifetime.

Fated Hearts – (38 Episodes) – When Jinxiu Kingdom is on the brink of defeat in the battle at Pingling, the female archer in red, Fu Yi Xiao (Li Qin), shoots an arrow at Susha's eldest prince, Feng Sui Ge (Chen Zhe Yuan), turning the tide of the battle. But Yi Xiao accidentally falls off a cliff shortly after and loses her memory. After Yi Xiao is rescued by the Ling family of doctors of the Righteous Villa, she unexpectedly reunites with her old enemy, Sui Ge. Looking at the mess Yi Xiao is in, Sui Ge infers that it must be related to his predicament in the battle at Pingling. He wants to use Yi Xiao to find out the truth behind the scenes, while she wants to use Sui Ge to survive under heavy pursuit. So, the two, who were mortal enemies a month ago, must now rely on each other to survive in the turbulent Yujing City, as their love secretly blossoms through countless near-death experiences. The seeds have been sown, and amid the hatred, betrayal, deception, unrequited desire, and inability to let go, everyone is both a player and a pawn. Yi Xiao and Sui Ge can only work closely together in the storm to overcome the dark conspiracy, break the shackles of fate, live up to the people’s expectations, and not let each other down.

The Demon Hunter's Romance – (12 Episodes) – In Guangping City, where humans and demons coexist, Duan Ban Xia (Song Zu Er), a wealthy girl with the rare ability to see demons' true forms, is deemed delusional by her family. After exposing her cousin’s bride as a demon, she’s forced to flee and meets demon hunter Jiu Xuan Ye (Ren Jia Lun). He helps her see the hidden world more clearly and reveals not all demons are evil. As they investigate her father's mysterious death and other strange events, their bond deepens. But Xuan Ye's buried past and a shocking truth about his identity threaten to tear them apart.