Chinese romance drama Loving Strangers has exceeded 7,000 on the YOUKU heat index just five days after it premiered on January 10th.
The C-drama stars Mark Chao and Zhang Zi Feng and, if the plot sounds familiar to you (see below), it is the Chinese remake of the hit Korean drama My Mister.
A drama I could not get into. No matter how highly it was rated.
But, Chinese romance dramas being as high-quality as they are nowadays, I often find I enjoy the C-drama version much more than the Korean or Japanese series its adapted from.
Not having begun watching Loving Strangers yet, I cannot tell you if that’s the case here.
But I will say, the trailer makes the series look very very promising as it is shows a story that is just as gritty and heart-wrenching as the original.
While it also seems to be an ultra-long series (28 episodes of 45 minutes each for Loving Strangers, versus 16 episodes of 1 hour 15 minutes for My Mister), which also puts some people off, in actual fact it’s only about an hour longer than the original.
The announcement of Loving Strangers having exceeded 7,000 on the YOUKU heat index was made by the Chinese streaming platform this morning along with the comment:
Jiang Jia Qi (Mark Chao) and Zhou Yuan (Zhang Zi Feng) meet as strangers and journey together in the cold winter, becoming each other’s guiding light. This warmth of winter has caused the popularity to skyrocket!
What is the plot of Loving Strangers?
As for the drama’s plot, like I said, if you have already watched My Mister, from what I’ve seen and heard, nothing much has been changed in it except for Chinese locations and minor differences.
Jiang Jia Qi (played by Mark Chao) and Zhou Yu’an (played by Zhang Zi Feng) are separated by a significant age gap, yet their souls resonate closely. The meeting of two lonely islands is more enduring than love, more moving than time itself.
The drama tells the story of a man and a woman burdened by the heavy pressures of life who, after meeting each other, gradually step into one another’s worlds and draw strength and hope from the connection, finding the power to move forward.
It’s not just the plot and the main cast that makes Loving Strangers worth watching either, as the drama is directed by Van Han who just directed several of the episodes of one of my favorite dramas of the year — The Miracles.
The screenwriter is Yu Xiao Qian, who is known for writing The Long Season and My Bargain Queen among others.
And, as supporting casts go, this one is superb as it features Jiang Yi Yan (Faith Makes Great), Zhang Chao (Happiness Jun Cao), Yang Yi Wei (The Long Season), Rong Zi Xi (The Miracles), and Chi Jia (Dear Enemy).
The first 10 episodes of Loving Strangers are now streaming on YOUKU with two more episodes premiering tomorrow.
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