Watching Mandarin dramas is a fun way to improve your Chinese while enjoying a good story. You’ll hear Mandarin in context and pick up everyday vocabulary and colloquial expressions that you may not encounter in textbooks or novels.
Here’s my list of binge-worthy Mandarin dramas from Taiwan and China, including everything from gritty Taiwanese crime dramas to Chinese historical and fantasy series.
You don’t need to understand every word to benefit from watching. The more Mandarin you hear, the more familiar you’ll become with the sounds, rhythm, vocabulary, and sentence patterns of the language. Even watching with English subtitles is a great way to start.
Looking for somewhere to watch? Check out my guide to 7 Websites and Apps to Watch Chinese Shows and Movies.
Taiwanese Dramas
Taiwanese dramas are a great way to hear natural Taiwanese Mandarin while getting a glimpse into everyday life and culture in Taiwan. They’re also a fun way to build your Mandarin listening skills and pick up vocabulary and expressions you’re likely to hear in Taiwan. As a Taiwanese American who grew up speaking Taiwanese, I love watching Taiwanese dramas because the shows often sprinkle in Taiwanese phrases.
Taiwanese dramas offer something for everyone, from gritty crime thrillers to romance and slice-of-life stories. I also find Taiwanese drama plots intense and complex, not your typical romance show.
Had I Not Seen the Sun 如果我不曾見過太陽
This psychological drama centers on traumatic memories, psychological states, and the truth behind a criminal case, blending elements of youth romance.
Nowhere Man 罪夢者
A strange encounter causes a man awaiting execution to experience alternate timelines, leading to his escape from prison to try to protect his family.
This is an action-packed drama full of plot twists and is serious dark. Not for the faint of heart.
Watch on Netflix
Victim’s Game 誰是被害者
After discovering his estranged daughter’s link to mysterious murders, a forensic detective with Asperger’s syndrome risks everything to solve the case.
Watch on Netflix
Light the Night 華燈初上
In the red-light district of 1980s Taipei, women at a popular Japanese nightclub navigate jealousy, heartbreak, friendship, love, and betrayal… and a murder mystery!
Watch on Netflix
The World Between Us 我們與惡的距離
Traumatic memories, psychological states, and the truth behind a criminal case, blending elements of youth romance, coming-of-age drama, and psychological mystery.
Watch on Hulu
Shards of Her 她和她的她
Waking up from a coma, an accomplished headhunter finds herself in an alternate reality where she has to revisit an excruciating childhood trauma.
The Perfect Match 極品絕配
A night market vendor clashes with a lofty celebrity chef in a culinary challenge, fueling the first sparks of a romance.
Watch on Viki and Netflix
Touch of Green 一把青
Following a group of Republic of China Air Force pilots and their families during the Chinese Communist Revolution (1945-49) in mainland China and the White Terror period (1949-87) in Taiwan.
The accent can be difficult to understand but is a must-watch. Warning: you will ugly cry. Have tissues ready.
Watch on Netflix
Some Day or One Day 想見你
While grieving the loss of her boyfriend, a young woman wakes up in the body of a 17-year-old and finds herself in a love triangle — and in the past.
Watch on Viki
Attention Love 稍息立正我愛你
Despite their polar opposite personalities, the strong pull of their fates bring them together. Can they each adapt to be with each other or will the strong forces of life keep the two apart?
Watch on Viki
Lost Romance 浪漫輸給你
An editor of romance novels hopes to date a dashing CEO — then becomes trapped in a book as a character who has to fight to get her dream man.
Watch on Viki
Love and π 愛的3.14159
Four friends who grew up in an orphanage face the trials of love, career, and up-tempo life in Taipei.
Watch on Viki
The Ghost Bride 彼岸之嫁
In 1890s Malacca, Li Lan finds herself in the afterlife; she becomes mired in a mystery linked to the sinister, deceased son of a wealthy family.
Watch on Netflix
Kill for Love 追兇500天
Watch on Viki
Kill for Love is a four-part psychological drama about a top detective that spends 500 days solving a murder. Has he put the real killer behind bars?
SEQALU: Formosa 1867
This historical drama reconstructs the fatal Rover Incident in 1867 involving Taiwan’s Seqalu tribe and the U.S. military. Filmed in Mandarin and Hakka language.
Watch on Youtube (no subtitles)
Watch on taiwanplus.com (Traditional Chinese and English Subtitles)
The Teenage Psychic 通靈少女
Watch on Hulu with the HBO add-on
A 16-year-old psychic juggles school life and her duties as a temple medium, all while dealing with her first crush in this series.
The 9th Precinct 第九分局
An idealistic cop joins an underground police unit and battles ghoulish forces threatening the balance between the human and the supernatural realms.
Watch on Netflix
Chinese Dramas
China produces dramas at an incredible pace, so there’s no shortage of C-dramas to watch. The same popular actors often appear in multiple movies and series each year, and the options seem endless.
If you love elaborate historical and fantasy dramas, beautiful costumes, and epic storylines, C-dramas are for you! Just keep in mind that period dramas may not be the best choice for learning everyday Mandarin, since the language and vocabulary can differ quite a bit from what you’ll hear in modern life.
There are also plenty of modern C-dramas, especially if you enjoy coming-of-age stories, romance, and contemporary life.
Pursuit of Jade 逐玉
A butcher’s daughter marries a disgraced noble to protect her family. As their love becomes real, she follows him into battle to fight for their future.
Our Generation 樱桃琥珀
Lin Qile, grows up in a small mountain town, surrounded by loving family, friends, and nature. She meets Jiang Qiaoxi, a transfer student from the capital with exceptional mathematical abilities, her warmth draws her to Jiang.
Tientsin Mystic 河神
An investigator with a supernatural ability to determine guilt joins with a forensic specialist, a spirit medium, and a reporter to root out a hidden cult threatening their early 20th-century river town.
Watch on Netflix
My Roommate is a Detective 民国奇探
It is the mid-1920s, and a resourceful young police officer, a brilliant mind, and a free-thinking reporter form an elite crime-busting detective team. Can the trio get to the bottom of the murder case in time to restore order – and bring the dastardly criminal to justice?
Watch on Viki
Ode to Joy 欢乐颂
Five women live on the 22nd floor of the same apartment. Different in personalities they each have their own struggles in their career, family, and love life. As they get to know each other and journey through the struggles of living in Shanghai, they each undergo a transformation.
Watch on Viki
Nothing But Thirty 三十而已
The drama follows the perspectives of three 30-year-old women and tells the story of urban women who encounter multiple pressures at the age of 30.
Watch on Viki
Meteor Garden 流星花园
Dong Shancai is determined to excel at her dream university, where she encounters an elite clique of dashing, popular high-achievers, and finds love.
Watch on Netflix
A Love So Beautiful 致我们单纯的小美好
The ups and downs of school, family and growing up test the affection between a budding artist and her handsome but indifferent classmate and neighbor.
Watch on Viki and Netflix
Proud of Love 别那么骄傲
While on vacation, Shen Xi falls into the water at the same time that Zhi Zhou is struck by lightning! Zhi Zhou suddenly finds himself in the body of Shen Xi and Shen Xi finds herself inside the body of Zhi Zhou. Find out what happens in this hilarious romantic dramedy.
Watch on Viki
Go Go Squid 亲爱的, 热爱的
At 19, Tong Nian, a brilliant IT programming student with stellar grades and an equally impressive social media following, is winning at life. She never has a problem meeting new people. But all that changes the day Han Shang Yan walks into her life.
Watch on Viki
Accidentally in Love 惹上冷殿下
A popular singer decides to go back to school, becoming the center of attention there, and meets an ordinary female student with a dual personality.
Watch on Netflix
Go Ahead 以家人之名
Growing up in dysfunctional households, three individuals who are unrelated by blood treat each other like family as they yearn for the love that they cannot find at home. The trio experiences life’s joy and strife as they support each other’s chosen paths.
Watch on Viki
