Dream Drama Pairings (Chinese Version)
INTRODUCTION |
Movies are the most interesting thing to me. It can take years to complete the shooting of a movie but the highest runtime is only 4 hours. For me, the most happy thing about watching a movie is watching the premiere show in cinema hall. In December 2021 while exploring MDL I found an article which caught my attention. Taking inspiration from that article, I wrote the movie version of it titled MDLers' Favourite Korean Movies. The original concept was Cho Na's. Unfortunately, somehow, I forgot to add that into my previous article. But this time I'm correcting my mistake.
This article is the continuation of the MDLers' Favourite Movies articles and the movie version of Big 10 Chinese Dramas On MDL written by dear Cho Na.
So while writing the last part, I realized that I haven't watched much Asian movies and it's good to know what's popular on MDL as member of this community. To be honest, I have less knowledge of C-Movies in contrast to K-Movies. In my childhood I have seen some Chinese Movies but after searching on MDL, they turned out to be Hong Kong movies. So basically, I needed someone who has knowledge about Chinese movies and has seen a lot. After going through a hundred pages of MDL and stalking about 27 people, I found Randz who is literally my angel baby. Randz has seen almost 300 movies. So together, we set this beautiful yet complicated journey of finding MDLers' personal favorite Chinese movies.
As a disclaimer, all movies listed below are taken from a search on 9 February, 2023, the day we submitted this article for editing. When you read this article, you will see slightly different movies, ranks, or numbers on the lists, because of the time span from article editing to publishing. The difference may specifically apply for the top-ranked/rated movies.
Overall Top 10 Ranked/Rated Movies
Better Days (2019) - Ranked: #5 | Ratings: 9.2 |
These are the Top 10 Ranked Chinese Movies on MDL. One thing about movies I have noticed is that where the drama rankings are more stable, it's the opposite for movies. For example, despite being a short film, Buying Ears was in the Top 10 position of our 2nd edition of this article. But when I revised this article for the last time, it got replaced by recently released movie Lighting Up The Stars, so when the article will be published you may see some differences in the ranking. |  |
Better Days is in the first position of Top Ranked Movies on MDL surpassing Korean movies. This movie was in overall (Drama and Movie) #2 position last year. Currently it has dropped by 3 in its overall position. It was released in 2019, which is almost 4 years ago, and since then still any movie couldn't beat it in ranking on MDL. But if you see the second movie of this list, you will notice it's in #385 ranked because all the ranking movies are mostly Korean and some Japanese. However, all the top ranked Chinese movies are between #2 to #802.
3 out of 10 are Zhou Dong Yu's movies, which proves her strong position in the Chinese movie industry. 4 movies are available on Netflix. Better Days Male Lead Jackson Yee has 2 movies on this list. Overall, all these 10 movies are worth watching!
RedCliff 2 (2009) - Ranked: #673 | Ratings: 8.4 Red Cliff (2008) - Ranked: #965 | Ratings: 8.3 The Captain (2019) - Ranked: #997 | Ratings: 8.3 Detective Chinatown 3 (2021) - Ranked: #1819 | Ratings: 8.0 Animal World (2018) - Ranked: #1905 | Ratings: 8.0 Detective Chinatown 2 (2018) - Ranked: #1955 | Ratings: 8.0 Detective Chinatown 1 (2015) - Ranked: #2271 | Ratings: 7.9 Shaolin (2011) - Ranked: #2343 | Ratings: 7.9 Vanguard (2020) - Ranked: #2546 | Ratings: 7.9 |
Acti on movies are something I always try to avoid. But from this list, one movie series caught my attention: onDetective Chinatown. All 3 released franchises are on this list. Part 4 may be released in 2024 because if you observe the release year of this movie series, it's releasing every 3 years. The main lead will remain the same for upcoming parts, too. All these movies aren't recent ones. But the rankings are really low compared to the Top 10 Korean Action Movies which I featured in my previous article. In the Korean Action Movies Article, the ranking started from #32 and ended at #390. But the ranking of Chinese Action Movies starts from #673 and ends at #2546, which shows the dominance of Korean Movies in the action genre on MDL.
Nice View (2022) - Ranked: #1532 | Ratings: 8.1 Making Family (2016) - Ranked: #1682 | Ratings: 8.1 Aftershock (2010) - Ranked: #2275 | Ratings: 7.9 Lost and Love (2015) - Ranked:#2703 | Ratings: 7.9 Namiya (2017) - Ranked: #2957 | Ratings: 7.8 A Better Youth (2021) - Ranked: #34956 | Ratings: 9.0 In Search of Lost Time (2022) - Ranked: #36289 | Ratings: 8.5 All About My Mother (2021) - Ranked: #36886 | Ratings: 8.4 Let Life Be Beautiful (2020) - Ranked: #36999 | Ratings: 8.3 The Old Town Girls (2020) - Ranked: #37079 | Ratings: 8.3 |
If you are someone who is interested in family dramas and movies, you may wanna give these family movies a chance. I was really curious while making this family movies list, so that I explored MDL a little bit to know more about this theme. If you search by top ranked family movies on MDL, you will find mixed results featuring movies from all 7 countries listed on MDL. The same goes for most popular family movies. You will see the difference in top ranked and most popular family dramas. Top ranked family dramas are dominated by Japanese dramas and the most popular ones are dominated by Korean dramas.
This list's movies aren't that old and the rankings keep changing with new releases.
If you want to know about the Family Trope, read this Found Family: My Favorite Trope article written by kie.
The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity (2020) - Ranked: #385 | Ratings: 8.5 |
Now if you are someone who watches C-Dramas or movies, you may notice that Chinese fantasy dramas are really good. And the movies aren't that exceptional. Go Brother! movie got a drama adaption in the same year with different cast named Take My Brother Away. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the oldest among these ten movies. It has multiple movie and drama adaptations. You can find all the titles in the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Novel) list by Apollymi. Painted Skin: The Guo Jingming Edition is a Chinese compilation of Wuliang and the movie adaption of the 2011 Chinese drama Painted Skin. Fatal Journey is a Chinese spinoff of 2019 popular Chinese drama The Untamed.
Another thing is that in this fantasy genre, historical movies are dominating the modern ones. There are only 3 modern movies and the other 7 are either historical or wuxia.
This Is Not What I Expected (2017) - Ranked: #1771 | Ratings: 8.1 |
I have seen just 1 movie from this list which is Cook Up a Strome. I watched this movie last year on Netflix. Well, as a movie with the food genre, I guess it was okay, but plot wise I think it's below average. And if you see these 10 movies' ratings, you will notice that only 3 movies have a rating above 8. But one thing can't be denied: that these movies will make us hungry. So watch at your own risk! :D
Farewell My Concubine (1993) - Ranked: #639 | Ratings: 8.4 Red Cliff (2008) - Ranked: #965 | Ratings: 8.3 The Flowers of War (2011) - Ranked: #1258 | Ratings: 8.2 Raise the Red Lantern (1991) - Ranked: #1303 | Ratings: 8.2 Mulan (2009) - Ranked: #1557 | Ratings: 8.1 City of Life and Death (2009) - Ranked: #1817 | Ratings: 8.0 The Last Emperor (1987) - Ranked: #1965 | Ratings: 8.0 To Live (1994) - Ranked: #2123 | Ratings: 8.0 Aftershock (2010) - Ranked: #2275 | Ratings: 7.9 |
All these historical movies are old and classical ones. The recent historical movies couldn't make it to the list yet. But if you search through popularity, you will see recent historical movies dominating the list. I don't know why because I haven't seen any of these movies. Even though the recent historical movies have more views, they don't have higher ratings and also got mixed reviews.
Shaolin (2011) - Ranked: #2343 | Ratings: 7.9 |
The Martial Arts genre is dominated by Chinese movies and dramas. 8 out of 10 are historical movies. Only 2 modern movies could make it to the top ranked list. All 10 movies have decent ratings compared to the other lists. The ratio of old to recent movies on this list is 1:1.
Love You Forever (2020) - Ranked: #1569 | Ratings: 8.1 |
Most of these movies are new and have a stable rating. The Wandering Earth movies both made it to the list. All these movies have mixed genres other than sci-fi. They have action, comedy, romance, etc. One BL movie made it to the list, which is To You, For Me. It is a short film with 25-minute duration. It's not surprising that it made it to the list considering BL dramas' and movies' popularity among MDLers.
Better Days (2019) - Popularity: #546 | Watchers: 19,927+ One Smile Is Very Alluring (2016) - Popularity: #567 | Watchers: 19,465+ So I Married an Anti-Fan (2016) - Popularity: #644 | Watchers: 17,595+ A Round Trip to Love (2016) - Popularity: #1036 | Watchers: 11,284+ Irresistible Love: Secret of the Valet (2016) - Popularity: #1100 | Watchers: 10,574+ The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity (2020) - Popularity: #1161 | Watchers: 9,986+ So Young 2: So You're Still Here (2016) - Popularity: #1254 | Watchers: 9,240+ Love the Way You Are (2019) - Popularity: #1319 | Watchers: 8,767+ Irresistible Love 2 (2016) - Popularity: #1340 | Watchers: 8,602+ Once Upon a Time (2017) - Popularity: #1345 | Watchers: 8,558+ |
So these are the 10 most popular Chinese movies on MDL. Now observing these titles, let's find out why these 10 made it to the list. First of all, Better Days is the most popular movie of China right now, we can say it's one of the movies which is representing the Chinese movie industry. It was a successful movie and has won many awards in different categories. No wonder it's #1 in both the Top Ranked and Most Popular lists.
Moving to the 2nd movie, One Smile Is Very Alluring, it's the movie adaptation of popular web novel "A Slight Smile Is Very Charming" by Gu Man. The drama adaptation Love O2O of this novel is one of the most-watched Chinese modern dramas. And this movie has top Chinese actress Angelababy as the female lead.
The 3rd movie So I Married an Anti-Fan has popular Kpop idol Park Chan Yeol, who is a member EXO, as the male lead so no wonder why it's popular on MDL. This movie was adapted into a K-Drama in 2021 with the same name but different cast.
A Round Trip to Love, Irresistible Love: Secret of the Valet, and Irresistible Love 2 have LGBT+ content. And that's the answer why they could make it to the most popular list even though they don't have high ratings. A Round Trip to Love Part 2 almost made it to the list as it's in the 11th position.
The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity was in the Top 10 Ranked Movies list, too. It has many reasons behind its popularity. First, it has top actors like Mark Chao and Deng Lun. Second, streaming rights were purchased by Netflix before the film's theatrical release. So this is why it's popular on MDL.
So Young 2: So You're Still Here is the sequel of So Young. It has popular idol actor Kris Wu as the male lead and famous actress Crystal Liu as the female lead. Although it was a successful movie it received negative reviews, particularly for its lack of substantial plot, poor characterization, and the lead actors' performance.
Love the Way You Are was adapted into a drama named Binary Love in 2022 with different cast.
Once Upon a Time is the movie adaptation of one of the most popular Chinese dramas, Eternal Love, starring famous actors Yang Yang and Crystal Liu. It was also the most popular Chinese historical movie on MDL.
2 out of 10 are historical movies, which shows that modern movies are more liked by MDLers than historical ones.
The Great Wall (2016) - Popularity: #3014 | Watchers: 3,337+ Kung Fu Yoga (2017) - Popularity: #3968 | Watchers: 2,269+ The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) - Popularity: #4724 | Watchers: 1,714+ Making Family (2016) - Popularity: #4940 | Watchers: 1,612+ 5 Minutes to Tomorrow (2014) - Popularity: #5155 | Watchers: 1,515+ The Foreigner (2017) - Popularity: #7500 | Watchers: 820+ Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011) - Popularity: #7989 | Watchers: 737+ Out of Control (2019) - Popularity: #8438 | Watchers: 663+ The Warrior's Gate (2016) - Popularity: #9114 | Watchers: 577+ Skiptrace (2016) - Popularity: #9200 | Watchers: 568+ |
All these co-produced movies aren't recent movies. The Great Wall is a historical fantasy movie starring American actors Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, and Willem Dafoe. Kung Fu Yoga is an action comedy movie starring Indian actors Disha Patani, Amyra Dastur and Sonu Sood. Making Family is a rom-com movie starring Korean actress Kim Ha Neul. 5 Minutes to Tomorrow is a thriller movie starring Japanese actor Miura Haruma. The Foreigner is a political action movie starring Irish actor Pierce Brosnan. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a historical movie starring South Korean actress Jun Ji Hyun. Out of Control is an action movie starring South Korean actor Choi Seung Hyun. The Warrior's Gate is a fantasy action movie starring American actors Uriah Shelton and Dave Bautista. Skiptrace is an action comedy movie starring American actor Johnny Knoxville.
Back to 20 (2015) - Popularity: #2358 | Watchers: 4,538+ Upcoming Summer (2021) - Popularity: #3022 | Watchers: 3,324+ Farewell My Concubine (1993) - Popularity: #3160 | Watchers: 3,130+ Our Shining Days (2017) - Popularity: #3550 | Watchers: 2,677+ River Knows Fish Heart (2018) - Popularity: #6497 | Watchers: 1,050+ 0.1% World (2022) - Popularity: #6743 | Watchers: 988+ Disney High School Musical: China (2010) - Popularity: #8720 | Watchers: 622+ Forever Young (2015) - Popularity: #9131 | Watchers: 575+ Perhaps Love (2005) - Popularity: #9391 | Watchers: 548+ Look Into His World (2021) - Popularity: #13680 | Watchers: 259+ |
There are only 97 Chinese movies on this list in the music genre while the total number of music movies on MDL is 986. Only 1 movie on this list is a historical movie, which is Farewell My Concubine. Back to 20 is Chinese remake of Korean movie Miss Granny. Our Shining Days had a drama adaptation with the same title but different cast in 2019. 0.1 % World is the most recent movie on this list. Look Into His World is a movie adaptation of The Romance.
So I Married an Anti-Fan (2016) - Popularity: #644 | Watchers: 17,595+ So Young 2: So You're Still Here (2016) - Popularity: #1254 | Watchers: 9,240+ Love the Way You Are (2019) - Popularity: #1319 | Watchers: 8,767+ Suddenly Seventeen (2016) - Popularity: #1531 | Watchers: 7,475+ Fall in Love Like a Star (2015) - Popularity: #1960 | Watchers: 5,548+ Mr. Pride vs. Miss Prejudice (2017) - Popularity: #2158 | Watchers: 4,973+ Bounty Hunters (2016) - Popularity: #2302 | Watchers: 4,647+ Back to 20 (2015) - Popularity: #2358 | Watchers: 4,538+ Oversize Love (2020) - Popularity: #2797 | Watchers: 3,696+ This Is Not What I Expected (2017) - Popularity: #2817 | Watchers: 3,669+ |
All the movies are modern Chinese movies. 4 out of 10 were released in 2016. Suddenly Seventeen had a drama adaptation with the same title but different cast. Most of this list's movies star popular Chinese actresses like Ni Ni, Yang Mi, Dilraba Dilmurat, Tiffany Tang, and Guan Xiao Tong.
A Round Trip to Love Part 2 (2016) - Popularity: #1405 | Watchers: 8,245+ The Witness (2015) - Popularity: 1729 | Watchers: 6,474+ Hero (2002) - Popularity: #2480 | Watchers: 4,255+ Vanguard (2020) - Popularity: #3537 | Watchers: 2,693+ Animal World (2018) - Popularity: #3704 | Watchers: 2,513+ Lust, Caution (2007) - Popularity: #3909 | Watchers: 2,318+ Painted Skin: The Guo Jingming Edition (2020) - Popularity: #4266 | Watchers: 2,015+ Oppressive Love (2016) - Popularity: #4596 | Watchers: 1,800+ Edge of Innocence (2017) - Popularity: #4978 | Watchers: 1,592+ 5 Minutes to Tomorrow (2014) - Popularity: #5155 | Watchers: 1,515+ |
There are a total of 1023 Chinese thriller movies on MDL. 2 out of 10 are LGBT+ movies. Chinese thriller movies have stable views compared to the music movie list.
OVERALL OBSERVATION
So we have reached the most interesting and difficult list of this article. It took me more time and effort to make this list than the Korean one as I'm not as familiar with Chinese movies and actors, so this may not be 100 % accurate but I try my best to make this almost perfect.
Jackie Chan (69 Years Old) - 6 Main Lead Movies | 2 Supporting Character Movies |
I have made this ranking through counting how many movies (that have been featured in our article) one actor/actress appeared in. We have given priority to main roles first, supporting roles second, and guest roles third. Now, many actors and actresses had the same number of films, so for them we gave extra points if their movies were in the most popular and top ranked movies lists. Through this, only Crystal Liu and Zhang Feng Yi made it to Top 10 Actors list.
Unexpected Love - Watchers: 3,006+ Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book - Watchers: 1,387+ Long Ye Qu - Watchers: 1,367+ Formed Police Unit - Watchers: 839+ Just for Meeting You - Watchers: 756+ The Legend of Sun and Moon - Watchers: 681+ Guardian - Watchers: 620+ Shining for One Thing: The Movie - Watchers: 604+ Born to Fly - Watchers: 395+ The Journey of Flower - Watchers: 376+ The Three-Body Problem: I - Watchers: 327+ Yesterday Once More - Watchers: 289+ Game Start - Watchers: 244+ Novoland: Dragon Abyss - Watchers: 241+ The Legend of Nezha - Watchers: 224+ |
These are the most awaited unreleased Chinese movies on MDL. It was supposed to be only 10 movies but I added 5 extra movies as we don't know when a certain Chinese movie is going to release and if it's even going to ever release. The most awaited movie, Unexpected Love, is probably never going to release for now as it has a Korean actress in the main cast. I selected these movies after going through many pages on MDL. And if you guys want to know more about upcoming Chinese movies, check out this [TBA] Chinese Movies list by xxmai.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDED C-MOVIES
So finally it's the authors' time to shine. Our recommended Chinese movies for our lovely readers. We are going to recommend our 5 favorite Chinese movies. These didn't feature in the above lists.
Yanagawa (2021) - A beautiful arthouse movie, its slow, poignant, and raw. The leads did a great job (esp. NiNi)! Loved that it's a multilingual kind of movie. There is not much plot, its mostly about direction and how it's told. First Time (2012) - I watched this movie back in 2017/18, but I still remember bits and parts of it, the leads had a really good chemistry, the story is nothing groundbreaking, quite predictable yet still nice. Only Fools Rush In (2022) - I have recently watched this movie and there is something about it that kept me watching till the end. Aside from Liu Hao Ran, who never disappoints in his performance, everyone did a really good job. The story was a bit lacking, I would say, and should have taken a different direction in my opinion but nonetheless, it was a good watch. Don't Forget I love You (2022) - Beautiful, modern, bittersweet... Chemistry? Firing, lol. Bring your tissues because you are going to need them. How Long Will I Love U (2018) - Unique is the word that I would use to describe this movie! I really liked the Idea of it and how it was executed, it's funny, cute, and sweet (a light watch). An honorable mention goes to the movie Soulmate (2016) for being beautifully shot with top notch actors! |
I would say that I am not much of a Chinese movies watcher as I mostly watch movies from Japan and Korea (depends on the mood). I have seen a few movies mentioned in the previous lists and I would say Chinese for some reason tend to have sad endings to their movies, even when it's not necessary? That's why sometimes it's off-putting for me! But then they can give us really beautiful movies that end up as a favorite like Us & Them. I don't mind any genre in general as long as the story and acting look good and it fits my taste, I guess.
The Left Ear (2015) - This movie has a unique storyline but it isn't the perfect because it will feel empty towards the end. But the fact that you will feel those raw emotions while watching this movie makes it worth watching. It will stick with you for a while.
Sweet Sixteen (2016) - Well, sometimes the most painful memory could be the happiest time of our life. Love isn't perfect but every love story has its own beauty. This movie was really beautiful but beautiful things can be broken, too. Love Will Tear Us Apart (2021) - Adapted from the novel "My Girlfriend Who Ran for Ten Years Is Going to Marry Tomorrow", the title explains what this movie is about. Most of us (including me) don't like this kind of movie so do we need to watch this? Yes, because even if the storyline might be something very usual, what makes the movie unusual is its realistic approach to the love story. One Week Friends (2022) - When this project was first announced, I was really excited because of the cast. It was a project with my favorite Chinese actors but I thought it was a drama until it was finally released. I just want to say that it's one of the best remakes ever. |
Maybe it's weird to some people but my movie preferences are different for each country. Watching movies, I have realized that each country has its own style and they slay in that one specific style for me. For Korean movies, itis thriller which wakes the dark side of me while watching them. For Chinese movies it's totally different. I want to feel summer vibes from Chinese movies. I want to feel what it's like to fall in love with someone. Someone from my school or neighborhood. I want to feel what it's like to go on a summer vacation. It may sound weird. To put it simply, I love to see a simple Chinese movie with a good plot and acting.
CONCLUSION |
We have finally reached the end of the article. Thanks for reading till the end. It was fun writing this article but the thing that triggered me was selecting the colors! I chose these two colors after searching for the perfect ones for 7 months. We hope you guys got a different variety of movie recommendations. And there is a reason why MDL differentiates between Top Ranked and Most Popular. Therefore, we hope that if you are someone who isn't into C-Movies, you will at least try the Top Ranked and Most Popular movies.
Acknowledgement and credits: Thank you to the editors who edited this article. We do not own any of the images. The images are from official drama posters, stills, and screenshots on MDL. The Gif is taken from a Instagram edit made by andltk. | Edited by: devitto (1st editor) |
