Admit it; any youth or coming-of-age drama is better when the producer throws some campus romance into the storyline.
If you are looking for Chinese campus romance dramas to watch, here are 10 of KajoMag’s suggestions:
1.Your Highness, The Class Monitor (2019)
Su Nian Nian (Xing Fei) wants to go to top universities in big cities like Beijing University and Tsinghua University. But due to an accident on her way to university admission examination, she fails to enter the university she wanted.
She has to settle for a predominantly male engineering university. Things get complicated around her after she is appointed as the class monitor and come across Gu Zi Chen (Niu Jun Feng). Nian Nian strongly believes Zi Chen is the one who caused her accident. After constant bickering and getting on each others’ nerves, they eventually fall in love.
Basically, the campus romance in this drama is a love-hate relationship. Plus, there is a lot of push-pulls that at one point gets tiring to watch.
Putting aside the love story, the drama touches on some relatable themes, like how women need to work harder to prove themselves when choosing a career dominated by men. Or how some fields like engineering are gender-stereotyped, and can only be pursued by the male species.
2.Put Your Head on My Shoulder (2019)
Starring Xing Fei and Lin Yi, this drama is based on Zhao Qianqian’s novel of the same name.
It circles around Situ Mo (Xing Fei), an accounting student who wants to work in the advertising industry.
As she tries to find her place in the world, circumstances put her to live in the same house with physics student Gu Weiyi (Lin Yi).
Though the drama marks Gu Weiyi’s television debut, his performance as an uptight, rigid science student is rather impressive.
Meanwhile, Xing Fei is definitely in her ‘zone’ as she takes another lead role in a Chinese campus romance drama. But we do hope that she will take more versatile roles in the future.
3.Love 020 (2016)
This campus romance story is between a senior and a junior student of computer science. Bei Weiwei (Zheng Shuang) the brain with the beauty of the computer science department, while her senior Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) is the cream of the crop in sports and academics. Together, they make the A-list couple of their university.
What makes this pair different from most couples in campus romance dramas is that there is no relationship drama between them.
There is no over-the-top jealousy fights, no crying over insecurities and no dramatic disapproved parent.
On top of this, the drama highlights the work that goes behind the scenes in the game development industry.
Watch the drama here on Youtube.
4.Stand By Me (2016)
Not every group of high school friends is lucky enough to continue studying together in the same university. This group of friends in Stand By Me (2016) is one of the few.
Lu Qiao (Wu Ye Ze), Zhong Bai (Xu Xiao Lu), and Ren Yi Fan (Yu Xiang) are close high school friends.
They meet new friends as they begin their college life at the same university.
Things should not get complicated when Lu Qiao falls in love with a new classmate.
However, they dk because Zhong Bai has had a crush on him since, like, forever. Hence, Ren Yi Fan has to step in to mediate between the two.
Oh well, what is a campus romance drama without a love triangle?
5.Proud of Love (2016)
Here is a campus romance drama with a dose of fantasy! Shen Xi is a dance major student who has a sweet, caring boyfriend named Lin Yu Tang.
Everything is normal until she swaps souls with an engineering student He Zhi Zhou from a nearby university.
So you have an engineering student stuck in a dancer’s body and a dancer caught in the life of an engineering student.
If you are into hilarious, manga-like drama, then this series is for you.
6.Beyond Light Years (2018)
Computer science or specifically game development has become the trendy course for many male leads in campus romance dramas over the years.
Meanwhile, the female lead is usually pursuing an artsy kind of course.
In this drama, the male lead is a computing major named Li Yu Chen who is cold but extremely intelligent (why are we not surprised?).
In the meantime, the leading female is Xia Xiao Ci who is bubbly and passionate about reading and writing.
Clearly, the two leading characters’ personalities clashes. Will they finally be together in the end or will continue to drift apart especially after graduating?
7.Where the Lost Ones Go (2017)
First of all, let us praise the cinematography of this drama. It is aptly artistically beautiful as the revolves around two art students.
Ye Zi is a major in Chinese art painting while Xiang Zei Yi majors in oil painting.
They engage ina whirlwind campus romance until Xiang Ze Yi leaves without a word.
So what happen when Xiang Zei Yi comes back into Ye Zi’s life years later? Will she pick up the pieces and forgive her first love?
8.One and Half Summer (2014)
For K-pop fans, this is the Chinese campus romance drama that you need to watch. It stars Nickhun, a Thai member of K-pop group 2PM.
But wait, since when did Nickhun speak Mandarin? He doesn’t, somebody else does a voice over for his character.
Nickhun plays Zhang Hao, a Chinese American who come to China from New York just to find a mysterious woman whom he meets during a vacation in Greece.
Then, he meets her at Nanyang University where the two subsequently fall in love with one another.
9.My Sunshine (2015)
When two college sweethearts meet each other again seven years after they broke up, will they rekindle their old flame?
The drama starts with a predictable storyline; a girl falls in love at first sight with a boy on campus. They date and a third party comes into the picture to ruin their love.
In a classic romance drama move, the girl gets upset so she moves to another country.
If only real people like us have that luxury to move to another country every time our hearts get broken.
10.Suddenly This Summer (2018)
This slice-of-life drama feels realistic and somehow relatable to most of us. The 30-episode series divides into 10 episodes during high school time, 10 episodes at campus and the last 10 with the characters in adulthood.
Unlike the campus romances on this list, the couple ends up going to different universities in two different cities because that is the reality for some us who date during university. You juggle between your campus life and a long distance relationship.
