Jing Boran's The Early Spring Ranks Only 4th on Netflix's Top 10 Chinese Dramas of 2026

Jing Boran's workplace romance The Early Spring was one of the most talked-about Chinese dramas to hit Netflix this year, yet it wound up settling for fourth place. Topping the field instead is a cold-case thriller pairing veteran actor Pan Yueming with heartthrob-turned-dramatic lead Wang Hedi. Light to the Night closed out the summer atop a crowded field of costume romances, palace mysteries and urban melodramas, according to user ratings on Douban, the Chinese review platform widely treated as the industry's most closely watched gauge of audience sentiment.

The ranking covers Chinese-language series that premiered between January 1 and September 12, 2026, were available on Netflix, and had accumulated a Douban score by that date. Ties were broken in favor of the title with more ratings on file. None of the 10 dramas broke into the 8-point range that Chinese audiences typically reserve for a genuine hit, suggesting this year's slate leaned toward reliably watchable rather than exceptional.

At the bottom of the list is Ashes to Crown, a reincarnation revenge drama starring Chen Duling as a general's daughter who claws her way back after being reborn at the turning point of her own downfall, with Zhou Yiran as an ally drawn into the same court intrigue. The series scored 4.9 on Douban.

Viewers who left low marks mostly pointed to the palace politics, calling the power struggles simplistic for a plot built around a scheming, once-doomed heroine. Others said the story moved too quickly, letting Chen Duling's character resolve one crisis after another before her arc had time to develop. Her period costuming, at least, won consistent praise.

One rung up, at 5.2, is The Epoch of Miyu, led by Wallace Chung and Zhu Zhu as a hotel executive and the newly divorced homemaker who joins his staff after her decade-long marriage collapses. Reviewers responded warmly to Zhu Zhu's performance, praising her fit for a mature, city-dwelling character rebuilding her footing. But some felt the show's premise softened into familiar romantic-drama beats once the love story took over from what had started as a more grounded look at midlife divorce.

Veil of Shadows, an ensemble fantasy about humans and spirits sharing an enchanted world, casts Ju Jingyi opposite Zeng Shunxi as investigators pulled into a string of supernatural cases tied to their own hidden pasts. The series scored 5.4, with viewers crediting its production design, including elaborate costuming, lighting and creature effects, as the show's strongest asset. Critics were less convinced by the writing, with one widely shared review describing the series as a lavish shell wrapped around hollow characters, arguing its multiple story threads left little room for the cast to develop.

Ju Jingyi appears a second time in the rankings with The Eternal Fragrance, at 5.8, opposite Song Weilong in a xianxia romance about a fox-spirit orphan and the young cultivator whose fates become entangled through a mythical tree at the center of a three-realm conflict. Song Weilong's shift from a gentle, sickly persona early on to a more commanding presence later drew notice from fans, as did Ju Jingyi's lighter, more playful early scenes. Detractors said the plot recycled well-worn xianxia tropes, including hidden identities, warring clans and doomed love, without adding much new to the formula.

Dazzling, at 5.9, follows Guan Xiaotong as a teenager uprooted by family upheaval and relocated to a small town, where she ends up sharing a home with Li Yunrui's aimless young drifter. Audiences responded to the naturalistic chemistry between the two leads and the show's patience in laying out each character's domestic struggles before pushing them toward romance. The most common complaint was pacing, with several viewers saying the midsection dragged as repetitive conflicts wore down the momentum the early episodes had built.

Pursuit of Jade, scoring 6.4, stars Tian Xiwei as a butcher's daughter supporting her younger sister after their parents' deaths, and Zhang Linghe as a disgraced marquis who hides his identity after she rescues him from a snowbound field. Their marriage of convenience carries the story from a modest alley life toward war and court politics once his true rank, and her own path to the battlefield, come into focus. Early episodes drew praise for the leads' screen chemistry and the show's wintry visual style; reception cooled in the back half, when several viewers said the plot thinned out and supporting characters existed mainly to serve the central romance.

The Early Spring, at 6.7, casts Sun Qian as a young professional new to Beijing and Jing Boran as the advertising executive who becomes her supervisor, tracking a relationship that survives years of career setbacks and personal friction after crossing the line from boss and employee. Fans singled out the way the two leads conveyed years of accumulated feeling through pauses and glances rather than dialogue. Some readers of the novel it is based on said the adaptation smoothed over sharper, more morally ambiguous edges from the source material, and found the drama's advertising-agency setting overly polished.

Lady Liberty, tied at 6.8 with the next entry on this list, stars Tang Yan as a Shanghai professional navigating work, friendship and romance, adapted from Hong Kong author Yi Shu's novel Single Woman. Zhao Youting, also known by his English stage name Mark Chao, plays the man whose path repeatedly crosses hers. Viewers praised Tang Yan for playing a character who sets her own boundaries rather than waiting on others to decide her future. Detractors called the series emotionally flat, arguing that despite frequent conversations about love and marriage, few moments carry real dramatic weight.

Unveil: Jadewind, also scoring 6.8, opens with a princess's death during a lantern festival banquet in the Tang dynasty and follows Bai Lu's palace investigator and Wang Xingyue's court astrologer as they untangle a case that reaches back 15 years. Viewers responded to the pairing of Bai Lu's combat-driven instincts with Wang Xingyue's analytical approach, and to how the show's individual cases build toward a single unifying mystery. The most frequent criticism was that several cases resolved too quickly after being introduced, leaving little room for viewers to work out the clues themselves.

At the top of the list, Light to the Night earned a 7.0 on the strength of its central partnership: Pan Yueming as a veteran homicide detective and Wang Hedi, also known as Dylan Wang, as his inexperienced new partner, reopening a 1997 disappearance in which a woman vanished from an elevator in front of her own father. Viewers repeatedly praised Pan Yueming's understated performance, saying his character's exhaustion and doggedness came through in small expressions rather than exposition, while Wang Hedi's arc from rookie officer to a more seasoned investigator registered as one of the more convincing transformations among this year's Chinese dramas. Aging apartment blocks, period-accurate production design and a moody score reinforced the dread running through the central mystery.

All 10 dramas are streaming on Netflix outside China, giving Taiwanese viewers and other subscribers across the region a direct look at the mainland shows currently driving the most discussion on Chinese social media.

Original Article In Chinese （Related： Zhang Linghe Tops C-Drama Fan Poll Ahead of Jing Boran and Yang Yang ｜ Latest ）