《Against The Current》At the seminar, the creators talked about the Chinese beauty that grows in life

 When filming 《Against The Current》, Huang Yingxiang hoped that the beauty in the lens would grow from life.On November 3, the China Television Arts Committee held a seminar on the drama in Beijing. The director said that Chinese aesthetics should not just stay in classical and elegant pictures, but also enter into the daily life of the characters, allowing the delicate emotions between people to flow.She hopes viewers can see themselves in the story and touch on emotions they can still feel today.Another director, Chen Dan, recalled that when she first read the script, she was attracted by the completeness, delicacy and warmth of the story. She also had concerns: its narrative method was different from the creative logic of current mainstream commercial dramas.In the end, the team decided to respect the story and let the emotions develop naturally with the characters' experiences.She believes the audience's response gave the choice validation.

Tan Songyun, who plays Xu Lanxiang and Shen Jialan, described her performance process as "prick it in and grow it out".She first enters the character's situation, and then looks for the right expression; when the actor slowly plunges into it, some reactions will grow out of the body.In her understanding, Xu Lanxiang's kindness is not public, her tenacity is not exposed, her gentleness has a bottom line, and her forbearance also hides her edge.

Liu Xueyi plays Lin Jinqi.He said that what attracts him is that the drama requires portraying real people, putting in real effort, and conveying real feelings.The job of an actor also comes with responsibilities. He will remind himself to be responsible for the audience, the times and himself, do his own thing well, and play every role well.

The broadcast results also became the background of this discussion.According to the data listed in relevant reports of the seminar, -Against The Current- won the first place in the single-episode ratings of CCTV's eight late-night dramas in 2026, with the highest single-episode ratings of 0.98“ and the highest ratings share of 12.09”; the average ratings were 0.61“ and the average ratings share was 7.21”.The peak popularity on the Tencent Video site reached 33,491, making it the most popular drama on the platform in 2026. It is also the fifth Tencent Video drama to have a popularity of over 33,000.

The play is based on the regional culture of Jinling, and it also attracted the attention of Nanjing cultural tourism during its broadcast.In terms of overseas distribution, WeTV covers 173 countries and regions, and the series has topped the popular charts in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, the United States, as well as Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking regions.Disney+ also topped the popular charts in Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, North American, Vietnam, and Japan.Relevant reports also listed it as Disney+'s 2026 viewing hours champion, and mentioned that it ranked first in the V-PULSE Chinese TV series international rankings.

Experts at the meeting believed that the audience feedback of this work shows that high-quality long-form dramas are still attractive.They regard the play as an attempt to break through the creative path of "Big Heroine Counterattack", and affirm that it transforms women's online literature into a TV series with public value and resonates with emotion.Regarding the camera, their evaluation is restrained and reserved: the interest in life and the mystery in the drama interpenetrate each other, and the character's mood and the expression of the camera echo each other.