Top 10 best Chinese dramas 2018 with the high scores on Douban

• Cast: Zhao Liying, Feng Shaofeng
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 8.0

The Story of Ming Lan, based on the novel written by Guan Xin Ze Luan, follows the concubine-born 6th child of the Sheng household from her childhood into adulthood. Ming Lan first meets Gu Ting Ye, the 2nd son of the Gu Family, as his rival in a game of Touhu, but when she encounters him again in a time of need he goes to great lengths to help her. This dynamic plays out on a grander scale when they meet again as adults. Both Ming Lan and Ting Ye are unfavored children who suffer as a result of internal scheming in their households. Ming Lan adapts by learning to hide her talents, spirit, and intelligence, while Ting Ye, long painted as a scoundrel, decides to live recklessly. Yet they each have a rare gift of foresight. Through cunning schemes and daring endeavors, they both rise in position and work to obtain justice from those that have wronged them. Together they shape the new Emperor's regime and work to sow and harvest a bright future.

• Cast: Wang Kai, Tong Yao
• Genre: drama
• Douban Points: 8.9

Song Yunhui is highly intelligent but he has always been discriminated against due to his background. He grabs the chance to take the exams in 1978 and successfully becomes a qualified technician. However, just as he builds a foundation for his career, he also begins to lose himself in his thirst to climbs the ranks.

Completely different from Song Yunhui is his brother-in-law Lei Dongbao. Being raised in a poor family, he is the typical rough and gruff man from the rural village. During the time of economic reform, he becomes a leader that the other villagers look up to, yet his lack of education ultimately impedes his initial motivations.

Yang Xun on the other hand brings a different set of encounters. He aspires to be a self-made man as he rides the tide of change to find business opportunities, thus embarking on a road to becoming an entrepreneur.

• Cast: Wu Jinyan, Qin Lan
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 7.2

A story revolving around a palace maid with a plucky attitude, street smarts, and a good heart as she maneuvers the dangers in the palace to become a concubine of Emperor Qian Long.

During the 6th year of the Qian Long's reign, Wei Ying Luo finds her way to the Forbidden City as a palace maid to investigate the truth behind her older sister's death. She vows to exact justice after learning that Hong Zhou is connected to the case. The kind and gentle Empress Xiao Xian Chun worries that Wei Ying Luo would tread on a path of no return, so she does everything in her power to help Ying Luo and to be her pillar of support. Under the Empress' guidance, Ying Luo becomes a female official and starts to let go of her hatred. However, the Empress dies an untimely death. Misunderstandings arise between Ying Luo and Emperor Qian Long yet they eventually learn to see eye to eye and to find comfort in each other inside the palace that is full of intrigue and conspiracy.

• Cast: Chen Shu, Lei Jiayin
• Genre: spy, comedy
• Douban Points: 7.9

1935, Peace Hotel: Mysterious guests gamble their lives during ten days. In 1935, when Manchuria has been occupied, patriot Wang Da Ding investigates an opium cream that is supposed to enter the market soon, and checks into the Peace Hotel. There he meets the returnee patriot from overseas and doctor Chen Jia Ying. While Jia Ying studied medicine in Japan, she found out that Japan is currently testing biological weapons in Manchuria in order to speed up their invasion of China. She now cooperates with the anti-Japanese squad, who is trying to locate the laboratories of the Japanese, and helps them with her medical knowledge. However, the Peace Hotel has already been encircled by the Japanese. In order to avoid being investigated by them, the two strangers Da Ding and Jia Ying pretend to be a married couple. A battle of wits between the two and the Japanese ensues.

• Cast: Zhou Xun, Wallace Huo
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 7.4

The road to becoming an empress is paved with treachery. Ruyi (Zhou Xun) is a consort who quickly learns to navigate the treacherous politics of the the royal court and move up the ranks.

After becoming Empress, Ruyi still must survive the many conspiracies against her. Her relationship with Emperor Qianlong (Wallace Huo) becomes eroded even when Ruyi is able to overcome the challenges.

Can Ruyi maintain her role as Empress under such difficult circumstances?

“Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace” is a 2018 Chinese drama series directed by Wang Jun. It is adapted from the novel Hou Gong Ru Yi Zhuan by Liu Lianzi and is a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2011 television drama “Empresses in the Palace.”

• Cast: Liu Chang, Mei Ting
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 7.7

Meng Nan just returned from oversea in search of a patient, which led him to an isolated mental institution. As he interns there along with Mu Si Fan, they start to find out about secrets of people.

• Cast: Yang Zi, Deng Lun
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 7.7

In ancient times, the Flower Goddess dies after giving birth to a daughter. Before she passed, she fed her daughter the Unfeeling Pill, ordered her subordinates to keep the girl’s birth story a secret and to imprison her within Shui Jing for 10,000 years. The girl’s name is Jin Mi.

4,000 years later, the Heavenly Emperor’s second son, Xu Feng, was entrapped by someone and mistakenly entered Shui Jing. He was saved by the ignorant Jin Mi. After living together for 100 years, Xu Feng gradually developed feelings for Jin Mi. Someone close to them wants to use those feelings for their own benefit

• Cast: Chen Kun, Ni Ni
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 8.3

Feng Zhi Wei is the unfavored illegitimate daughter of the Qiu Family, who is then banished from the clan after being falsely accused of a crime. Zhi Wei cross-dresses as a man to attend the prestigious Qingming Academy and stuns the world with her talent and knowledge. She remains loyal and honest to the reigning Emperor during the princes’ fight for the throne, yet soon finds out she is the only surviving royalty of a fallen kingdom. Manipulated into thinking that the current dynasty was built upon the corpses of her loved ones, Zhi Wei ultimately decides to take revenge against her enemies, including her lover Ning Yi. Will they be able to put their vengeance behind them and live a life without hatred?

• Cast: Ma Yuan, Tong Lei
• Genre: family
• Douban Points: 7.5

After suffering from a devastating calamity due to the earthquake, the story set in Tangshan is an emotional journey about two households, three generations and nine people with different last names who come to form a family.

In the year 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake suddenly struck and buried Wang Da Ming and his wife beneath a pile of rubble. After six days and seven nights, Wang Da Ming is saved and upon gaining consciousness, he learns that his wife who was pregnant at the time and his father did not survive. Everywhere he looks, every household in the neighborhood grieves the loss of a family member.

Wang Daming lives his days unable to recover from the incident when Yang Ai walks into his life. She is an ordinary worker for a ceramic factory. Yang Ai is orphaned. Her older sister also lost her family during the earthquake except for her youngest son who is mute. Because of their meeting, Wang Da Ming and Yang Ai gradually become family to each other and they try to pick up the pieces to make a new home.

• Cast: Liu Haoran, Huang Xiaoming
• Genre: costume, romance
• Douban Points: 8.5

Xiao Ping Zhang and Xiao Ping Jing are the talented sons of Xiao Ting Sheng, the Prince of Changlin and general of the Liang dynasty’s most powerful army. Ping Zhang is the eldest and heir of Changlin, while Ping Jing is carefree and receives teachings from the the master of Langya Hall in the jianghu.

The Changlin Manor exists, first and foremost, for the people of Da Liang. They are greatly respected and trusted by the current and past emperor and they act with high integrity and loyalty to the country. However, there are those who worry that the Changlin Manor is gaining too much power and favour, and there are those with old grudges to repay. As such, shadowy plots battle once again with righteous conduct in this sequel, as familial ties, moral values, ambition, and coming of age themes take the protagonists through a tumultuous road to finding oneself