MarkWasHere

Even though his motives may be good, I'm finding Han Ting's interactions with Ji Xing to be quite sexist (as of episode 11). He often talks down to her like she's a child. I'm not seeing the respect I would expect from a (decent) man who was interested in a woman, unless of course the attraction was purely physical. I fear the patriarchal Asian mentality has once again influenced the writer to portray the man as smarter, more successful, more dominant etc than the woman.

I doubt I'll end up watching even half of those. Whenever I see a drama listed somewhere that even slightly interests me, I just add it to "Plan to Watch". Then, when I have time, I can check it out more thoroughly. I need to give that list a clean out, because I haven't done it for months. There are probably a couple of dozen dramas I could remove from the list right now. But you're right about one thing, I'm certainly not short of dramas to watch.

https://www.viki.com/tv/36741c-takane-and-hana

You can watch a LOT of free content on Viki - but you're not going to be able to watch the latest dramas for free. Here's all the free dramas on Viki: https://www.viki.com/categories/watch-free/genre/all
Viki is cheap - it costs less than half of a Netflix subscription.
There are also lots of Chinese dramas on YouTube, but in my expience, the subtitles are often not that great, whereas on Viki, they are always excellent.

I understand. It took me quite a while to get used to Manderin after listening to only Korean for a couple of years.

All I can suggest is check out the titles in the "Recommendations" box on each drama page. Read the synopsis and consider the MDL score. Then give the show a try. If you're enjoying the first few episodes, keep watching it, otherwise drop it and try again. My other suggestion is to watch some videos on YouTube that list dramas. Look for videos with titles like "Top 10 Chinese Dramas" - perhaps add the word "youth" or "romance" to your search. That's how I've found quite a few of the dramas I've watched or intend to watch. One more option is to look through my List and see what I've watched, and also check out my extensive "Plan to Watch" list - as I've got a lot of Chinese dramas in there. Good luck searching - I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

It's on Viki and is subtitled in 11 languages.

I'm finding Qi Yu's pride so profoundly stupid. To suggest that by moving into Ling Wei Yi's house (larger and more convenient to each of their workplaces) would make him a "prostitute" is ... I don't even have the words. He can't claim to love Ling Wei Yi while insisting that she dramatically reduce her lifestyle, while he is entirely unwilling to make any compromises himself. Why should it be up to him how SHE spends HER money? Yes both of their parents are obnoxious, self-righteous fucks, but the problem between Qi Yu and Ling Wei Yi is due entirely to Qi Yu's unwillingness to let go of his pride and compromise with the woman he claims he loves. I guess its in part that Asian patriarchal mentality that the man is the boss and the women should be subservient to him. I agree with Qi Yu's own conclusion in episode 32, Ling Wei Yi does deserve someone better - someone who doesn't put their pride before her happiness.

Checking your list just now, it looks like you haven't tried any Chinese dramas. I was like you for my first couple of years of drama viewing (I only watched Korean dramas), then I tried some Chinese dramas and some of them are really good. You can check my list to see what I've watched and what I enjoyed, but if you're looking for youth dramas, I'd suggest you try:
https://kisskh.at/62295-luo-yao-knew-what-he-meant (So sweet you'll get cavities watching it)
https://kisskh.at/729705-hidden-love (also very cute and fluffy)
And for a Korean drama that is an absolutle must watch:
https://kisskh.at/19262-weightlifting-fairy-kim-bok-joo (hilarious ... "swag")

Very entertaining drama. A solid 9/10.

Overall a really enjoyable drama. 8.5/10 is my score.

Rant time ...
Qi Yu is an idiot. See spoiler for why ...

You've written enough to convince me to give it a second chance. I'm not optimistic I'll make it to the end because my tolerance of males manipulating females is very low, but I'll do my best to tolerate his behaviour until he starts treating her better. Wish me luck :)

Thanks for your detailed explanation. After reading your reply, I may consider revisiting this show in the future to give it another chance. My suspicion however is that the ML's character developement will still be too slow for my taste. What would be your best guess as to which episode he stops (or at least significantly reduces) his manipulative behaviour? If I do revisit this drama, it might be safer to start at an episode after his behaviour improves.

https://www.mebmarket.com/ebook-307051-CHAIN-%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%9C%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%88-English-version

Thank you for taking the time to reply. From my perspective, I care about HOW the characters behaved, not why they behaved that way. I simply find it uncomfortable to watch a male who has power over a female abuse that power to coerce her into a relationship. If I'm watching a rom-com, I want to see something resembling a healthy relationship, not a toxic one. I want to see romantic partners treat each other with respect, not have the male repeatedly manipulate the female. I want to see a female who has sufficient self respect to not allow a manipulative male to treat her like a child. But clearly from the MDL score and the large number of very positive reviews, I'm in the minority.

Yeah - that was pathetic behaviour on the part of the ML. And it was inconsistent writing too, because earlier in the drama, the ML was very protective of the FL. Having characters behave so inconsistently results in annoying plot holes that diminishes the emersion in the narrative.

Check out "Timestamps/Spoilers" in "Recent Discussions" above.

Look above under "Related Content"

The banter between Rao Jing and Zhao Fang Gang is as good as I've seen in a drama. It's just fun to watch them at each other's throats, but in a cute way. Given a good script, I'd love to see a Rom Com with those two as leads. The actors playing them are also excellent, especially Wang Zhen Er who (in my opinion) is the best actor in the cast.

60 seconds in and we have a non-consensual kiss. Perhaps not the best start to a drama, but at least he didn't physically restrain her as he kissed her, which I've seen in some other dramas.
Now after 4 episodes, I feel a little differently about that opening 5 minutes. Although I'm ALWAYS against non-concensual sexual activity of any sort (from kissing someone on the mouth to having sex with them), in this case I find his behaviour forgivable. What we have is a naive young ML without the ability to (easily) communicate with the FL - so he acted impulsively to communicate how he felt. Again, his behaviour was wrong, but I think forgivable given his situation. After 4 episodes, what I'm now seeing is a ML who is a genuinely nice person (although still immature) who is head over heals in love with his Noona and would do anything for her. People make dumb mistakes, but no one should be defined as a person by one single bad decision.
Overall, the drama was OK. The concept was interesting, but the execution could have been better in my opinion. The ending was done particularly well, wrapping up the various subplots satisfactorily. 7.5/10