Yes! I totally agree with all of this! CQL was my first Chinese drama as well, and confusion of all the cultural stuff I didn't know was definitely a factor for me. Though I played on easy mode by reading a WHOLE lot of fanfic first so I knew what was going on with the plot and characters from the get-go - which meant that my main confusions were just culturally related, and I could focus on trying to figure that stuff out. I should really rewatch the show now that I have more experience and understanding.

I remember having similar issues when watching Yuri on Ice too. I'd never watched any anime before, or any other Japanese media besides, and I could tell while watching it that I was finding it confusing in ways it was not intended to be confusing, but I couldn't interpret any of it because I didn't have that familiarity. I've still not seen any anime besides Yuri on Ice and tbh I found it almost as confusing on second watch as first watch! I think there must be tropes of how anime works that I just don't know how to read.