Yield to You, a vertical drama adapted from the novel Zhe Yao, the same novel behind Liu Yuning and Song Zuer’s hit drama The Prisoner of Beauty, seemed poised to capitalize on the popularity of its predecessor. However, the show ended up making headlines for the wrong reasons: it was taken down less than 24 hours after its release in China.
Unlike traditional Chinese dramas, which are required to pass strict censorship, vertical dramas often enjoy more creative freedom. Promoted as a “faithful adaptation” to a novel that’s quite smutty, it was more sexually suggestive than the average C-drama. While not explicitly graphic, the series featured innuendos such as “healing in the bath,” “forced kisses,” and lines like “use my body to capture your heart.”
The drama pairs up popular vertical actress Yue Yuting and actor Wu Xize. It follows Xiao Qiao, who marries into the Wei family in her sister’s place and becomes entangled with the powerful General Wei Shaozhi. While the original blends romance, strategy, and political intrigue, the show was accused of objectifying women, reducing its intelligent female lead to a seductive figure. Faced with mounting backlash, the show was taken offline less than 24 hours after episodes were released.
Lizzy
This short drama cheapens the value of love and women. It was also taken off due to plagiarism of the long drama. They remade some scenes that were in the long drama but not in the book and even used the long drama’s BGM, shamelessly, trying to ride off its popularity. Did the short dramas seriously run out of stories that now, they’re producing famous long dramas like The Demon Hunter’s Romance and Chinese Paladin 3?! The short drama industry has gotten too bold and arrogant.
Basil
I watched half of it and I regretted giving it as much time as I did. I think fans of TPOB were excited for some spicy but it really wasn’t all that spicy. In the first half of what I saw, there was only one scene where it implied they did anything. Other than that, it was just a lot of toxicity, with the ML being in fits of rage would throw her around like a rag doll, and her submitting to him all the way like she has zero agency. It was bad, and not a big loss for it to be pulled.