Perfect Match

While loving my deep dive into k-dramas, I had not yet found a Chinese series to my taste until stumbling across this one. It was so good that when I finished the last of the 36 (yes, 36 full-length!) episodes, I went back to the beginning and started all over again.

The writing and the acting were both top-notch If I had a quibble, it would be that the spoiled character of the youngest daughter began to become grating towards the end.

Because there are 5 daughters, a foster daughter plus their eventual husbands, not even counting the mother and various side characters, there are a LOT of people to keep straight. I appreciate how well the personalities were revealed and developed, making the series a rich and satisfying experience.

Would love to see more dramas like this.

Set during the early period of Imperial China, about a mother and her five daughters who move to a respectable noble town and open a fancy tea shop, going up against Master Chai and his elegant restaurant. In between all the squabbles, the Mother Li attempts to find suitable suitors for her daughters, but competition is tough with expensive dowries out of their reach. It is a decent Chinese soap drama with lavish production values, amazing traditional hairdos, and gorgeous slow motion shots of loving stares and admiration between the sexes. A bit amateurish in the set-up, but be patient as it kicks in midway of episode 2, and vastly improves by end of three as the Master and third daughter have something brewing. The five sisters have the Jane Austen's about them (as does the story - Pride and Prejudice), and are enjoyable feisty ladies with modern sensibilities in this enjoyable and campy Chinese TV soap drama...

Far better than a lot of Western productions on Netflix right now, rife with unpleasant profanity and vulgarity.

British period dramas when well done ( not including the more recent adaptations of P&P and Persuasion) are the gold standard of entertainment for me. My first Chinese period drama and I was enchanted by this perfectly lovely adaptation of Pride and Prejudice! The reviews are unjust, signally failing to appreciate the depths of thought that has gone into this delightful, elegant and very beautiful production!

The costumes, decor, houses, hair and delicate beauty of just everything including the food blew me away. This was rather a fascinating lesson in chinese culture and social history.

Bowing and a bob( in the case of women)approaching a curtsey as a form of polite greeting in company seems to have been common to such disparate cultures separated by continents.

The characters have a depth, grace and elegance not commonly seen on TV these days.

Mrs. Li is actually a more likable and complex character than Mrs. Bennet. AND I have read JA's books atleast 5 times over in the course of 40 years.

The third daughter is as spirited and likable as Elizabeth and the Eldest daughter was very Jane like and certainly more resourceful.

The interiors with their occupants were so reminiscent of Vermeer & De Hooch, I had to keep pausing to take it all in.

Even the hair styles were reminiscent of regency fashions. All in all enjoyable and relaxing; as delicate as the calligraphy or paintings of hokusai..

In my opinion this TV show has an interesting setting with a family full of woman and their mother trying to find husbands for her daughters.

Especially the woman in the family and their "helpers" are very good actors. The mother is just great and being so enotional she is really great at expressing her emotions.

There are a few characters which might be a bit overacting, espacially in moments which are supposed to be funny. This maybe might be a bit too much, but I think it is a common thing in chinese series.

There are a lot of sympathic characters also among the "potencial" husbands.

In my opinion it is a very good mixture of comedy and a bit of drama too. Without becoming to esagerately dramatic like many other Chinese series, luckily. Therefore it is always entertaining and I'm waiting each day for the episode being published the next day to continue watching it!

Of course there are a few typical moments too, for which you would say them to be unrealistic and in which people in reality would just clearly talk with each other and clarify them. Where you sit there and just say; come on! Just tell her! Or tell him what you think! But to create artificially more drama they don't. But those are just small things in the overall great and entertaining series!

-> If you aren't a person who wants to have a fully logical series and who says that is not realistic for each single thing, but if you just want to have fun and to be entertained, this will be the right series for you.

From me a full recommendation!

A mother with five daughters doing all that she can so her children can prosper. Enemies to lovers, plenty of drama, twists and turns. Amazing sets, beautiful costumes, hairstyles and adornments. Perfectly chaste with so much expression through the characters' fine eyes. Each daughter has a well-defined character and the familial love between them is one of the best parts of the show, they are resilient and look after one another no matter what. I'm obsessed and eagerly await each new episode. If you like period love stories, this is the one for you! A wonderful experience for my first c-drama!!