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generally which is better dramas ? korean dramas or chinese dramas ? and why ?

Afraaa

Recently, the Chinese series started to come to the fore. I'm worried about watching more of the Korean series. I think Chinese TV series cannot replace Korean TV series. Chinese TV series have bad shots and effects (edits). their fantasy series is not believable. and the Chinese series are like imitation of the Korean series. I'm sorry if I upset you. what is your opinion

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Yenki

I don't think you have watched enough Chinese dramas to judge it. Most Chinese fantasy dramas CGI are unbelievable because of their tight budgets. Giving The Untamed as an example, most of their casts are rookies. There are many flaws regarding the CGI/effects because of the low budgeting in their production team. Let's compare the Untamed to Ashes of Love. It has the best CGI that I've ever since in fantasy dramas with fantastic settings blending in with the CGI in the background.  The sets of fantasy drama are built from scratches which takes a lot of time to be finished to further enhance the realism of the settings. The outfits are also very expensive as in custom dramas, there are different outfits for clans, soldiers, etc. It's not easy to film a fantasy drama with all the CGI effects and kungfu that they practice so hard to master. It takes a lot more effort to create a perfect fantasy drama than just a modern one. You have to understand that there can be flaws simply because the fantasy world doesn't exist in real life therefor it takes a tremendous amount of effort for perfection. 

- Chinese series are the imitations of the Korean series? In what way do you think so? They legit have their own genre that are popular in drama land. China is well known for its custom dramas with beautiful martial arts styles that have the interests of the audience. How is that the same as Korean dramas? They are not alike in any way. You think Korea dominates the drama industry where everything they do is original and when other countries do it then it's an imitation of Korea? You're so wrong. I do agree that Korean dramas are very good but Chinese dramas are on the same level. They both have their own unique style that makes the audience fell in love along with the actors. 

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Lotus

It’s interesting how you find Chinese dramas to all be imitations of Korean dramas when your drama list doesn’t have any Korean dramas that are similar to the Chinese ones you’ve watched? I don’t know, maybe it’s because you haven’t updated it completely. 

You say Chinese dramas seem like imitations of Korean dramas, but I think I’ll have to respectfully disagree. Also, the three Chinese dramas you’ve watched are Wuxia, which is mostly unique to China.. like if you look Wuxia up with Korea, there’s nothing there, so I’m kind of confused as to why you would think that China is imitating Korea if every single Chinese drama on your list is a Wuxia... in Korean dramas, you don’t usually find martial arts fantasies that you find in Chinese ones. There are some dramas that are actually straight up adaptations of Korean dramas (because they’re for a Chinese audience mostly, and not international), like “No Secrets” and “Youth”, but since neither are on your list, I’m confused as to where this idea of all of them being imitations came from. 

Yes, there are a lot of Chinese dramas that aren’t very good if you compare to Korea, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all imitations just because they’re both asian, and there are a lot of good Chinese dramas if you just search and both countries have their unique style, and personally I don’t see a reason to compare them.

I do agree that Chinese isn’t going to “replace” Korean dramas, and it’s pretty obvious that most people here prefer/mostly watch Korean dramas which is very understandable because Korea does have amazing dramas and acting. There’s obviously a lot of flaws in Chinese dramas, and fantasy dramas aren’t going to be that believable, but it takes a lot of effort to produce a fantasy drama so flaws should be understandable.

anyways, I really don’t mean any disrespect, I’m just really curious about your opinion..

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Afraaa

First of all, thank you very much for your opinion :) I actually watched a lot of Korean TV series and Chinese TV series. In my first post, I realized that I had misrepresented myself a little. Chinese historical series is very good. The topics are remarkable. but I noticed that there were some glaring mistakes in most fantasy series. I have been watching Korean TV series since 2011. I've been watching Chinese series since 2016. China's modern day sequences really seem like the flash of Korean sequences. so the general issue is always the same. It is a fact that the Chinese admire Korea. they are trying to shoot series in their style. I watched so many TV series to compare the TV series of the two countries. I just did not add all that I watched to my list. so I have enough information to compare the two types. As I said, the topics in Chinese TV series (historical TV series) are very special and unusual. but I criticize them for acting and most shooting errors. but they do it all in korean TV series. acting, shooting quality, fantasy items. all just perfect. They give the emotion very well in the Korean TV series. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Chinese TV series. I'm sorry if I said something that would hurt or upset you :)

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mengosteen
 Afraaa:
China's modern day sequences really seem like the flash of Korean sequences. so the general issue is always the same. It is a fact that the Chinese admire Korea. they are trying to shoot series in their style.

Nani?

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Lotus

Ok, thank you. I did assume that your list just wasn’t updated since it would be very weird if you had only watched three Chinese dramas and nothing else lol. Anyways, your response makes more sense to me and I understand better where you’re coming from. Im sorry, I misunderstood your “imitation” statement to be about story than shooting and acting but I feel like even if some actors and actresses or some stories are bad they don’t need to be generalized to make it as if they’re all bad? Like not every chinese actor is worse than every korean one. I guess I understand where you’re coming from though.

China still has a lot to learn from Korea since there’s obviously a reason why they’re so much more popular, and China is learning a lot because their drama quality has started to get better over the years. Still, I think both countries have great dramas and their own styles and putting them against each other seems unnecessary but I guess it’s about preference

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Yenki

I have watched a lot of Korean and Chinese dramas so comparing which is better is a little harsh to me. This could just be my personal opinion but I still feel like Korean and Chinese dramas are unique in their own particular way and both are on the same level. I do agree that some Chinese actors are very stiff and bad even though they are the main leads. They can't express the character that they're portraying and don't pour enough emotions into the drama, unlike Korean actors. Still, there are many actors out there that did a fantastic job with their acting and that's how they rise in popularity. I'm pretty sure you are familiar with Ashes of Love. I keep putting it as an example because you've watched it and should know exactly what I'm talking about. You shouldn't clump the whole "Chinese actors are terrible at acting." and judge the whole industry due to few dramas that you watch. Every country admires Korea for their amazing dramas and not just China itself. We are inspired by Korea not only their dramas but music and clothing style. Inspire and copy are two completely different things. They might be inspired but many modern Chinese dramas are different than Korea. I don't understand why you think Chinese dramas are a copy version of Korean dramas. The plot, acting, etc are completely different and should be appreciated. 

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ephemeral

I DISAGREE CDRAMAS ARE AMAZING IT IS WHAT MOSTLY  IM WATCHING THESE DAYS

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Di - Drama Inspect

This is purely subjective. I've been watching dramas since I was a kid. Chinese and Korean dramas each have perks about them. There's no one or the other. They each bring something to the table. Personally I got tired of Korean dramas because they felt extremely commercialized and repetitive. I stopped watching as much for the last six years and generally stick to Chinese dramas. There's definitely a lot of bad Chinese dramas so you have to know which ones to choose. 

Good Chinese historical dramas in my opinion are much better than Korean ones though generally. They have the budgets to make it really great like Nirvana in Fire, Longest Day in Chang'an, Story of Yanxi Palace. Also if you understand the language, some Chinese drama scripts are really amazing but you'd have to really understand in order to be able to fully appreciate.

Anyway I just think there's no real point in choosing one or the other. Sometimes I'll randomly feel like watching a Korean one and other times I feel like watching Chinese.

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Ness

Personally I like C dramas more than K dramas just because there's more creativity and although there are some scenes/things that I'd be like WTF, it's just more entertaining for me - especially the romance one since the kisses are so much more heart fluttering than K drama kisses. It really depends on what you want to see tho because C dramas are so long and they always have filler episodes so the main leads aren't seen as much which pisses me off LOL. 

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JulyMoon VIP

Personally I don' think you can say one is better than the other. I watched more K-Dramas than C-Dramas but that doesn't mean I like them more in general. 

I found masterpieces of dramas from China as well as South Korea. 

Also I wouldn't say one copies from the other just because they do a remake, because then Hollywood would copy a lot from Asia. 

If Fantasy is done believable or not is a question of budget in my opinion. That's why it's so important for me to look at Chinese Fantasy dramas first before starting watching them. You can tell from wigs to computer effects if the drama was produced with a decent budget or not. 

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lea

I started watching Cdramas after a long time being in drama limbo. Early 2019 I just went off Kdramas for some reason. It could be that there was nothing I found interesting or it was the many scandals that had been coming out just made me wonder who else I'm watching and liking their work while they are monsters in their private life. That happens all across the world but because I particularly liked kdramas it was a big let down.  

I don't know why I hadn't gotten into Cdramas before but I was really pleasantly surprised when I started watching them. This isn't due to any feelings related to how I felt about Kdramas, I just found them really different. The scripts and dialogues were far better and original. Kdramas tend to have similar dialogues and you'll find common tropes in almost all of them.  It was nice to not see food all the time , casual misogyny and the drinking someone always has to be drunk. 

I know some great Kdramas have come out since, do have them in my to-watch list I'll get around to watching them one day.

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lea
 Afraaa:
Chinese TV series have bad shots and effects (edits). their fantasy series is not believable.

They are Fantasy. (duh) If one doesn't have an imagination and an open mind and watch the story being told then they'll have a difficult time enjoying those dramas.

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SpiritMaster

Chinese drama good in historical or wuxia....Korean drama good in modern genre mix with fantasy...simple. Untamed, Joy of Life, Princess Agent are example of chinese drama that reign supreme in wuxia or historical genre while on Korean drama you can see modern genre is good. Example of this are Vagabond, Bad Guy, My Love From Other Star, Goblin etc. Between Korean and Chinese Drama they have their own unique genre. If u want watch historical colossal with fantasy or hero just watch Chinese Drama...if you want modern romantic action just watch Korean Drama. 

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