Little Valentine (2017)

Little Valentine 小情人 is a 40-episode Chinese family drama about a widower running a successful bodyguard business who single-handedly raises his daughter. Hu Jun and Gina Jin Chen (Legend of Ace) headline as the father-daughter pair.

For a second there, I thought they were playing a couple in spite of the 22-year age gap, but I like this direction a lot more. It is veteran actor Hu Jun’s first time playing a fatherly father when he has been so used to playing the manly man. It’s not hard to envision him as one since he showed off a gentler side to him in the Chinese version of the variety show Where Are We Going, Dad?

The cast also includes Song Yi (Disguiser), Hu Jing (In the Name of People), Cheng Pei-Pei (Ice Fantasy), Gao Tai Yu, Mike D’Angelo (My Little Princess) and Niu Jun Feng (Princess Agents).

Dad and daughter’s squabbles begin when Dad pays a visit to his daughter while she was studying in Hong Kong. What was initially an innocent surprised backfires when he realizes that his daughter was expelled from school and opened up a bar instead. He brings her back to China to keep a tight rein on her, which makes for some hilarious family dynamics especially when you add grandma to the mix.

Release Date: May 29, 2017 Shenchuan TV and iQiYi

Rate your favorite Chinese dramas in 2017.