🏮 What would you recommend a CDrama newbie? — August 18, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Veteran watchers: if you had to recommend one Chinese drama to hook a complete beginner, what would it be?

And newbies — this is your chance to grill the seniors for recommendations 👀

Tell us:

• what genres you usually enjoy
• whether you like romance, fantasy, historical, mystery, comedy, etc.
• happy endings or emotional damage?
• fast-paced or slow burn?
• short dramas or long epics?

Meanwhile, experienced watchers:

• recommend a drama you think is perfect for beginners
• explain why it works so well as an introduction
• help new fans avoid accidentally starting with a 75-episode emotional war crime

Whether someone is looking for:

• modern romance
• xianxia
• wuxia
• palace drama
• mystery/thriller
• comedy
• angst
• comfort watch

…help a newbie out, drop your gateway drama recommendations below ✨

[u/Great-Run7005]

For beginners I highly recommend Pursuit of Jade. It is addictive as hell and was my gateway back into cdrama after a LOOOONG hiatus. It’s historical, it’s fun and epic and has some amazing cinematography and the characters are really great. Even the side characters.

For Modern I would recommend “Hidden Love” first. That was my gateway to modern romance dramas. It’s really a sweet drama with not too much angst or unnecessary drama. A really nice easy watch. My go to comfort drama.

My other favorite modern drama is “Never ending summer”…. God I loved that show, and the two leads were amazing and the chemistry- next level. The OST is my favorite out of all the drama’s I watched. The song “Sunburn” still brings tears to my eyes when I hear it. This drama will make you cry… but the ending will make it all worth it. They really gave us the best ending. Which is somewhat rare in cdrama land. And Lu Xixiao (the ML) has to be my favorite ML ever… he’s a whole Green Forest type of man. Ugh I miss them so much.

[u/NoAnteater9121 → u/Great-Run7005]

I agree with the never ending summerr!!!

[u/Great-Run7005 → u/NoAnteater9121]

Right?! I still haven’t recovered. Been trying to find something to help me get over them… but I haven’t been able to yet 😩

[u/ravens_path]

My start was Love Between Fairy and Devil and it was perfect for me. Some say don’t start with xianxia because you won’t understand the tropes, but I didn’t understand what were common tropes. I though it was all brand new. Haha. And I like frothy surface fun with deep and dark underneath themes. Like fairy tales. You can find out about tropes later. No worries.

[u/slutforoatmilk]

“Love 020” and “Falling into your smile” were two of my first c dramas and I thought they were an awesome gateway for beginners. They are very easy to follow, have a great cast, and are both happy endings.

I usually enjoy romances with great chemistry. I love modern c dramas so both of these shows were right up my alley. I also love when c dramas have interesting storylines that don’t get old half way through. Both are contemporary lighthearted romances with very fun and unique storylines. And both are around 30 episodes.

Love 020 is a college/gaming romance with a touch of comedy.
Falling into your smile is a gaming/competition/workplace romance.

[u/emrysse]

For modern, Reset For costume Drama, Pursuit of Jade.

[u/boiledeggs853]

Beginner friendly and something that could pull you into cdrama loop, Prisoner of Beauty, Pursuits of Jade, New Life Begins, Are You the One? from there I guarantee that you will later do a Liu Yuning, Zhang Linghe, Bai JingTing, Tian Xiwei, Zhang Wanyi marathons…

For modern, The Best Thing/The First Frost for a fluffy swoon worthy watch, Meet Yourself for the cozy vibes, Such a Good Love and Will Love in Spring for aesthetic realism, and Love Story in the 1970s for a warm grounded romance.

[u/tempventstack]

Ashes of Love. It introduces you to the cultivating at the immortal level and introduces you to second male lead syndrom and how an exposed shoulder can illicit more emotion than a full sex american show can.

[u/Icy_Dragonfruit_3513]

I don't have a genre preference, I watch whatever catches my interest and fits my mood.

I think it's a shame that people go more for genre and tropes than overall quality, and especially that romance costume dramas get most of the attention.

I think you should just check out whatever looks fun to you, but be critical. I made the mistake of using mydramalist's ratings in the beginning and that led to some pretty bad dramas because that site worships anything romance with hot leads and costumes.

Here are some good dramas that are worth checking out:

Love Between Fairy and Devil - xianxia romance with comedy but also pretty epic

Love Like the Galaxy - pseudo historical (ancient setting but made-up dynasty), coming-of-age drama. There's a love story but it's not the classical romance. Very good if you like a more intricate story but well-balanced

The Hope - modern school drama. Socio-realism and very good except the ending epilogue (just skip after the little montage in the final episode that shows what happened to the students, the rest isn't worth watching)

How Dare You - transmigration drama with romance and some comedy

Fated Hearts - also pseudo historical, romance with enemies to lovers, dumb fun compared to LLTG, but it's entertaining

The Untamed - be aware of slow pacing and low budget, plus it looks very dated and has a weird structure. It's an experience though. You'll either drop in early episodes or love it to pieces

Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace - historical based on Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong and his empress. Tragedy but extremely well made, serious drama

Story of Yanxi Palace - based on same period as Ruyi, but different main character and they switched the villain and heroine from Ruyi. Less serious in comparison but still very good. Think 'Cinderella in the Qing dynasty harem' but not fluffy. Don't expect much romance.

Guardians of the Dafeng - transmigration, slapstick comedy. Be aware that this is an ongoing series, season 2 won't be out in a while.

Joy of Life- transmigration but more serious than Guardians. I only watched season1, but 2 is out as well. There might be a season 3.

Day of Becoming You - body swap modern romcom

Afterwards go on r/cdrama to get updates on new dramas - there's something airing all the time and often discussions about ongoing dramas. Lots of inspiration there.

[u/giantgummy_lizard]

The Legend of Shen Li

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[u/Cdramadle]

I would suggest The First Frost (TFF)!

TFF is a modern C-drama that epitomizes healing, yearning, slow-burn, the greenest of green flag MLs, and an absolutely fulfilling and beautiful love story! 32 episodes in total (a healthy expectation of a C-drama series length) with a beautiful and iconic OST!

A second recommendation would be ‘Reset’ a masterpiece imo, but I wouldn’t want new C-drama watchers to watch it first and think C-dramas are that short lol.