# Burning Ice (无证之罪)
**Burning Ice** (无证之罪) is a 2017 Chinese crime suspense web series produced by iQIYI and Huaying Xinrong Pictures, directed by Lü Xing, and adapted from the novel of the same name by the mystery writer Zijin Chen (紫金陈). It stars Qin Hao as the detective [Yan Liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/yan-liang), with Deng Jiajia, Yao Lu, Dai Xu, Wang Zhener, and [Ning Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/ning-li) in supporting roles, and it ran for 12 episodes on iQIYI from September 6 to October 2017.[1](https://www.iqiyi.com/playlist8843577658814402.html) • [2](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice) The series is identified in Chinese media coverage as China's first "social-school" (社会派) reasoning super web drama, a label that marks its difference from puzzle-centered detective fiction.[3](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1612119.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 无证之罪 (Wúzhèng zhī zuì), international title Burning Ice[2](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice) |
| Basis | Adapted from Zijin Chen's novel of the same name; screenwriters Ma Weiba and Zijin Chen[1](https://www.iqiyi.com/playlist8843577658814402.html) • [4](https://www.sina.cn/news/detail/5140789080622759.html) |
| Format | 12 episodes, about 50 to 55 minutes each, on iQIYI[2](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice) • [5](https://cj.sina.com.cn/article/detail/5806933453/572495) |
| Broadcast | Premiered September 6, 2017; season ran September to October 2017[2](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice) |
| Main cast | Qin Hao (Yan Liang), Deng Jiajia (Zhu Huiru), Yao Lu (Luo Wen), Dai Xu (Guo Yu), Wang Zhener (Lin Qi), Ning Li (Li Fengtian)[2](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice) |
| Production | Executive producer Han Sanping, his first web series; filming began December 15, 2016[6](https://www.iq.com/album/19rr94w4eo) |
| Reception | About 400 million views by the end of its run; Douban score of 8.3 at completion, having reached 8.7 within the first week[7](https://m.ikanchai.com/pcarticle/164291) • [8](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zentertainment/movies-and-tv/story20180103-823813) |
## Spoilers
### Story and setting
The plot centers on an accidental killing that draws three ordinary people into a web of crime. Guo Yu, a trainee lawyer struggling in the city, tries to protect his first love Zhu Huiru and unintentionally becomes a murder suspect; under pursuit by both the police and criminal gangs, their desperation ferments into something dangerous.[1](https://www.iqiyi.com/playlist8843577658814402.html) Around them, the retired forensic examiner Luo Wen searches on his own for his missing wife and daughter while terminally ill, and the detective Yan Liang is recalled to the squad to solve the "Snowman murders," a series of killings in which the culprit leaves behind a fingerprint and a note reading "come catch me."[9](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1807721) • [10](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_19rrh9129h.html)
The action is set in Harbin in the depths of winter, with temperatures around minus 30 degrees, and the frozen, desolate atmosphere is treated as part of the drama's tone. Commentators connected this setting to the decline of the traditional heavy-industry cities of China's northeast, where the collapse of the planned-economy order left many people disoriented, and noted the parallel with the 2014 Berlin Golden Bear film *Black Coal, Thin Ice*, which is also set in the city.[11](https://m.wufazhuce.com/movie/1111) A review in *China Writer* likewise observed that the adaptation built up the cold, oppressive atmosphere of a withered northeastern industrial base, supplying a texture of everyday life the novel lacked.[12](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2020/1110/c404030-31926145.html)
## Social-school reasoning
The series defines itself against the dominant detective tradition. Where "orthodox school" (本格) mysteries, such as the contemporaneous *Day and Night* (白夜追凶), foreground puzzles, clues, and deduction, *Burning Ice* shows the killer from the beginning, making the method of the crime and the concealment of evidence plain, and directs its attention instead to motive, character, and social circumstance.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1631038.html) Director Lü Xing explained the choice: social-school reasoning asks the audience to invest emotionally rather than to guess, and excessive speculation would only dilute that engagement.[8](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zentertainment/movies-and-tv/story20180103-823813)
The producer Qi Kang placed the series on a spectrum within the genre: *Psychological Crime* and *Medical Examiner Dr. Qin* lean toward the orthodox, puzzle-driven style, which he called more "brain-healthy," while *Burning Ice* is more social-school, examining human nature through its cases and, in his phrase, more "heart-wrenching."[14](https://ient.ifeng.com/42986548/news.shtml) The Paper's review made the same point in stronger terms: the drama has no flashy deduction and no glamorous characters, only ordinary people pushed to the edge, and its real contest is not intelligence but human nature.[9](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1807721) Reviewers also noted echoes of [Keigo Higashino](https://www.edgepedia.org/keigo-higashino)'s *The Devotion of Suspect X* in the relationship between Yan Liang and Luo Wen; in the original novel Yan Liang is a mathematics teacher, a detail the television version changed.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1631038.html)
## Production
iQIYI positioned the series as an upgrade in its crime-drama line, following *Psychological Crime* (2014) and *Crime Crackdown* era titles such as *The Master of Crime* and *Yu Zui*, and as an experiment in what the platform called the "American drama model": a compact 12-episode season with roughly 55-minute episodes, a format closer to United States television than to the long Chinese serial.[5](https://cj.sina.com.cn/article/detail/5806933453/572495) In the summer of 2016 the platform's founder and CEO Gong Yu personally invited the veteran film producer Han Sanping to serve as executive producer; Han helped secure Qin Hao for the lead and steered the overall creative direction, and his authority served as a bond of trust between the platform and the young creative team.[5](https://cj.sina.com.cn/article/detail/5806933453/572495) The screen supervisor was Chen Wengui, a winner of the Magnolia Award for best screenwriting at the 19th Shanghai TV Festival.[15](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1603483.html)
Filming began on December 15, 2016, with a feature-film production crew, and the series was jointly produced by Huaying Xinrong and Wannian Pictures.[6](https://www.iq.com/album/19rr94w4eo) After its run, iQIYI completed distribution deals for Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, North America, and Europe.[7](https://m.ikanchai.com/pcarticle/164291)
## Reception
The series opened to strong reviews. Its Douban score reached 8.7 within a week of broadcast, and the Lianhe Zaobao review credited it with interrogating human nature and morality in a way rarely seen in Chinese crime drama.[8](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zentertainment/movies-and-tv/story20180103-823813) By the end of its run iQIYI reported about 400 million views and a Douban score of 8.3, along with high placements on the industry rankings compiled by Guduo and Yien.[7](https://m.ikanchai.com/pcarticle/164291) Because it aired at the same time as *Day and Night*, which scored higher on Douban, several commentators argued that *Burning Ice* received less attention than its quality warranted, while stressing that the two dramas pursued different goals within the same genre.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1631038.html) • [9](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1807721)
## Legacy
The series became the foundation of what trade coverage called the "Zijin Chen universe." Producer Dai Ying had acquired the rights to Zijin Chen's other two novels, *The Bad Kids* (坏小孩) and *The Long Night* (长夜难明), before *Burning Ice* was delivered to her, planning a series if the first adaptation succeeded; after it aired, largely the same team began developing *The Bad Kids*, which became *The Hidden Corner* (2020), while *The Long Night* became *The Silent Truth* (2020).[16](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5737990122_15602c7ea01900pcdn.html?from=ent&subch=oent) Zijin Chen himself wrote after *The Hidden Corner* aired that the two dramas were made by the same group of people and that the later work was better in every respect; the producer He Junyi responded that the two works differed in period, budget, and market maturity, and that iQIYI's investment in *The Hidden Corner* was nearly three times that of *Burning Ice*.[17](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2020-07-04/1453659.html)
The 12-episode format also proved influential. The Wenhui Daily noted that after *Burning Ice* in 2017, the short-season model gradually gained market attention, and Dai Ying said the drama's only weakness was that its market effect did not last long because it had just 12 episodes, an observation that fed into iQIYI's later [Mist Theatre](https://www.edgepedia.org/mist-theatre) (迷雾剧场) anthology of short suspense series.[18](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2020-09-28/70928.pdf) • [16](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5737990122_15602c7ea01900pcdn.html?from=ent&subch=oent) A 2025 short-drama version of *Burning Ice*, again directed by Lü Xing and starring Qin Hao and Deng Jiajia, was listed on iQIYI with 28 episodes.[19](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_1lpp7av0zup.html)
## References
1. [无证之罪：秦昊邓家佳主演的犯罪悬疑网络剧, iQIYI playlist](https://www.iqiyi.com/playlist8843577658814402.html)
2. [无证之罪 (Burning Ice), TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/burning-ice)
3. [《无证之罪》虐脑燃心，"美剧化"引领社会派推理巅峰, Jiemian News](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1612119.html)
4. [无证之罪演职员表, Sina News](https://www.sina.cn/news/detail/5140789080622759.html)
5. [那些拍网剧的年轻人：这是你们的时代, Sina Finance](https://cj.sina.com.cn/article/detail/5806933453/572495)
6. [無證之罪 (2017), iQ.com](https://www.iq.com/album/19rr94w4eo)
7. [爱奇艺再次实现美剧模式落地 社会派推理剧《无证之罪》收官, Kan chai](https://m.ikanchai.com/pcarticle/164291)
8. [中国少见的社会派推理剧 拷问人性道德, Lianhe Zaobao](https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zentertainment/movies-and-tv/story20180103-823813)
9. [《无证之罪》斗的不是智商，是人性, The Paper](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1807721)
10. [无证之罪-电视剧全集, iQIYI](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_19rrh9129h.html)
11. [国产剧开挂了，又来一部高分好剧——关于《无证之罪》, ONE·一个](https://m.wufazhuce.com/movie/1111)
12. [推理小说中那些"隐秘的角落", China Writer / Beijing Evening News](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2020/1110/c404030-31926145.html)
13. [《无证之罪》：如果不是撞上《白夜追凶》这部剧可以更火, Jiemian News](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1631038.html)
14. [《无证之罪》邓家佳"表白"东野圭吾 回应"眼线梗", ifeng entertainment](https://ient.ifeng.com/42986548/news.shtml)
15. [剧讯 | 推理网剧《无证之罪》今日开播, Jiemian News](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1603483.html)
16. [短剧将成为行业新风口？新浪新闻](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_5737990122_15602c7ea01900pcdn.html?from=ent&subch=oent)
17. ["隐秘的大佬"与《隐秘的角落》, National Business Daily](https://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2020-07-04/1453659.html)
18. [文汇报, 2020-09-28](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2020-09-28/70928.pdf)
19. [《无证之罪》短剧, iQIYI](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_1lpp7av0zup.html)
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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 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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