# Memory Lost (美人为馅)
**Memory Lost** (美人为馅) is a 2016 Chinese crime-suspense romance web series produced by Beijing iQIYI Technology Co. and made by Huanyu Entertainment, adapted from the novel of the same name by the web novelist Ding Mo. It stars Yang Rong as the police officer Bai Jinxi and Bai Yu as the detective Han Chen, who reunite years after a past relationship and solve a string of murder cases while uncovering a large criminal conspiracy.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) The series ran in three seasons of 12 episodes each on iQIYI between October 24 and December 27, 2016, and closed with more than 2.3 billion cumulative views.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| English / Chinese title | Memory Lost / 美人为馅[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Source | Novel 《美人为馅》 by Ding Mo, described as the peak of her "suspense-romance trilogy" alongside *Love Me If You Dare* and *If Snail Has Love*[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [2](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0508/c40606-29970176.html) |
| Format | 3 seasons, 36 episodes of 45 minutes each, iQIYI exclusive[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Airing dates | Season 1: October 24, 2016; Season 2: November 14, 2016; Season 3: December 12, 2016; run ended December 27, 2016[3](https://bangumi.tv/subject/215074) |
| Key crew | Directors Li Dachao and Liang Xinquan; chief screenwriter and producer Yu Zheng; chief producer Dai Ying (iQIYI)[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Leads | Yang Rong as Bai Jinxi (also Su Mian), Bai Yu as Han Chen, Li Geng as Xu Sibai[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Final viewership | Over 2.3 billion views at the December 27, 2016 close[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story follows Bai Jinxi, a policewoman skilled in criminal psychology, and Han Chen, a detective skilled in traditional forensic investigation. Years after a past connection, the two meet again and, despite initial friction, work together on a series of serial murder cases while searching for recovered memories; Han Chen lost part of his memory in an incident five years earlier and remembers only that he had a fiancée of great importance to him. As the cases accumulate, the two are drawn into a larger conspiracy and eventually end up together.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [4](https://www.iq.com/album/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85-2016-19rrhaltkd?lang=zh_cn)
The opposing camp is the "Alphabet Legion" (字母军团), a group of criminals whose members go by letters: Mi Re plays T (Xie Lu, a 25-year-old sniper), Qi Ji plays K, Zhang Yijie plays A (Xia Jun'ai, skilled in explosives), Chu Junchen plays L, Tian Muchen plays R (Robin, a hacker), and Zhao Yiqin plays M. On the police side, the "Black Shield Group" (黑盾组) includes He Fengtian as Zhou Xiaozhuan and Bai Zixuan as group leader Qin Wenlong.[5](https://upimg.baike.so.com/doc/7641677-24265166.html) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Production
**Adaptation approach.** Yu Zheng, who served as chief screenwriter, producer, and artistic director, described the series as a transition work: his first purely modern-costume drama and his first suspense drama. Departing from his habit of reworking source material freely, he had each episode's script sent to the original author Ding Mo for review and revised it according to her comments, saying the adaptation "largely restored the original work."[6](https://ient.ifeng.com/42706673/news.shtml) • [7](https://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2016/1025/c22219-28804439.html) He told reporters the pressure was high because the plot is complex and the cast of characters large, and that the difficulty of adaptation lay in making the story realistic while respecting fans of the novel.[8](https://ent.yxlady.com/201610/1335045.shtml)
**Positioning.** At the October 20, 2016 premiere press conference in Beijing, iQIYI chief content officer Wang Xiaohui and chief producer Dai Ying presented the series as a "high-concept idol drama" for the pure-web era, mixing the suspense and romance genres and adding crime plots supported by criminal psychology and forensic detail on top of the leads' romance.[9](https://tech.cnr.cn/techgd/20161021/t20161021_523212823.shtml)
**Filming.** A kickoff ceremony was held on April 22, 2016 at the Shiyue Military Academy in Nanjing's Qixia District, beginning 105 days of shooting entirely in Nanjing, with more than 600 locations. The city was chosen because it is beautiful and shares the temperament of the southern city in the original novel.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85/21498103?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Release and viewership
The series premiered exclusively on iQIYI on October 24, 2016, with two new episodes each Monday and Tuesday at 20:00. Season 2 followed on November 14 and Season 3 on December 12, 2016.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
Viewership grew quickly. Season 1 reached 26.58 million views on its first day and passed 100 million within 55 hours, collecting 500 million views in 16 days with daily plays above 30 million; it totaled 850 million views. Season 2 passed 100 million within 24 hours of release and stood at 650 million by December 2, 2016. Season 3 broke 100 million on its first day, and the series closed on December 27, 2016 with 2.3 billion cumulative views.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85/21498103?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Reception
**Ratings controversy.** The series premiered the same day as *If Snail Has Love*, another adaptation of a Ding Mo novel, and the two were repeatedly compared. Early in the run, *Memory Lost* scored as low as 4.9 on Douban, with 38.4 percent of raters giving one star and only 12.8 percent giving five stars, while *If Snail Has Love* rose to 8.0 and above. Producer Yu Zheng publicly questioned how a rating app could assign very high and very low scores before a drama aired, and posted screenshots suggesting coordinated one-star reviews; some commenters attributed the low scores to review-bombing directed at Yu Zheng rather than at the work itself.[11](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-11-02/doc-ifxxfuff7696779.shtml) • [12](https://www.jiemian.com/article/937301.html) A People's Daily Online review at the time recorded Douban scores of 8.3 for *If Snail Has Love* against 5.4 for *Memory Lost*, noting that free users of iQIYI could see only two episodes, which left the first case unresolved for many viewers, while paying viewers praised the show's fidelity to the novel and tight logic.[13](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1027/c40606-28813644.html)
**Critical assessment.** The *Qilu Evening News* called the series a model of the "high-concept idol drama," noting that its complex plotting, escalation from single crimes to gang operations, and deeply planted character foreshadowing suited male viewers as well as the usual idol-drama audience, and praised its roughly 80 percent fidelity to the novel. The *Yangcheng Evening News* observed that compared with earlier "detective romance" dramas, the adaptation weakened documentary-style depiction of investigation and strengthened reasoning and suspense atmosphere, with one case solved roughly every six episodes and more fully laid-out clues.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85/21498103?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [13](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1027/c40606-28813644.html) Later aggregated ratings settled higher than the opening scores: Baidu Baike records a Douban score of 6.1/10 from 56,356 raters as of January 13, 2026.[10](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85/21498103?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
**Context in Ding Mo's career.** Ding Mo, a platinum author with China Literature who pioneered the "suspense-romance" (悬爱) genre by combining crime plots with love stories, saw her classic trilogy, *Love Me If You Dare* (2015), *Memory Lost* (2016), and *If Snail Has Love* (2016), adapted for screen in succession from 2015 onward.[2](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0508/c40606-29970176.html) In a later interview she said that early adaptations were an unexpected pleasure, since crime-related dramas were then barred from pre-9 p.m. prime time on television, and that web series opened the door for the genre.[14](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26761013)
## Music
The theme song "Chen Mian" (《沉眠》) was written by Yu Zheng, composed by Tan Xuan, and sung by Bai Yu and Yang Rong; the insert song "Guang" (《光》) was written by Gao Shan, composed by Zeng Di, and sung by Zeng Di.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## References
1. [美人为馅（2016年杨蓉、白宇主演的爱情悬疑系列剧）, Baidu Baike](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E3%80%8A%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85%E3%80%8B/18718001?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
2. ["网文IP女王"丁墨：当初写悬疑题材是出于个人喜好, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0508/c40606-29970176.html)
3. [美人为馅, Bangumi 番组计划](https://bangumi.tv/subject/215074)
4. [美人为馅 (2016), iQIYI International](https://www.iq.com/album/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85-2016-19rrhaltkd?lang=zh_cn)
5. [美人为馅（2016年爱奇艺，于正工作室共同出品影视剧）, 360百科](https://upimg.baike.so.com/doc/7641677-24265166.html)
6. [于正转型拍时装悬疑剧, 信息时报 via 凤凰网](https://ient.ifeng.com/42706673/news.shtml)
7. [於正轉型之作 劇版《美人為餡》忠實丁墨原著, 北京日报 via 人民网](https://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2016/1025/c22219-28804439.html)
8. [《美人为馅》火热播出 悬疑不断甜蜜破表, 伊秀娱乐网](https://ent.yxlady.com/201610/1335045.shtml)
9. [《美人为馅》发布会举行 爱奇艺打造纯网"高概念偶像剧", 央广网](https://tech.cnr.cn/techgd/20161021/t20161021_523212823.shtml)
10. [美人为馅（2016年杨蓉、白宇主演的犯罪悬疑爱情剧）, Baidu Baike](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%BA%E9%A6%85/21498103?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
11. [《美人为馅》被刷低分 评分到底靠谱吗？, 广州日报 via 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2016-11-02/doc-ifxxfuff7696779.shtml)
12. [《美人为馅》差评如潮 网友：于正出品是最大bug, 界面新闻 JMedia](https://www.jiemian.com/article/937301.html)
13. [风格同是谈情说案 "蜗牛"口碑胜过"美人", 人民网传媒](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1027/c40606-28813644.html)
14. [罗先海、丁墨：网络文学创作要贴近中国本土风格——网络作家丁墨访谈录, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26761013)
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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 Iv to My*
*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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