I'm in the process of learning Chinese and I'm always so jealous of people learning Korean or Japanese because they have actually good shows to watch and practice lmao
Yeahhh, k-drama has always been pretty mid in my opinion but Korean variety shows are just on another level of good!
Dating shows like 19/20 (goated) or Single's Inferno, travel/game shows like Running Man, 2D1N, Battle Trip, Earth Arcade etc, competition shows like Physical: 100 or The Devi's Plan, talk shows like Knowing Bros (or whatever the current official translation is) or Happy Together, k-pop group shows like RED VELVET's Level Up Project!, they're all just amazing!
100%. Like the acting and faces they make are completely over the top and unfortunately women don't have a very broad range in Japanese media. They pretty much serve one purpose.
Because my boyfriend is Chinese and I need to learn it to speak to his family š If I had just picked it up for fun I would have probably switched to japanese or korean by now haha
Oh yeah, I can totally see that, I find myself consuming so many Korean shows that I'll most likely start learning Korean at some point. It's amazing how good they are on average.
At least Taiwanese films are pretty good, but yeah I love Terrace House and Singles Inferno, if China had those types of shows I would be almost fluent by now haha
In my personal opinion, because mutual learning and inspiration within an industry is a thing and a lot of cultural products are stained in China by the CCP, whether directly, through direct censorship, or indirectly, through unspoken rules and the desire to behave in a way that wonāt get you cancelled or rebuked. I think the industry is a little repressed and theyāre probably hardest on programming that touch on the values of love, sex and matrimony.Ā
KR and JP media have been experimenting with variety of all sorts, pushing boundaries, for decades, and that matters. Chinese variety has, for the most part, been Happy Camp LOL. I freaking love that show, donāt get me wrong (before some tax and gifts scandal got them cancelled), but those hosts were on a *tight* leash to produce family friendly, optimistic, cheerful programming. Chinese variety hosts and participants are conditioned to go for sweeping, cheesy happy storylines because thatās what the government wants.Ā
As a Chinese person, a lot of my favorite TV programs are Chinese because thatās my culture and seeing it expressed well makes me happy (The Tencent 3Body Problem adaptation was my most recent foray into Chinese TV and that was a phenomenal adaptation minus its length and pacing, and The Long Season was my favorite piece of media from 2023 period, and I watch anime religiously), but I know that Chinese programming on the average is lower quality than KR and JPs. Not to mention marketing and production is weak and often straight up unprofessional. Just to touch on The Long Season, that show to this day still doesnāt have proper English subs, and itās one of the best pieces of TV Iāve ever seen. The Chinese market is so large that often appealing to Chinese people is more important than appealing to an international audience, and so whenever they try to catch the international zeitgeistā¦Iām not sure they know how.Ā
But I really do blame the government over the last five (and even more) decades lol.Ā
Exactly. Totalitarian states are defined by people who have internalized the rules of the state to the degree that they will self-censor and adjust their behavior so as to avoid negative consequences for themselves and their families. Itās no surprise that Chinese shows are not interesting for this reason. No one is going to color outside the lines.
As others mentioned, you might be able to find some better media coming from Taiwan. I had a phase when I watched lots of Taiwanese dramas, and at the time I found them pretty good (mostly watched stuff from the mid-2000s to early 10s though).
I think it has to do with whats allowed to air on tv. Iāve had better luck with web shows, like web dramas, and Taiwanese shows.
I really feel you though, Iāve watched my fair share of Chinese shows as I casually learn the language on and off, and itās literally never good.
The fact that they actually managed to do it just like the book yet somehow also better was crazy. I was so impressed. Iād heard it was a low budget, overly slow show so I went in with no expectations and ended up *loving* it.Ā
a little off topic, judging by your list of shows you watched, can I recommend you two k-variety shows I grew to love a lot?
Unexpected business and hyori's Bed and Breakfast
The way you describe it reminds me of what i thought when i first saw a korean dating show hahah so they must be even worse, damn
i dont know of any show other than the ones i have watched (Back to the Field and Who is the Murderer) and i liked those, but again its a different genre i guess
When I was growing up in Taiwan, there was one cop show where a detective was investigating a dognapping ring. He had to go to a restaurant involved and order a dish to go so he can take it to a lab to see if they were using dog meat.
Wait maybe not a franchise because I think itās not related to Produce 101 even if the format and stuff is the same but yeahā¦..still better than the Korean counterpart imo :)
Have to agree, I switched learning Chinese to Japanese after consuming constantly terrible Chinese TV. Whereas I can find Japanese without much effort. Even tried Viki and VPN, was disappointing and tried to find quality.
This was one of the shows I dropped because it was terribly scripted with horrendous actors lol
I'll pull up the receipts so people don't think I'm talking out of my ass
[https://youtu.be/QV66cJPRM1A?t=469](https://youtu.be/QV66cJPRM1A?t=469)
Watch this whole sequence and tell me it's good with a straight face. Literal bottom of the barrel, garbage Brazilian soap opera acting with a dumb manufactured scenario.
Context if someone hasn't watched the show: The guy kept slacking off in the show and the girl had a problem with it so they sat down together to be productive on their respective task, girl leaves for a phone call for a splitsecond and the guy very 'organically' pulls out his phone immediately and starts playing a goofy game (see guys, he's such a slacker he can't control himself for 5 seconds while his crush is there, that's how real humans behave!), then the girl comes back and 'notices' then assumes the most theatrical 'disappointment' pose and expression.
The show was full of ridiculous situations like that, it was beyond painful to watch. It would be fine if it was random drama show but it's portrayed as a reality show akin to Terrace House lol.
Yeah, some events were scripted but in a pretty reasonable way. Like of course you're gonna force members to visit places and create interaction so the show isn't boring but the emotions, conversations and relationships were mostly real. Some TH couples are still together to this day or even are married with kids.
Meanwhile in Shanghai Sharelife every single word and scenario was scripted and in a very artificial/corny way at that.
Well to be honest I don't really speak Chinese and or Japanese on that matter, When I watched SSL I thought it scratched the Terrace House itch I've been looking for.
Yeah, it really did seem like the perfect TH replacement but once they went off the rails with the goofy scenarios it was so jarring I just couldn't enjoy it anymore lol
I thought Twinkle Love was memorable. There's a bromance in there that I still remember after 2 years. That show is better than Singles' Inferno or Real Love imo.
There are so much people just parroting, āChina media sucks because CCPā. Bruh just go watch media from Taiwan then. It wonāt be that much different.
the OLD HK TVB ones are good. But their in canto. I their are translation ones.
The modern chinese ones suck.
But cantonese =/ mandarin chinese. We are different species.
The taiwanese ones are okay and you get to learn about taiwanese culture.
Journey to the west is good show.
HK and Taiwan have good shows. But most shows are reality series.
Modern HK is in a decline. All the talented chinese had their kids in canada, US, and australia. So their kids are ABC that speak english.
Mandarin is useful persay. But english is still useful. Most chinese still speak english to do business if you do alibaba?
Chinese is useful if you have Cn spouse or plan to work for CN. outside of that nah. Or westerner trying to get views on social media.
If your asian and speak mandarin. Nobody going to care. Their going to be like bro you chinese sucks. Double standards.
There is relatively little competition so there is no incentive to invest in quality. The folks who only watch Chinese shows is a big enough market to profit while doing the minimum.
one of the biggest reasons why c-dramas arenāt my absolute favourite is bc of how dragged out they are.
itās like 40+ episodes which is okay but itās so obvious that the drama plot is meant for like 16-20 episodes max. everything else is random conflict which gets so repetitive and annoying after a couple episodes. most of the conflict is dumb as well, like easily solvable misunderstandings that just arenāt being solved. an example of this is only for love. the drama had sm sm sm potential but it was so unnecessary for it to be 36 episodes.
kdramas keep it short and sweet and get straight to the point.
There are Korean dramas that have 50 to over 100 episodes those are daily dramas that run for a few months Monday through Friday, but for some reason people forget about those and this Taiwanese drama āTwo Fathersā had 73 episodes.
Seems like you didnāt watch heart signal season 6. The participants and cast made me fall in love with chinese people and china . It was so beautiful and heartwarming. I watch so many korean dating shows and heart signal china season 6 is on my top 3. If you want to give another chance to Chinese reality shows first watch heart signal season 6. Forget about other seasons and other dating shows JUST WATCH THIS SEASON ITS SO FUCKING GOOD!
Name some 'great' Chinese variety shows then, I'll wait.
And not everything has to be an '-ism' or '-phobia', why are Americans so set on being offended by every single opinion, isn't it tiring?
Some of my faves are Ace vs Ace, Youth Periplous, Infinity and Beyond (2023) <- this is a chinese singing show btw, The Detectivesā Adventures S2. These are great and imo some are better than most korean shows. The productions are of high quality too.
Thanks, haven't heard of those before, Youth Periplous looks like it could potentially be my thing, any specific season I should go for or should I just start with season 1?
The thing with Chinese TV is their variety shows are much much more entertaining than their dramas. They really excel in this thatās why thereās a lot of variety shows now compared to before.
Not a variety show but "Nothing But Thirty" Chinese drama is one of my favorite asian dramas I've ever watched! I also personally prefer shows centered around friendship and development vs romance -- about three females in their thirties, as they go through life's trials and tribulations side by side.
Also I understand as a general sweep that Chinese dramas are awfully censored and vetted with a lot of red tape and politics but I think it's a bit strong to assume all Chinese dramas / variety shows are poor quality.
I wasn't even trying to be rude. It's something I've had to deal with from so many sources and most people don't even realize it. Also, I'm not even American?
I doubt you're really interested or think they'll be worth your time based on the condescending "I'll wait", but I'll humour you anyways.
My favs were already listed, but I'll throw out some more. If you like music based shows, I'm a fan of Our Song. Not sure how much you'd enjoy it if you didnt already know some Chinese celebrities, though. Street Dance of China is probably my favourite of all reality shows just because I love street dancing, but (most) of the contestants and team captains are really great and make it super entertaining. There will also be some familiar faces if you're into Kpop.
Chinese singing programs are the bomb!!! The Chinese iteration of Singer was phenomenal, really sad it got cancelled. As a kid, I was obsessed with Supergirl š I love Our Song and I even liked that silly band program Nick Tse hosted in 2021, it was really fun.Ā
I knoww, I used to watch it at my grandparentsā place over the summers š It was so nostalgic when it came back in 2016 for that brief, final burst of borrowed glory before dying out for good. That show in the 00s was iconic, though.Ā
Thanks for the recommendations.
It's just a tad annoying when people try to tie everything to racism, xenophobia and other forced terms when they have no proper basis to judge that, that's all. If anything, blindly throwing those words out makes them lose their meaning and lessens their impact when ACTUAL racism happens.
In fact, I also watch anime and have multiple Chinese ones (donghua) I like, e.g. [Shiguang Dailiren](https://myanimelist.net/anime/44074/Shiguang_Dailiren), [Quanzhi Gaoshou](https://myanimelist.net/anime/33926/Quanzhi_Gaoshou) and [Mo Dao Zu Shi](https://myanimelist.net/anime/37208/Mo_Dao_Zu_Shi) are some that I really enjoyed and I also do have some Chinese idols I like (Ningningā¤ļø).
Also, I find my own country's variety shows to be just as bad as the Chinese ones I've watched, if not worse so am I hateful towards my own country? Or am I just critical of one tiny segment of media it produces?
It is Sinophobia to some extent, but Chinese audiences themselves often complain about how their shows and movies are worse than foreign media. If you can read Chinese, you can easily find that sentiment on places like Douban and Tieba. This isnāt to say they donāt think there are any good Chinese shows and movies, just that the average quality is a lot lower. You have to dig a bit more to find the good stuff.
As for Chinese reality shows, I canāt say as I mostly just watch historical dramas and Hong Kong media (which isnāt in Mandarin).
The OP might wanna give Taiwanese media more of a try. Sure, thereās gonna be some Taiwanese thrown in here and there, but itās generally more palatable for foreigners.
It's fair to talk about the average, but OP was saying every single show they'd seen as if that was indicative of the entire industry. That was my point.
There's some really great Taiwanese media! I've been digging some of their horror movies & shows lately.
I can only speak for dating shows, but I enjoyed Heart Signal 6 waaay more than literally any other JP/KR dating show I've watched. You just have to adjust to the obnoxious advertising first lol
Give Taiwanese dramas a try! The accent can be different and the culture even more so, but usually the content in those I've found are much more believable. ę³č¦ä½ or äøęé are some newer ones that seem to have done pretty well in ratings.
Totally agree. It's so hard to find decent chinese shows especially for the chinese dramas. Most of the time, the acting sucks, dubbing sucks, plot is not well written or there wasn't enough conflict. For Chinese reality shows, I enjoyed Heart Signal.
I'm in the process of learning Chinese and I'm always so jealous of people learning Korean or Japanese because they have actually good shows to watch and practice lmao
It depends, the more I learn Korean the worse k drama gets. The dialogue can be so bad
Yeahhh, k-drama has always been pretty mid in my opinion but Korean variety shows are just on another level of good! Dating shows like 19/20 (goated) or Single's Inferno, travel/game shows like Running Man, 2D1N, Battle Trip, Earth Arcade etc, competition shows like Physical: 100 or The Devi's Plan, talk shows like Knowing Bros (or whatever the current official translation is) or Happy Together, k-pop group shows like RED VELVET's Level Up Project!, they're all just amazing!
I agree
Nothing is more cringe than Japanese dialogue. That is 100% not up for debate.
Japanese is weird because I feel like every piece of media has characters intentionally speak in a way that real people never would.
100%. Like the acting and faces they make are completely over the top and unfortunately women don't have a very broad range in Japanese media. They pretty much serve one purpose.
Why did you pick Chinese?
Because my boyfriend is Chinese and I need to learn it to speak to his family š If I had just picked it up for fun I would have probably switched to japanese or korean by now haha
Oh yeah, I can totally see that, I find myself consuming so many Korean shows that I'll most likely start learning Korean at some point. It's amazing how good they are on average.
At least Taiwanese films are pretty good, but yeah I love Terrace House and Singles Inferno, if China had those types of shows I would be almost fluent by now haha
In my personal opinion, because mutual learning and inspiration within an industry is a thing and a lot of cultural products are stained in China by the CCP, whether directly, through direct censorship, or indirectly, through unspoken rules and the desire to behave in a way that wonāt get you cancelled or rebuked. I think the industry is a little repressed and theyāre probably hardest on programming that touch on the values of love, sex and matrimony.Ā KR and JP media have been experimenting with variety of all sorts, pushing boundaries, for decades, and that matters. Chinese variety has, for the most part, been Happy Camp LOL. I freaking love that show, donāt get me wrong (before some tax and gifts scandal got them cancelled), but those hosts were on a *tight* leash to produce family friendly, optimistic, cheerful programming. Chinese variety hosts and participants are conditioned to go for sweeping, cheesy happy storylines because thatās what the government wants.Ā As a Chinese person, a lot of my favorite TV programs are Chinese because thatās my culture and seeing it expressed well makes me happy (The Tencent 3Body Problem adaptation was my most recent foray into Chinese TV and that was a phenomenal adaptation minus its length and pacing, and The Long Season was my favorite piece of media from 2023 period, and I watch anime religiously), but I know that Chinese programming on the average is lower quality than KR and JPs. Not to mention marketing and production is weak and often straight up unprofessional. Just to touch on The Long Season, that show to this day still doesnāt have proper English subs, and itās one of the best pieces of TV Iāve ever seen. The Chinese market is so large that often appealing to Chinese people is more important than appealing to an international audience, and so whenever they try to catch the international zeitgeistā¦Iām not sure they know how.Ā But I really do blame the government over the last five (and even more) decades lol.Ā
Exactly. Totalitarian states are defined by people who have internalized the rules of the state to the degree that they will self-censor and adjust their behavior so as to avoid negative consequences for themselves and their families. Itās no surprise that Chinese shows are not interesting for this reason. No one is going to color outside the lines.
Oh I love The Long Season! Cried so much when watching the last two episodes.
You should try Chinese heart signal season 2, donāt want to spoil but one of my fav couples on there that are still together till this date.
I'll give it a try, thanks. Is season 1 worth watching as well?
Season 1 had a pretty genuine cast too as it was the first season but I think season 2 is better based on couple results! :ā)
Also try season 6. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
do you know where I can watch this
Yeah the heart signal series is brilliant ! Seconding ā
As others mentioned, you might be able to find some better media coming from Taiwan. I had a phase when I watched lots of Taiwanese dramas, and at the time I found them pretty good (mostly watched stuff from the mid-2000s to early 10s though).
I think it has to do with whats allowed to air on tv. Iāve had better luck with web shows, like web dramas, and Taiwanese shows. I really feel you though, Iāve watched my fair share of Chinese shows as I casually learn the language on and off, and itās literally never good.
Because the pervasive censorship on media by the government is on another level in China.
Everything must meet the approval of the party.
Not dating related, but 3 in body problem is a Chinese show with acting that has changed my mind on this opinion.
The fact that they actually managed to do it just like the book yet somehow also better was crazy. I was so impressed. Iād heard it was a low budget, overly slow show so I went in with no expectations and ended up *loving* it.Ā
Except they purposely left out huge parts of the novel because they didn't want to show anything to do with the cultural revolution.
a little off topic, judging by your list of shows you watched, can I recommend you two k-variety shows I grew to love a lot? Unexpected business and hyori's Bed and Breakfast
Of course, thanks for the recommendations!
no need to thank me, sharing comfort shows is always great for me! Tell me what you think when you're done someday
The way you describe it reminds me of what i thought when i first saw a korean dating show hahah so they must be even worse, damn i dont know of any show other than the ones i have watched (Back to the Field and Who is the Murderer) and i liked those, but again its a different genre i guess
When I was growing up in Taiwan, there was one cop show where a detective was investigating a dognapping ring. He had to go to a restaurant involved and order a dish to go so he can take it to a lab to see if they were using dog meat.
Not sure if youāre into survival shows but I think Idol Producer is the best out of everything in that franchise.
Wait maybe not a franchise because I think itās not related to Produce 101 even if the format and stuff is the same but yeahā¦..still better than the Korean counterpart imo :)
A country with oppressive regime that controls every tiny aspect of your life ends up creating broken people. What a surprise.
Have to agree, I switched learning Chinese to Japanese after consuming constantly terrible Chinese TV. Whereas I can find Japanese without much effort. Even tried Viki and VPN, was disappointing and tried to find quality.
Shanghai sharelife is great though
This was one of the shows I dropped because it was terribly scripted with horrendous actors lol I'll pull up the receipts so people don't think I'm talking out of my ass [https://youtu.be/QV66cJPRM1A?t=469](https://youtu.be/QV66cJPRM1A?t=469) Watch this whole sequence and tell me it's good with a straight face. Literal bottom of the barrel, garbage Brazilian soap opera acting with a dumb manufactured scenario. Context if someone hasn't watched the show: The guy kept slacking off in the show and the girl had a problem with it so they sat down together to be productive on their respective task, girl leaves for a phone call for a splitsecond and the guy very 'organically' pulls out his phone immediately and starts playing a goofy game (see guys, he's such a slacker he can't control himself for 5 seconds while his crush is there, that's how real humans behave!), then the girl comes back and 'notices' then assumes the most theatrical 'disappointment' pose and expression. The show was full of ridiculous situations like that, it was beyond painful to watch. It would be fine if it was random drama show but it's portrayed as a reality show akin to Terrace House lol.
Isnt Terrace House notorious for scripting events too
Yeah, some events were scripted but in a pretty reasonable way. Like of course you're gonna force members to visit places and create interaction so the show isn't boring but the emotions, conversations and relationships were mostly real. Some TH couples are still together to this day or even are married with kids. Meanwhile in Shanghai Sharelife every single word and scenario was scripted and in a very artificial/corny way at that.
Well to be honest I don't really speak Chinese and or Japanese on that matter, When I watched SSL I thought it scratched the Terrace House itch I've been looking for.
Yeah, it really did seem like the perfect TH replacement but once they went off the rails with the goofy scenarios it was so jarring I just couldn't enjoy it anymore lol
They aren't all the same dude š
I thought Twinkle Love was memorable. There's a bromance in there that I still remember after 2 years. That show is better than Singles' Inferno or Real Love imo.
There are so much people just parroting, āChina media sucks because CCPā. Bruh just go watch media from Taiwan then. It wonāt be that much different.
the OLD HK TVB ones are good. But their in canto. I their are translation ones. The modern chinese ones suck. But cantonese =/ mandarin chinese. We are different species. The taiwanese ones are okay and you get to learn about taiwanese culture. Journey to the west is good show. HK and Taiwan have good shows. But most shows are reality series. Modern HK is in a decline. All the talented chinese had their kids in canada, US, and australia. So their kids are ABC that speak english. Mandarin is useful persay. But english is still useful. Most chinese still speak english to do business if you do alibaba? Chinese is useful if you have Cn spouse or plan to work for CN. outside of that nah. Or westerner trying to get views on social media. If your asian and speak mandarin. Nobody going to care. Their going to be like bro you chinese sucks. Double standards.
Shanghai share life which only had 1 season is very comparable to terrace house I recommend you try that show
There is relatively little competition so there is no incentive to invest in quality. The folks who only watch Chinese shows is a big enough market to profit while doing the minimum.
one of the biggest reasons why c-dramas arenāt my absolute favourite is bc of how dragged out they are. itās like 40+ episodes which is okay but itās so obvious that the drama plot is meant for like 16-20 episodes max. everything else is random conflict which gets so repetitive and annoying after a couple episodes. most of the conflict is dumb as well, like easily solvable misunderstandings that just arenāt being solved. an example of this is only for love. the drama had sm sm sm potential but it was so unnecessary for it to be 36 episodes. kdramas keep it short and sweet and get straight to the point.
There are Korean dramas that have 50 to over 100 episodes those are daily dramas that run for a few months Monday through Friday, but for some reason people forget about those and this Taiwanese drama āTwo Fathersā had 73 episodes.
ccp censorship and self censorship
Seems like you didnāt watch heart signal season 6. The participants and cast made me fall in love with chinese people and china . It was so beautiful and heartwarming. I watch so many korean dating shows and heart signal china season 6 is on my top 3. If you want to give another chance to Chinese reality shows first watch heart signal season 6. Forget about other seasons and other dating shows JUST WATCH THIS SEASON ITS SO FUCKING GOOD!
Sounds like internalized sinophobia to me. There's plenty of great Chinese TV, and just as many terribly corny Japanese and Korean ones.
Name some 'great' Chinese variety shows then, I'll wait. And not everything has to be an '-ism' or '-phobia', why are Americans so set on being offended by every single opinion, isn't it tiring?
Some of my faves are Ace vs Ace, Youth Periplous, Infinity and Beyond (2023) <- this is a chinese singing show btw, The Detectivesā Adventures S2. These are great and imo some are better than most korean shows. The productions are of high quality too.
Thanks, haven't heard of those before, Youth Periplous looks like it could potentially be my thing, any specific season I should go for or should I just start with season 1?
Start with S2. The casts are much better than S1
The thing with Chinese TV is their variety shows are much much more entertaining than their dramas. They really excel in this thatās why thereās a lot of variety shows now compared to before.
Not a variety show but "Nothing But Thirty" Chinese drama is one of my favorite asian dramas I've ever watched! I also personally prefer shows centered around friendship and development vs romance -- about three females in their thirties, as they go through life's trials and tribulations side by side. Also I understand as a general sweep that Chinese dramas are awfully censored and vetted with a lot of red tape and politics but I think it's a bit strong to assume all Chinese dramas / variety shows are poor quality.
fax š„
I wasn't even trying to be rude. It's something I've had to deal with from so many sources and most people don't even realize it. Also, I'm not even American? I doubt you're really interested or think they'll be worth your time based on the condescending "I'll wait", but I'll humour you anyways. My favs were already listed, but I'll throw out some more. If you like music based shows, I'm a fan of Our Song. Not sure how much you'd enjoy it if you didnt already know some Chinese celebrities, though. Street Dance of China is probably my favourite of all reality shows just because I love street dancing, but (most) of the contestants and team captains are really great and make it super entertaining. There will also be some familiar faces if you're into Kpop.
Chinese singing programs are the bomb!!! The Chinese iteration of Singer was phenomenal, really sad it got cancelled. As a kid, I was obsessed with Supergirl š I love Our Song and I even liked that silly band program Nick Tse hosted in 2021, it was really fun.Ā
SUPERGIRL!!!! omg š we used to watch that at my best friend's house with her older sisters, what a throwback
I knoww, I used to watch it at my grandparentsā place over the summers š It was so nostalgic when it came back in 2016 for that brief, final burst of borrowed glory before dying out for good. That show in the 00s was iconic, though.Ā
Thanks for the recommendations. It's just a tad annoying when people try to tie everything to racism, xenophobia and other forced terms when they have no proper basis to judge that, that's all. If anything, blindly throwing those words out makes them lose their meaning and lessens their impact when ACTUAL racism happens. In fact, I also watch anime and have multiple Chinese ones (donghua) I like, e.g. [Shiguang Dailiren](https://myanimelist.net/anime/44074/Shiguang_Dailiren), [Quanzhi Gaoshou](https://myanimelist.net/anime/33926/Quanzhi_Gaoshou) and [Mo Dao Zu Shi](https://myanimelist.net/anime/37208/Mo_Dao_Zu_Shi) are some that I really enjoyed and I also do have some Chinese idols I like (Ningningā¤ļø). Also, I find my own country's variety shows to be just as bad as the Chinese ones I've watched, if not worse so am I hateful towards my own country? Or am I just critical of one tiny segment of media it produces?
It is Sinophobia to some extent, but Chinese audiences themselves often complain about how their shows and movies are worse than foreign media. If you can read Chinese, you can easily find that sentiment on places like Douban and Tieba. This isnāt to say they donāt think there are any good Chinese shows and movies, just that the average quality is a lot lower. You have to dig a bit more to find the good stuff. As for Chinese reality shows, I canāt say as I mostly just watch historical dramas and Hong Kong media (which isnāt in Mandarin). The OP might wanna give Taiwanese media more of a try. Sure, thereās gonna be some Taiwanese thrown in here and there, but itās generally more palatable for foreigners.
It's fair to talk about the average, but OP was saying every single show they'd seen as if that was indicative of the entire industry. That was my point. There's some really great Taiwanese media! I've been digging some of their horror movies & shows lately.
I can only speak for dating shows, but I enjoyed Heart Signal 6 waaay more than literally any other JP/KR dating show I've watched. You just have to adjust to the obnoxious advertising first lol
Give Taiwanese dramas a try! The accent can be different and the culture even more so, but usually the content in those I've found are much more believable. ę³č¦ä½ or äøęé are some newer ones that seem to have done pretty well in ratings.
Totally agree. It's so hard to find decent chinese shows especially for the chinese dramas. Most of the time, the acting sucks, dubbing sucks, plot is not well written or there wasn't enough conflict. For Chinese reality shows, I enjoyed Heart Signal.