Song Wei Long scores a summer blockbuster hit

Wild and Bones has emerged as the unexpected hit of China’s 2026 summer drama season. In a crowded field filled with high-profile productions, the modern romance has broken through on reputation and online popularity, earning recognition from Douyin as the “Hot TV Series of the Year.”

The series did not rely on top-tier stars to generate attention or on an oversized promotional campaign, according to the report. Instead, its appeal has come from realistic material and a carefully developed story. It aired simultaneously on Hunan TV and Mango TV, creating a wave of online discussion from its first broadcast.

The opening episode reached a peak rating of 0.6609 percent, which the report describes as Hunan TV’s highest opening rating for a new drama in 2026. During its run, Wild and Bones topped the channel’s prime-time ratings 12 consecutive times and held the leading share among dramas airing during the summer.

Its online performance also outpaced competing shows. Effective views across the internet passed 600 million, while related topics repeatedly topped major data-platform rankings and spread widely across short-video services, especially Douyin. The drama maintained an 8.5/10 rating on Douban and attracted advertising from dozens of brands.

Song Wei Long and Zhang Jing Yi play the central characters, Chen Yi and Miao Jing. Adapted from a popular work published on Jinjiang, the drama avoids melodramatic confrontations and an idealized filter detached from reality. It portrays ordinary life in a small town in southern China during the 1990s, following two teenagers who grow up amid hardship and spend half a lifetime healing and moving toward each other. Chen Yi is rebellious but resilient, while Miao Jing appears cold yet gentle. Both are ordinary people treated harshly by fate.