The Weird Ways of Cdrama (AKA I watched a Chinese TV Show)

I did it. I finally watched a TV show from the country I actually live in, instead of one from South Korea. On viki.com, I stumbled upon “One and a Half Summer,” which proved to be light, fluffy, and rather boring. But, I did learn about Chinese language and culture! So it wasn’t a waste.

“One and a Half Summer” is a Chinese show, but it has ties to Korea via kpop. One of the lead actors is Nichkhun, a member of kpop boy group 2PM, and a side character is played by Jia of Miss A. At first I was like “Wow! So many Koreans in this show!” until I realized that neither Nichkhun nor Jia are ethnically Korean. Jia is Chinese, and Nicky is… uh… Thai? Chinese? American? According to Wikipedia, he’s lived all over the world, but didn’t make it to Korea until the kpop machine found him and shipped him over. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even speak Mandarin when filming this drama, but more on that later.

As for the plot, not a lot happened. Mostly the drama centers on a group of friends at university and their attempts to form a band. Essentially, I got to watch 29 episodes of oblivious college kids all liking different people. Best Friend likes Straight-A Guy, Straight-A Guy likes Bread Girl, Bread Girl likes the American, the American likes the Cellist, and the Cellist is undecided, but she has a parent-picked fiancé. And I pretty much just ruined the drama for you. Sorry, not-sorry.

On to the interesting stuff I noticed/learned! One of the weirdest things about drama-style Chinese TV shows is how some of them are dubbed. And I don’t mean that the show I happened to watch was dubbed into English so I could understand it. I mean, in general, Chinese rom coms involve actors speaking Chinese on set, and then they dub the entire movie/show… in Chinese. And it’s noticeable. I squinted at my screen and thought, Why do their voices sound weird? It’s because their voices aren’t their own and were recorded in a separate, magical room.

Why?? Why, China?? The only reasons I can find for the Chinese dubbing themselves in Chinese are: 1. This saves money and hassle from having high-tech sound equipment on set. 2. The Mandarin language has MANY dialects and accents, and instead of making actors conform to the Beijing standard, it’s easier to hire voice actors to do the talking for them. Literally.

For the most part, the voices you hear and the talking you see match up pretty well, but I am convinced that Nicky in “One and a Half Summer” was not speaking Mandarin on set. His mouth and his vocals did not match at all, and I spent several episodes trying to guess what language he was really speaking. (A testament to the dynamic plot of this show.)

As for language acquisition, I do think watching this show and reading the English subtitles helped my listening skills. I comprehend a bit more Chinese than I did previously. One of the interesting things about Mandarin is how there isn’t really a direct translation of the words yes and no. The primary way of saying no is “bu shi” (meaning “is not”) or “mayo.” Mayo literally means “don’t have” (with no ties to mayonnaise). Thus I read mayo translated as no, nothing, none, and a bunch of other variations… The nerd in me found this really interesting…

I’ve heard that the Chinese like sad endings, and after watching “One and a Half Summer” I can say that’s kind of true. Nicky’s character, the ABC exchange student, had to – shocker – go back to America at the end of the term. Which resulted in some serious unresolved romantic tension and the whole cast crying at one point or another in the final episode.

Since I’ve pretty much spoiled the entire plot for you by this point, might as well keep going. In kdrama, the ultimate ending usually involves the poor girl dating/marrying the rich bad boy, leaving good-guy second male lead forever alone. But in cdrama, apparently the best ending involves two handsome men falling for one undeserving girl, who then… doesn’t pick one, but leaves both of them to follow her around endlessly. Unrealistic and cruel. I saw this same ending in a Chinese movie, which I happened to watch while on a bus for several hours. It was miraculously subtitled in both Chinese and English, it was also dubbed, and I also don’t recommend it.

One of the cultural aspects displayed in this drama is how Chinese people don’t thank those close to them. In America, we say “thank you” all the time to everyone, whether they are a waiter or my soul mate, whether they passed the salt or saved my life. However, in China, it’s as if polite words are for strangers, and close friends and family are so familiar with one another that those words aren’t necessary. The few times people thanked each other in “One and a Half Summer,” the other person responded with “don’t thank me.” Maybe this is why when I thank my students in English, they sometimes respond with “no thanks.” (Or maybe I just need to teach them “you’re welcome”…)

Wow, for such a mediocre show, this is a really long post. Yay for interesting culture and language stuff! If anyone knows of a quality Chinese show, please recommend it! I’m so ready to watch a show that I will actually like. Or maybe everything’s just downhill after such perfection as “Secret Garden” and “Man From the Stars.”