I will list some of the Chinese drama I've seen that made me want to tear my heart off. This is just a warning for people who can't stand overly weepy dramas. I may update this list sooner or later. The list here is done chronologically which ones I've watched from start to end.
At the Dolphin Bay
I consider this TV series to be pretty sad and while I didn't cry in Lavender, I really cried in this one. Believe me, I cried buckets at the beginning especially that Tianbian's biological mother in spite of her scandalous relationship (which I think she might have been the ex-girlfriend of Tianbian's father) and later, Tianbian had no idea who she really was nor the fact she was the love child of her father and she has a half-sister and stepmother. I cried at the beginning when it came to her meeting Zerya and how they were separated. Now I did have my biases especially I came to hate Zerya for stupid reasons and I was rooting for Hsiaokang... because in the real life, I had a rival who looks like Zerya and we both fought for a girl who looks like Tianbian but that's just the sidestory and no, she wasn't anybody's illegitimate child, she was a normal shy quiet girl. But still you can't deny all the sad plots exist especially when the Xu family must learn to let go of hatred, Shanni getting leukemia (a repetition of her father's death) and the main love triangle that made me bang my head at the end of it! Most of my tears were pretty personal reasons anyway and I was crying like a Looney Tunes character because I'm reminded of my defeat in real life.
Starlit
Jerry Yan playing in a serious role here really brought tears to my eyes and Terri Kwan knew how to act her part as Xiao Lu. Now I always wish that Barbie Xu would have been better but at least Terri Kwan was able to deliver her part. I always felt this drama was a fight against destiny in real life... trying to fight for a better tomorrow. Jerry Yan plays an aspiring pianist named Cheng Yue who saves a girl, loses his career and starts to choose his own path. I really cried whenever Xiao Lu was facing death due to her incurable condition, she wants to face her death bravely. The worse part was when Cheng Yue wanted to give Xiao Lu's final moments the best she can. So what's the reality? So they do end up together but only for three days... then wow. Really, how cruel can fate be? I always felt like tearing off my heart whenever I think of this series.
Last Night of Madame Chin
Based on the novel by Pai Hsuen Yung but the style was similar to Qiong Yao's writing. At first, I thought this was written by Qiong Yao with the extended melodrama, the female protagonist suffering psychological suffering for the sake of love and taking place in 1940s Shanghai (similar to Romance in the Rain). I also considered the typical bar hostess/rich guy romance was very common in older novels and not just Qiong Yao. Who knows... maybe Qiong Yao influenced Pai Hsuen Yung for all we know. I almost didn't want to finish this melodrama because of all the tears that I cry per episode and yes, this one made me cry a lot more than Dolphin Bay. Vic Chou and Fan Bingbing made a good on-screen couple so I was wondering why didn't they get paired after this for other Qiong Yao type dramas?
Next Stop Happiness
While I'm not a huge fan of Vanness Wu but I am a fan of Ady An. I felt like Ady An knew how to play the idiotic Mucheng so well, as she was trying to repress her feelings for her boyfriend Guangxi who came into her life six years later. In spite of all the predictable stories like leave the arranged fiance for your former girlfriend, I still cried a lot of tears. Mucheng's really tragic background where she lived with her stepmother/maternal aunt and that she was sexually molested by her uncle by marriage was so depressing. Another part that I felt like crying was during the time Guangxi discovered he had a son and that his ex-girlfriend hid her away. He goes back to his ex-girlfriend and things get complicated or when Guangxi's mother actually starts to soften up from her years of being a cold bitch. Fortunately the story ended well or I might have shot myself!
Romance In The Rain (2001 version)
It's the lighter version of the tragic novel but still, I can't help but cry. I know this version was pretty weak in terms of acting but I still cried. Vicki Zhao may not be as good as Liu Xuehua but Kou Zhenhai's acting of Lu Zhenhua was really badass. I felt sorry for Yiping when she was whipped by her ruthless father and her mother was the eighth ex-wife, her stepmother was a bitch and she vowed to have her revenge. Now I don't like this version of Shuhuan and man, Jerry Yan should have been Shuhuan here! But still, the dysfunctional nature of the Lus was really something I think about especially Zhenhua's multiple divorces. I also cried for Erjie because he never realized he was the genetic product of an extramarital affair between his mom Wang Xueqin and his real father Wei Guangxiong, all the while he grew up believing that his father was Zhenhua. Good thing that things started to turn out okay like Mengping maturing from her near death incident, Erhao realizing he was the jerk of the century for most of the show, Ruping got over Shuhuan and the happy ending after a season of tears.
Romance In The Rain (1986 version)
I decided to check out the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain to compare it with the 2001 version and this one made me really cry even harder because the acting was so well-done. My reasons for having cried better was because Qin Han really knew how to act Shuhuan out and Liu Xuehua was pretty much Barbie Xu's 80s counterpart. Vicki Zhao didn't hold much of a candle to Liu Xuehua as Yiping and having Leo Ku as Shuhuan was a real weakness. I always felt like the feel Liu Xuehua had in acting as Yiping whose father Zhenhua was a retired general with eight ex-wives and he's living with his ninth wife while Yiping and her mother (the eighth ex-wife) have to beg for money. The scenes here were more emotionally done with a perfect combination. While I preferred Wang Lin as Xueqin but Gu Yin could still act and combined with Liu Xuehua and Qin Han, it really created the intended melodramatic atmosphere. Should I mention that in here, Ruping actually committed suicide? When it happened, I really felt sorry for Xueqin no matter how much I hated her because of that scene. At the same time, I also felt like I was watching Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu as Shuhuan and Yiping while watching this version. In the end, Shuhuan decided to return to Yiping to help her get over the tragedy of Ruping's death.
Loving, Never Forgetting
While I really don't like Tong Liya's acting, Jerry Yan really knew how to carry out the part and I would say he really matches Qin Han's debonair acting. This one was a sadder version of Next Stop Happiness. The same element that appeared here was guy gets girl pregnant, the child comes back later and he discovers his true feelings for the girl. However this whole script felt like Qiong Yao wrote it with all the fillers. Li Zhongmou (Jerry Yan) is stuck in a love triangle with worse, his own half-brother Xiang Jun (Denny Huang)... and Li Zhongmou was a premarital child of his father. Zhongmou hates his father and younger half-brother, it gets complicated all because Wu Tong (the leading lady) gets stuck in between the half-brothers. There's much of the complicated history of the dysfunctional family. I felt thoughEsther Liu should have played Wu Tong instead. Compared to Last Night of Madame Chin, I wasn't all that ready to tear my heart here even if there's a lot of teary eyed scenes. I really started to cry whenever everything started to fall apart but things got better in the end.
At the Dolphin Bay
I consider this TV series to be pretty sad and while I didn't cry in Lavender, I really cried in this one. Believe me, I cried buckets at the beginning especially that Tianbian's biological mother in spite of her scandalous relationship (which I think she might have been the ex-girlfriend of Tianbian's father) and later, Tianbian had no idea who she really was nor the fact she was the love child of her father and she has a half-sister and stepmother. I cried at the beginning when it came to her meeting Zerya and how they were separated. Now I did have my biases especially I came to hate Zerya for stupid reasons and I was rooting for Hsiaokang... because in the real life, I had a rival who looks like Zerya and we both fought for a girl who looks like Tianbian but that's just the sidestory and no, she wasn't anybody's illegitimate child, she was a normal shy quiet girl. But still you can't deny all the sad plots exist especially when the Xu family must learn to let go of hatred, Shanni getting leukemia (a repetition of her father's death) and the main love triangle that made me bang my head at the end of it! Most of my tears were pretty personal reasons anyway and I was crying like a Looney Tunes character because I'm reminded of my defeat in real life.
Starlit
Jerry Yan playing in a serious role here really brought tears to my eyes and Terri Kwan knew how to act her part as Xiao Lu. Now I always wish that Barbie Xu would have been better but at least Terri Kwan was able to deliver her part. I always felt this drama was a fight against destiny in real life... trying to fight for a better tomorrow. Jerry Yan plays an aspiring pianist named Cheng Yue who saves a girl, loses his career and starts to choose his own path. I really cried whenever Xiao Lu was facing death due to her incurable condition, she wants to face her death bravely. The worse part was when Cheng Yue wanted to give Xiao Lu's final moments the best she can. So what's the reality? So they do end up together but only for three days... then wow. Really, how cruel can fate be? I always felt like tearing off my heart whenever I think of this series.
Last Night of Madame Chin
Based on the novel by Pai Hsuen Yung but the style was similar to Qiong Yao's writing. At first, I thought this was written by Qiong Yao with the extended melodrama, the female protagonist suffering psychological suffering for the sake of love and taking place in 1940s Shanghai (similar to Romance in the Rain). I also considered the typical bar hostess/rich guy romance was very common in older novels and not just Qiong Yao. Who knows... maybe Qiong Yao influenced Pai Hsuen Yung for all we know. I almost didn't want to finish this melodrama because of all the tears that I cry per episode and yes, this one made me cry a lot more than Dolphin Bay. Vic Chou and Fan Bingbing made a good on-screen couple so I was wondering why didn't they get paired after this for other Qiong Yao type dramas?
Next Stop Happiness
While I'm not a huge fan of Vanness Wu but I am a fan of Ady An. I felt like Ady An knew how to play the idiotic Mucheng so well, as she was trying to repress her feelings for her boyfriend Guangxi who came into her life six years later. In spite of all the predictable stories like leave the arranged fiance for your former girlfriend, I still cried a lot of tears. Mucheng's really tragic background where she lived with her stepmother/maternal aunt and that she was sexually molested by her uncle by marriage was so depressing. Another part that I felt like crying was during the time Guangxi discovered he had a son and that his ex-girlfriend hid her away. He goes back to his ex-girlfriend and things get complicated or when Guangxi's mother actually starts to soften up from her years of being a cold bitch. Fortunately the story ended well or I might have shot myself!
Romance In The Rain (2001 version)
It's the lighter version of the tragic novel but still, I can't help but cry. I know this version was pretty weak in terms of acting but I still cried. Vicki Zhao may not be as good as Liu Xuehua but Kou Zhenhai's acting of Lu Zhenhua was really badass. I felt sorry for Yiping when she was whipped by her ruthless father and her mother was the eighth ex-wife, her stepmother was a bitch and she vowed to have her revenge. Now I don't like this version of Shuhuan and man, Jerry Yan should have been Shuhuan here! But still, the dysfunctional nature of the Lus was really something I think about especially Zhenhua's multiple divorces. I also cried for Erjie because he never realized he was the genetic product of an extramarital affair between his mom Wang Xueqin and his real father Wei Guangxiong, all the while he grew up believing that his father was Zhenhua. Good thing that things started to turn out okay like Mengping maturing from her near death incident, Erhao realizing he was the jerk of the century for most of the show, Ruping got over Shuhuan and the happy ending after a season of tears.
Romance In The Rain (1986 version)
I decided to check out the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain to compare it with the 2001 version and this one made me really cry even harder because the acting was so well-done. My reasons for having cried better was because Qin Han really knew how to act Shuhuan out and Liu Xuehua was pretty much Barbie Xu's 80s counterpart. Vicki Zhao didn't hold much of a candle to Liu Xuehua as Yiping and having Leo Ku as Shuhuan was a real weakness. I always felt like the feel Liu Xuehua had in acting as Yiping whose father Zhenhua was a retired general with eight ex-wives and he's living with his ninth wife while Yiping and her mother (the eighth ex-wife) have to beg for money. The scenes here were more emotionally done with a perfect combination. While I preferred Wang Lin as Xueqin but Gu Yin could still act and combined with Liu Xuehua and Qin Han, it really created the intended melodramatic atmosphere. Should I mention that in here, Ruping actually committed suicide? When it happened, I really felt sorry for Xueqin no matter how much I hated her because of that scene. At the same time, I also felt like I was watching Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu as Shuhuan and Yiping while watching this version. In the end, Shuhuan decided to return to Yiping to help her get over the tragedy of Ruping's death.
Loving, Never Forgetting
While I really don't like Tong Liya's acting, Jerry Yan really knew how to carry out the part and I would say he really matches Qin Han's debonair acting. This one was a sadder version of Next Stop Happiness. The same element that appeared here was guy gets girl pregnant, the child comes back later and he discovers his true feelings for the girl. However this whole script felt like Qiong Yao wrote it with all the fillers. Li Zhongmou (Jerry Yan) is stuck in a love triangle with worse, his own half-brother Xiang Jun (Denny Huang)... and Li Zhongmou was a premarital child of his father. Zhongmou hates his father and younger half-brother, it gets complicated all because Wu Tong (the leading lady) gets stuck in between the half-brothers. There's much of the complicated history of the dysfunctional family. I felt thoughEsther Liu should have played Wu Tong instead. Compared to Last Night of Madame Chin, I wasn't all that ready to tear my heart here even if there's a lot of teary eyed scenes. I really started to cry whenever everything started to fall apart but things got better in the end.
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