Chasing Dramas Podcast By Karen and Cathy cover art

Chasing Dramas

Chasing Dramas

By: Karen and Cathy
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Karen and Cathy explain cultural and historical references episode by episode in popular Chinese historical dramas as well as Chinese pop culture news. The podcast is in English with proper nouns and phrases spoken in Mandarin Chinese. Currently, they are discussing Season 1 of Joy of Life. Completed dramas/movies include: The Story of Yanxi Palace, The Longest Day in Chang'An, The Story of Ming Lan, Empresses in the Palace, Royal Nirvana, Palace (2013 film), and Mulan (2020 Disney movie) among others.Karen and Cathy Art
Episodes
  • April 2026 - Chinese Drama Update - Love Beyond the Grave, Veil of Shadows and more!

    April 2026 - Chinese Drama Update - Love Beyond the Grave, Veil of Shadows and more!
    Apr 3 2026

    In March and April 2026, Dilraba Dilmurat stars in a Love Beyond the Grave alongside Chen Fei Yu as the 400 year old ruler of the spirit real. Ju Jing Yi faced a fierce battle with her agency right before her drama Veil of Shadows starring alongside Chen Du Ling, Zeng Shun Xi, and Tian Jia Rui aired. Zhou Ye starred in a 1980s drama Dream of Golden Years. Gong Jun and Ren Ming round out the month with a modern day drama Hold a Court Now. Listen to our latest episode on these dramas!


    We are headed to China! Please send us questions and requests as we head off to explore Heng Dian, the location where many period dramas were filmed!
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    18 mins
  • Joy of Life S2 - Ep 34 - Making an Entrance

    Joy of Life S2 - Ep 34 - Making an Entrance
    Mar 31 2026

    Fan Xian sees the corruption in JiangNan and the power the Ming family wields in the region and decides to make a powerful statement when he docks in Su Zhou
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    28 mins
  • In the Know - Hilarious Popularity Resurgences

    In the Know - Hilarious Popularity Resurgences
    Mar 28 2026

    In the last two weeks, 54 year old Qu Ying suddenly became popular again after her guest appearance on Papi Jiang's show. Her relaxed demeanor and hilarious stories took generated quite a stir on social media. Meanwhile, The Pursuit of Jade has been suffering a lot backlash on the portrayal of generals, leading to the unexpected popularity of He Run Dong for his portrayal of generals back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Listen to our latest podcast on the surprising and hilarious popularity resurgences in the last few weeks.

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    22 mins
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Most relevant
I'm a few episodes into the portion dealing with Empresses in the Palace, and I already know I'll listen. to the entire podcast -- likely more than once.

It's obvious that a significant amount of time and work went into each episode; the recaps often point out a previously missed detail that deepens my appreciation of the show, as do many of the explanations.

I already hope for two things: I hope you continue to add to this (Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace? The Story of Yanxi Palace?) and that after covering the episodes of these shows you consider themed episodes. I would love discussions of how the architecture affected the relationships, how food symbolized or reflected hierarchy, and all sorts of more specific subjects!

The early delivery seems a bit fast, but I think this podcast could blossom and be a perennial.

More, please!

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Love the show!!! Keep up the good work. I'm only Complaint is I need more episodes.

need more episodes Please!!!!

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Cathy and Karen are awesome podcasters. I love the recaps and historical explanations. So well researched. I’m addicted to listening.

So happy to have discovered you guys

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