16 Best Chinese Movies on Netflix [August 2024]

I’m a Chinese drama enthusiast, and Netflix is one of my go-to platforms for streaming Chinese movies.

The guide below will fill you in on must-watch Chinese movies on Netflix right now—including wuxia, wacky comedies, drama and sci-fi.

Netflix also has a growing collection of original productions in Chinese, so there’s a lot to check out:  

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1. The Yin-Yang Master (2021)

Chinese Title: 侍神令
Genre: Fantasy
Lead Actors: Chen Kun, Zhou Xun

Admittedly, I watched this because I’m a Chen Kun fan!

This movie might be based on a Japanese RPG, but it also explores the Chinese concept of 阴阳师 (yīn yáng shī)—yin-yang masters, who can divine the future and exorcise ghosts. 

Qingming is one such yin-yang master, and the kingdom where he lives is facing a looming demonic threat. When he’s summoned to the capital for a protection ceremony, he soon discovers a conspiracy that involves dark magic and multigenerational feuds.

This forces him to join an epic battle—with the whole future of the world at stake. 

2. The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2024) 

Chinese Title: 周处处三害
Genre: Action
Main Actors: Ethan Juan, Ben Yuen, Chen Yi-wen

“The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” is a fascinating movie that draws from ancient Chinese legends to tell the story of a vicious gangster.

Chen Guilin has got quite the criminal record: he’s ranked as the third most wanted, but he’s dissatisfied with this. Plagued by terminal illness and wanting to go out in a blaze of glory, he decides to eliminate the two criminals above him on the list. 

Chinese movies don’t usually feature an anti-hero as the main character, so it’s not surprising that this was a major hit in Mainland China.

3. Incantation (2022)

Chinese Title: 咒
Genre: Horror
Main Cast: Tsai Hsuan-yen, Huang Sin-ting, Kao Ying-hsuan

Ronan, a documentary filmmaker, is investigating the rituals of a mysterious cult, but then she accidentally commits a religious taboo. This results in her and her loved ones getting cursed.

Years later, her daughter is targeted by the curse and becomes extremely sick. Ronan desperately tries to find a way to reverse the curse as she herself starts to experience breakdowns.

The movie is terrifying by itself, but the true story behind it is even more disturbing: six family members in Kaohsiung, Taiwan started to believe that they were possessed by deities and committed gruesome acts on each other. 

4. Little Big Women (2020)

Chinese Title: 孤味
Genre: Drama
Lead Actors: Chen Shufang, Hsieh Ying-hsuan, Vivian Hsu

“Little Big Women” shows just how complicated family can get.

Lin Shoying is celebrating her 70th birthday when she learns that her estranged husband has died. Despite his absence and infidelity, his death still brings in mixed emotions. Shoying and her three daughters, each dealing with their own personal struggles and unresolved feelings, must come together to arrange his funeral.

To make it even more complicated, the family uncovers hidden truths about his life, including a secret relationship.

If you want to delve deeper into how family relations work in Chinese culture, this movie gives a raw, realistic take on it.  

5. Hello Ghost (2023)

Chinese Title: 我的麻吉4个鬼
Genre: Comedy
Main Actors: Tseng Jing-hua, Shao Yu-wei

When you see the movie poster for “Hello Ghost,” you know right away that it’s a comedy (even with the four ghosts hovering around). 

As a remake of the original 2010 Korean movie, the flavor of the comedy here is more bittersweet. Ah Wei is a self-proclaimed loser who decides to kill himself, but he fails even at this. He ends up with four ghosts who keep haunting him until he helps them fulfill their last wishes.

One of my favorite lines here is 心只要还在跳，一切都会好的 (“As long as the heart is still beating, everything will be fine”)—as told to Ah Wei by the paramedic who saved his life.

6. Us and Them (2018)

Chinese Title: 后来的我们
Genre: Romance
Lead Actors: Jing Boran, Zhou Dongyu

“Us and Them” is a must-watch drama that shows a love story spanning several years—and how it finally ends.

Jianqing and Xiaoxiao accidentally meet on a train during the busy New Year period in China. They eventually start dating and then living together in Beijing, where they’ve decided to pursue their dreams. As time passes, though, differences in their career and personal goals start to strain their relationship.

Aside from being a heartfelt watch, this movie explores many aspects of modern Chinese culture, including the mass migration during 春运 (Chūn yùn) or the Spring festival travel rush.  

7. Eye of the Storm (2023) 

Chinese Name: 疫起
Genre: Thriller
Main Actors: Wang Bo-chieh, Tseng Jing-hua, Hsueh Shih-ling, Chloe Xiang

You might think that “Eye of the Storm” is based on COVID. But it’s actually about the SARS outbreak in Taiwan back in 2003, when many doctors died and there was widespread panic.

The outbreak in the hospital starts when an emergency patient is brought in from a car accident. As the virus spreads around the hospital, medical staff have to decide whether they’re willing to stay inside and risk their lives.

This triggers psychological crises too among many doctors and nurses, who find themselves questioning their values. In fact, I like how each major character (including a gossip media reporter) comes out of the experience changed.

8. Man in Love (2021)

Chinese Title: 当男人恋爱时
Genre: Romance
Lead Actors: Roy Chiu, Tiffany Hsu

“Man in Love” is a Taiwanese remake of the original 2014 Korean film. The main characters here are an unlikely pair: A-cheng, a debt collector, falls in love with the daughter of one of his debtors—Hao-ting. Instead of collecting her father’s hefty debt, he asks her to date him instead.

A-cheng is very likeable as a character because he’s far from what you would expect for a gangster.

Since it’s a remake, there are also many charming details that are particularly Taiwanese. For example, you’ll see A-cheng raging at a temple god, strolls through a wet market, and even the two main characters sharing bubble tea.

9. New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021)

Chinese Title: 新神榜：哪吒重生
Genre: Fantasy

This 3D animated film is an absolute visual treat, featuring a unique style of cyberpunk that you won’t see in Western films!

In classic superhero style, the main character (Yunxiang) seems like an ordinary delivery guy at first. He lives in a bustling city that’s dominated by the De family, who are corrupt industrial moguls.

It turns out, though, that the soul of the legendary Chinese warrior, Nezha, lives inside him. Since the De family saw Nezha as a major rival 3,000 years ago, now they must settle the feud—with the fate of the city at stake.

10. A Chinese Odyssey: Part One (1995)

Chinese Title: 大話西游
Genre: Fantasy
Lead Actors: Stephen Chow, Karena Law, Ng Man-Tat

If you want to explore Hong Kong cinema, this is one of the first films that I’d recommend. It’s based on “Journey to the West,” which is one of the four great Chinese classical novels.  

Stephen Chow stars as Joker, a gang leader who doesn’t know that he’s the Monkey King, a famous immortal being in Chinese mythology. A magical device allows him to travel back in time—at first to find his lost love, but then ultimately to make peace with his true self.  

There’s a lot of slapstick humor, and some scenes had me laughing so hard I had to hit pause. It’s a three-part series, so check out Part II and Part III too.

11. The Wandering Earth (2019)

Chinese Title: 流浪地球
Genre: Sci-Fi
Lead Actors: Wu Jing, Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie 

This is a must-watch for sci-fans. After all, it’s based on a novella by Liu Cixin, who wrote “The Three-Body Problem”—the novel series that made Chinese sci-fi popular internationally. 

Set in a distant future where the sun is about to turn into a red giant and engulf the Earth, humanity comes up with a bold solution: move the Earth to a new star system. This means making massive thrusters across the globe.

The science here isn’t completely accurate, but I couldn’t stop watching because of how creative the plot is. The visuals are epic too, with an all-out budget.

12. Dear Ex (2018)

Chinese Title: 谁先爱上他的
Genre: Comedy
Lead Actors: Joseph Huang, Roy Chiu, Hsieh Ying-xuan

Taiwan is well-known for being a pioneer in legalizing gay marriage in Asia, but this film gives a nuanced perspective on how gay relationships are actually viewed.  

Ultimately, it’s a comedy: a woman (Liu Sanlian) and her dead husband’s gay lover (Jay) fight over who gets the insurance money. The teenage son (Song Chengxi) gets involved and sides with his mother at first, but then surprisingly forms a connection with the male lover.

“Dear Ex” explores the perspectives of all three main characters, who are forced to change as they grapple with forgiveness. 

13. Cities of Last Things (2018)

Chinese Title: 幸福城市
Genre: Comedy
Lead Actors: Jack Kao, Lee Hong-chi, Louise Grinberg

In this movie, time goes in reverse. It starts with a striking scene: Dong-ling, a former police officer, kills himself by jumping out a window.

You’ll then be thrown back to three different periods in his life—first, as a middle-aged man struggling with a failing marriage and turns violent, then next as a young police officer who’s already troubled. Finally, he’s shown as a teenager, with striking revelations about what drove him to become the person he is.

The narration forms an intriguing psychological puzzle, and the movie’s Chinese title (幸福城市), literally meaning “Happy City,” adds to the irony.  

14. A Beautiful Life (2011)

Chinese Title: 不再让你孤单
Genre: Romance
Lead Actors: Shu Qi, Liu Ye

Peiru is a materialistic and ambitious woman who works in a real estate office in Beijing. She leads a fairly reckless life, even dating her married boss.

But then after a night of drinking, she meets Zhendong, who rescues her from a fight. Zhendong is an honest, kind-hearted police officer from a small town.

Even though they’re very different, they keep on running into each other, and then sparks start to fly. The lead actors have excellent chemistry, with Peiru changing for the better because of Zhendong. I didn’t want it to end and wish there’d been a sequel.

15. A Sun (2019)

Chinese Title: 阳光普照
Genre: Drama
Main Actors: Wu Chien-ho, Greg Hsu, Chen Yi-wen, Samantha Ko

This movie is an underrated gem. It’s absolutely brilliant, from the cinematography to the acting.

The Chen family seems normal from the outside. In reality, the older son, Hao, is a model student, but the younger son, Ho, has to go to juvenile detention because he committed a violent crime. Out of frustration, the father focuses all of his attention on the older son, while the mother tries to hold their family together.  

It portrays family expectations in Chinese culture very well, as well as the intense academic pressure that students go through as they attend 补习班 (bǔxíbān) or cram school.  

16. Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

Chinese Title: 刻在你心底的名字
Genre: Romance
Main Actors: Edward Chen, Tseng Jing-hua

“Your Name Engraved Herein” is the top-grossing Taiwanese LGBT film of all time. It’s beautiful and bittersweet, with compelling characters and a memorable theme song.  

Two high school boys, Jia-han and Birdy, are close friends, but they secretly have feelings for each other. To complicate the situation, both of them study at a Catholic school. 

The film is set in the 1980s, when martial law had just ended in Taiwan. Still, despite all of the progressive political changes, society was far from being accepting of same-sex relationships. 

 

These Chinese-language films are all memorable and high-quality. Since Netflix constantly releases new Chinese shows, you might end up like me and get addicted to checking out new ones every month. 

Of course, Chinese movies are also one of the best ways to immerse in the language and learn more about Chinese culture. FluentU helps you work up to watching full Chinese movies by letting you practice with shorter clips first.