Set during the mid-Ming Dynasty, The Heir stars Yang Zi as Li Zhen, the youngest daughter of the eighth branch of the century-old Li clan. Intent on saving her family’s century old ink-making empire from a scandal, her journey is one of pure wit and relentless determination. Notably, it stands as China’s very first historical drama to spotlight the rich history of Huizhou ink.

Now streaming on iQIYI

Dazzling (耀眼)

Guan Xiaotong and Li Yunrui star in this charming series adaptation of the feel-good novel of the same name, which follows a city girl exiled to a coastal town after a family emergency. There, she crosses paths with a hardworking local determined to pull his family out of debt, sparking a tender, slow-burn romance that beautifully survives the test of time, distance, and completely different worlds. While the series is neither fast paced nor action-packed, Dazzling is a wonderfully light watch about everyday resilience, second chances, and first loves.

Now streaming on iQIYI

Overdo (這一秒過火) 

Zhang Linghe is clearly having a moment — hot off Pursuit of Jade, he’s back on our screens (and presumably our mother’s lock screens) in this Republican-era Shanghai romance. He plays Murong Qingyi, a warlord’s youngest son whose miserable childhood – mistaken identity, abusive adoptive father, the works — is interrupted when a merchant’s daughter, Ren Susu (Wang Churan) saves his life and unwittingly destroys her own family in the process. 

Naturally, they fall in love. Naturally, she then fakes her own death to protect him, because nothing in this genre is ever simple. Three years on, she resurfaces as his brother’s fiancée, and what follows is equal parts wounded pride, buried grief, and slow-burn reconciliation, all set against the backdrop of a country teetering on the edge of war. 

Resentment and longing have rarely looked this good in cheongsam. 

Now streaming on iQIYI

The First Jasmine (莫離)

Bai Lu and Cheng Lei headline this political drama as two sisters married off on the very same day into two very different fates. Bai Lu’s Ye Li, a descendant of a once-persecuted clan, marries the wheelchair-bound Prince Mo Xiuyao and spends her days quietly plotting revenge behind an unbothered facade, while her sister marries the childhood sweetheart Ye Li never got to keep. What starts as two people independently scheming towards the same goal evolves into an alliance neither saw coming — even as old grudges, palace treachery, and one very theatrical Opera Prince threaten to unravel the fragile peace they’re trying to build. It’s less a love story than a slow, satisfying game of chess – with a crown as the prize. 

Now streaming on Disney+

Blossoms Of Power (百花殺)

If you like your leading ladies cold, calculating, and completely done with being underestimated, Blossoms of Power delivers. He Yu stars as Gu Qingzhi, the sole survivor of a massacre who wakes up in the body and life of Shen Xihe, Princess of the Northwest. Gone is the fiery frontier warrior; in her place is a woman who has decided that mercy is a liability. Opposite her is Meng Ziyi’s Crown Prince Xiao Huayong, physically fragile but sharp enough to see straight through every plot swirling around the throne. This one trades swordplay for something arguably more dangerous: two people who are very good at manipulating a room, slowly realising they’d rather do it together. 

Now streaming on Disney+

Love for You (野狗骨頭)

A nineties-set slow-burn with real stakes, Love for You follows Chen Yi (Song Weilong) and Miao Jing (Zhang Jingyi) from a rocky childhood introduction through years of loss, silence, and unfinished business. What begins as mutual hostility softens into dependence after both lose their parents in quick succession — only for Chen Yi to shut Miao Jing out entirely once he’s dragged into an arson case that isn’t his to carry. Years later, fate reroutes them back to the same city, the same unresolved feelings, and, inconveniently, the same criminal enterprise. It’s a romance built less on grand gestures than on two people who keep choosing to protect each other, even when it costs them everything. Bring tissues. 

Now streaming on Viu