Draft:Best Choice Ever: Difference between revisions

2024 Chinese television series

Best Choice Ever (Chinese: 承欢记; pinyin: Chéng Huān Jì) is a 2024 Chinese urban television series directed by Tian Yu and produced by Huace Media. The series is based on the novel Story of Joy by Yi Shu and stars Yang Zi and Xu Kai in the lead roles. The series premiered on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video on 9 April and ended it’s run on 27 April.

The series follows the story of Mai Chenghuan (played by Yang Zi), a young woman from a typical Shanghai family whose life has always been controlled by her overbearing mother. She meets Yao Zhiming (played by Xu Kai), her boss and also the biological grandson of her step-grandmother at her workplace, Botticelli Hotel. Their contrasting personalities and misunderstandings create tension between them. At home, she faces pressure from her mother, Liu Wanyu (played by He Saifei), to discuss marriage with her boyfriend, Xin Jialiang. Differences in family backgrounds and excessive parental involvement lead to their breakup, motivating Chenghuan to assert her independence and focus on her career. She later inherits Xing’anli Hotel from her step-grandmother, which brings her into contact with Yao Zhiming again. When they reunite, their initial friction persists, but through teamwork and mutual support, they begin to understand each other better and fall in love.

Chenghuan goes from living under her mother’s watchful eye to finally being independent while still remaining filial. She embarks on a meaningful journey of growth, career achievement, and love, discovering her own path and self-worth along the way.

• He Saifei as Liu Wanyu
• Yao Anlian as Mai Laitian
• Zhang Yao as Mai Chengzao
• Xu Lingyue as Mao Yongxin
• Wu Yanshu as Chen Shuzhen
• Niu Junfeng as Xin Jialiang
• Guo Yunqi as He Dong
• Xu Yajun as Xin Zhishan
• Deng Ying as Chen Dejing
• Hu Dandan as Xin Jiali
• Gong Beibi as Zhang Peishang
• He Fengtian as Zou Nan
• Lu Zhaohua as Zhang Ziyu
• Wang Ziwei as Zhu Baoqiao
• Bao Chenxi as Qian Duoduo
• Wang Chuyu as Tian Feng

The series started filming on June 18, 2023,^[1] and was completed on September 23 of the same year.^[2] In order to play the role of Mai Chenghuan better, Yang Zi specifically learned the Shanghai dialect of Mandarin and the lives of Shanghai girls of Chenghuan’s age. To make the character of Mai Chenghuan more vivid, the creators visited the alleys, coffee shops and other local places of Shanghai to observe the clothing styles of young women and took inspiration from them to create the makeup style of Mai Chenghuan.^[3] The crew created an alley based on Sanheli and an old house based on Sinan Mansion completely. A total of 117 scenes were filmed in Shanghai.

The series won the Most Anticipated Work award at the 2023 Tencent Video Starlight Awards.^[4] The series premiered on CCTV-8 on April 9, 2024, and was simultaneously broadcast on Tencent Video.^[5] The first episode of the drama had a real-time audience rating of over 2, with a peak of 2.0584%. The popularity of the series on Tencent Video has exceeded 30,519, setting a new record for the highest popularity of urban dramas on the site.