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Q: What are some actual good Chinese dramas?
By good I mean watchable or entertaining. I try to watch them to improve my Chinese, but I mostly find them to be a bore. I mean Meteor Garden was supposed to be a classic, but I stopped watching after about ten episodes because it was so over the top ridiculous. I think anything with Jiro Wang is hilarious, but other than that I don't want to waste hours of time finding something I like. So do any of you have some good recommendations? I enjoy a good laugh.
I watch any street in the neighorhood, who could ever make up that stupid crap.
The Journey To The West serial made in 80's, without the remastered special effects.
If you can stomach them, I think that reality type shows are actually best for learning Chinese. 1) You can watch in short segments, there's no storyline so you can pick and choose how much you want to watch, or jump between episodes. 2) There are people from all over China, so you have to listen to different accents and become accustomed to different slang. 3) The language they use is normal every day language, it's not flowery and most of the time, not scripted.
The second song writing competition is on now, 中国好歌曲2, and 非诚勿扰is always good.
hi2u:
That's exactly why I want to watch the dramas, for the flowery language. I want to improve my chengyus and learn some more elegant phrases.
If you want to watch them to improve your Chinese I have a different technique. I watch films that I like dubbed in Chinese. When you search for a film online just add 国语 after the title.
The last drama ever aired on Chinese TV that's about something even remotely relatable to anything real in Chinese society was called 蜗居 in 2009. It was about corruption, mistresses, snail housing, forced demolitions and other real issues that led it to be:
- 1 a massive hit.
- 2 censored before it could be finished.
But you can surely find it on Youtube. If not, somebody drop me a message, I'll dump it.
jetfire9000:
censored? as in having a few scenes cut in a few places? Or are we talking completely blocked here? I remember watching it. I hated that series with a passion.
RiriRiri:
The last episodes were taken out before they could be aired on TV, but made available on the Internet for a while before they disappeared.
Actually, after a quick search on Baidu, it seems that they're back and available on Chinese websites, surprisingly enough. Now look, it wasn't an exceptional series, but wer're talking about Chinese TV. Just seeing something that looks remotely relatable is already rare.
hi2u:
Cool I'll give that one a shot. That sounds just like China to continue churning out mediocre crap that the people aren't as interested in anymore instead of making something worthwhile.
laowaigentleman:
I don't own a TV but when I go to Hunan during the holidays I watch a lot of TV at my mother in law's house. So many of the dramas are about extremely rich people set in ostentatious surroundings.
I'd better stop myself from sounding to pretentious with my basic standards, some aspirational people get upset at me saying what needs to be said and simply conclude that they're quality shows which portray China, its people and the prospects for those who are talented and work hard completely accurately. (please take this as a coded way of calling them utter shite). 
Great motivation to get me off my bum and out of the house, though.
Let me be constructive for a moment and say that there's nothing to fear from portraying contemporary Chinese life accurately. The feminine characters drive me crazy with their whimpering and childish fit throwing. Do Chinese women actually think this is a dignified way to portray a woman?
Try 爱情公寓(ipartment) drama which is Superhit in China.
