Recos Corner: Chinese Drama #2

If you read about my Chinese drama recommendation, you may notice a theme: historical dramas. Well I am shameless to say I almost exclusively watch Chinese historical drama. But did you know Chinese historical drama falls into different categories as well such as fantasy, romance, imperial, mystery etc. Hence, I’m going to begin a series that dive more deeply into the historical genre.

So following my previous rubrik, I will continue to give a brief synopsis of the plot but will change ‘why is it on the list’to what’s so great about it and remove ‘is it watchable in 2020’ - because the story takes place a few hundred to a few thousand years ago.

Theme for May: Real History Revised

The Advisors Alliance

What is it about? If you ever heard about the Romance of Three Countries (a war between 3 countries), this is focused on one character in this famous war.

What’s so great about it? The amazing part of this war is it is a real historical event and the characters in this war are so ingrained in Chinese culture. From the plot to the characters are greatly referenced in both the language and culture.

As a Chinese Canadian gen-Y, I’ve heard of all the people in this war but never knew what it is about or who is who. This drama was a great springboard into understanding more about this war and how brilliant people are.

The actor, the director, the script, and the cinematography are all amazing. There is two parts and both were well made.

Ming Dynasty 1566

What is it about? House of Cards in Ming Dynasty

What’s so great about it?

The setting in this drama is more modern than the previous recommendation (almost 1000 years later) but the deception, tactic, and strategies is just as good.

There is one it is the highest scored drama on Douban (which is Chinese rotten tomatoes) and trust me it is well deserved. The casts in the drama are Chinese actor royalties and the the storyline is very engaging.