Lavender Au’s Dial essay dives into China’s short-drama boom: bite-sized episodes with addictive plotlines that some 215 million people watch daily on apps like Hongguo. Reporting from Beijing, Au explains how these dramas condense soapy, high-stakes narratives into one or two minutes, perfect for “fragmented and exhausting work schedules.” Beneath the surface, though, is real subversion—a strong heroine who defies conventional beauty standards and holds her own against an emperor—and an emotional payoff the Chinese call shuang 爽.
It felt shuang to see the empress call the emperor a scumbag. In classic palace dramas, as in history, power mostly lay with the emperor. Whatever influence the women in the palace wielded was an extension of that — whether they bore an heir, how much of his favor they enjoyed, or how powerful their own families were. It was also shuang to see the palace bully, the noble consort, get her comeuppance. In real life, a real reckoning is rare.
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