17 Modern-Day and Sci-Fi Chinese Dramas To Watch In 2023
Due to the popularization of South Asian culture, if there is one genre of tv shows that comes second to Korean dramas, it has to be Chinese dramas. Also known as C-dramas, as the new year approaches, fans of Chinese tvcan be prepared to witness a plethora of shows that will release in 2023.
Just as popular are historical C-dramas, tv shows from China set in the modern day also have grown in popularity. With more episodes per season in comparison to regular tv shows, C-dramas pack in a punch for fans who enjoy longer, more detailed stories when it comes to TV shows.
Here are our picks for 17 of the best Modern day and Sci-Fi C-dramas that will be released in 2023.
Road Home
Network: CCTV, iQiyi
Episodes: 30
Road Home tells the story of former lovers reuniting after ten years to find their road home. An investment director named Gui Xiao and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal police officer Lu Yan Chen are our two lovers. Gui Xiao and Lu Yan Chen were each other’s first loves.
After Lu Yan Chen left to join the police academy, Gui Xiao’s family experiences drastic changes. Their relationship from back in the day comes to an abrupt end. Once they meet again after eight years, the words “I’ll recognize you even when you turn into ashes” make them realize that they still miss each other.
Two years later in a snowy border town, Gui Xiao and her friend are stranded. In desperation, Gui Xiao dials Lu Yan Chen’s number.
Ball Lightning
Network: iQiyi
Episodes: 36
The sci-fi thriller Ball Lightning follows the life of Chen. When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of mysterious natural phenomena. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station.
The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his lonely life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
To a Windy Place
Network: Hunan TV, Mango TV
Episodes: 40
The show follows the life of Xu Hong Dou who fell into a slump after the death of her best friend. She went to the “windy courtyard” in Yun Miao Village, Dali, to rest all by herself. There she meets Xie Zhi Yao, a local who quit his high-paying job and returned to his hometown to start a business, and a group of peers from big cities.Â
Xie Zhi Yao starts seeing Xu Hong Dou’s kindness and seriousness. He invites her to use her years of experience in the hotel industry to help local employees improve their service awareness and help develop Yun Miao Village’s cultural tourism business.
At the same time, Xu Hong Dou is moved by Xie Zhi Yao’s ideals for building a hometown so that the villagers could be strong and useful. The two fall in love with each other and finally get together. As they all worked together they re-examined their pasts, helped and inspired each other, started to heal and gained the strength to start again in this “windy place”.
The Love You Give Me
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 32
What Min Hui wanted to do most was to destroy herself, and what Su Tian wanted to do most was to see Xin Qi, but none of their wishes came true. These two girls who had never met each other are still somehow connected. Even if Min Hui didn’t say a word, Su Tian can immediately know what was on her mind and she decides to sacrifice her life for Min Hui.
In order to make up for the sorrow in her heart, Min Hui decides to have Su Tian meet Xin Qi instead of herself. Min Hui and Su Tian unexpectedly fall into an awkward relationship. Min Hui decides to fulfil Su Tian’s wish no matter what the cost, even if it comes at the cost of her brand new life.
The North of the Space
Network: iQIYI
Episodes: 40
The Sci-Fi thriller set in 2005 titled The North of the Space tells the story of an aerospace engineer An Fu Cheng who heard the news that China had started the construction of the Beidou 3 global navigation system. He quit his high-paying overseas job to join the Beidou R&D team.
With the support of Deng Guang Chun, director of the National Communication Center of the Teacher, An Fu Cheng recruited Wu Tong, an engineer who lost his self-confidence due to previous failures. He also recruits Xia Fei Xue, a genius programmer who pursued self-worth. With this new three-person team, they propose a brand new one for the satellite system and they get included in the core R&D team.
The Furthest Distance
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 26
The C-drama, The Furthest Distance follows Qin Yun Sheng, an emergency doctor, who has a house that needs to be renovated and Su Ying is a focused interior designer. They meet because of their participation in a house renovation reality tv show.
As they get to know one another, Su Ying gradually opens her once-closed heart to Qin Yun Sheng, only to find out that he still misses his girlfriend who had passed away. In order to bridge the seemingly farthest distance between them, Su Ying takes the initiative to fight for Qin Yun Sheng with a love that just might be strong enough to heal them both.
Where Dreams Begin
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 40
Where Dreams Begin tells the ups and downs of a group of young people in Beijing during the 1970s. The story talks about the changing times through the struggles of the “little people” that is part of the next generation amidst a wave of reform.
Xiao Chun Sheng along with his two buddies Ye Guo Hua and Chen Hong Jun, who are children of military families and government workers grew up in the same courtyard. They experience what it’s like to join the army and take the gaokao.
They also do things like going out to sea and starting a business as well as supporting each other along the way. Tong Xiao Mei is a Beijing girl pursuing her dream of being a doctor. This is an inspirational story of the growth and transformation of ordinary people during the reform era in China.
Hou Lang
Network: JSTVÂ Youku
Episodes: 40
The C-drama narrates the story of Sun Tou Tou, an orphan in her twenties. One day, she gets into trouble while fighting injustice. Ren Xin Zheng, a professor at the University of Chinese Medicine, comes to her aid and learns her life story. Professor Ren accepts her into the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) course to give her a fresh start in life.
Sun Tou Tou accepts the challenge to learn under Ren Xin Zheng and eventually inherits his family’s TCM practice. Professor Ren’s son, Tian Zhen, is a classmate she dislikes for causing her some difficulties. The quest of gaining knowledge is challenging enough without the added generation gap between students and lecturers.
Maturing, she persists and finds herself taken with traditional medicine. Tou Tou and Tian Zhen become closer as they learn to understand and empathize with each other. Tou Tou, her classmates, and their lecturers can now begin to follow their dreams.
West Out of the Yu Men
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 30
The fantasy drama follows the life of Chang Dong who led a team to the desert two years ago. One night, after a squally intense wind blew up, all eighteen teammates led by Chang Dong were buried in the desert with no dead bodies left behind. Chang Dong disappeared since then with guilt and regret.
When Ye Liu Xi, who had no memory of her past, showed up with photos that contained clues about the accident, Chang Dong decides to team up to go to the desert to find out the truth behind the accident.
Rose and Gun
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 36
The show follows the touching love story between Marine Corps leader Wu Si and reporter Tang Xin. Tang Xin is a tough, independent woman and a workaholic who doesn’t think that marriage is a must even though deep down, she longs for a real hero.
She meets Wu Si during a blind date. He is an outstanding military officer with an extremely monotonous life who seemed intent on living each day according to plan from studying and enlisting in the army to getting married. While the two seem like they’d be a good match, they actually despised each other from the beginning and only became lovers after many hilarious twists and turns.
Ni Ye You Jin Tian
Network: Youku
Episodes: 45
The show follows the story of Cheng Yao, a girl who dreamt of becoming a lawyer and was recruited by a top law firm. Hence, she decides to move to an apartment closer to her workplace. However, Cheng Yao does not expect to have a housemate, whom she could not get along with. The person turns out to be her new boss, Qian Heng.
Qian Heng recruits her into his team and begins his monstrous training. His aim was to chase Cheng Yao away from the firm. Cheng Yao does not know why she landed in this situation and decides to work harder in order to keep the job. She showed great performance in the midst of training, changing Qian Heng’s impression of her as they slowly begin to develop feelings for each other.
Young Babylon
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 24
Knowing nothing more than the working-class life he is born into, headstrong Lu Xiao Lu reluctantly starts down the path he is expected to follow. At age 19 in 1990s China, he feels pressure to follow suit with those around him and takes a job at the town’s saccharin factory.
Slowly, he adjusts to the bureaucratic factory routine, making the best of the situation by bonding with coworkers, flirting with girls, and refusing to give in completely to the expectations of those around him.
As Lu Xiao Lu finds his way, a startling portrait of an economically expanding China comes into view; the propaganda of a common goal gives way to a bottom-line system that he sees as indifferent to individual happiness. But thanks to the relationships he develops, Lu Xiao Lu decides to fight for the life he wants.
Be Your Own Light
Network: Youku
Episodes: 40
The show Be Your Own Light narrates the story of He Huan who has had to deal with a lot of things such as her husband fleeing and leaving her with huge debts, setbacks in her career, and her mother falling seriously ill. Through the encouragement of friends, He Huan remains tenacious in her attempt to start her life over.
Relying on her wisdom and sincerity, He Huan begins to overcome the difficulties and she quickly climbs the ranks from a hotline operator to a show host, thus returning to the peak of her life and becoming her own light. After realizing her personal goals, He Huan and her colleagues actively explore the potential for transforming traditional media.
Only For Love
Network: Hunan TV, Mango TV
Episodes: 36
The office drama, Only For Love follows Zheng Shu Yi, a reporter who excels at her job and is determined to land a front-page story, has tried very hard to earn an exclusive interview with top financial executive Shi Yan. Their love story then blossoms due to an error.
Zheng Shu Yi has written numerous reports through her in-depth research of various industries while Shi Yan is constantly looking for socially responsible start-ups to invest in as he hopes to give back to society as much as he can.
Shi Yan finds that Zheng Shu Yi’s opinions conveyed through her reports coincide with his own, so he agrees to let her write a series of reports on their company. The two eventually open up new opportunities in their career and also find love.
Love is Panacea
Network: Youku
Episodes: 40
Born into a medical family, Gu Yun Zheng is a medical genius and the youngest neurosurgeon in the country. Handsome and dignified, he is known as the most attractive doctor in the hospital and was the dream man during college. His ultimate goal is to be awarded the Wang Zhongcheng Award for “Young Neurosurgeon of the Year”.
Dr Gu meets the love of his life, Su Wei An, a fifth-year MBBS dropout while working on the African frontline. She carries the gene for a rare Huntington’s disease. In a battle against death, Gu Yun Zheng will race against fate and time to try and save her from this incurable disease.
Prosecution Elite
Network: CCTV, Tencent Video
Episodes: 40
The crime drama Prosecution Elite narrates the story of An Ni, a prosecutor of the Jiangcheng Procuratorate. Chief Prosecutor Xu Ailin assigns An Ni to investigate the case of a missing college student who jumped off into a lake. The student Li Xiaowen and other victims come forward, publicly denouncing the unorthodox means of Jiangxiao Academy to control youngsters.
An Ni presents solid evidence in the court, leading the academy to be shut down with a punishment for those who were involved in it. That is not the end of her journey as a Prosecutor as there are a lot more cases that An Ni starts working on that will transcend borders.
Angels Fall Sometimes
Network:Â Tencent Video
Episodes: 24
The C-drama Angels Fall Sometimes narrates the story of Lin Tuo and An Zhi Que who met at a job fair during the summer internship of their junior year. They fell in love at first sight, and after deepening their understanding of each other, they began their romantic relationship.
As graduation season approaches, the two join hands as they enrol in university and then into their respective careers still as a couple. Just as love and career were developing in their beautiful direction, Lin Tuo was diagnosed with ALS disease which cuts short his life out of the blue.
Although his life was shortened, Lin Tuo received care from his relatives and friends as well as his beloved An Zhi Que as he bravely challenge his terminal illness. The people and patients around Lin Tuo were also inspired by him to re-examine their attitude towards life, learn to cherish the present, and decide to work hard to live every day with hope
There you have it, our list of the best modern-day and sci-fi C-dramas that we know are releasing in 2023. There could be some more additions to the list and we will be sure to update it as and when new titles are announced.
Be sure to let us know your thoughts about the upcoming shows in the comments and which you are looking forward to! You can also mention the titles of Chinese modern-day and sci-fi dramas and shows we may have missed.