Western TV shows are popular all over the world, and China is no exception. People love to spend time watching their favorite TV shows, and we do, too. Once we got curious about what Western TV shows in China are popular, and what their Chinese names are, we discovered that some of them are very different from the original.

So in this post, comes a list of 5 most popular Western TV shows – and their interesting Chinese names.

1: Friends

This TV show has two Chinese names.

The first name is 老友记 (Lǎoyǒujì).

• 老友 lǎoyǒu – old friend
• 记 jì – diary, chronicles (comes from 日记, diary)

According to this variation, Friends in Chinese are Old Friends’ Diaries.

The second name is 六人行 (Liùrénxíng).

• 六人 liùrén – six people (same as 六个人）
• 行 xíng – travels (comes from 旅行, “journey”)

This Chinese version translates into English as Six People’s Journey.

2: This Is Us

The Chinese name for This Is Us is 我们这一天 (Wǒmen Zhè Yī Tiān).

• 我们 wǒmen – we; us; our
• 这一天 zhèyītiān – this/that day

So the whole title could be translated as “This Day of Ours”.

3: The Haunting of Hill House | 鬼入侵 Guǐ Rùqīn

The name of this TV show sounds interesting in Chinese: it was translated as “Ghost Invasion”:

👻鬼 guǐ – ghost
👻入侵 rùqīn – invasion

4. Game of Thrones

The Chinese name of Game of Thrones is 权力的游戏 (Quánlì Yóuxì).

• 权力 (quánlì) – power
• 游戏 (yóuxì) – game

It translates as “Power Games”.

5. The Crown

The Chinese name for the TV series the Crown is 王冠 (Wángguān).

This is the only time the Chinese name is close to the original: 王冠 “wángguān” in Chinese means a “diadem” or an “imperial crown”.

As you can see, most names in Chinese get adapted so that viewers can have a better understanding of what they are going to watch.

Hope this post was useful, and you picked up some new Chinese words!

What’s your favourite TV show? Do you know its name in Chinese? Share in comments below – or tweet us at @thatsmandarin!