Why No Really Serious Chinese Drama's ?

I just started to notice that when it comes to Chinese dramas picked to be translated they always seem to be more comical or have a marital arts twist in the storyline.
I'm wondering are there any realistically emotional Chinese dramas that have been translated out, yet?! I do enjoy the comical one's that have been translated but there seems to be a serious lack of hard hitting mature dramas to be found on the internet.

Does anyone know of a group translating historic dramatic Chinese dramas?

Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

There's plenty, maybe not all directly on d-addicts. Jem has some wonderful historical dramas. Romance of Three Kingdoms is a legendary historical drama. If you really want to watch something that best translate chinese idealology, then watch Young Warriors of Yang Clan.

I thought that that drama produced the best concept of emotional ties to their own country. Yes, it may be long, and it may have some comical scenes, but that's what makes a drama good. I watched the whole thing in 4 days, considering it was 43 episodes in 9 dvds

I highly doubt a historical documentary will make a good drama. Most historical movies have ficticious parts in them to make it interesting. theres plenty of stories on Kang Xi, Li Shi Ming, Yue Fei, Empress Wu and Zhuge Liang.

Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 2:21 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

there are also some non-comical dramas, like Mars, Love Contract..etc

but i agree, some dramas are waay too stupid (ahem brownsugarmacchiato**) sorry if i offended anyone salut

Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Thanks for the replies Laugh

I like the suggest of Young Warriors of Yang Clan and will look at it later on today.

Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I really love Treacherous Waters (Ni Shui Han), which I'm currently subbing. Its storyline is very complicated and has an interesting twist.

Also, try the Great Revival. Very good.

Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:06 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Young Warriors of the Young Clan is one drama not to be missed. It's my favorite CDrama ever! I'm a fan of period/historical dramas as well. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is epic. Nothing can beat it.

The Conquest is based on the same story as The Great Revival but has far more entertainment value. The Conqueror's Story is another historical series that has good entertainment value. As for more serious stuff, you can try Emperor Han Wu. Zheng Chenggong starring Kenny Ho and Warrior Period (Sun Zi Bing Fa) are also decent stuff.

Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 1:57 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

A lot of the Chinese TV drama's have a trend, the show starts out light hearted but it gets more serious as it progressess IE 神鵰俠侶/The Return of Condor hero (2006 version), 仙剑奇侠传/Chinese paladin, Love at first fight, and 天外飞仙 all have a trend of being somewhat similar to a comedy show at the start but turns into a drama in the end especially 仙剑奇侠传 and 天外飞仙. So to answer your question, it depends on what you think is funny, there is cultural difference. What I, as a chinese consider as funny may not be considered to be funny to you or vice versa, it also depends on the translation, its is hard to translate some of the TV drama's shows set in ancient times since they use some really ambiougous terms that even I don't really understand IE 问世 is the same as 人世 the former is just more poetic. Because the difference in langauage, some phrases may not have been meant to be funny yet it came out in english to be that way, some of course are universal but others are not. My American friend was laughing in some secenes that he may not find it funny should he understand the language better instead of reading the subtitles.

Historical drama's wise, Romance of the Three kingdoms is, despite the name Romance, a serious show, but I can't really help you much since I always watch Chinese Dramas in Chinese so I don't know what is translated and what is not.

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Romance in the Rain is a pretty serious drama all-around. It isn't an "ancient" drama, but there is still costuming involved because it's 1930's Shanghai (I think).

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:30 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Love Contract, Romance in the Rain, Mars, etc. are still considered "idol dramas" aka not serious.

I think it's because that people seems to translate mostly because they like how hot the actors/actresses are. Also, most "Chinese" dramas being translated are Taiwanese dramas, and Taiwanese dramas are generally not serious.
mainland dramas do a good job in realistic and serious dramas, but don't attract enough attention outside of mainland due to their realistic nature and lack of hot actor/actresses.

For example, I know a gazillion mainland dramas that totally deserves to be translated over some really pathetic dramas like "Love Storm" (yes, I know Vic Chou is hot, but that drama is absolutely horrible). But of course, no one cares.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

There is only one reason why very few serious dramas get subbed: most fansubbers are teenage girls.

Naturally they will be more likely to sub shows which have a demographic for teenage girls. Which is all the RomCom idol dramas. Not the serious ones with older actors and people who look like normal people.

There is also the fact that Mainland dramas in general seem less popular. But I think this is a result of Mainland dramas being really hard to get WHILE they are airing. Hong Kong and Taiwan come out as it airs but all Mainland dramas I've seen I had to wait for it to air and the DVDs to come out before I could find a copy.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

You know now that I think about it... I also blame it on the audience narrow-mindedness.
Think about it. How often do people talk about NEW actors they like? The truth is, new actors only gain attention from online viewers if they are little characters in someone famous' show, THEN people will look for other things they are in. The subbed Chinese dramas are all the same small group of actors.
Unheard of actors draw very little attention, even if are really good-looking and the show is good. People just skip past things when they don't recognize any of the names.

Case and point... why do you think so many people want the Mike He Marry Me drama subbed so bad but no one will sub it? They want it because Mike He is in it and he's hot. But.. no one will sub it because it's a HORRIBLE show. Do the fangirls care? Of course not.

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0