Somewhere between K-Dramas and C-Dramas

After going through my phase of Korean dramas, I somehow stumbled upon Chinese dramas. I still remember Falling into your smile , being one of the first Chinese dramas I came across. I did not explore Chinese dramas as much as I explored Korean ones, but that first experience was enough to make me curious about them.
One thing I noticed almost immediately was the difference in length. Chinese dramas seem to take their time, while Korean dramas usually have a limited number of episodes, Chinese dramas can easily stretch to thirty episodes (it can be more or less than that ). Sometimes, just looking at the episodes count is enough to make me postpone watching one.
But there is something interesting about the way Chinese dramas build relationships. I remember the chemistry between the leads in the first drama I watched- the guy involved in computer gaming and the girl around whom the story revolved. There was something genuinely cute about their equation. It was not just about the main storyline ; their little interactions were what stayed with me.
And then there are those random Chinese drama clips that keep appearing on YouTube. Honestly, some of them are dangerously convincing. You watch one clip thinking , “Okay, this looks interesting”, and suddenly you are searching for the entire drama.
What I particularly notice is the intimacy. Compared to many Korean dramas, Chinese dramas sometimes seem to take the romantic moments one step further. The chemistry can be much more intense, and there are moments explicit in comparison to Korean one. I am not saying that makes them better than Korean dramas. If anything, I still watch Korean dramas much more and maybe the length of the Chinese dramas is partly responsible for that.
I also love Chinese dramas handle supporting characters. They do not always feel like people who exist merely to push the main couple’s story forward. Many of them have their own personalities, relations, problems and entire life happening alongside the main plot. Somehow , that makes the fictional world feel much bigger.
I even removed watching My Girlfriend is an alien and enjoying the whole experience, though I can not recall every drama I have watched anymore. Maybe that is the funny thing about watching so many stories: you forget the names, the episode numbers and sometimes even the plot, but certain characters , scenes and feelings stay somewhere in your memory.