ari

Totally agree with this! I finished this drama after we published the article but Hua Zhi would've definitely been one of my picks.

Hi! This should be fixed now, thanks for reading!

I think being "strong" doesn't limit oneself to physical strength. It really depends on what you define as strong, but, each character exhibits a quality that makes them strong and capable on their own. These are romance dramas, so they may have a form of help received from a man but that doesn't limit the capability of the person. Sometimes strength in itself is letting their pride go and receiving help when you need it.

Allow yourself to shed the thought of the men of these dramas (which is not the focus of the piece and a woman's strength shouldn't be measured by how much she can help a man) and focus on the strong female lead. We don't have enough of those and we should have more.

Thanks for reading!

I enjoyed both Falling Into Your Smile & Go Go Squid, those are some nice entrances into the world of dramas.

Dream High was such a classic, I remember watching that one feeling inspired to do anything I wanted lol. I also loved Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, that stands as one of my favorite Cdramas today. Great picks!

For sure, I was obsessed with Taiwanese dramas when I first started watching. There was just something about the humor then that felt so authentic.

Skip Beat was so good, noteable mentions to Hi My Sweetheart, Devil Beside You, Pleasantly Surprised, Love Buffet, Refresh Man, Just You.

I do miss those days, they were albeit unpolished in some ways but still a gem of dramas.

Thanks for reading!! I'm glad it brought back some memories for yourself. ♡

I know right?? It seems like we all have the core memory of being absolutely obsessed with Mike He and Rainie that we looked forward to more acting projects. DBY is certainly a classic. I was in my pre-teens when watching that drama and I remember beiing so giddy with the amount of passion on those romance scenes.

Thanks for this list, I'd been looking for some good miniseries to check out ❤️

I agree with this comment ^^ The elements of business and familial relationships are very similar to A Dream of Splendor.

Oh! Thanks for this comment, I hadn't known about that, that is interesting.

Loved this drama to bits, I've finally finished. This drama had so many traits that I LIVED for --- strong, levelheaded, brave and intelligent female lead with a protective, strong, brutal yet considerate ML. There were interesting side characters and most importantly, one setup or misunderstanding doesn't shake or tear the leads apart. I was impressed by the writing and how it delivered such a capitaving story.

The only frustration I had was with Yan Xi's undying loyalty to a king that simply just wants to use him for his own personal gain. Yan Xi is smart so he can see the abuse that his uncle put himself, his family and Hua Zhi's family through and yet..

I've rated it a 9.5, overall, this drama was very satisfying, so much so that I finished it in 3 days lol

Completely agree! I’m also in process of learning Mandarin. It sucks that there are limited english subs and there isn’t any information on when or if it’ll ever be subbed 🥲

I thought the drama was good enough. Fluffy romance & comedy which was what I was looking for at the moment.

I went into watching this drama blind after finding it in a recommendation video and wasn’t expecting the mystery element.

I liked the drama but the villain point of view was severely lacking. His motivation wasn’t as believable to the point where I had to just cope with the fact that some people “do be crazy.”

I wish I knew why he only targeted the female characters rather than the males that also broke the rules? I’m not counting Soo II because he threatened & saw what the villain didn’t want him to see.

You know this helped me understand the perspective of that scene. I had a feeling it had to happen for them to push him (mindset wise) in the crown prince direction.

While I do think the leads have very natural chemistry, I also rated the drama 6.5/10.

There was just way too much repetitive conflict for me to ignore. The repeated kidnappings, the filial but hated son with immense intelligence and fighting prowess constantly bending to an incompetent emperor, over the top SML that would not die were enough to make me want to rush to the end despite the fact that I was really into the romance.

Also episode 30??? Nothing could've prepared me for all of his friends dying like that.

This drama has one of the best endings I've seen in a long time and the chemistry is off the charts. I mainly watched this for Xu Kai but this was my first drama with Jing Tian and I've now become a fan.

The one gripe that I had with this drama is there is way too much repetitive conflict to enjoy the drama all the way throughout. The villains and their plans were obvious, the emperor was one of the worst I've ever encountered and the second male lead? god.

I wouldn't be able to rewatch this but I could definitely see myself taking another look at scenes between the two leads.

It's so funny how this was my first drama with Bai Lu and I didn't even realize it was her first drama. She's gotta progressively better roles from here and I love that for her.

It's truly scary how Du Lei progressively got worse after episode 29. When he had an entire breakdown in the rain over Jiang Jun, that was insane.

Thanks so much! Glad you were able to reminiscence on the wonderful journey of Rainie. :)