Favorite historical c-dramas

Everything in this drama just screams high quality. The writing is magnificent. The acting, especially Zhang Yi Shan as Joseph Lee, unforgettable. There were many many moments when this drama pulled at my heartstrings and brought me near tears. It's suspense filled and to the max.

Set during the Anti-Japanese War, the series follows intelligence agent Gu Yangshan, who kidnaps the blind cryptologist Joseph Lee to prevent him from working for the Japanese army. Gu then hires an actor, Ding Yi, to impersonate Joseph Lee, while Gu himself poses as Ding Yi's assistant. While carrying out tasks for the Japanese army, they must not only prevent Ding Yi's true identity from being exposed but also ensure that his lack of knowledge in cryptography remains undetected. Through daily interactions with the Japanese forces, they engage in a constant battle of wits, ultimately overcoming numerous dangers and challenges.

Very high quality and entertaining. Although there's a lot of suspense and shocking events, there is quite a lot of intelligent humour as well. A slow burn romance. Edward Zhang plays an undercover agent trying to save a US pilot stranded in a Japanese occupied island who has the codes needed for the US Doolittle bombing raid planes to land safely in China. We spend the most of the drama on the island, where the Japanese have already a cruel massacre of Chinese inhabitants and fully plan to kill the rest in one go as well.

Co‑production with the U.S.A., set in 1942 and based on real events surrounding an Allied aircraft shot down in Japanese‑occupied territory. It highlights the espionage plot, cast, and historical framing. The drama is based on the real Doolittle Raid rescue operation.

Historical rural drama set in 1920s–1940s Shandong, focusing on land reform, women’s roles, and village life.

War and espionage drama set in the final phase of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Tells the story of Ou Xiaoan, an underground member of the Chinese Communist Party, who escapes from an underground bioweapons research lab in Burma. As a KMT officer he joins forces with Tan Moqing to reveal the secrets of the Japanese army's biochemical research and to halt a planned bioweapons gas attack. Peak espionage suspense. Also shows how Shiro Ishii was taken to the US immediately at the end of the war to continue his bioweapons research there.

Portrays the journeys of a unit of soldiers in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army during the 14-year Second Sino-Japanese War, highlighting the region's grueling and heroic fight against Japanese imperialist forces.

This is so cute and entertaining. A factory life drama set around the time when the cultural revolution was coming to an end. Shows the social stratification according to ideological purity demands. To get a university position, MLs sister has to cut ties and denounce her family entirely as they were classified as bourgeois. MLs parents who are intellectuals have been sent to a re-education camp. FL has to succumb to and please political cadres to be allowed to be a candidate for a university education. Essence of the drama: even in difficult times, people still carry on, kids enjoy playing, young people fall in love, there's music and dancing.

History portrayed through the lives of 3 women. Finely crafted. Especially the 2nd story arc with the overly zealous political activists was enjoyable. First 2 stories focus on how the MCs slowly bind through shared values.