{ "id": "ep5sxwhx79", "slug": "remembering-lichuan", "title": "Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia", "label": "East Asian drama series", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama", "label": "Chinese modern and contemporary drama", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama.yr-1998-2023", "label": "Premiered 1998 to 2023", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama.yr-1998-2023" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Chinese modern and contemporary drama", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series", "label": "Series and fictional screen worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials", "label": "International serial drama and telenovelas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_international_serials" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama", "label": "Chinese modern and contemporary drama", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川) is a 2016 Chinese romance drama adapted from Shi Dingrou's novel Lichuan Wangshi, directed by Chen Mingzhang, starring Godfrey Gao and Jiao Junyan, 38 episodes, Douban 9.0.", "snippet": "Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川) is a 2016 Chinese romance drama adapted from Shi Dingrou's novel Lichuan Wangshi, directed by Chen Mingzhang, starring Godfrey Gao and Jiao Junyan, 38 episodes, Douban 9.0.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.series.series_int_serials_east_asia.chinese_modern_drama.yr-1998-2023", "markdown": "# Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川)\n\n**Remembering Lichuan** (遇见王沥川) is a 38-episode Chinese urban romance television series adapted from Shi Dingrou's (施定柔) novel *Lichuan Wangshi* (沥川往事), directed by Chen Mingzhang (陈铭章) and starring [Godfrey Gao](https://www.edgepedia.org/godfrey-gao) (高以翔) as the Swiss-born Chinese architect Wang Lichuan and Jiao Junyan (焦俊艳) as the Yunnan college student Xie Xiaoqiu[1](https://tv.le.com/izt/yjwlctg/index.html). Filmed in 2012, it was held back for nearly four years before streaming on LeTV from July 22, 2016 and broadcasting on Anhui TV from July 31, 2016, and it became one of the best-rated Chinese dramas of that summer[2](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160714/t20160714_522677150.shtml) • [3](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160820/t20160820_523039966.shtml).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Native title / English title | 遇见王沥川 (Yu Jian Wang Lichuan) / Remembering Lichuan[4](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Remembering_Lichuan) |\n| Source | Shi Dingrou's novel *Lichuan Wangshi* (沥川往事), serialized on Jinjiang in 2008[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946) |\n| Episodes / genre | 38 episodes, urban romance (治愈系言情)[1](https://tv.le.com/izt/yjwlctg/index.html) |\n| Director / writer / producer | Chen Mingzhang; Shi Dingrou (novelist as screenwriter); Zhou Tian (周恬)[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-06-06/20533937989.shtml) |\n| Leads | Godfrey Gao as Wang Lichuan; Jiao Junyan as Xie Xiaoqiu[6](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-06-06/20533937989.shtml) |\n| Broadcast | LeTV exclusive streaming from July 22, 2016; Anhui TV from July 31, 2016[2](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160714/t20160714_522677150.shtml) • [7](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-07-22/doc-ifxuhukv7240183.shtml) |\n| Reception | Douban score reached 9.0 during its run[8](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7e2DVVhANVv) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe series follows Xie Xiaoqiu, an optimistic English-major student from a small town in Yunnan who works part-time jobs to support her family, and Wang Lichuan, a young architect born in Switzerland who speaks several languages but whose Chinese is imperfect[1](https://tv.le.com/izt/yjwlctg/index.html) • [9](https://watch.plex.tv/zh/show/remembering-lichuan-1/season/1). The two fall in love, but Wang discovers he is seriously ill and, so as not to burden her, leaves coldly and without explanation[9](https://watch.plex.tv/zh/show/remembering-lichuan-1/season/1). Four years later Xiaoqiu, now a professional translator, meets him again by accident; her feelings persist while his apparent indifference wounds her, and her supervisor Xiao Guan (played by Lin Yo-Wei) pursues her ardently in parallel[9](https://watch.plex.tv/zh/show/remembering-lichuan-1/season/1) • [10](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/61229/remembering-lichuan).\n\nThe source novel is a tragedy: in *Lichuan Wangshi*, the poor student and the disabled young professional fall in love, he suddenly departs, and only years later does she understand that his ruthlessness was a farewell to life[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946). Because readers reacted so strongly to the tragic ending, Shi Dingrou changed it to a happy one when the print edition was published the following year; for the television script she wrote, the ending was set as open-ended[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946).\n\n## Origin and production\n\n**A debut project.** The drama was the first production of Tuole Culture (拓乐文化), a company founded in 2012 by producer Zhou Tian, who studied communications through graduate school and had worked on the series *Dongfang*[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html). In 2011, while preparing to start her company, she read *Lichuan Wangshi* on a friend's recommendation and decided to adapt it; she traveled to [Niagara Falls](https://www.edgepedia.org/niagara-falls), on the United States–Canada border, to meet the author, who was then a doctoral student in East Asian studies at the [University of Toronto](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-toronto)[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html) • [5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946).\n\n**The author as screenwriter.** Shi Dingrou had begun as a writer of wuxia fiction and wrote *Lichuan Wangshi* anonymously, unsure that her modern romance would be accepted by readers[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html). She wrote the screenplay herself rather than adapting her own text scene by scene, explaining that a novel of about 200,000 characters becomes a script of more than 450,000 characters for a series of over thirty episodes, and that scenery and psychology cannot transfer directly into scenes, action, and dialogue[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html). She also proposed changing the title from *Lichuan Wangshi* to *Yujian Wang Lichuan* (Meeting Wang Lichuan) to emphasize the encounter and the romance, and added close-ups highlighting Xiaoqiu's freshness and Lichuan's looks[12](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-05-16/18373922351.shtml?from=wap).\n\n**Director and schedule.** Chen Mingzhang, the Taiwanese director of hit idol dramas such as *Prince Turns to Frog* and *Fated to Love You*, agreed to direct after the script reached him through acquaintances[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html). Filming began on November 6, 2012 in Hangzhou, with locations including Qiandao Lake, Shanghai, Kunming, and Zurich[13](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2012-11-06/14083781028.shtml?from=wap) • [12](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-05-16/18373922351.shtml?from=wap). Because the novel was written in 2008 about events a few years earlier, the costumes and props were made to match roughly 2004, down to the Nokia phones the characters use[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html).\n\n## Casting and performances\n\nShi Dingrou did not take part in casting but endorsed the choices: she said Jiao Junyan matched the novel's description of a \"fresh, girl-next-door\" Xiaoqiu, and that Godfrey Gao's looks, temperament, overseas education, and foreign-language ability fit the novel's Wang Lichuan closely[14](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E9%81%87%E8%A7%81%E7%8E%8B%E6%B2%A5%E5%B7%9D/6472758?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma). To play a character described as a top English translator, Jiao Junyan practiced English with a foreign teacher and watched American series to learn colloquial speech, and appeared without makeup[15](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E5%B0%8F%E7%A7%8B/19865984?fromModule=lemma_inlink). Shi Dingrou later called Wang Lichuan the role best matched to Gao of any he played, noting that audiences initially resisted the character's beard until his performance won them over[16](https://k.sina.cn/article_6090508679_16b05c98701900tsrc.html?from=ent&subch=oent).\n\n## Broadcast and reception\n\nThe series wrapped in 2012 and its trailer was released in 2013, but it did not reach viewers until the summer of 2016, nearly four years after completion[15](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E5%B0%8F%E7%A7%8B/19865984?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [3](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160820/t20160820_523039966.shtml). On LeTV it streamed exclusively, with five episodes a week for members from July 22 and two a day for non-members from July 31[1](https://tv.le.com/izt/yjwlctg/index.html). In a summer dominated by fantasy adaptations such as *Ice Fantasy*, it drew steady word of mouth for its plain storytelling, sincere performances, and unglamorous production design; its Douban score rose to 9.0, and media grouped it with *Xiao Bie Li* and *Hello, Joann* as the season's \"clear stream\" of well-reviewed dramas[3](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160820/t20160820_523039966.shtml) • [8](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7e2DVVhANVv). A 2020 retrospective put its Douban rating at 8.8[16](https://k.sina.cn/article_6090508679_16b05c98701900tsrc.html?from=ent&subch=oent).\n\n## Related works\n\nShi Dingrou wrote a sequel script, *Zaijian Wang Lichuan* (再见王沥川, Goodbye Wang Lichuan), based on the extra chapters of the novel, and a related web series, *Reunited With Lichuan*, aired in 2018 with Li Meng taking the role of Xie Xiaoqiu[5](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946) • [4](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Remembering_Lichuan) • [15](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E5%B0%8F%E7%A7%8B/19865984?fromModule=lemma_inlink). After the 2012 script was finalized, Zhou Tian also acquired the rights to Shi Dingrou's novel *Caihong de Zhongli* (彩虹的重力), another adaptation written by the author[11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html).\n\n## References\n\n1. [《遇见王沥川》剧集页, 搜狗影视/乐视](https://tv.le.com/izt/yjwlctg/index.html)\n2. [暑期大剧CP多 《秀丽江山》《遇见王沥川》乐视将播, 央广网 (2016)](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160714/t20160714_522677150.shtml)\n3. [《小别离》接档《遇见王沥川》 打造2016暑期零差评\"清流派\", 央广网 (2016)](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20160820/t20160820_523039966.shtml)\n4. [Remembering Lichuan, DramaWiki](https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Remembering_Lichuan)\n5. [《遇见王沥川》原著作者施定柔：小说弥补了我们后置的青春, 澎湃新闻 (2016)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1536946)\n6. [资料：电视剧《遇见王沥川》主创人员, 新浪娱乐 (2013)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-06-06/20533937989.shtml)\n7. [《遇见王沥川》吻不停 生死虐恋刻骨铭心, 新浪娱乐 (2016)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-07-22/doc-ifxuhukv7240183.shtml)\n8. [终于等到《遇见王沥川》！焦俊艳4年已成炮哥, 凤凰网娱乐 (2016)](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7e2DVVhANVv)\n9. [遇见王沥川 Season 1, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/zh/show/remembering-lichuan-1/season/1)\n10. [Remembering Lichuan, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/61229/remembering-lichuan)\n11. [《遇见王沥川》选角幕后：高以翔被安排演男二，女主曾考虑一线女星, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/777337.html)\n12. [《遇见王沥川》焦俊艳高以翔组合获赞, 新浪娱乐 (2013)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2013-05-16/18373922351.shtml?from=wap)\n13. [《遇见王沥川》开机 高以翔焦俊艳谱恋曲, 新浪娱乐 (2012)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2012-11-06/14083781028.shtml?from=wap)\n14. [遇见王沥川, 百度百科](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E9%81%87%E8%A7%81%E7%8E%8B%E6%B2%A5%E5%B7%9D/6472758?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma)\n15. [谢小秋（电视剧《遇见王沥川》女主角）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E5%B0%8F%E7%A7%8B/19865984?fromModule=lemma_inlink)\n16. [专访施定柔：沥川往事，已成追忆, 新浪娱乐 (2020)](https://k.sina.cn/article_6090508679_16b05c98701900tsrc.html?from=ent&subch=oent)\n\n---\n*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 › Chinese modern and contemporary drama › Premiered 1998 to 2023*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川)](https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan](https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Remembering Lichuan (遇见王沥川)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/remembering-lichuan. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Remembering Lichuan is a 2016 Chinese romance drama adapted from Shi Dingrou's novel Lichuan Wangshi, directed by Chen Mingzhang, starring Godfrey Gao and Jiao Junyan, 38 episodes, Douban 9.0." }