Recommendation: Meet You at the Blossom
A censorship-defying little piece of Chinese gay romance
Two men falling in love and kissing in a TV show: not so unusual this day and age, right? Well, in mainland China lately it is. The legal situation there is…complicated. But the sum-up is that LGBTQ+ media content in China is very frequently censored and/or removed.
Which is what makes the new series Meet You at the Blossom a tad extraordinary.
The series is Chinese-language, starring Chinese actors, set in historical China, and based on a Chinese danmei (male/male romance novel—which do have massive popularity in China, distributed mainly online, though they can also face censorship issues). But unlike many other hugely popular danmei-based series, which have skirted the problem by turning the romance into a bromance, this one hangs on to its love declarations, kisses, and even sex.
How’d they pull it off? It’s been oddly hard to find good info online, so I’m basing this largely on what the C-drama megafans of Reddit report. They claim the show is Taiwanese-directed and Thai-produced, and its target marketing regions are Thailand, Taiwan, and other places in the world that are not mainland China. Which can include me here in the US!
I watched it on YouTube, with English subtitles, and enjoyed it. It’s a historical romantic-comedy-drama with some martial-arts-based magic, it’s a grumpy/sunshine pairing (I love those), and it’s only twelve 45-minute episodes, so it’s a manageable little watch. Thus, Meet You at the Blossom is my recommendation for you today—and I also recommend supporting any artist anywhere who is boldly defying bigotry-based censorship. If they can be so brave, maybe we can step up our own courage too.
Here, enjoy some pictures. Because it’s also just a very pretty show.
