4 Reasons Why Chinese Drama TV Series Are Better Than Korean Drama TV Series

Since high school, I had always been a huge fan of Korean Drama TV series: I watched and rewatched the most high-ranking and popular ones, and constantly looked for more. It was a great experience for me as I discovered the new world of K-pop, idols, and, most importantly, never-seen Korean culture.

Even though I enjoyed these new discoveries, I still had the feeling that they lack something and was not sure what. That would be still my constant routine of watching and being eager for something unfamiliar if I didn't encounter Chinese Drama TV series and let myself engage in something that fulfills all the demands that emerged after every Korean TV series I watched.

My story of the exploration of these two different kinds of Asian Drama TV series and comprehension of the advantage of one over the other propelled me to share these 4 most important and prominent reasons why I now prefer watching Chinese TV series to Korean. 

1. You Encounter A Variety In Chinese Dramas

While watching Korean Dramas, I was frequently overwhelmed by these Dramas' repeated and highly predictable plots and characters:

• love stories between a poor girl and a rich boy or the smartest boy in the class and a less intelligent girl or an arrogant girl and a 'too-kind' man, etc.
• there will always be third-wheel suffering. These third-wheels also tend to be very similar: a kind and good-looking guy who was the first love of the female lead or a beautiful but cocky girl who always chased the male lead even family members tend to be very similar in every Korean Drama: rebellious little brother/sister, funny and in every way 'excellent' parents. Another familiar family tendency of Korean Drama is to make the heroine/hero an orphan.

I can continue with more reasons, but let me finish with these three and move to the discussion of Chinese. Chinese amazingly helped to regain my need for diverse plots and characters:

• love stories between an arrogant phoenix God and a naive snow flower Princess ("Ashes of Love") or a businesswoman who is isolated from her family and a talented cook who is full of warmness ("All is Well") or a strong martial arts female champion and a sweet amateur sportsman ("Sweet Combat") or an outgoing artist and an introvert dentist who grow up as sister and brother ("Go ahead"). This list can still continue...
• usually, in Chinese Drama TV series there is no third-wheel, or even if there is, the third-wheel would not be the female lead's first love or the one to chase the male lead every time. Besides, he/she does not make you pity him/her all the time with his extremely perfect and somewhat unbelievable love with a lot of sacrifices
• family members are amazingly real: supportive and teasing brother/sister, nagging and flawy parents (but it does not mean that they are bad). Having an orphan lead is a rare feature for Chinese Dramas, but if there is one, the orphan lead's parents are not necessarily killed by someone in the TV series, who would be the target for the lead's revenge throughout the series (referencing to most of the Korean Dramas' main plots).  

Thus, plots and characters being far more versatile in Chinese Drama TV series is my foremost reason why I prefer them over Korean.

2. You Will Never Get Fed Up With Chinese Dramas

Chinese Dramas are unpredictable. You can't know what will happen in the next minute no matter how hard you try, but it doesn't make the Drama complicated to understand. 

When watching Korean Drama, I could somewhat predict what would happen in the story episode or what course of affairs the story would follow. In one hour or more of one episode, I wander around to not get bored by this predictability and well-known plot twists, particularly, love stories' flow.

There might be some interesting moments and twists, however, you can still predict having banal sweet moments, one-way feelings evolution, and even similar humor.

This feeling of predictability of the plot prevents me from enjoying the drama to the extent that I want and makes me feel that the story (and, sadly, mostly love story) in the Drama is really something unrealistic. 

Consequently, Korean Dramas make me fed up with them the loss of interest in the story after, on average, 9-10 episodes (and now even after 10 minutes of the first episode) of Drama. It was my usual habit to leave the Drama unfinished and, eventually, to forget about it at all (apologies for these Dramas I left).

This even applies to the best and multiple-time rewatched Dramas too, but I completed them after a while just to know and see the ending of the story (and yes, with skipping some moments or even whole episodes of the Drama).

It was something so accustomed that I started thinking that maybe I don't enjoy watching TV series anymore. But, as you may guess, it was not the case for me - in reality, these were Korean Dramas that weren't meant for me. 

This was one of the crucial reasons why I wanted to try something else and the first TV Shows which came up to me were Chinese.

Chinese Dramas have been amazing since my first exposure to them. I remember my first-ever Chinese Drama "My boss wants to marry me" and my satisfaction with everything happening on the screen.

I was curious and satisfied till the end of the series and did not feel any other negative emotions o predictability and monotonousness that I felt with Korean. At first, I thought that it might be because of Chinese Dramas' shorter time length: 40 minutes, though with lots of episodes.

Whether it is 20 episodes or 80 episodes, time flies and I feel that I can watch more of the series if I could. Nevertheless, it didn't correspond with reality: I actually didn't enjoy watching Korean anymore. After so many experiences with different TV Shows (previously I have watched Latino-American, Indian, Russian, Thai, American, etc.), I understood that Korean Dramas aren't for me and that I now enjoy to a larger degree watching between these two. 

In the beginning, Korean Dramas were great for 'inexperienced me', but then they became so predictable and resembled one other that I got totally fed up with them. Now, 'experienced me' loves watching Chinese Drama TV series as they are far more engaging, provoke positive emotions, and will definitely keep you interested until the end (sometimes I don't even want any end).  

3. You Sense The Reality Of Relationships In Chinese Dramas

One of my favorite features of Chinese Drama is its amazing display of realistic family relationships and personal struggles people experience in building these relationships. I am always amazed by these bonds of friendship, respect, and loyalty. It helps you to grow and even consider your own behavior.

I do not have these feelings toward Korean Dramas. I do not say that they do not show these bonds, they show them, they include sweet and 'emotional' moments in their shows, but they are not realistic for me. I do not feel anything.

I thought at first it might be because I became so stone-hearted that even cannot sympathize with these characters, their bonds, and their personal stories, but, again, it was not the case. It was just my personal disbelief in the reality of plots and relationships in Korean TV series with their commonplace phrases, activities, and too much focus on leads that made me rethink my desire to watch them.  

Chinese are different. What they show seems to be so real and related that I sometimes follow their advice and change my attitude and behavior in real life. For a long time, I was always experiencing pressure from my parents and never was ready to accept any criticism from them. I didn't know why they show me too much criticism and pressure and could only continue struggling with this oppression struggles internally.

However, after watching the Chinese Drama "Go ahead", I understood what were the reasons for my parents to be like this and developed a deeper concern for their that kind of 'special' expression of love. It really helped, our relationships improved and I feel happier now knowing that my parents and I show our love and concern in our ways with no grudges anymore. This experience was so significant for me that it strongly persuaded me to love Chinese Dramas more than others.  

That is why I say that the Chinese Drama TV series actually show real and heart-touching stories, problems, and the warmness of human bonds so that you enjoy every minute of watching it and finding something so related to yourself. 

4. You Enjoy Amazing Visuals and Good Acting Skills in Chinese Dramas

I can't say that Korean Dramas aren't beautiful, they are, but I think that Chinese directors are far more talented in shooting all their scenes by reflecting all the beauty of landscapes, cities, costumes, traditions, and people. What they provide us is a great pleasure for the eyes, eyes relax and eyes enjoy. The colors are amazingly consistent. The camera quality is as good as Korean (sometimes even better). Beauty is indeed astonishing. 

What's more, part of this beauty is also due to Chinese actors and actresses. Particularly for me, as I am attracted to boys, actors are a piece of art in Chinese Dramas. It's hard for me to find a guy whom I may like in Korean Dramas because they are of a different style than what I like, whereas Chinese actors, I find to be extremely attractive and charismatic.

All of these actors' and actresses' acting skills are also amazing and, as far as I know, that's because Chinese people are really serious and hard-working about their jobs. I know that in Korea most actors and actresses are also talented, but their acting skills are still not enough to feel that they are the characters they play. I can somehow distinguish this because I am an actress in the theatre myself.

Most Korean Drama actors and actresses seem to lack sincerity and belief in what they say. Every time I watched Korean Drama I looked forward to enjoying their acting skills and was frequently left dissatisfied. However, now with the Chinese, it's very different. Every time I feel that I'm reading a book and also undergoing the story myself. It's so amazing, don't you think so?

The amazing visuals of Chinese Drama TV series and the degree of the acting skills of actors and actresses in the Drama are the last reasons why I prefer Chinese over Korean. By the same token, I am definitely not generalizing this to all as I still have some actors and actresses in Korean TV Shows whose acting I really enjoy (hello to Lee Junki and IU). 

Concluding my thoughts

Funny, relatable, versatile, professional, unpredictable, realistic, visually attractive, and very-very favored by me - these are the main words that I can use to describe Chinese Dramas. Chinese Drama TV series is the most amazing TV series for me and I'm sure it will continue to be so for an extremely long time.

Disclaimer: This article was written only to express the love and personal preference of the author for Chinese over Korean Dramas. The author knows that any kind of Drama is amazing in its own manner and Korean Drama TV shows are not excluded from this. Wish everyone to keep calm and watch any type of Drama you like!)

And the last meme from me today: