The first half of 2026 has been a great stretch for Chinese drama fans. As an avid watcher, I have been enjoying the plethora of modern and costume dramas this year. If you’re trying to figure out what to watch in 2026, or you just want a reliable C-drama list to work through, this roundup should help.
Genre-wise, it’s been a strong six months for historical romance and political epics, but there’s plenty of range too: murder mystery dating games, Cultural Revolution era coming-of-age, wuxia detective adventures, and a couple of quietly excellent slice of life dramas. Netflix, iQIYI, Disney+, and Viki all had major C-drama pickups this year, so most of this list is easy to find outside China.
Let’s take a look at the C-dramas worth your time in the first half of 2026.
1. Pursuit of Jade (逐玉)
Genre: Historical, Romance, War, Drama
Episodes: 40
Cast: Zhang Linghe, Tian Xiwei, Ren Hao, Kong Xueer, Deng Kai, Li Qing
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/760409-zhu-yu
Where to Watch: Netflix, iQIYI
Synopsis
A fiercely independent woman who works as a butcher for a living ends up married to a frail, live-in scholar who is secretly a Marquis plotting a blood feud revenge. Their marriage of convenience turns into real love just as war tears the country, and them, apart. Gorgeous cinematography, tight pacing, and real chemistry. Plenty of tropes to keep you satisfied and a very compelling supporting cast. It will have you laughing, cheering on for the romance, and root for our strong female lead rising up to be a general.
2. Love Story in the 1970s (纯真年代的爱情)
Genre: Romance, Drama, Life, Period
Episodes: 29
Cast: Chen Feiyu (Arthur Chen), Sun Qian, Wang Tian Chen, Guo Xiao Ting
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/754361-love-story-in-the-1970s
Where to Watch: WeTV, Viki
Synopsis
Set in a southern Chinese factory town during the Cultural Revolution, this follows Fei Ni, a factory worker who dreams of going to college to change her fate, and Fang Mu Yang, her old junior high classmate. Another marriage of convenience turned love couple, but there is so much more to their story. It’s a slow burn, refreshingly healthy romance where the leads are actual equals. no big dramatic gestures, just consistent, quiet support that builds into something real. The period detail is the real MVP here: ration coupons, homemade televisions, thread worn work pants, the production does a good job of taking you back to that era.
3. Love Between Lines (轧戏)
Genre: Romance, Mystery, Drama
Episodes: 28
Cast: Chen Xingxu, Lu Yuxiao, Dai Xu, Li Tingting
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/760693-ya-xi
Where to Watch: iQIYI, Viki
Synopsis
Architect Xiao Zhiyu and Hu Xiu meet through an immersive Republican era murder mystery game, playing scripted roles as a spy and the investigator sent to frame him. The chemistry from their fictional plot doesn’t stay fictional, and when they cross paths in the real world, neither one is prepared for who the other person actually turns out to be. The game world/real world structure ends up being the whole point. It’s fresh, fun, romantic with just the right amount of drama.
4. How Dare You!? (成何体统)
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Historical, Fantasy
Episodes: 32
Cast: Wang Churan, Cheng Lei (Ryan Cheng), Hu Yixuan, Tang Xiaotian
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/778182-this-is-ridiculous
Where to Watch: iQIYI
Synopsis
An office rookie gets sucked into the novel she was reading, landing right next to a king — both strangers to this world in their own way. It’s a transmigration story with a fun twist: a second transmigrator hiding in the plot, which keeps the court politics anything but straightforward. If you’ve seen the donghua, you’ll definitely feel the characters came alive here. It’s got impeccably funny moments of two modern people trying to navigate palace intrigue, as well as moments that will tug at your heartstrings.
5. Swords into Plowshares (太平年)
Genre: Historical, Political, War, Drama
Episodes: 48
Cast: Bai Yu, Zhou Yutong, Zhu Yawen, Yu Haoming, Dong Yong, Ni Dahong
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/754577-swords-into-ploughshares
Where to Watch: Viki, Youtube
Synopsis
Set during a chaotic and a very interesting period of Chinese history: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, this drama follows three rulers as decades of war push them to question what the fighting is even for. It’s dense and heavily political, the production value is massive, and the way it builds toward Wuyue’s real historical, peaceful surrender to the Song dynasty gives it a genuinely rare thing in the genre: an ending about restraint instead of conquest. You rarely see such lengthy epics made these days at 48 episodes, every aspect of this drama is so well done. Easily one of THE best dramas of the year.
6. No Pain No Gain (年少有为)
Genre: Business, Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 26
Cast: Peng Yuchang, Lin Yun, Liu Guan Lin, Wang Tian Fang, He Rui Xian, Wu Jun Ting
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/769211-nian-shao-you-wei
Where to Watch: WeTV
Synopsis
Pei Qian gets an unusual invitation from a mysterious backer: start a company, but the catch is it has to lose money. What begins as an absurd assignment slowly turns him into a genuinely conscientious boss as he figures out how to run a business without chasing profit above everything else. It’s a comedy on the surface, but there’s real workplace commentary underneath, and it’s one of the more lowkey charming surprises of the first half of the year.
7. Love Beyond the Grave (白日提灯)
Genre: Historical, Fantasy, Romance
Episodes: 40
Cast: Dilraba Dilmurat, Chen Feiyu, Wei Zhiming, Zhang Li, Gao He Yuan, Yang Xi Zi
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/750689-bai-ri-ti-deng
Where to Watch: WeTV, Viki
Synopsis
The story follows He Simu, a hundreds of year old spirit lord, and Duan Xu, a young general whose fate becomes intertwined with hers through a mysterious connection that allows them to exchange senses. As the connection drags them into secrets from both their pasts, that borrowed intimacy turns into a love straddling the line between the human world and the spirit one, on borrowed time. It starts slow and might test your interest, but it gets better, trust me!
8. Generation to Generation (江湖夜雨十年灯)
Genre: Wuxia, Fantasy, Drama
Episodes: 37
Cast: Zhou Yiran, Bao Shangen, Yu Jia Cheng,
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/703209-jiang-hu-ye-yu-shi-nian-deng
Where to Watch: WeTV
Synopsis
Generation to Generation is a wuxia romance drama that tells the story of free-spirited Cai Zhao, who is sent to a martial arts sect, where she rescues the sole survivor of a rival clan’s massacre. When his mysterious story begins to unravel, she discovers that his true identity is tied to a conspiracy spanning the martial world. As she joins forces with the cunning and increasingly possessive Mu Qingyan, their partnership grows from necessity into something deeper, revealing his yandere like devotion amid sect rivalries, old grudges, and hidden secrets.
9. Loving Strangers (我的大叔)
Genre: Drama, Life, Romance
Episodes: 28
Cast: Mark Chao, Zhang Zi Feng, Zhang Chao, Zhang Yi Yan
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/748667-wo-de-da-shu
Where to Watch: Youku, Viki
Synopsis
An official remake of Korean hit My Mister: it’s a story of Jiang Jiaqi, approaching forty, and dealing with a marriage falling apart after his wife’s affair with her boss, while also facing quiet, targeted hostility at work. A rival CEO hires a 20 year old drowning in debt to spy on quietly principled engineer Jiang Jiaqi and force him out. Instead, she sees the decency underneath his exhaustion, and the two slowly pull each other out of their respective holes. It’s a slower, more grounded drama about midlife reinvention and it handles adult disappointment without tipping into melodrama very honestly.
10. Zhan Zhao Adventures (雨霖铃)
Genre: Wuxia, Mystery, Adventure
Episodes: 37
Cast: Yang Yang, Zhang Ruonan, Fang Yilun (Alen Fang), Zhang Yuxi
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/749951-zhan-zhao-adventures
Where to Watch: Youku
Synopsis
An imperial guard Zhan Zhao, also known as the legendary “Southern Hero,” investigates a treason plot tied to the royal family. Hunted by assassins, he teams up with Huo Linglong, a headstrong young woman fleeing an arranged marriage, and the fiercely loyal Bai Yutang, leading them into a dangerous conspiracy involving corrupt officials, rival factions, and the martial world.
11. Sunsets Secrets Regrets (钢铁森林)
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Romance
Episodes: 28
Cast: Jing Boran, Cai Wenjing, Qin Junjie
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/697389-gang-tie-sen-lin
Where to Watch: iQIYI
Synopsis
A body pulled from the Tong River reopens a five year-old unsolved crime that killed two special police officers, including the brother of investigator Zhou Jin. She joins the new task force alongside criminal psychology professor Jiang Hansheng, only to discover her flash-marriage husband is far more tied to the case than she realized, and that undercover agent Jiang Cheng, her ex whom she has unresolved history with, is caught in the middle of it too. It’s a slowburn psychological thriller more than an action driven one, built on obsession, guilt, and buried history between three people who all thought they’d left the past behind.
12. My Page in the 90s (再见也有书)
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Time Travel
Episodes: 24
Cast: Wang Yuwen, Chen Xing Xu,
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/780406-zai-jian-ye-you-shu
Where to Watch: WeTV, Viki
Synopsis
A 2025 love advice livestreamer gets pulled into the pages of a cheesy, classic 1999 romance novel and comes face to face with her “match”: a CEO who’s sweet on the surface and considerably shrewder underneath. Winning him over is her ticket home, the problem is she starts falling for real. It’s light, self-aware, and poking fun at old-school romance novel tropes while still fully committing to them by the end. A good comfort watch if you want something breezy.
13. Dream of Golden Years (你好 1983)
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Drama
Episodes: 36
Cast: Zhou Ye, Zhai Xiaowen
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/776939-again-my-life
Where to Watch: iQIYI
Synopsis
After a corporate betrayal costs her everything, 36 year-old executive Xia Xiaolan wakes up back in 1983, in the body of an 18-year-old villager. Armed with modern know-how and a refusal to accept a smaller life twice, she claws her way from selling duck eggs and pancakes to building a business empire, and falling for steady, warm-hearted Zhou Cheng along the way.
Bonus: Blossoms of Power (百花杀)
Genre: Historical, Romance, Political, Fantasy
Episodes: 36
Cast: Meng Ziyi, He Yu, Xu Zhengxi, Ye Zuxin, Lai Weiming
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/769787-dong-feng-xin
Where to Watch: WeTV, Viki
Synopsis
After sacrificing her life for revenge of her family massacre, Gu Qingzhi wakes up under a new identity as Shen Xihe, Princess of the Northwest, determined to control her own fate this time. She crosses paths with Crown Prince Xiao Huayong — poisoned, terminally ill, but razor-sharp in mind, who falls first and falls hard, slowly melting her guard while the two become evenly matched allies rather than one propping up the other. It’s a romance at heart, and the chemistry is delicious: the Crown Prince alone will have you captivated, and a second-lead couple’s story will leave you wanting more. This was easily one of my favorites all year, though I’m still working out how I feel about the last two episodes (no spoilers, but it’s not a sad ending, so don’t worry there).
Bonus: Road to Success (灿如繁星)
Genre: Sports, Psychological, Romance, Life
Episodes: 32
Cast: Yu Shuxin (Esther Yu), Chen Jingke, Liu Jun, Zhu Bo Yan, Yan Yu Chen
MyDramaList Page: https://mydramalist.com/764675-xia-lu
Where to Watch: iQIYI, Viki
Synopsis
Burnt out PhD student Lin Wanxing takes a job as a sports equipment custodian back in her hometown and ends up renting a room to Wang Fa, a quietly guarded former football coach with a career in England he doesn’t talk about. She talks him into reviving the school’s disbanded football team, and what starts as a favor turns into a slow-burn partnership for the team, and eventually for the two of them. Another July release that’s too good to leave out. It’s an underdog sports drama at heart, but the real draw is how unhurried the central relationship is, built on mutual respect rather than the usual misunderstandings, with real attention paid to the players’ mental health along the way. It’s nostalgic and will have you reliving your school days and the friendships along the way.
Did I miss one of your favorites? Which of these C-dramas hooked you the most? Let me know in the comments below, and vote for your favorite from the list!
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