Chasing Dramas

Fan Xian gets some help from Wan'Er in sneaking back into the palace to replace the key he stole from the Empress Dowager's palace. Fortunately, he is able to avoid detection. Meanwhile, he makes a ruckus in the capital by exposing the Princess Royal's traitorous activity

We share 6 movies that are hitting Chinese movie theaters for Lunar New Year next week. They include Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Da Fei. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force, NeZha 2, Detective 1900, Operation Hadal, and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn.

After successfully stealing his mother's key from the Empress Dowager's residence, Fan Xian finally opens his mother's mysterious case. The details reveal significant answers to Fan Xian and his mother's origins.

On January 11, 2025, the Chinese entertainment stars largely attended two events. The annual Weibo Night, including headliners such as Zhao Li Ying, Xiao Zhan, Wang Yi Bo, Wang He Di, Yu Shu Xin, Ni Ni, and many many more, had the stars walking the red carpet and making slight jabs at Weibo. Shen Teng was crowned Weibo King while Zhao Li Ying took the crown of Weibo Queen. Down in Macau, Youku managed to organize a whole Empresses in the Palace reunion, the largest in the 13 years since its original run. Sun Li, Chen Jian Bin, and Jian Xin all made appearances, marking the first time for this trio.

Listen to our latest podcast episode on our thoughts of how the evening went with these two star studded events!

In our favorite episode of Joy of Life, Fan Xian stuns the world with his output of hundreds of poems during his drunken monologue during the foreign banquet in episode 27. Seeing through the trap set by Zhuang Mo Han, Fan Xian immediately recites hundreds of poems including many of the most famous poems in the Chinese canon. Listen to our latest podcast episode as we dissect many of the poems mentioned by Fan Xian including our translations and the context for the poems!

The end of the holidays and into the new year saw quite a bit of chaos on social media. First was the revelation that Zhao Lu Si, who was filming a drama, was very ill and in the hospital. More stories came out afterwards about her illness, different causes and other trauma she suffered int he past. Afterwards, relatively unknown actor Li Ming De blasts the cast and crew of his drama, stealing all the social media thunder from Tencent's All Star Night. Tune in to listen in to what happened!

Fan Xian is invited a grand diplomatic banquet. He's tapped to showcase his literary skills in front of legendary scholar Zhuang Mo Han, something Fan Xian is worried about. Zhuang Mo Han comes forward and calls out Fan Xian for plagiarizing, causing drama at the banquet.

Welcome to 2025 and the new slate of dramas that will kick off the new year! Dylan Wang He Di's highly anticipated drama Guardians of Da Feng began airing to much fanfare but hasn't met expectations. Yang Zi and Li Xian reunite in the upcoming Tang Dynasty drama Flourishing Peonies after their 2019 smash hit Go Go Squid. Zhang Bin Bin launches the fantasy romance dramas this year with The Blossoming Love alongside Sun Zhen Ni. Meanwhile, Tan Jian Ci had a decent hit with Under The Skin 2 that did surprisingly well in December. Listen to our latest podcast episode for the new and upcoming dramas of Jan 2025!

Our final episode of 2024 features our discussion on the Chinese actors that were the winners, losers and everything in between this year. Ding Yu Xi saw success this year with Love Game in Eastern Fantasy while Zhang Wan Yi and Bai Jing Ting saw their popularity wane. Listen in for our commentary!

Check out our entirely subjective view of the 2024 Chinese actresses. Listen to our take on who were the winners, losers, up and comers, the controversial and more!