I saw some set in ancient China which seemed pretty cool. I’d love to find it and get some subtitles going.
One show had an evil character that was a woman with many lower ear piercings. Starting on her ear lobes, trailing up the edge of her ear. She seemed like a power hungry royal who’d slap and punish other women a lot. Really pretty show. Her looks and character’s tendencies are why I remember it.
Cliff Walkers
There’s been multiple adaptations over the years but the Netflix release of Handsome Siblings was fun if you enjoy Wuxia, I don’t know about how effective it would be at learning Chinese though.
Three Body
You mean Three Body Problem? I saw the first 2 minutes and it looked like red scare propaganda. Depicting communists punishing people for believing in science and god.
Did you watch the Netflix one or the Tencent one? The Tencent one is good while the Netflix one is god awful
The China Drama channel on YouTube
I’m an American learning Mandarin so I’m not an expert but here are the first shows and movies I’ve been getting into as I begin to understand more.
The only show I’ve watched so far is SpongeBob Squarepants in Mandarin: 海绵宝宝
I get this from torrents, but I don’t have subtitles for it. Luckily I know the first 3 seasons by heart. It is also available on some streaming sites/apps such as bilibili.
For movies, I really enjoyed Love Never Ends (2023) which has dual subtitles, both English and Mandarin which both appear at the same time and helps a lot. This movie has great production value, it’s quirky, and is a little artsy. I watched it on an international flight, it was in the “art house” category, although it is also a drama, romance, family movie. It’s kind of about a punk dude that has grown up and is trying to do his thing while aging within Chinese culture, so it teaches about culture as well.
Chunking Express (1994) is a comedy drama with fantastic reviews, but I haven’t watched it yet. The trailer looked cool and I’ll watch soon.
Only the River Flows (2023) was also on the international flight and was cool, it is a crime drama with good reviews.
Green Snake (1993) is an action fantasy movie that is a classic from the 90s. I’m trying to watch some 90s films so I can relate to Chinese people my age lol.
I’m trying to watch some 90s films so I can relate to Chinese people my age lol.
That is SO smart. I haven’t thought of that strategy to get on the level of people my age. Thank you for your recommendations.
Luckily Green Snake is on YouTube. I watched it! https://youtu.be/oBjycaw5ulk?si=mjJJ8b1wwYd-aN_B
Is it a classic Chinese folk tale? I liked all the silly seduction moments and disliked all the moments men tried to bring the snakes down. I don’t see what made the snakes evil. There was no negative effect of them looking and behaving attractively. The way the men were trying to bring them down made me think they’d kill the men they attracted, but the snakes did nothing but treat them well. Prude people just need to enjoy being horny and let everyone else be horny.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
