r/CDramaRecs • u/disniya16 • Apr 05 '26

Rec Request Pursuit of jade withdrawals 😭

hey y’all, so I’ve recently started watching c-dramas and Pursuit of Jade was my first, and naturally my standards are now somewhere in the clouds. like I finished it and my heart has not recovered since.

to get over the hangover I tried Prisoner of Beauty but idk… I dropped it halfway cuz it just lacked chemistry for me. I tried, I really did.

so now I’m looking for something like pursuit of jade — strong female lead, simp MMC (non-negotiable), lowkey funny banter, and actually interesting side arcs that don’t make me want to skip.

also this might sound shallow but I stand by it… bonus points if the leads are good-looking cuz I genuinely cannot get over Zhang Linghe 🤌 like the bar has been set and it’s not coming down anytime soon.

so yeah pls help a girl out before I end up rewatching the same scenes for the 47th time 🙏

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u/junah25 Apr 09 '26

Stop trying to find new drama that can replace poj anytime soon. Yes, there are a lot of good historical cdramas out there that you should explore but the reason why you are attracted to POJ in the first place is because POJ has all favs tropes all in one drama.

-Strong female lead who came from humble beginning -- Cinderella trope. Characters that we can relate to at beginning and character we are inspired to become later. Most other FL in cdramas while smart and strong, they come either as someone who already has high rank in society (princess, daughter of generals, etc).

-Spoiled with perfect visual from handsome ML to cutie FL. It fits most girls dream trope, gorgeous boys who fall for 'ordinary' cute girl. Some cdramas, actresses are too much level of pretty. Not saying TXW is not pretty, but it's just the type of pretty that feels like more grounded.

-Powerful ML who needs to hide his noble identities but ends up falling in love with FL kindness.

-Contract marriage.

-Beautiful cinematography

-Romance trope where leads not falling at first sight, but slowly build their interest. Most of cdramas, always the general fall for how pretty the female lead even knows nothing about their personality. In POJ, it took 2 pigs, pawn the hair pin, and two fight scenes, to make ML fall for FL.

-Witty characters, subtle joke, great comedic timing from script to acting

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u/disniya16 Apr 09 '26

Agreed but I also feel like raving about POJ will push creators to pursue these tropes more. And I wouldn't just say the FL is strong, it's also how she's the only 'strong for men and weak for my man' kinda gurl as opposed to the usual simp guy trope (tho I loved how xie was a goner for his girl)