# A Chinese Ghost Story (只问今生恋沧溟)
**A Chinese Ghost Story** (只问今生恋沧溟, also known as 新倩女幽魂) is a banned Chinese costume romance drama adapted from the story [Nie Xiaoqian](https://www.edgepedia.org/nie-xiaoqian) in [Pu Songling](https://www.edgepedia.org/pu-songling)'s *Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio* (聊斋志异), starring Zheng Shuang and Hou Minghao, which was completed in 2019 but never broadcast after China's broadcasting regulator prohibited it in 2021.[1](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29) • [2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871) • [3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese title | 只问今生恋沧溟 (Zhi Wen Jin Sheng Lian Cang Ming); English title A Chinese Ghost Story; earlier titles 倩女幽魂 and 新倩女幽魂[1](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29) |
| Source | Adapted from the Nie Xiaoqian story in Pu Songling's *Liaozhai Zhiyi*[2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871) |
| Lead cast | Zheng Shuang as Nie Xiaoqian (and Xiao Haha); Hou Minghao as Ning Caichen[1](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29) |
| Production | Director Zhong Shu Jia; screenwriters Yuan Xu Zhi (阮继志) and Liu Jia Yin (刘伽茵); produced by Beijing Century Partner Culture Media[2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871) |
| Filming | Began April 19, 2019 and wrapped August 20, 2019[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html) |
| Broadcast status | Prohibited from broadcast by the National Radio and Television Administration on August 27, 2021[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Lead actress's fee | 160 million yuan for the role, paid through split "yin-yang" contracts; taxes and fines of 299 million yuan were later recovered[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
## Spoilers
### Story and adaptation
The drama is set in the late Tang and early Song period. The scholar Ning Caichen, having failed the imperial examinations, settles at Lanruo Temple and opens a school, where he meets Nie Xiaoqian, a cat spirit who has cultivated for a thousand years, and the two fall in love.[5](https://linshuhaos.com/tv/qiannvyouhun/) To save classmates bewitched by demons, Ning Caichen enters the demon realm, where the demon matriarch Lao Lao discovers him; Nie Xiaoqian sacrifices herself to save him, and his grief after escaping causes him to lose his memory.[2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871)
The story then introduces a second role for the same actress: Ning Caichen meets Xiao Haha, the state preceptor's daughter, who looks identical to Nie Xiaoqian, and the two fall in love. Lao Lao revives Nie Xiaoqian's spirit to seize a scripture called the [Heart Sutra](https://www.edgepedia.org/heart-sutra) and to kill Ning Caichen and Yan Chixia, but Nie Xiaoqian cannot bring herself to kill the man she loves. In the finale she dies saving Ning Caichen and Xiao Haha, her soul scattering, while Ning Caichen keeps her keepsake and lives out his life alone.[6](https://m.tvmao.com/drama/Ki4eM2k%3D)
The adaptation departs from the familiar tale by adding the double role, the memory-loss plot, and the demon-realm storyline, and it casts Nie Xiaoqian as a cat spirit rather than the ghost of the original story.[1](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29) • [7](https://kknews.cc/zh-sg/entertainment/4b9zzev.html) Zheng Shuang played both Nie Xiaoqian and Xiao Haha.[8](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%83%91%E7%88%BD/1966?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Production
Beijing Century Partner Culture Media, then a wholly owned subsidiary of Beijing Culture, produced the series, with Zhong Shu Jia directing and Yuan Xu Zhi and Liu Jia Yin writing the screenplay.[2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871) Filming ran from April 19 to August 20, 2019, and the series obtained a distribution license, number (京)剧审字(2020)第018号.[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html) • [3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink) Sources disagree on the episode count: DramaWiki lists 50 episodes,[1](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29) while Baidu Baike and TVmao list 60.[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [9](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/Ki4eM2k%3D/actors) The series was originally slated for the first quarter of 2021 on platforms including iQiyi and [Tencent Video](https://www.edgepedia.org/tencent-video).[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html) • [10](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6972062.html)
## The ban
In January 2021, Zheng Shuang was reported to have arranged a surrogacy and then sought to abandon the resulting children, and the state-affiliated publication *Guangdian Shiping* wrote that the industry would "not provide a platform or opportunity for people with scandals and misconduct," after which her pending works were pulled.[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html) In April 2021, her former partner, the producer [Zhang Heng](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhang-heng), alleged that she had been paid 160 million yuan for the 77-day shoot, an average of 2.08 million yuan per day, using split "yin-yang" contracts: an on-the-books fee of 48 million yuan and a 112 million yuan capital injection into a company controlled by her mother.[11](https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-04-29/surrogacy-scandal-star-hit-with-allegations-of-tax-evasion-101703932.html) • [12](https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2021-04-29/doc-ikmyaawc2410990.shtml)
On August 27, 2021, the National Radio and Television Administration ruled that Beijing Century Partner and Zheng Shuang had seriously violated cost-allocation rules and had concealed facts and submitted false materials when applying for the distribution license under the title *Qian Nv You Hun*; it ordered that the drama not be broadcast and that institutions stop airing programs involving Zheng Shuang.[2](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871) Tax authorities disclosed that Zheng had received 156.25 million yuan for the drama through split contracts and was ordered to pay back taxes and fines totaling 299 million yuan.[3](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Financial fallout
The unbroadcast series became a liability for its backers. Beijing Culture's 2020 semi-annual report listed *Qian Nv You Hun* first among its inventory of film and television works, and the company's 2020 annual report no longer carried any broadcast information for it.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/5606409.html) • [10](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6972062.html) The drama had also been entangled in an accounting investigation before the scandal: in 2018, Century Partner sold a 60 percent share of the drama's revenue rights to Yagete International for 380 million yuan and recognized the sum as income, but the rights were never actually transferred, one of the items in a warning letter that led to Beijing Culture being placed under investigation in January 2021.[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html)
In April 2020, Beijing Culture had put Century Partner up for sale for 48 million yuan, under 4 percent of the 1.35 billion yuan it had paid for the subsidiary six years earlier.[4](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html) Industry estimates put the drama's production cost at about 300 million yuan, and with the ban in place the investment could not be recovered through broadcast.[10](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6972062.html) A legal analysis noted that because the drama had still not aired, Zheng Shuang might have to return a 112 million yuan capital injection tied to the project.[14](https://www.texel.com.cn/magazine/taiyue20210508.pdf)
## References
1. [A Chinese Ghost Story (2021), DramaWiki](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story_%282021%29)
2. [只问今生恋沧溟, 搜狗百科](https://baike.sogou.com/m/fullLemma?lid=184645871)
3. [只问今生恋沧溟, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%8F%AA%E9%97%AE%E4%BB%8A%E7%94%9F%E6%81%8B%E6%B2%A7%E6%BA%9F/24245291?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
4. [北京文化的"至暗时刻"：5亿贷款逾期，电视剧《只问今生恋沧溟》受郑爽事件影响或延期上架, 21世纪经济报道](https://m.21jingji.com/article/20210125/herald/3f6ae503ad0da114af032228cf7db800_ths.html)
5. [电视剧只问今生恋沧溟剧情简介, 林书豪剧情网](https://linshuhaos.com/tv/qiannvyouhun/)
6. [只问今生恋沧溟剧情介绍, 电视猫](https://m.tvmao.com/drama/Ki4eM2k%3D)
7. [《只问今生恋沧溟》将定档，牵手侯明昊, 每日头条](https://kknews.cc/zh-sg/entertainment/4b9zzev.html)
8. [郑爽, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E9%83%91%E7%88%BD/1966?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
9. [只问今生恋沧溟演员表, 电视猫](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/Ki4eM2k%3D/actors)
10. [寻找确定，2021剧集市场的风云与拐点, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6972062.html)
11. [Surrogacy Scandal Star Hit With Allegations of Tax Evasion, Caixin Global](https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-04-29/surrogacy-scandal-star-hit-with-allegations-of-tax-evasion-101703932.html)
12. [郑爽被调查！77天1.6亿片酬引爆全网, 新浪新闻](https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2021-04-29/doc-ikmyaawc2410990.shtml)
13. ["踩雷"郑爽的北京文化, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/5606409.html)
14. [泰悦咨询内部专业刊物：2021年5月8日](https://www.texel.com.cn/magazine/taiyue20210508.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles symbols to Co*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license