“Rules” of Chinese Romance Teleplay

Nǐ kàn guò zhōngguó de àiqíng liánxùjù ma ？Jù zhōng nán nǚ zhǔjué de àiqíng gùshì shìfǒu ràng nǐ hěn xiànmù ne ？

你看过中国的爱情连续剧吗？剧中男女主角的爱情故事是否让你很羡慕呢？

Have you ever watched any Chinese romance teleplay? Are you envious about the romance story between the hero and the heroine? 

Dànshì ，zhèxiē àiqíng kàn duō le nǐ huì fāxiàn ，tāmen dōu shì yǒu tàolù de ，nàme jīntiān jiù ràng wǒ dài nǐ kàn kan zhōngguó àiqíng diànshì liánxùjù lǐ de nàxiē tàolù ba 。

但是，这些爱情看多了你会发现，他们都是有套路的。那么今天就让我带你看看中国爱情电视连续剧里的那些套路吧。

However, after many of such teleplays, you would found that they share some similar rules. Today, I’d like to show you what these rules are.

Rule 1

Yǒu qián de fùèrdài nánshēng ，yǒngyuǎn búhuì xǐhuan yǒu qián de fùèrdài nǚshēng ，tāmen wǎngwǎng xǐhuan píngfán kěài yòu dānchún de pǔtōng nǚshēng 。

有钱的富二代男生，永远不会喜欢有钱的富二代女生，他们往往喜欢平凡可爱又单纯的普通女生。

A rich 2nd-generation boy would always fall in love with a lovely and unsophisticated ordinary girl, rather than a rich 2nd-generation girl. 

Wéi shén me ？Yīnwéi dàjiā dōu xǐhuan kàn huīgūniang biàn gōngzhǔ de gùshì 。

为什么？因为大家都喜欢看灰姑娘变公主的故事。

Why? Because all the audience loves the Cinderella story in the world.

Rule 2

Zhǔjué nánguò de shíhòu ，yīdìng huì xià dà yǔ 。jiù suàn gāngcái hái shì qíngtiān ，zhǐ yào zhǔjué shāngxīn nánguò ，tiānqì jiù huì mǎshàng gǎibiàn ，ránhòu bǎ zhǔjué gěi lín shī 。

主角难过的时候，一定会下大雨。就算刚才还是晴天，只要主角伤心难过，天气就会马上改变，然后把主角给淋湿。

When the hero or heroine feels sad, it would surely be raining hard. As long as it’s the hero or heroine who feels sad, even the sunny weather would change suddenly into heavy rain to soak him or her.

Rule 3

Yǒu rén shòushāng de shíhòu ，dàjiā zǒng shì bào zhe tā shuō ：“nǐ búyào sǐ ！nǐ búhuì sǐ de ！”，dànshì què cónglái bú dǎ diànhuà jiào jiùhùchē ，yě bú sòng tā qù yīyuàn ，ránhòu nà gè rén jiù sǐ le 。

有人受伤的时候，大家总是抱着他说：“你不要死！你不会死的！”，但是却从来不打电话叫救护车，也不送他去医院，然后那个人就死了。

When one gets wounded, someone would hold him or her and keep sobbing, “Stay alive! You would not be dead!”, but without making the emergency call or sending him or her to the hospital. As the result, he or she dies.

Rule 4

Gǔdài de nǚshēng ，zhǐ yào bǎ tóufā bǎng qǐ lái ，chuān shàng nánshēng de yīfu ，ránhòu tiē gè xiǎo húzi ，rénmen jiù kàn bú chū lái tā shì nǚshēng 。Jiùsuàn nǐ zhīqián jiàn guò zhègè rén ，nǐ yě rèn bú chūlái 。

古代的女生，只要把头发绑起来，穿上男生的衣服，然后贴个小胡子，人们就看不出来她是女生。就算你之前见过这个人，你也认不出来。

One cannot tell an ancient girl is a girl as long as she ties up her hair, dress like a man and wears a mustache. Even if you saw her before, you would not have the possibility to recognize her.

Rule 5

Měicì nán nǚzhǔjué fāshēng wùhuì de shíhòu ，tāmen zǒngshì bú yuànyì jiěshì ，zhè yàng de huà wéi le jiěkāi wùhuì ，diànshìjù jiù néng duō pāi hǎo jǐ jí 。

每次男女主角发生误会的时候，他们总是不愿意解释，这样的话为了解开误会，电视剧就能多拍好几集。

Whenever the hero or heroine misunderstands each other, they won’t listen to the explanation by the other. In this way, it would take the teleplay multiple episodes to figure out the misunderstanding.

Rule 6

Rúguǒ zhǔjué shòu zhòng shāng ，nàme tā búhuì mǎshàng sǐ diào ，érqiě hái nénggòu shuō hǎo duō de huà 。Rúguǒ shòu zhòng shāng de búshì zhǔjué ，nàme zhè gè rén jīběn dāngchǎng jiù lìkè sǐ diào le 。

如果主角受重伤，那么他不会马上死掉，而且还能够说好多的话。如果受重伤的不是主角，那么这个人基本当场就立刻死掉了。

If the hero or heroine is seriously wounded, he or she would not die immediately before finishing long words. However, if it is not the hero or heroine who gets wounded, he or she would stop breathing right away.

Qíshí zhōngguó diànshì liánxùjù lǐ de tàolù hái yǒu hěn duō ，érqiě dōu hěn yǒu yìsi 。Nǐmen guójiā de diànshìjù yǒu nǎxiē tàolù ne ？

其实中国电视连续剧里的套路还有很多，而且都很有意思。你们国家的电视剧有哪些套路呢？在下面留言告诉我们吧。

In fact, there are still many rules with the Chinese teleplays, which are fairly interesting. What are the rules with the teleplays in your country?