Soap Operas--Asian Style

I have talked about how inexpensive it is to get a really good manicure/pedicure over here in SE Asia. There is one salon I frequent and they always have a t.v. available where you can watch whatever is on at the time. Sometimes when I go in and there are no other patrons they turn it to an English-speaking station. I've watched Price is Right and Wheel-of-Fortune in the past while getting my nails done.
But if other women are in the salon, they leave it on the Chinese stations and I get to play this fun little game of "try to figure out what they are saying by their actions and expressions". It really is very entertaining! Most afternoons when I am there they have, what LOOKS like, soap operas on. Of course I don't KNOW that for a fact, but the actors/actresses look all made up and kind of fake (like those in U.S. soap operas) and they "over-act" with their movements and facial expressions. The background music is also very melodramatic when someone says something or they go to another scene.
Usually it is not too difficult to gather the plot, even though the details are vague. There is one particular show that is set in ancient Chinese times and the "warriors" all do kung fu (or some martial arts) and the women all look like little china dolls (I always like that one). Today while I was there the show was set in modern time and you could tell that a woman had given up her baby for adoption years ago, but was found by that son and she recounted the story of how and why she gave him up for adoption. She introduced him to her husband and two sons and there was a lot of hugging and crying.
Yes, I'm a cryer, so even though I don't know what WORDS were being said, I still had to wipe tears from my eyes. Some emotions are the same in EVERY language!