NEON & NINE-TO-FIVE
Modern-set drama
City romance, workplace stakes, and contemporary suspense — guides to C-drama set in the present day.
Loving Strangers
A 28-episode Youku urban drama, a Chinese remake of the Korean series My Mister, about a worn-down middle-aged man and a young woman in debt who is hired to help push him out of his company.
The Heart
A 38-episode modern medical drama on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video, following three cardiologists at one hospital as they move from friction to a working partnership.
Love For You
A 32-episode Mango TV and Hunan TV romance set in a small southern town from the 1990s onward, about a rough-edged boy, the girl he cannot keep out of his life, and a smuggling suspicion.
Good Will Society
A 40-episode light medical comedy on Hunan TV and Mango TV about five doctors from different departments who bond through their hospital's marathon club.
Filter
A 32-episode Tencent Video romantic comedy with a sci-fi hook: an office worker anxious about her looks gets a bracelet that changes her face, and builds a Chinese beauty brand with a colleague.
Amidst a Snowstorm of Love
A 30-episode Tencent Video modern romance set in the billiards world, in which a nine-ball star meets a retired snooker prodigy on a snowstorm night in Helsinki.
Fireworks of My Heart
A 40-episode Hunan TV and Mango TV romance about a fire station chief and an emergency doctor who meet again ten years after their families pulled them apart.
The Oath of Love
A 32-episode Hunan TV and Tencent Video romance about a cello student and the surgeon treating her father, both at low points in their lives.
Shine on Me
A 36-episode Tencent Video modern romance, adapted by Gu Man from her own novel, about a cheerful young woman who lets go of a one-sided campus crush and a surgeon who left medicine.
Those Days
A 36-episode family drama on Tencent Video and CCTV-8 in which a newly married, pregnant woman loses her husband and must face the families that surround her.
A Better Life
A 36-episode CCTV and Youku Shanghai drama in which a 39-year-old insurance agent loses her marriage and job, then teams up with the younger rival who cost her the latter.
My Boss
A 36-episode Youku legal romcom about a rookie lawyer who learns her demanding new boss is also her housemate, set in a family-law firm and built around her education in the courtroom.
The Tale of Rose
A 38-episode urban drama on CCTV and Tencent Video, adapted from Yi Shu's novel, following Huang Yimei across more than twenty years of career, love and family in Beijing.
In Spite of the Strong Wind
A 39-episode urban drama about a star public-relations man whose fiancée sinks his firm and then becomes the rival he keeps facing, mixing business, romance and light comedy.
Hidden Love
A 25-episode campus-to-career romance on Youku about a girl who has quietly loved her older brother's best friend for years, adapted from a Jinjiang web novel.
All The Way To The Sun
A 36-episode urban drama on CCTV and Youku following two Beijing roommates from 2007 to 2019 through careers in law and real estate, romance, marriage and a decade-long friendship.
South Wind Knows
A 39-episode Youku modern romance about a drug researcher and a surgeon who part after a humanitarian mission abroad and meet again a year later, when she becomes his family doctor.
Meet Yourself
A 40-episode Hunan TV and Mango TV healing drama about a burned-out hotel manager who retreats to a village in Dali, Yunnan, and a local man trying to rebuild his hometown.
Lighter and Princess
A 36-episode Youku campus-to-workplace romance, adapted from a Jinjiang novel, about a rebellious programming prodigy and the top student who refuses to be pushed away.
Chasing the Undercurrent
A 40-episode iQIYI crime drama in which a young detective is framed for a prosecutor's murder and must expose a powerful family that has long dominated a small city.
Bright Future
A 24-episode contemporary drama, shown on CCTV-1 and Tencent Video, following a new county head and his colleagues as they take on the everyday problems of one fictional county.
The Wonderful World
A 29-episode romance on iQIYI and Tencent Video in which a Hangzhou man who believes in parallel worlds goes looking for his double in Beijing, and two couples' lives change in one night.
The Heart Season 2
A 40-episode modern medical drama on CCTV-8 and iQIYI, the sequel in which three cardiologists face hospital management, young trainees and the medical-device business.
About Love
A 26-episode Tencent Video urban romance about a professional "love appraiser" who tests other women's boyfriends for loyalty, until one man passes every trap she sets.
The Guilty
A 14-episode iQIYI Mist Theater crime mystery in which a 2010 kidnapping drags three friends' buried secret from 1999 into the open.
Hide Games
A 24-episode Tencent Video crime thriller built from short episodes, about the murder of an anti-narcotics officer, a damaged memory and the line between guilt and loyalty.
Three-Body
A 30-episode CCTV and Tencent Video science-fiction drama adapting Liu Cixin's novel, in which a nanotechnology researcher is drawn into a string of scientists' suicides.
To Ship Someone
A 24-episode iQIYI romance fantasy in which a pessimistic novelist and an optimistic film planner are pulled into his book and fight over whether it ends happily or sadly.
Only for Love
A 36-episode Mango TV and Hunan TV modern romance about a finance reporter chasing an interview with a young company president, and the push and pull that follows.
The Lonely Warrior
A 24-episode iQIYI crime drama about a disgraced detective who leaves prison after ten years and reassembles his old squad to hunt a suspect who is still free.
To the Wonder
An eight-episode CCTV-1 and iQIYI drama about a young writer who returns to her mother's remote shop in Altay, northern Xinjiang, and finds a life shaped by grassland, seasons and neighbours.
Reset
A 15-episode Tencent Video mystery in which a student and a game designer relive the same bus explosion again and again, searching the 45 bus's passengers for the cause.
The Bad Kids
A 12-episode iQIYI crime thriller set in a 2005 seaside town, where three children accidentally film a murder and are drawn into a widening web of lies.
Love's Ambition
A 32-episode Tencent Video urban romance about a business-news anchor and a corporate vice president whose marriage of convenience falls apart, and about a man who must learn to pursue the wife he once took for granted.
In the Name of Justice
A 36-episode CCTV and Youku procuratorial thriller in which prosecutors reopen a mob case and find the corruption inside the justice system itself.
Mobius
A 16-episode iQIYI crime mystery in which a police officer who can relive the same day up to five times races a killer known as Squid.
Reborn
A 23-episode Tencent Video youth mystery in which a 16-year-old girl in 2007 tries to learn how her older sister really died, with a classmate beside her.
Love Me, Love My Voice
A 33-episode Tencent Video romance about a guofeng singer-composer and the heart surgeon who secretly moonlights as her favorite voice actor, built around original Chinese-style songs.
Under the Skin
A 20-episode iQIYI crime mystery in which a police sketch artist and a captain who blames him for a colleague's death are forced to solve a run of strange cases together.
Small Town Remedy
A 29-episode CCTV-8 and iQIYI drama in which a gifted surgeon, played by Xiao Zhan, loses his job in Shenzhen and has to start again at a small hospital in his Northeastern hometown.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveSmall Town Remedy: A Gifted Doctor Goes Home to Northeast China
Small Town Remedy is a 2026 Chinese drama in which a gifted doctor returns to his Northeastern hometown and starts again from zero. It premieres on 21 October 2026 on CCTV-8 and iQIYI.
The Vanishing Beauty Finale: Why Viewers Call It Satisfying
The Vanishing Beauty ended its 28-episode run on October 20, and the finale trended on Weibo as "so satisfying." Here is how the two wives finish the fight, and why not every viewer was won over.
The Vanishing Beauty: Wife and Mistress on the Same Side
In The Vanishing Beauty the wronged wife keeps teaming up with the women her husband used. Chinese viewers split over whether that is solidarity or a whitewash of the mistress.
Small Town Remedy's hero can't follow his hometown dialect
Xiao Zhan's doctor in Small Town Remedy comes home to Northeast China and can't follow the local dialect. Viewers are already arguing over whether the show's Northeastern is real, and Cantonese speakers say his Cantonese isn't either. That double miss may be the point.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveFirst Love Again: The Campus Romance Opening on Three Platforms in Two Days
A guide to the 24-episode campus romance-comedy First Love Again as it airs on Tencent Video, iQIYI and Mango TV: a basketball captain, a student with stage fright, and the second pairing of Huang Cancan and Zhou Dawei.
Liao Bu Qi A Peng You
A six-episode youth sports drama from Mango TV whose cast is five AI-generated performers, presented as artists with names, personalities and Weibo accounts.
Liao Bu Qi A Peng You: Mango TV's Six-Episode Judo Drama Starring Five AI Artists
A guide to Mango TV's six-episode AI live-action drama about a former youth judo champion, the five AI artists who play the leads, what Chinese reports say about how it was made, and how it differs from the long-form The Later Journey to the West.
Quite the Girl
A heroine who plays the obedient daughter to plan her revenge, rebuilt from a hit vertical micro-drama into a landscape-format series on Tencent Video.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveQuite the Girl: A Vertical Micro-Drama Hit Rebuilt as a Long-Form Revenge Romance
A guide to Tencent Video's Quite the Girl: a heroine who plays the obedient niece to use a wealthy heir against her uncle's family, how a hit vertical micro-drama was rebuilt as a landscape long-form series, and what its two leads, Xu Mengjie and Ren Shihao, bring to it.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveRising Justice: The Legal Drama Set Above a Bathhouse and Shot in Shenyang
A guide to the CCTV-8, iQIYI and Tencent Video legal comedy Rising Justice as it airs: a law firm above a Shenyang bathhouse, twelve cases drawn from real lawyers' accounts, and Gao Ye and Han Dongjun as rival lawyers.
The Vanishing Beauty
A 28-episode modern divorce drama on Tencent Video in which a wealthy only daughter quietly plans how to leave her cheating husband and keep her company, with Li Yitong.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThe Vanishing Beauty: The Marriage Drama Where the Wife Plans the Divorce Like a Takeover
A guide to the Tencent Video marriage drama The Vanishing Beauty as it airs: the heiress who treats her divorce as a fight over evidence and company control, Li Yitong's modern lead, the lawyer and what Chinese divorce law says.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveGood Night: The Funeral-Home Workplace Comedy with Guo Qilin and Zhang Xueying
A guide to the ten-episode Youku and Mango TV drama Good Night as it airs: a young man's stopgap job at a funeral home, Guo Qilin and Zhang Xueying as embalming-team colleagues, and how the show keeps its humor gentle.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveKing of Comedy: The Drama That Borrowed Stephen Chow's Title and Moved the Film Set to a Fishing Village
A guide to the 24-episode iQIYI comedy King of Comedy, which borrows the name of Stephen Chow's 1999 film for a new story about a Fujian fishing village, with Yang Chaoyue, Jiang Long and a troupe of sketch comedians from iQIYI's comedy contest.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThunder Chaser: The Anti-Drug Police Drama Built Around Three Rookies and a Veteran Captain
A guide to the Tencent Video anti-drug police drama Thunder Chaser as it airs: the squad captain played by Qin Hailu, the three young officers sent in under her, the veteran cast and how the staggered release works.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveIrreplaceable: The Consulting Drama Where the Rookie Hits Back on the Spot
A guide to the finished Youku and CCTV-8 workplace drama Irreplaceable, in which Zhao Jinmai plays an openly ambitious consulting rookie and Wei Daxun her mentor with a revenge plan, and which overseas viewers found gripping at first and divisive at the end.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveLove Has Fireworks: The Shanghai Roommate Romance Set in Investment Banking
A guide to the CCTV-8, Tencent Video and iQIYI urban romance Love Has Fireworks: two investment-industry roommates in Shanghai, the Tan Jianci and Wang Churan pairing, how convincing the banking world is, and why a strong ratings start met divided word of mouth.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThe Silent Rift: The Crime Drama Where the Arrest Comes in Episode One
A guide to the Tencent Video crime drama The Silent Rift, also listed as Unpredictable: an arrest in the first episode, a case told through competing accounts across decades, Liu Ye and Nie Yuan facing off, and why some viewers found the timeline tiring.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveSniper Butterfly: A Divorced Heroine, a Younger Lead and the Breakup Viewers Argued Over
A guide to the Tencent Video romance Sniper Butterfly: a divorced woman, the village student she once sponsored, the age-gap setup, and the mid-run breakup that set viewers and the screenwriter publicly at odds.
The First Frost
A 32-episode second-chance romance that opens with a rejection, and a series that drew a public debate over how far it departs from its web novel.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThe First Frost: The Youku Romance Where Old Classmates Become Roommates
A guide to the Youku and Netflix romance The First Frost: a high school rejection that returns as a shared apartment, how the series reshapes its novel and Wen Yifan's family history, and why a hit with heavy overseas traffic drew a divided response.
Sunshine by My Side
A 36-episode CCTV-8 urban romance in which a newly divorced advertising director and a young designer meet while each is starting over at work, shot in Chongqing.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveSunshine by My Side: An Older-Woman, Younger-Man Romance That Has to Go to Work
A divorced advertising director and a designer just starting out, in a Chongqing-set remake of a Taiwanese drama where the office, the family and the city all push back on the romance.
The Knockout
A 39-episode 2023 crime drama on CCTV-8 and iQIYI following a fishmonger's twenty-year rise to underworld power and the incorruptible policeman who keeps trying to stop him.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThe Knockout: How a Fishmonger Goes Bad, One Small Step at a Time
A twenty-year crime drama that films a fishmonger's rise to crime boss as a chain of small steps, each of which looks like the only option, set against the cop who never changes.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveSong of Life: The Bilibili Original Where a Jobless Graduate Becomes a Funeral Makeup Artist
A guide to the 13-episode Bilibili original Song of Life: a jobless graduate who ends up as a funeral-home makeup artist, a trade Chinese television rarely shows, Zhou Yiran's lead performance, and why a well-rated show stayed little seen.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveCrush: The Sweet Romance About a Radio Hopeful and the Songwriter She Admires
A guide to the 2021 iQIYI romance Crush: an aspiring radio presenter, a visually impaired songwriter, Evan Lin's first lead role after Idol Producer, and why viewers who liked the first half were split on the second.
Nothing But Thirty
A 43-episode contemporary Shanghai urban drama from 2020 about three women in their thirties, a useful correction to the palace-and-swordsmen image of Chinese television.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveNothing But Thirty: Three Women, One City, and the Pressure of Turning 30
A guide to the 2020 Shanghai drama about three women in their thirties, with the cultural context overseas viewers may be missing.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveMeteor Garden (2018): A Poor Girl, a New F4 and a Remake Seventeen Years in the Making
A guide to the 2018 mainland Chinese remake of Meteor Garden: a poor girl pulled into the world of the F4, the line from manga to Taiwan to mainland, how Shen Yue and Dylan Wang rose through it, and how it reached overseas viewers on Netflix.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveGuardian: The Small-Budget Urban Fantasy That Gave Its Two Leads a Mass Following
A guide to the 2018 Youku web drama Guardian: a detective and a professor handling cases between the human world and an underground one, how the adaptation handled its source novel, and how two actors gained a large following on a small budget.
Ode to Joy
A 42-episode Shanghai ensemble drama from 2016 about five neighbours from different classes on one apartment floor; worth watching for its women-led storylines and its take on class and family.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveOde to Joy: The Shanghai Drama That Put Five Women on One Floor and Made Class the Plot
A guide to the 2016 first season of Ode to Joy: five women from very different backgrounds on one Shanghai floor, why class is the real subject, the Fan Shengmei family debate, the novel-to-screen production, and the template it set for later city dramas.
Neon & Nine-to-FiveThe Lost Tomb: The 2015 Web Drama Behind a Decade of Tomb-Raiding Sequels and Spin-Offs
A guide to the 2015 iQIYI web drama The Lost Tomb: its antique-dealer hero and his uncle's first tomb, the paid-membership release that overloaded iQIYI's servers, how the series fits the franchise that followed, and how overseas viewers approach it today.