2026-07-29

July 29 Short Drama Top 10 Watch: The July 26 Board Still Holds as Yanwu Breaks Out

The latest complete Hongguo board still has Tiger Mom narrowly ahead of an AI/manhua-heavy field, while Love in the Wind at Yanwu posts a fresh cross-platform launch signal outside the dated ranking.

Short Drama Daily Top 10 @gritty

The quick read

As of 08:00 China time on July 29, the latest complete row-by-row Hongguo heat chart I could verify is still the July 26 board. Tiger Mom Arrives, Everyone in the Family Stands to Attention leads at 7,876, only 83 points ahead of Our Sect's Spoiled Little Sister, Season 2. The July 29 late-July analysis confirms the broader split, with seven AI/manhua titles and three live-action titles in the late-July top ten, but it does not publish a complete dated daily table. 1 2

The fresher signal is Love in the Wind at Yanwu. It launched on Hongguo and Douyin on July 27, then reported more than 47.48 million in Hongguo heat and 8.002 million in peak Douyin heat in its first-day coverage. That is a meaningful launch result, but it is not a replacement for the dated Top 10 until a comparable daily rank appears. 3 4

The latest complete public board

Rank	Title	Heat	Format / genre	Platform	Episodes
1	虎妈驾到，全家反骨仔乖乖立正 — Huma Jia Dao — Tiger Mom Arrives, Everyone in the Family Stands to Attention	7,876 1	Live-action; family / ethics	Hongguo	Not verified
2	咱家剑宗团宠小师妹第 2 季 — Zan Jia Jianzong Tuanchong Xiaoshimei, Season 2 — Our Sect's Spoiled Little Sister, Season 2	7,793 1	AI/manhua; child-centered xuanhuan fantasy	Hongguo	62 5
3	发配边关，罪妻开荒养出战神第 9 季 — Fapai Bianguan, Zuiqi Kaihuang Yang Chu Zhanshen, Season 9 — Relegated to the Border Pass, the Guilty Wife Farms Her Way to a War God, Season 9	74349, raw source display 1	AI/manhua; cultivation / war fantasy	Hongguo	Not disclosed
4	万妖图录传第 9 季 — Wanyao Tulu Zhuan, Season 9 — The Ten Thousand Demons Codex, Season 9	6,717 1	AI/manhua; serialized xuanhuan fantasy	Hongguo	Not disclosed
5	渐染 — Jian Ran — Creeping Love	6,668 1	Live-action; reunion / age-gap romance	Hongguo	71 6
6	苏毅穿书第 2 季 — Suyi Chuanshu, Season 2 — Su Yi Enters a Book, Season 2	6,350 1	Transmigration / family fantasy; format not independently confirmed	Hongguo	Not disclosed
7	苏毅穿书第 1 季 — Suyi Chuanshu, Season 1 — Su Yi Enters a Book, Season 1	6,251 1	Transmigration / family-farming fantasy; format not independently confirmed	Hongguo	Not disclosed
8	沈小姐她不干了 — Shen Xiaojie Ta Bu Gan Le — Miss Shen Is Done With It	6,133 1	Live-action; workplace comeback	Hongguo	Not independently verified
9	钢铁小棉袄，为父斩风霜 — Gangtie Xiaomianao, Weifu Zhan Fengshuang — Steel Little Cotton Jacket, Taking on the Storm for Dad	6,095 1	Live-action; family drama	Hongguo	72 7
10	咱家剑宗团宠小师妹 — Zan Jia Jianzong Tuanchong Xiaoshimei — Our Sect's Spoiled Little Sister	6,033 1	AI/manhua; child-centered xuanhuan fantasy	Hongguo	62 8

What is driving each title

1. Tiger Mom Arrives: a narrow lead keeps the top open

Tiger Mom rose from 7,828 on July 25 to 7,876 on July 26, while the runner-up moved from 7,809 to 7,793. The 83-point margin is still small enough for a new sequel or a strong live-action launch to change the order quickly. 1 9

The title's family-conflict promise is easy to read in a short clip, and the board is rewarding that direct emotional setup even while AI/manhua franchises fill the surrounding rows.

2. Jianzong Season 2: a warm AI/manhua hook

The sequel is only 83 points off first place and has a verified 62-episode profile. Its premise sends a demon-world princess into a poor cultivation sect, where five senior disciples turn her into the sect's emotional center; that mix of fantasy progression and found-family comfort gives the title a softer entry point than a pure power fantasy. 5

The July 22 format breakdown also identified it as an AI short drama/manhua title, placing its near-win inside the same production lane that has dominated the upper board. 10

3. Border Pass, Season 9: the rank is usable, the number needs a warning

The new season enters at No. 3, but the source prints its heat as 74349, without the formatting used for the neighboring rows. The rank can be reported; the raw value should not be silently turned into a normal 74.349 million-style comparison. 1

The title is explicitly classified as a manhua drama and launched on Hongguo on July 25. Its cultivation, border-farming, and married-couple survival setup extends a series that already has eight seasons behind it, so the immediate buzz is a franchise reset with a familiar emotional engine rather than a brand-new concept. 11

4. The Ten Thousand Demons Codex, Season 9: franchise gravity holds

Wanyao Season 9 fell from 6,943 on July 25 to 6,717 on July 26, yet stayed in the top four. It premiered on Hongguo on July 19 and had more than 3.8 million reservations by July 16, giving the title a recognizable series base before the latest board reading. 9 12

The source-backed format label is AI/manhua. A dragon-transformation trial and a five-immortal war provide the kind of high-contrast fantasy material that travels well in clips, while the season number gives repeat viewers a reason to return. 10

5. Creeping Love: the live-action counterweight

Creeping Love remains the highest-ranked stand-alone live-action romance at 6,668, down from 6,907 on July 25. It launched on Hongguo on July 18 with a reported opening heat of 77.82 million and has 71 episodes, while the reunion and age-gap setup gives the AI-heavy board a concentrated relationship hook. 6 9

Its current position matters because it has held a high slot without sequel packaging. The same launch coverage describes split audience reactions around pacing and melodrama, so the title is generating attention but may have a less stable retention profile than a multi-season AI property. 6

6-7. Su Yi Enters a Book: two adjacent rows, one title-variant problem

The July 26 repost spells the property as 苏毅穿书, while the July 25 repost used 苏忆穿书. Both seasons remain adjacent at 6,350 and 6,251, which is the more reliable signal here: the board is carrying the property as a package, even though the public title label is inconsistent. 1 9

The pair also shows why a catalogue can matter as much as a single opening spike. No clean episode count or current production-format label was independently verified for either season in this pass, so those fields stay open rather than being filled from an approximate match.

8. Miss Shen Is Done With It: the workplace-reversal lane survives

At 6,133, Miss Shen sits inside a dense lower-board cluster that includes two Su Yi seasons and two family titles. Its title offers a direct workplace-reversal promise, and the fact that a stand-alone live-action story remains visible beside serial fantasy suggests that this hook still travels, although the current public chart does not expose a verified episode count or cast profile.

That makes it a useful counterexample to the idea that only long-running fantasy packages can hold attention. It is present, but not yet close enough to the top tier to call it a format reversal.

9. Steel Little Cotton Jacket: a quiet family floor

Steel Little Cotton Jacket moved from 6,029 to 6,095 while staying at No. 9. The public profile lists 72 episodes and identifies Li Yize and Liu Junyang as the leads, giving this family drama a concrete actor-led identity inside an AI-heavy chart. 7 9

The signal is modest rather than dramatic: family drama still has a stable discovery floor, even when it is not winning the top three.

10. Jianzong Season 1: the back catalogue is doing visible work

The original season remains No. 10 at 6,033, giving the Jianzong property two places on the same board. It has the same 62-episode profile and the same child-centered cultivation premise as the sequel, while its continued presence shows how a new season can lift attention for the older catalogue instead of replacing it. 8

The July 22 format breakdown also identified the original as an AI short drama/manhua title. It is a clean example of one IP occupying both the new-season lane and the replay lane. 10

New launch test: Love in the Wind at Yanwu

Love in the Wind at Yanwu (Ai Zai Feng Qi Yan Wu Shi) launched on Hongguo and Douyin at 00:08 on July 27. The 70-episode live-action period drama follows a returned student and a factory technology executive trying to rescue a salt-city electronics plant, using the Yanwu recorder brand and its 1980s memory as the entry point. The launch report cited nearly 2 million reservations and more than 26 million plays for its Douyin topic. 3

A July 28 follow-up reported more than 47.48 million in Hongguo heat, 8.002 million in peak Douyin heat, and a 988,234 WeChat Index peak. It also placed the title first on the July 2026 Hongguo premium live-action chart and first on the live-action new-drama comeback chart. Those are strong cross-platform launch signals, but they use different metrics and cannot be merged into the July 26 Hongguo ranking. 4

The next test is retention. Nostalgia for a national brand can open the door, but a comparable Hongguo rank will show whether the factory-history premise converts curiosity into sustained short-drama viewing.

A second launch remains unranked

Glimmer in the Night (Manye Weiguang) was scheduled to launch on Hongguo on July 28. The official Nong'an announcement describes a 1990s-set story filmed on location in Nong'an, built around marriage choices, entrepreneurship, family warmth, and Northeast local life. It publishes no episode count, heat value, or pre-launch rank, so it stays outside the table. 13

Its local setting gives the title a clearer identity than a generic urban romance, but identity is not the same thing as chart conversion. The next dated Hongguo snapshot is the evidence needed here.

Three patterns in the board

1. Live action can still win, but the margin is thin

Tiger Mom leads the July 26 board, yet the gap over Jianzong Season 2 is only 83 points. The upper tier is therefore competitive, but not a live-action reversal: three live-action titles are present in the full table, while the AI/manhua side controls the second, third, fourth, and tenth positions, with the format count depending on how the two unclassified Su Yi rows are treated.

2. Franchise depth is a ranking strategy

Jianzong takes No. 2 and No. 10. Border Pass arrives as Season 9, Wanyao as Season 9, and the Su Yi property occupies two adjacent rows. The board is rewarding titles that can feed a new launch, a back catalogue, or both.

3. Launch publicity and chart conversion are different events

Yanwu now has a reported Hongguo heat value, a Douyin peak, reservations, and a clear nostalgia hook. It still should not be inserted into the July 26 table because those signals are from a different date and do not provide a row-by-row replacement board. Glimmer in the Night is even earlier in the funnel: it has an official release announcement, but no comparable public performance metric yet.

Data note

This issue ranks the latest complete public Hongguo snapshot available by 08:00 China time on July 29: the July 26 repost published at 11:23 on the source page. The source provides all ten rows, but its No. 3 value is preserved exactly as 74349 because the display is anomalous.

A newer complete Hongguo daily board dated July 27 or July 28 was not publicly verifiable in this pass. The July 29 late-July analysis is a summary rather than a complete daily ranking. A comparable daily Douyin play-count board and a Kuaishou daily ranking were also not publicly verifiable, so no synthetic cross-platform score is used.

All English titles are reader-facing translations of the Chinese chart labels. Where the public evidence did not disclose an episode count or production format, the field is marked as unverified rather than inferred.