A blend of mainland Chinese and Thai stories, scripts and stars has given rise to a new breed of Asian drama – another by product of the region’s fast-developing streaming environment. 

"Put Your Head on My Shoulder", the 2021 Thai version of China’s 2019 drama, is an evolution of the young, sweet coming-of-age romance trend that has given rise to shows such as "A Love So Beautiful", "The Love Equation" and "A Little Thing Called First Love".   

"Put Your Head on My Shoulder" stars Thitipoom (New) Techaapaikhun and Nilawan (Kaimuk) Iamchuasawad in the story of an accounting major who ends up living with a genius physics student.

The 20-episode WeTV original romantic drama premiered on 26 September this year and ran to end October. 

The show primarily targets the Thai market, with additional exposure on WeTV in the rest of the world – including China. The series’ official site on Chinese platform Weibo had 60 million views. 

The Thai version is the second production from Ben Lai’s Yam Cultural Ltd set up in Hong Kong and Shanghai two years ago. 

“There has been a tremendous response to the fusion dish,” Lai says. 

Yam Cultural’s "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" will be followed by "When A Snail Falls In Love", adapted from Chinese writer Ding Mo’s novel, starring Thassapak Hsu and Zuvapit Traipornworakit. A third Thai-Chinese fusion series, based on the Chinese drama "Scarlet Heart", is in the works.   

Filmed in Thailand and Beijing, "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", was among the first productions under Covid-19 containment rules, and was managed between Shanghai-Hong Kong and Thailand with a mix of Zoom and video walkthroughs from the China team.    

Lai, a veteran distributor who hung up his first production shingle just before Covid-19 hit, doesn’t pretend the physical process was easy. 

And then, on top of the Covid challenges, he layered the unknowns of creating a new kind of content. 

“We wanted a Thai-Chinese fusion drama, something that is not Thai and not Chinese, but has its own recognisable style, its own look and feel,” he says. 

This includes everything from clothing and kiss scenes to a different take on beauty and how wealth is portrayed. The fusion dramas are also more detailed. 

Perhaps the most obvious difference between Thai and Chinese drama is colour. “When we want something warm,  we use red and orange. In Thailand, directors go for yellow,” Lai says. 

The new Thai/Chinese version of "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" comes two years after the original series streamed on Tencent Video and across the Asia Pacific. Its 2019 success meant the story was already well known.    

“We needed to build on that success by adding new elements, but still using the same story,” Lai says. 

The latest version opens a few years after the 2019 series ended, and features two male scientists, one from Thailand and the other from China, played by Lin Yi from the original series. Each is equally brilliant – and equally clueless on how to chase a girl. 

The Chinese scientist scenes were shot separately in Beijing because of pandemic travel restrictions. 

Lai would have liked to cast Chinese female star, Xing Fei, in the Thai series but she was not available. 

Nevertheless, both Chinese stars participated in the promotion for the Thai series.

Yam Cultural’s second Thai-Chinese series, "When A Snail Falls in Love", is currently in post production. 

The series, based on the mainland Chinese original aired three or four years ago, uses all the learnings from the inaugural project, Lai says. 

The end goal is better drama all round. “Thai production is becoming very strong,” Lai says. “We want to add our expertise, to make better drama in total”. 

In the end though, Lai says his productions are not bound by geography but by ideas. “We’re doing cultural export and following good ideas,” he says.