Chinese Dramas, some Thoughts

Awhile back I began to watch Korean dramas, way way later than everyone else I knew. I had friends in 2006-2009 who were already watching and enjoying Korean Dramas, which were the easiest to find for US viewers at the time. I think I began to watch Korean ones first, via Netflix around 2017, probably later even. 

I also started watching some Chinese and Taiwanese drama on Netflix or YouTube (less frequently as the ad breaks annoyed me). 

Sometime last year we abandoned Netflix in our house, because the price had gone stupid, their policies were getting really annoying, and they were losing all the best shows to other streaming services. 

So, as a result of all of the above, I returned to YouTube which mainly showcases Chinese Dramas. I've watched dozens of long form classic style series, and then stumbled across Short Dramas which are kind of a niche thing.

Episodes range from 2-10 minutes apiece, the format is intended for view on mobile phones, so it's shot vertically. I stumbled into these by accident, as I had found a few gems of Dramas that happened to be the vertical screen format. 

The ones I watch are uploaded to the same half a dozen or so reliable channels where they make sure to provide a variety if subtitle languages, and they keep them uploaded for at least a few months which means I can save it to a playlist to enjoy again later. These channels condense the series into one long "movie" format, so a short drama series will be between 1.5-3.5 hours long for the complete series, depending on the original length of the series.

I had already been watching series condensed into movie forms. The frequent ad breaks in the middle of episodes and hrnw again between each episode was bothering me a whole lot. These condensed movies of full length Dramas would sometimes trim down things for full length (30-60min) episodes, to make the "movie version" fit within the confines of allowed upload lengths for YouTube rules. 

My early watches would have full long form series broken into three or four 3.5 hour chunks which was much easier to watch than 40 35minute episodes with commercials every 12 minutes (it felt like). 

Now I watch a drama between 1.5 hours and 3.5 hours with only half a dozen interruptions on average (for commercials). Sometimes even less. 

It's been a real game changer for me, and I discovered quite by accident that my long term, in depth exposure to both Korean and Chinese culture through my BJD hobby and Dramas, allowed me to be able to recognize Asian faces. 

I'm faceblind so being able to recognize anyone's face is a big deal, but I discovered my ability to CONSISTENTLY recognize Korean faces first, and with a little more observation found that ai could also reliably recognize Chinese faces, and to a lesser degree, Japanese faces. My exposure to Japenese culture was earlier (2003) but far less in depth than my exposure to both Korean and Chinese culture. 

My interest in historical Theology overlaps well with Chinese historical culture so I think I have the most broad knowledge there. All of this is long-winded and rambling but stuff I've been meaning to make note of for awhile.