When it comes to Chinese drama, they are not only based on the romance genre but also try to focus on other genres like suspense and thriller. Be it payback, redemption, and that oh-so-satisfying ending that leaves all feeling both moved and gratified. If this is what you are looking to watch, this is the perfect list for you. Here’s the list of the best Chinese dramas about revenge and betrayal, which will keep you on edge from the start.
1. Provoke
Provoke is a thriller romance Chinese drama released in 2023, starring Daisy Li, Wang Ruo Lin, and Zhao Yi Qin. Jiang Yin is a local club singer who started to be linked with Du Jing Chuan, a local entertainment mogul. No one knows that the woman is faking her occupation, instead of loving raptures, and wants to get close to him to take revenge for the harm done to her family. While carrying out her plan, the son of her nemesis, Du Xun Yu, stands in her way. However, he isn't the person who died. Soon they connect their goal and join forces, and what they don't expect is that, they will also be bound by love.
2. The Forbidden Woman
The Forbidden Woman is a fantasy romance drama released in 2022, starring Zhao An Di and Huang Xin. Xiang Wei is a prodigy in finance who dared to love but was cheated on after the joint betrayal by her sister and husband. She then inexplicably travels to the parallel world, by using her superb businessman understanding so that she can perfectly counterattack and take her revenge. In the field of betrayal and love, what kind of changes will her thorny journey have?
3. City Of Streamer
City of Streamer is a historical thriller released in 2022. It is set in the beginning of the 20th century, in the Shanghai Shores, where the influential Rong family, using their wealth, abuse their powers to commit crimes. Feng Shi Zhen to uphold justice decides to embark on the journey of revenge. She sneaks into the Rong family, becoming the tutor of Rong Jia Shang, the young master. While testing and using each other, she finds herself for him. When the truth of the grievances and injustice that had happened 20 years ago, they work together to reveal the truth.
4. The Long Ballad
The Long Ballad is a historical drama released in 2021, starring Leo Wu, Liu Yuning, Dilraba Dilmurat, and Zhao Lusi. The story is based on the year 626 C.E. when the Tang Dynasty faced upheaval after the success of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, a coup orchestrated by a cunning prince. During this, Li Chang Ge’s family gets slaughtered, but she somehow manages to escape. She avenges her family and raises an army to challenge Tai Zong, the new emperor. However, this takes an unexpected turn when she is defeated by the Eastern Turkic Khaganate forces. Her conqueror, General Ashile Sun, keeps her as a strategist as they form a military partnership.
5. Please Give Me A Pair Of Wings
Please Give Me a Pair of Wings is a period suspense drama released in 2019. Lin Jiuge, the daughter of Shanggu’s Police Commissioner, is framed and imprisoned unjustly for killing her father. With the help of Long Tianyu, a young police detective, she is trying to find the real murderer. She also has a dream to build an all-girl school to improve the fate of all women and her budding friendship with her female cell-mates. Will she be able to get her revenge?
6. Circle Of Love
Gu Meng on her wedding day loses everything, both fortune and family due to a fire that she believes was started by Hong Ye, her soon-to-be husband. Years later she decided to take revenge, but it backfires. When she tries to attack, she gets in an accident, which makes her lose her memory. After not knowing who she is, Meng is forced to be a servant at Hong Ye’s estate. Hong Ye does everything to destroy and humiliate her, but the longer he does it, he gets romantically and emotionally attached to her once again.
7. Bride’s Revenge
Bride’s Revenge is a romance drama released in 2023, starring Qu Meng Ru, Vincent Wei, and Dai Gao Zheng. Ye Qing Lan is the only daughter of the second branch of the Ye family, framed by the elder young master of the Mu family. To wash away the bad luck she becomes an unwilling bride, which ensues in revenge. Ye Qing Lan from now on has to fight scumbags, green tea bitches, and an evil mother-in-law.
8. Fall In Love
Mu Wan Qing, in the year of 1926, brings her mom’s ashes back to China for burial. While pretending to be surrendering to her father, her primary motive is to find out why they had separated and how her brother died. Meanwhile, Tan Xuan Lian becomes the new commander of troops, but even after gaining this new authority, he is walking on thin ice. The commander’s son, Xu Guang Yao, is a man admired and revered by many. He however dislikes the power struggle in the political field. These three meet and befriend each other. To secure her foot in the Mu family, she gets close to Xu Guang Yao. Meanwhile, Tan Xuan works with her to investigate an old case that is related to the Mu family.
9. The Great Craftsman
At the start of the 1920s, military conflicts resulted in unbearable conditions. During this chaos, Shen Qi Nan’s family is experiencing terrible misfortune. His father is killed after being entangled in a smuggling case, and his mother falls into danger during her escape. The four sisters and brothers overcome many hurdles to flee to Shanghai but are forced to get separated. Years later, they will reunite. Shen Qi made a name by being a famous real estate developer. He meets a gifted architect, Fu Han Jun who puts the needs of people and Chinese traditional architecture at the heart of her designs.
10. Maid’s Revenge
Dong Ting Yao’s entire family in a single night is wiped out in a massacre. Right before her father died, he told her to take refuge at Fang Yu Ze’s, her unseen fiance. His uncle who is the warlord and the governor, along with his troop enters the house and makes her believe that he was behind the murder, and holds her captive. She however manages to escape and comes back only to find that her position was taken by Dong Yan Er, her half-sister.
