Netflix's 24-Episode Chinese Drama Is Still One Of The Biggest Shows In The World

Published Sep 16, 2026, 4:45 PM EDT Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. Netflix has a variety of great non-English TV shows, and leading them is a Chinese drama that has taken over the streamer's worldwide ranking. Netflix is still one of the biggest and most popular streaming platforms, and not just for its extensive catalog of licensed content, but now mostly for its original movies and TV shows. Netflix’s original shows cover a variety of genres, but there are some where they have succeeded more, such as fantasy, sci-fi, and international dramas. In the latter category, Korean and Chinese dramas are the ones that have stood out the most, helping Netflix become a go-to source for fans of these shows. When it comes to Chinese dramas, Netflix has titles like Hidden Love, The First Frost, and Meteor Garden, all of them succeeding and helping further build an audience for this genre on Netflix. Now, the latest addition to it, The Early Spring, is taking over Netflix globally. The Early Spring is an adaptation of Gu Niang Bie Ku’s web novel Zao Chun Qing Lang, and it debuted on Netflix in August 2026. Even though it’s still a fairly new arrival on Netflix, The Early Spring quickly climbed the rankings of most popular Netflix TV shows, breaking records as the first Chinese series entering the streamer’s Top 3. All this is not only great news for the future of The Early Spring, but also for Chinese dramas in general, especially as Netflix has more plans for them in the near future. The Early Spring Is Netflix's Latest C-Drama Hit Image via Netflix The Early Spring tells the story of Shang Zhitao (Sun Qian), a hardworking and optimistic young woman from a modest background who gets a job at a top advertising agency. There, Shang meets Luan Nian (Jing Boran), a demanding veteran advertising executive, with whom Shang ends up having a complex romance while they both navigate intense office politics and Shang undergoes a personal transformation. Shang goes from a shy and naive newcomer into a confident professional, and years later, she leaves the agency for a completely different job. Shang now runs a quiet restaurant in her hometown, but her and Luan’s paths cross one more time, forcing them to re-evaluate their past as well as their future. The Early Spring released a couple of episodes per week, with the finale airing on September 9, 2026, but the show’s popularity hasn’t wound down. At the time of writing, The Early Spring sits at the #2 spot on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English Shows list (via Tudum), as well as in the 10th spot on the streamer’s global Top 10 TV shows. According to FlixPatrol, at the time of writing, The Early Spring has maintained a spot on Netflix’s global Top 10 for 20 days, an impressive achievement for a new TV show that has been out for less than a month. The Early Spring’s future looks bright and it's likely that its popularity will continue to grow in the coming weeks now that it can be binge-watched. Netflix Has More Chinese-Language Stories In The Works Image via Netflix The Early Spring is the biggest Chinese-language TV series on Netflix right now, but there are more coming before the year is over. Among the upcoming releases are the medical drama Miracles of the ER, following an average-performing graduate who has been hired at Central University Hospital; and the thriller drama Confessions, focusing on a bombing-kidnapping in 2004 Taipei. None of these TV shows have an official release date yet, but the action series The Fixers is set for a September 17, 2026, release. As for Chinese TV shows in production, Netflix is working on How to Survive Med School, a show about a student who dreams of being an astronaut but is tricked into enrolling in medical school, and Pacify (this being a working title), a supernatural thriller. These shows were announced by Netflix at the beginning of 2026 to be in production, but there aren’t any updates on them yet. It’s to be seen if The Early Spring will continue to climb Netflix’s rankings in the final days of September and what the future holds for the show, as well as if any of the Chinese TV shows planned for a late 2026 release will match or surpass its success. Sources: Netflix’s Tudum, FlixPatrol.