Chasing Dramas

We're back to discuss the remaining 15 ladies for this season's Sister Stage 2025! There are actresses, singers, former idols, hosts, and rappers! Listen to this episode to learn more about these ladies and how they performed during the first round of individual performances!

With Yan Bing Yun rescued, Fan Xian now needs to work on rescuing Xiao En under Shen Zhong's watch. To do so, he partners up with Shang Shan Hu

Karen and Cathy discuss the latest dramas that have aired in March and April! Ski into Love 嘘，国王在冬眠 starring Esther Yu Shu Xin and Li Yin was a disappointment ratings wise despite all of the promotions. The Glory 雁回时 starring Chen Du Ling and Xing Yun Lai was a surprise hit for Tencent due to the strength of the plot, not the acting from the leads. A Moment But Forever 念无双 starring Ti...

Fan Xian and company tail Shen Zhong's sister in order to find where Yan Bing Yun is hidden. After some scheming, the group is successfully able to rescue him.

It's that time of year again! We introduce 15 of the 30 sisters for this year's singing competition Sisters Who Make Waves but now renamed as Sister Stage 2025.

Fan Xian is brought forth to meet the Qi Kingdom Emperor who is more than meets the eye. The Emperor proposes that Fan XIan works with him to achieve their own separate goals

In light of all the recent arrests and scandals, Karen and Cathy take a step back to discuss the public images and personas that Chinese celebrities carefully curate and the different levels of how those images crack or destroyed. Some celebrities simply have a smear on their image, others are soft blacklisted or no longer marketable, or to the most extreme, blacklisted or even imprisoned. Listen...

Fan Xian and company meet Shen Zhong, the head of the imperial guard of the Qi kingdom. He is a new formidable foe as he is quite ruthless to his own men and intelligent enough to guess all of Fan Xian's orders in the Qi kingdom.

Arrests and scandal have dominated the Chinese trending topics for the past week. First, Wang Da Lu, who was already arrested for evading Taiwan's military service, is now further implicated in the assault of a driver. Then, Taiwanese actor Li Wei has been implicated in the murder of a woman and is now in trial. But the biggest scandal that has been exploding in China is the allegations that K...

Fan Xian and company make their way north towards the Northern Qi kingdom but are met with not 1, not 2 but 4 different parties attacking him. He has to think on his feet in order to ensure he stays alive. In the mix are old acquaintances that want him dead while he meets Shang Shan Hu and Hai Tang Duo Duo of the Qi kingdom

Karen and Cathy discuss the latest dramas that have aired in Feb and early March!  The First Frost 难哄 starring Bai Jing Ting and Zhang Ruo Nan was one of the most highly anticipated romance dramas. Filter 滤镜 starring Tan Jian Ci and Li Lan Di has been a surprise critical darling. Zhang Ling He rounds out the trio of romance dramas with The Best Thing 爱你 with co-star Xu Ruo Han. Jin Tian pair...

In episode 33, Fan Xian is tasked with Operation Hong Xiu Zhao by the Emperor as his mission to the Qi Kingdom. Fan Xian says his goodbyes and begins his journey north with the formidable prisoner, Xiao En. Fan Jian gifts Fan Xian his own personal guard led by the hilarious Gao Da who takes big issue with the thieving Wang Qi Nian. Fan Xian must keep his guard up as the envoy makes its way north t...

It's been a busy week in the Chinese entertainment world. Chen Xiao and Chen Yan Xi officially announced their divorce after 8 years of marriage. This is after several years of speculation of trouble in paradise, most notably Chen Xiao's absence from Chen Yan Xi's father's funeral back in December. Other celebrities have also been arrested including Wang Da Lu for escaping military...

Fan Xian is essentially forced to lead the diplomatic envoy to the Qi Kingdom and exchange Xiao En for Yan Bing Yun. Even though he didn't want to go, the Emperor threatens his marriage to Wan'Er to get him to comply.

The top trending topic over the past 2 weeks has been the shocking death of Da S or Barbie Hsu. The Taiwanese actress shot to fame in the early 2000s in the Romance Idol drama Meteor Garden and has stayed in the public eye ever since. She died while on vacation in Japan in early February, shocking everyone. The online speculation and vitriol towards different parties has been rampant. We discuss w...

The Princess Royal is ultimately kicked out of the capital for overstepping her boundaries. We say goodbye (for now) to this fan favorite - an unapologetically ruthless and ambitious woman.

A fresh slate of dramas began airing around the Lunar New Year holidays with some surprise hits and duds. Bai Lu led Moonlight Mystique (白月梵星) with co-star Ao Rui Peng to middling success. Drifting Away (漂白) starring Guo Jing Fei and Zhao Jin Mai was a surprise hit for iQiYi. Angelababy, after being soft blacklisted for over a year, returned with Everlasting Longing (相思令) with Song Wei Lo...

The Princess Royal believes she was able to throw suspicion of treachery back onto Fan Xian and is ready to take over the Overwatch Council, only to realize that her ally, Zhu Ge, is caught in Chen Ping Ping's trap.

Happy Lunar New Year and welcome to the Year of the Snake! We will talk about this year's annual spectacle that is the Spring Festival Gala! While not as drama-filled as last year's show, the event was still an extravagant affair with a dizzying cast of celebrities and stars from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Heck, One Republic even performed this year! The 4 cities featured included Chong...

Fan Xian gets some help from Wan'Er in sneaking back into the palace to replace the key he stole from the Empress Dowager's palace. Fortunately, he is able to avoid detection. Meanwhile, he makes a ruckus in the capital by exposing the Princess Royal's traitorous activity

We share 6 movies that are hitting Chinese movie theaters for Lunar New Year next week. They include Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Da Fei. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force, NeZha 2, Detective 1900, Operation Hadal, and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn.

After successfully stealing his mother's key from the Empress Dowager's residence, Fan Xian finally opens his mother's mysterious case. The details reveal significant answers to Fan Xian and his mother's origins.

On January 11, 2025, the Chinese entertainment stars largely attended two events. The annual Weibo Night, including headliners such as Zhao Li Ying, Xiao Zhan, Wang Yi Bo, Wang He Di, Yu Shu Xin, Ni Ni, and many many more, had the stars walking the red carpet and making slight jabs at Weibo. Shen Teng was crowned Weibo King while Zhao Li Ying took the crown of Weibo Queen. Down in Macau, Youku man...

In our favorite episode of Joy of Life, Fan Xian stuns the world with his output of hundreds of poems during his drunken monologue during the foreign banquet in episode 27. Seeing through the trap set by Zhuang Mo Han, Fan Xian immediately recites hundreds of poems including many of the most famous poems in the Chinese canon. Listen to our latest podcast episode as we dissect many of the poems men...

The end of the holidays and into the new year saw quite a bit of chaos on social media. First was the revelation that Zhao Lu Si, who was filming a drama, was very ill and in the hospital. More stories came out afterwards about her illness, different causes and other trauma she suffered int he past. Afterwards, relatively unknown actor Li Ming De blasts the cast and crew of his drama, stealing all...