General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Imperfect Victim (不完美受害人)

Imperfect Victim (不完美受害人; also romanized Bu Wan Mei Shou Hai Ren) is a 2023 Chinese television drama about a workplace sexual assault case, in which a female assistant's wavering testimony after an anonymous third-party report of rape becomes the center of a criminal investigation, a defamation counter-suit, and a sexual harassment claim. It ran 29 episodes, first airing July 17, 2023 on Beijing Satellite TV, Dragon TV, and the streaming platform iQIYI, and concluding on July 31, 2023.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title / English title	不完美受害人 / Imperfect Victim¹
Run	29 episodes, July 17 to July 31, 2023; Beijing Satellite TV, Dragon TV, iQIYI¹^•²
Director and writers	Yang Yang (director); Gao Xuan and Ren Baoru (screenwriters)¹
Lead cast	Zhou Xun as lawyer Lin Kan; Liu Yijun as chairman Cheng Gong; Lin Yun as Zhao Xun; Zhong Chuxi as police officer Yan Ming; Chen Shu as Xin Lu; Dong Jie as Li Yi; Ying Er as Mi Mang¹^•³
Filming	September 15 to November 2, 2022, in Qingdao, Shandong¹
Central case	A third-party anonymous rape report; the accused's defense lawyer later helps the complainant counter-sue for sexual harassment under the Civil Code⁴^•⁵
Recognition	"Annual Quality Model Drama" at the 2024 China TV Drama Quality Ceremony; nominations for the 29th Magnolia, 34th Flying Apsaras, and 32nd Golden Eagle awards¹

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The story opens when the Yanzhou police receive an anonymous report that Cheng Gong (Liu Yijun), chairman of the Dacheng technology group, has raped Zhao Xun (Lin Yun), his senior assistant. Officer Yan Ming (Zhong Chuxi) leads the night response. Faced with questioning at the scene, Zhao Xun neither confirms nor denies the rape, appearing to hold something back.⁶ Because she had been drunk and unconscious during a business banquet earlier that night, whether she was clear-headed when the encounter with Cheng Gong occurred becomes the key question for how the case is characterized.⁶

Zhao Xun's account shifts repeatedly. Per the series synopsis, she first denies being harmed, files a rape accusation five days later, and during investigation is found to have been promoted within three months to a position colleagues had not reached in years, and to have accepted luxury goods bought in the company's name, facts that make her an "imperfect victim" in the eyes of observers.⁴^•⁷ The police decline to open a criminal case, and Cheng Gong, whose reputation and business suffer a "black swan" shock, hires the top lawyer Lin Kan (Zhou Xun) to dismantle the accusations and then sues Zhao Xun for defamation. As details emerge, Zhao Xun is doxxed, harassed online, slut-shamed, and loses her job.⁴

The turn to a civil case. Lin Kan, herself a victim of three years of sexual harassment by her university mentor, comes to see her own situation in Zhao Xun's. She surrenders her lawyer's license and helps Zhao Xun bring a sexual harassment suit against Cheng Gong, supported by the key witness Yin Sheng, the anonymous reporter, and by the new Civil Code provision on sexual harassment.⁷^•⁸ In the final episode, Zhao Xun stands up in court to speak, and Lin Kan's argument analyzes why a victim in a relationship of unequal power may be unable to say "no"; before the judgment Cheng Gong and Zhao Xun meet.⁹

Production

The screenwriters Gao Xuan and Ren Baoru, writing partners since 1996, began researching the subject in 2017, studying Chinese and foreign sexual assault cases and the public discourse around them. They settled on the premise that the core of unequal-power assault is power, not sex. Before drafting, they ran a legal simulation with lawyers on the condition that any plot point failing judicial logic would be discarded rather than forced by dramatic logic; two legal advisers and a police adviser were present on set throughout the courtroom scenes.¹⁰^•⁵

The writing timeline was long: an outline written over four months from July 2019, then a script from August 2020 to December 2021, interrupted by their work on the pandemic anthology drama Together. The ending changed because of a legal development: the Civil Code, effective January 1, 2021, added sexual harassment as a civil cause of action under Article 1010, which had not existed when the outline was drafted, and the writers used it to let Zhao Xun counter-sue.⁵

Director Yang Yang received the script in April 2022 while preparing a costume drama, set it aside, and shot the series from July to November 2022 in Qingdao. She said she did not position it as a suspense drama but as an examination of human nature, and expected the controversy it generated.¹¹

Themes and reception

The series devotes its 29 episodes to a single rape case, examining the interplay of police, lawyers, the perpetrator, the victim's family, and public opinion. Commentators highlighted its treatment of the "imperfect victim" idea: Zhao Xun's hesitation, her acceptance and retraction of a settlement, and her lies to police made her a figure many viewers judged rather than supported, and the drama's own title adopted that framing.¹² Critics writing in The Paper argued, invoking the sociologist Ueno Chizuko's critique of "self-responsibility" theory, that judging victims for not resisting shifts scrutiny from perpetrators to victims.¹²

Contested reception. The drama drew both praise for being willing to tackle the subject, commonly summarized as "daring", and criticism. An analysis in The Initium noted that viewer comments filled with sympathy for the perpetrator crowded out expressions of support for the victim, that the drama gave little role to media and public discussion as positive forces, and that its Douban score, displayed only days after the finale, was 7.6 and later fell to 7.5.⁷ A women's rights information platform observed that the fierce criticism of Zhao Xun revealed how unfamiliar the dynamics of workplace sexual assault and power-based coercion remained to the public.¹³

Commercially, the series ranked first among dramas in July positive-play market share in Enlightene's streaming data, and later placed third on the Guduo all-platform weekly drama ranking as an iQIYI exclusive.¹⁴^•¹⁵ At a 2023 seminar in Beijing on female-themed dramas, the China Radio and Television Social Organization Federation's vice president Li Jingsheng credited its attention to its realist treatment reaching into hidden corners of social life.¹⁶ In 2024 it was named "Annual Quality Model Drama" at the China TV Drama Quality Ceremony and nominated for Best China TV Series at the 29th Shanghai TV Festival (Magnolia Awards), the 34th Flying Apsaras Awards, and the 32nd Golden Eagle Awards; Zhou Xun's performance as Lin Kan was singled out at the Flying Apsaras ceremony, where she won Best Actress.¹^•¹⁷

The series later aired in Hong Kong on RTHK TV 31 from June 14, 2024.⁹

References

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 Cr to In

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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