When I was in high school & addicted to Anime & Manga, I've stumbled on Taiwanese Hana Kimi by accident.
I've really enjoyed it, but haven't research more about Asian shows until later. One of the reasons probably because after seeing American "drama", it given me a bad impression on anything related to "drama".

When I did researched about Asian drama after I've graduated HS, I was super surprised by the amount of them out there. I really got into Korean shows, especially with historical theme. It gave me a new look on their rich culture, history, cuisine, and people. I've learned more then I could of ever in school. [Like on IFunny. You learn a lot of stuff from there as well. Like "Japanese multiplication"... Google it!]

I've never really got into Chinese culture at first. I guess after watching movies like; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Fearless, I was feeling funny with the male hairstyles, sense I couldn't tell a difference between them. And it's just wasn't my taste.

First Chinese series that I've watched was Palace: The Lock Heart Jade. I still wasn't really into that certain time frame, but I really like the time-travel theme. After that, I've watched Startling By Each Step, similar to Place drama, and liked it. But again, I wasn't amused with the hairstyles and it felt like Chinese acting are very much "cheesy".

After a year or so, I found another time-travel show; The Myth, & I've stumbled on Wuxia Edge site while searching where to watch it. I've learned a bit more about different time frame which was more appealing to me. When I asked for help from the sites' owner, she have given me couple of recommendations like Chinese Paladin, and Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008, which to my surprised I really enjoyed after watching. Thus I've learned to "give it a go, before giving the final judgement".

Personally though, I stay away from pure romance/comedy shows. From my experience I've watched so much of them, that after a while it started to feel like same typical and predictable stuff, and I tend to loose interest after half way in. But sense most [actually all of them] shows have little bit of romance anyways, I rather watch a show with spice and unique themes, then just pure, modern romance that we see everyday.