Chasing Dramas

In episodes 23 and part 1 of episode 24 of S2 of Joy of Life, the Chancellor resigns from his post and leaves the capital towards retirement. However, this journey is not a simple as it seems. Fan Xian must make moves to protect his father-in-law's life but it seems like everyone has been played as a pawn by the Emperor. Listen to our latest podcast episode to learn about the pop culture and history found in this episode!

Zhao Lu Si's Love's Ambition was 2025's top Cdrama both in terms of popularity on Tencent and overall views per episode. We recap what were the other top Chinese dramas this year though we note that the quality and popularity of these dramas lagged prior years.

In episodes 21 + 22 of Joy of Life S2, Fan Xian ensures some fairness for this years Spring Exam results. However, just as he thought all was clear, the conniving He Zong Wei appears with a mysterious woman who accuses Chancellor Lin with the murder of her husband. Fan Xian must confront these accusations only to find that everyone was but a pawn in the Emperor's master plan.

Nov/Dec 2025 Chinese dramas currently airing include season 3 of the gruesome but thrilling Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty: To Chang An which has dominated the streaming charts in November. Dilraba brings us her new modern day supernatural drama, Love on the Turquoise Land alongside Chen Xing Xu. Ren Jia Lun and Peng Xiao Ran starred in Love In Crown but no one really watched it. Chen Xiao stars in Legend of the Magnate in this late Qing dynasty journey.

Fan Xian swaps out candles, water and even builds new latrines to ensure the safety of the students for the Spring exam. He also inspects the officials who are evaluating the exam papers to prevent them from enacting various cheats. However, after all that, there is still one person's paper who was swapped.

X / Twitter caused quite an uproar recently with enabling the feature to disclose the location of the where the post originated. Interestingly, that feature has been a staple of all Chinese social media apps for a few years. Listen to our latest podcast episode on the 2 main unique features of Chinese social media application that meant a completely different viewing and engagement experience between posters and viewers. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The spring exams start under Fan Xian's watch and there are plenty of traps he has to watch out for.

We're back with more movie gossip and tea! The 2025 Golden Rooster Awards were recently held and there was a huge uproar with the winners. Meanwhile, Zootopia 2 is poised be a juggernaut in China but fans are deeply disappointed with the newly announced cast of voice actors. Listen to our latest podcast episode on the latest news and drama about these movies!

Fan Xian ultimately decides to fight for fairness at this year's imperial entrance exam which goes against years of unspoken norms. He asks the Emperor to be his shield for his endeavor and starts to enact his plan

In our latest In the Know episode, we discuss the latest scandals surrounding famed Hong Kong Director Wong Kar-Wai and potential plagiarism during the creation of the 2023 hit drama Blossoms Shanghai. Actress Bai Bai He also caused quite a stir for her cryptic posts during the Tokyo Film Festival. Listen to hear Karen and Cathy latest gossip about these events!