Why Chinese Dramas are SOOO Voice Dubbed - Haiyah!

Why Voice Dubbing Is Common in Chinese Dramas

AvenueX explains why voice dubbing is so common in Chinese dramas. Although she loves voice acting, she would rather hear performers’ own voices in live-action roles.

Her biggest personal gripe is hearing the same familiar dubber, Wei Chao, in drama after drama. She jokes that his voice has become so closely associated with certain actors that when it appears on someone else, she starts picturing all the actors he has dubbed at once.

Regional Accents and Vocal Delivery

Some productions bring together actors from different Chinese-speaking regions. Their accents can sound very different, even when their characters are meant to come from the same place. Since Mandarin is promoted as a shared standard, performers with strong regional accents—or those who have not learned to speak standard Mandarin clearly—may be dubbed.

AvenueX also notes that screen acting calls for a different vocal approach from stage acting. Uneven line delivery can distract from a scene.

Filming Conditions

Period dramas are often filmed on large, busy sets, where tourists or other background noise can ruin recordings. Some productions also shoot in studios where one set is being filmed while another is being built nearby, leaving actors to perform amid construction noise. In these situations, clean dialogue is often added later.

Cost and Efficiency

Professional dubbers can record a large role’s lines in just a few days. Actors may need much longer to dub themselves and may not have the same recording skills.

AvenueX points to The Ming Dynasty as an example where she felt self-dubbing did not always match the emotion on screen, singling out the actress she identifies as Tang Wei. She argues that dubbing can save time and money, but can also make performances feel less natural.

AvenueX’s Preference

AvenueX praises distinctive actors’ voices and argues that sound is as vital to a performance as the image. She hopes actors will train to use their own voices and that audiences will get more dramas with dialogue recorded by the performers themselves.

Personalities Mentioned

• AvenueX, the presenter
• Wei Chao, a voice actor
• Tang Wei, an actress identified as such in the subtitles
• Several actors whose names are unclear in the auto-generated subtitles