Devil Beside You – A Fun Taiwanese College Drama

By LTL Team HQ
Chinese TV
July 27, 2020

Learn Chinese with the Taiwanese College Drama Devil Beside You

Devil Beside You (惡魔在身邊 èmó zài shēnbiān) is a 2005 Taiwanese college drama.

This typical drama has long been a firm favourite with fans of Taiwanese and Chinese dramas.

I myself have a soft spot for Devil Beside You as it was the first Taiwanese/Chinese drama I ever watched!

Devil Beside You – Introduction
Devil Beside You – Main Characters
Devil Beside You – Why it’s Great for Chinese Learners
Devil Beside You – Useful Vocab
Devil Beside You – Where to Watch

If you’re looking for some other Taiwanese TV shows to watch here are a few more recommendations:

For now, let’s dive into Devil Beside You…

Want us to review your favourite Taiwanese TV shows? Let us know which one in the comments below.

Devil Beside You – Introduction

Devil Beside You is based on the Japanese manga Akuma de Sourou, (The Devil Does Exist).

At the heart of this Taiwanese drama is a group of students who all go to the same college.

The story begins with Qi Yue (齐悦 qí yuè) planning to confess that she likes the basketball team captain Shang Yuan Yi (尚源伊 shàng yuányī).

She writes a letter to him confessing her feelings, but things don’t quite go as planned…

When she tries to give him the letter he doesn’t see her and instead she looks up to see the college troublemaker Jiang Meng (江猛 jiāng měng) aka Ah Meng (阿猛 ā měng) instead.

Ah Meng decides to have some fun with Qi Yue so he threatens to print thousands of copies of the letter and spread them around the college unless Qi Yue agrees to be his “servant”.

Soon a love triangle ensues, is Ah Meng as cruel and devilish as he makes out or is there another side to him? Will Qi Yue ever be able to confess her feelings to Shang Yuan Yi?

To make things even more complicated Qi Yue’s mum is dating Ah Meng’s dad and they decide to get married. Now Qi Yue and Ah Meng will be step siblings!

Devil Beside You is certainly packed with plenty of drama and plot twists that just keep on coming. The TV show is also a lot of fun to watch because of how overly dramatic it can be.

Devil Beside You – Main Characters

Qi Yue (齐悦 qí yuè)

A sweet and naive girl. She is 20 years old and is in her second year of college.

She lives with her widowed mother and they have a very close relationship.

She can be pretty ditsy and often gets herself into awkward situations.

She has a crush on Shang Yuanyi but her life is turned upside down when she meets Ah Meng.

Qi Yue is played by Rainie Yang (杨丞琳 yáng chénglín) a Taiwanese singer, actress and TV host Rainie Yang (杨丞琳 yáng chénglín).
You may recognise her from the TV show Life Plan A and B. Devil Beside You was her first leading role in a TV series.

Jiang Meng (江猛 jiāng měng)

Aka Ah Meng (阿猛 ā měng) – the college troublemaker, he is in his first year of college.

His dad is the president of the school so he uses this to gain power over his teachers.

He has a bad boy attitude, however beneath his hard exterior there is a more gentle side and he will always stick up for what is right.

Ah Meng is played by Taiwanese actor Mike He (贺军翔 hè jūnxiáng).

Shang Yuan Yi (尚源伊 shàng yuányī)

A boy in the same class as Qi Yue. He is also captain of the basketball team. He has a gentle personality and is the complete opposite to Ah Meng.

Shang Yuan Yi is played by Taiwanese actor, singer and host Kingone Wang (王传一 wáng chuányī).

Qing Zi (晴紫 qíng zǐ)

Qi Yue’s best friend. She is confident and outspoken. She encourages Qi Yue to confess her feelings for Shang Yuan Yi even though she also has a crush on him.

Qing Zi is played by Taiwanese actress Joyce Tsai (蔡裴琳 cài péilín).

Xin Li Xiang (辛莉香 xīn lìxiāng)

She was an anti social girl who would act snotty when she was in high school.

She use to get bullied by the other girls at school but Ah Mon would always protect her.

She now has a crush on Ah Meng and calls him “Prince”, she is jealous when Ah Meng starts paying attention to Qi Yue.

Xin Li Xiang is played by Taiwanese model, host and actress Ivy Fan (范筱梵 fàn xiǎofàn).

Yu Yang Ping (于陽平 yú yángpíng)

Ah Meng’s best friend. When he was in middle school the basketball teacher used to mock him because he was overweight and couldn’t play well.

Ah Meng came to his defence and beat the teacher up. He has a crush on Xin Li Xiang.

Yu Yang Ping is played by the half Japanese and half Taiwanese actor Masuyama Yuki.

Life Plan A and B 🇹🇼 A Taiwanese Mini Series

Read our review for Chinese learners of Taiwanese drama Life Plan A and B. It’s a drama with an unusual twist: it follows two parallel story lines.

Devil Beside You – Why it’s Great for Chinese Learners

As I said earlier, this was the first Chinese/Taiwanese drama I ever watched.

I decided to watch the series when I was in my first year of university studying Chinese to help improve my listening skills and learn some new words.

Most of the vocab used in the show is pretty simple and basic so it’s a great show to watch for Chinese learners who have more of an elementary level of Chinese.

I had been studying Chinese for about four months when I started watching it, with English subtitles and still found I could recognise quite a lot of what was being said.

If you want to try and watch the TV show without English subtitles, I’d recommend that you’d need around a HSK 3 – 4 level to understand what’s going on.

The sometimes ridiculousness of the plot and silliness of some of the acting make it a very easy series to watch which is good for some lighthearted viewing.

Devil Beside You – Useful Vocab

继弟 jì dì – Step brother
恶魔 èmó – Devil
篮球队 lánqiú duì – Basketball Team
队长 duìzhǎng – Captian
篮球社经理 lánqiú shè jīnglǐ – Basketball club manager

情书 qíngshū – Love letter
恶梦 è mèng – Nightmare
梦境 mèngjìng – Dreamland
现实 xiànshí – Reality
仆人 púrén – Servant

学校的理事长 xuéxiào de lǐshì zhǎng – School director
独生子 dúshēngzǐ – Only son
流氓 liúmáng – Rogue, holligan
大过 dàguò – Serious offence
小过 xiǎoguò – Minor offence

魅惑的王子 mèihuò de wángzǐ – Prince Charming
老天爷 llǎotiānyé – God
过世 guòshì – Died, passed away
秘密 mìmì – Secret
第三者 dì sān zhě – The other woman or man

公开 gōngkāi – Public
告白 gàobái – Confession
对象 duìxiàng – Partner
搞錯 gǎo cuò – Make a mistake

Devil Beside You – Where to Watch

There are 20 episodes of Devil Beside You and each one lasts 45 minutes.

Compared to some other Taiwanese and Chinese dramas this is actually relatively short so is great if you don’t want to commit to a really long series.

You can watch Devil Beside You on YouTube with English subtitles. However, these are obscure the Chinese subtitles which can be a bit annoying when you’re trying to learn new words.

Alternatively, the whole series can be watched on YouKu, however they only have traditional Chinese subtitles. This is actually a really easy way to learn some traditional characters if you don’t already know some.