Chinese Dramas ft. Strong Female Lead + Healthy Relationships: a dose of sweetness & happiness 2020

I generally don’t like those dramas where the lead male unnecessarily “hates” the female lead at first and does things that overly hurt or embarrass her.

I always end up yelling at the girl to just leave and not even bother with him, sometimes to the point where I just feel immense hatred for the lead male character and disappointment at the lead female for not defending herself or being totally illogical. Chinese dramas tend to paint the girl as someone weak and unable to stand up for herself, while the boy is strong and rude.

These dramas feature a female lead who is strong and is treated fairly & respectfully by the male lead all the time. They never gave me that ill feeling that the male lead character should just go to hell, and the chemistry and interactions between the two leads always brought a smile to my face.

1. My Unicorn Girl (Sebrina Chen [Chen Yao] & Darren Chen [Guan Hong]) - 2020, Modern

I absolutely adore this show. It is so cute. I don’t usually re-watch shows or dramas, but I would definitely re-watch this. The chemistry between the two leads is palpable.

“My Unicorn Girl” has all the clichés, from being a modern, college drama to having the female lead dress as a male to centering the story on sports and hockey. But all those clichés were done right and it’s rare that you find a drama that does that (at least it’s rare based on what I’ve watched before).

I probably need a refresher on this drama, but this is hands-down my favorite Chinese drama of all time.

I’ll admit the drama began on a bit of a rocky start, where the two leads held a mild dislike of each other, but it was bearable since it stopped pretty soon afterwards. The relationship between the two leads is so sweet and they are willing to do whatever they can to help the other.

The male has prosopagnosia, which affects his hockey playing, and the female lead is determined to help him.

Not only that, for someone who doesn’t regularly watch sports, the hockey games were really exciting to watch (probably very fake, but that’s fine for me since I’m not a hockey fan), and they had me on the edge of my seat. If I gave ratings, I would literally rate this a 100 out of 10.

2. Meeting You 谢谢让我遇见你 (Wan Peng & Fiction Guo) - 2020, Modern

This is the latest drama I’ve finished, and it is such a feel-good drama. There is never any sort of ill-will between the two leads and it’s kind of refreshing that they never break up. The two leads have so much love for each other and always protect each other. They both know the other has their back and they make decisions while considering the other’s situation and feelings.

[NOT REALLY A SPOILER, BUT FEEL FREE TO SKIP]

One part that really stood out to me was that when the two moved in together, they found certain living habits about the other that annoyed them. When their best friends told them to just live apart to solve the issue, both leads said that they would absolutely not separate because of that.

Normally, I feel like these types of dramas would take any sort of tiny discontentment between the main leads and turn it into some big problem, but I'm really glad these scriptwriters and directors didn't do that here.

[END “SPOILER”]

The two have such a strong, healthy relationship, and I love the message that a working relationship should be built on trust and sacrifice.

Although it sounds like it doesn’t have a plotline because of the lack of changes in their relationship, this isn’t true. Their relationship is the one solid rock for them throughout their changing lives, and it focuses a lot on character development and growth, so there is plenty of plotline while still giving off those feel-good vibes.

3. General’s Lady (Tang Min & Caesar Wu) - 2020, Historical

General’s Lady is a historical drama, and one of the few historical dramas I have watched.

I like it, but at the same time, it started to drag in the later episodes because of the female lead’s tendencies for jealousy (not to worry because it really picks up at the end and gets exciting as there’s a small plot twist!).

Despite that, she is a strong character. She knows what she wants, and that is her man and financial success. It kind of gives me some Cinderella vibes, in that she has two awful stepsisters and she marries a man [he’s a general] to improve her life, although it was an arranged marriage.

It’s nice that after a few episodes the two are able to clear their misunderstandings of each other and progress in their relationship. Her husband, Chu Xiu Ming [Caesar Wu’s character] frequently, but eloquently, professes his love for her and is willing to do everything in his power to help her.

I usually can’t stand those because it sounds cheesy, but it’s also really sweet and the female lead, Jin Er, really loves hearing them, so it fits with her character.

At the same time, the two hold a great deal of respect for the other, and usually seek their significant other for counsel and advice. Unlike other drama relationships, they actually heed that advice and make educated decisions based off it. Like “Meeting You,” this drama features a strong, healthy relationship, and I am all for it.

The ending although satisfying and happy, left a little bit to be desired in terms of character and relationship development, but it can easily be overlooked by the other great aspects of this drama.

4. Just an Encore 八分钟的温暖 (Jiang Zhuojun, Zhu Danni, Chen Xun, Ding Yuxi [Ryan Ding]) - 2019, Modern

I know, I know, this didn't come out in 2020, but that's when I watched this show, alright?

I listed four main leads for this drama because I consider this story to follow all their lives and their relationship with each other, though the main focus and the point of view we see, is from Jiang Zhuojun’s character, named Yan Ze.

Now, I know a lot of people watched “The Romance of Tiger and Rose” and fell in love with Ding Yuxi there. I haven’t watched that yet, but I loved his character in this drama. I’m definitely watching “Tiger and Rose” next because I have to see more of Ding Yuxi (his cheekbones are amazing LOL) and his smile!

“Just an Encore” is a high school drama following the lives of a group of friends (like all the clichés).

Expect the regular girl with bad grades, boy is a genius, and your regular dose of misunderstandings. To be honest, at first I couldn’t figure out who the male lead was, and I think a lot of other people couldn’t either, so that’s a fun guessing game for the viewers.

It also makes the viewers think and analyze more into the characters and how they interact with each other to try and figure it out for themselves.

There are some really great friendships here, but I’m going to be honest and say I really didn’t like the relationship between the two girls. They are supposed to be best friends, but their relationship with each other just seemed so toxic to me, and it never seemed like they had each other’s back.

However, the friendship between the two boys and Yan Ze is great and they’re always there for each other.

This wasn’t the greatest drama for me because of the way it ended, but I had to include it because of Ding Yuxi. For those of you wanting to know a bit more about the ending, read on, but I will label it as a spoiler. If you don’t want to read the spoiler, just know that this drama has a questionable happy ending, though I would still recommend watching it.

[SPOILER]

The reason why I, and most likely many others, was not too satisfied with the ending was because the way the directors and screenwriters left it off just left us with a lot of questions of what happened in between.

The drama shows Yan Ze and He Xin Liang [Ding Yuxi’s character] running to each other after Yan Ze realizes that she likes Xin Liang, but then they have to separate for an unknown amount of time.

After that, there isn’t much except that we see the grown-up version of Yan Ze narrating how their life has gone. The last scene ends with Xin Liang finally showing up again and the two smiling at each other.

There’s no closure. Viewers are left to imagine that they finally get together, but nothing is confirmed. I feel like they left us on a cliffhanger and that’s not what I’m about when I’m watching dramas. I get that they want us to think about it and leave it to our imagination, but I don't want to be guessing what happens, just tell me!

Not only that, Yan Ze never changes her awful hairstyle (I realize they’re trying to make her stay true to herself, but it’s really ugly) and I don’t know why she’s dressed the way she is, but I really hated the outfit.

If you’re looking for a drama where the leads finally kiss and get together, this isn’t for you.

[END SPOILER]

All in all, these four dramas feature strong female leads who have a healthy relationship with the male lead. The leads have a lot of chemistry with each other, making for a great watch that doesn’t leave me fuming!