# The Romance of Tiger and Rose (传闻中的陈芊芊)
**The Romance of Tiger and Rose** (传闻中的陈芊芊) is a 2020 Chinese costume romantic-comedy web series in which a struggling screenwriter, Chen Xiaoqian, becomes trapped inside her own script as Chen Qianqian, a minor villainess destined to die within three episodes. It premiered exclusively on [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video) on May 18, 2020, ran for 24 episodes, and was directed by Cha Chuan Yi (查传谊) with [Zhao Lusi](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhao-lusi) and Ding Yuxi in the lead roles.[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html) • [2](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Romance_of_Tiger_and_Rose)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / English title | 传闻中的陈芊芊 / The Romance of Tiger and Rose[3](https://www.viki.com/tv/36956c-the-romance-of-tiger) |
| Broadcast | Tencent Video, premiered May 18, 2020; 24 episodes[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html) |
| Key personnel | Director Cha Chuan Yi; screenwriter Nan Zhen; stars Zhao Lusi (Chen Xiaoqian / Chen Qianqian) and Ding Yuxi (Han Shuo)[2](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Romance_of_Tiger_and_Rose) |
| Premise | A screenwriter is trapped in her own script as a Third Princess who dies within three episodes, and rewrites her fate to survive[4](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml) |
| Setting | The fictional city of Huayuan, where women hold power and men keep house, contrasted with the male-dominant Xuanhu City[5](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7811362) |
| Early performance | Over 450 million cumulative views within eight days of premiere; more than 40,000 Douban ratings[4](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml) |
| Ratings | Douban 7.5, sustained across roughly 130,000 ratings[5](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7811362) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and setting
The story begins in the present day. Chen Xiaoqian, a self-described third-rate screenwriter who has never been in a relationship, has written a large-scale drama set in a female-dominant world. Production collapses when the lead actor, Han Mingxing, raises repeated objections to the script's romantic scenes, and the frustrated writer vows to prove herself. She then accidentally becomes stuck inside her own script, waking up as the Third Princess of Dongliang, a figure of high status but terrible reputation.[6](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/0gpq7pz3r0sjxf0/j0033ll19fr)
In the original script, Chen Qianqian is a cannon-fodder supporting character who is killed off in the third episode, poisoned with a cup of wine by Han Shuo on their wedding night after she abducts him in the street.[7](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0607/c1012-31737749.html) Knowing the plot in advance, Chen Xiaoqian uses her insider knowledge to add scenes and alter events so that she can survive to the finale and return to reality; in the process she falls in love with the male lead she created.[4](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml)
The fictional world contains two cities with opposite gender orders. In Huayuan City, women rule: the city lord, officials, and generals are all women, who may study, hold office, farm, hunt, and trade, while men keep house, raise children, and may not even learn to read; a husband who fails to father a daughter is blamed for it, and men who dress immodestly are gossiped about and may fail to marry.[4](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml) • [8](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7582239) Xuanhu City, Han Shuo's home, is male-dominant. The two cities' opposed customs supply both the comedy and the central conflict, which the leads eventually resolve.[5](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7811362)
## Production and reception
The series was a low-budget production with no major stars, an original script, and no built-in fan base, yet it repeatedly topped web-drama popularity charts and trended on Weibo, driven largely by voluntary word-of-mouth recommendations from viewers.[9](https://sn.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0607/c378298-34068790.html) According to Lighthouse Professional Edition data, cumulative views reached 1.316 billion by 6 pm on June 9, 2020, making it a modest breakout hit of the second quarter.[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html) Its Weibo topic reading exceeded 9.3 billion.[10](https://www.cmmrmedia.com/UpLoadFile/Files/2020/7/31/1114159758b2d3ddf-b.pdf) On Douban it held a 7.5 score with about 130,000 ratings.[5](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7811362) The show was filmed between August and October 2019 at [Hengdian World Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/hengdian-world-studios), and per Maoyan had earned 897 million Tencent Video views by June 2, 2020.[2](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Romance_of_Tiger_and_Rose)
The series won several honors, including TV Series of the Year and Best Writing for a Television Series (Nan Zhen) at the 2020 Tencent Video Starlight Awards, and Best Actress for Zhao Lusi at the 2021 Golden Spider Academic Award.[2](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Romance_of_Tiger_and_Rose) Its success raised the profile of screenwriter Nan Zhen, who said that afterward she could write large-scale scenes with fewer budget constraints, though her established "wild imagination, fun plot" label also began to limit the projects offered to her.[11](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_3840084769_e4e30b210190136s8.html)
## The "nvzun" genre context
The drama is an original screenplay written by Nan Zhen, originally titled *Chuanwen zhong de San Gongzhu* (传闻中的三公主), not an adaptation of a web novel; it draws on the "nvzun" (女尊, female-dominant) genre, in which stories are written from a female perspective within a society where women hold superior status.[12](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7541996) Nvzun web novels flourished more than a decade before the drama, circulating mainly among female readers without entering the mainstream, and production of the genre had largely faded around 2015. The drama's unexpected popularity prompted readers to ask authors of unfinished nvzun novels to resume writing, and commentators expected it might briefly spark a wave of nvzun screen adaptations; Tencent Video indeed followed it with *The Chieftain's Man* (酋长的男人), another female-dominant story.[12](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7541996) • [1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html)
The mirror-reversal premise itself has precedents: classical Chinese novels such as *[Flowers in the Mirror](https://www.edgepedia.org/flowers-in-the-mirror)* feature a woman-ruled Kingdom of Women, and gender-reversed societies have appeared in Thai and Japanese television.[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html) • [13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7561845) Commentators noted that the reversal is essentially an imitation of the old male-dominant order with the sexes swapped, one husband becoming many wives, for example, which produces satire of real prejudices but also keeps the framework of rigid gender hierarchy.[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html)
## Critical debate
The series' reception split between its entertainment value and its treatment of gender themes. Reviewers credited its fast pacing, dense jokes, and self-referential humor, in which the screenwriter heroine mocks her own craft, such as chatty side characters existing to pad the script's word count.[13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7561845) The opening episode's scene of a princess abducting a man in broad daylight was widely cited as the hook that set the drama apart from other sweet romances.[1](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html)
Criticism focused on the fading of the premise. Several reviewers observed that the female-dominant setting functioned mainly as a novelty backdrop for a conventional romance, that the heroine's successes depended on plot armor and the male lead's devotion rather than her own ability, and that the drama raised real topics, such as equal rights and women's independence, only to drop them as the plot returned to sweet-romance formulas.[4](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml) • [14](https://topics.neamco.com/2020-06/26/content_34087736.htm) • [9](https://sn.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0607/c378298-34068790.html) A People's Daily commentary summarized the split: the novel setting created genuine freshness, but the exotic background and exaggerated conflicts mainly served to advance the leads' love story, leaving viewers with familiar tropes.[15](https://culture.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0608/c1013-31738091.html)
## References
1. [穿越、甜宠加"女尊"，女性题材影视剧如何成爆款？, 第一财经 (Yicai), June 10, 2020](https://www.yicai.com/news/100662101.html)
2. [The Romance of Tiger and Rose, DramaWiki](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Romance_of_Tiger_and_Rose)
3. [The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Rakuten Viki](https://www.viki.com/tv/36956c-the-romance-of-tiger)
4. [《传闻中的陈芊芊》："爽"剧火了，但女性故事仍未突围, 文汇报 via 中国新闻网, June 2, 2020](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2020/06-02/9201241.shtml)
5. [《传闻中的陈芊芊》：谈情说爱的内核，浅尝辄止的戏谑, 中国妇女报 via 澎湃新闻, June 12, 2020](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7811362)
6. [《传闻中的陈芊芊》5.18独播 赵露思丁禹兮开启奇幻剧本人生, WeTV](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/0gpq7pz3r0sjxf0/j0033ll19fr)
7. [甜宠剧那么多，为什么是《传闻中的陈芊芊》火了？, 中国新闻网 via 人民网, June 7, 2020](https://ent.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0607/c1012-31737749.html)
8. [陈芊芊的俗套，把我套死了, 新周刊 via 澎湃新闻, May 27, 2020](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7582239)
9. [甜宠剧那么多，为什么是《传闻中的陈芊芊》火了？, 中国新闻网, June 7, 2020](https://sn.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0607/c378298-34068790.html)
10. [2020年上半年网剧市场报告, 中国传媒市场](https://www.cmmrmedia.com/UpLoadFile/Files/2020/7/31/1114159758b2d3ddf-b.pdf)
11. [对话编剧南镇：关于编剧创作和"产业"适应, 骨朵网络影视 via 新浪, January 24, 2022](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_3840084769_e4e30b210190136s8.html)
12. [《传闻中的陈芊芊》："女尊文"是对男权的颠覆还是复制？, 澎湃新闻, May 26, 2020](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7541996)
13. [《传闻中的陈芊芊》：在甜宠网剧中，用荒诞破局, 澎湃新闻, May 26, 2020](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_7561845)
14. [〖光明V影评〗《传闻中的陈芊芊》：真性别平等还是蹭社会热点？, 光明网, June 26, 2020](https://topics.neamco.com/2020-06/26/content_34087736.htm)
15. [设定新奇 套路依旧（看台人语）, 人民日报, June 8, 2020](https://culture.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0608/c1013-31738091.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles My to So*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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