General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Please Give Me a Pair of Wings (请赐我一双翅膀)

Please Give Me a Pair of Wings (请赐我一双翅膀; pinyin: Qing Ci Wo Yi Shuang Chi Pang) is a 2019 Chinese television series set in the Republican era, starring Ju Jingyi and Aaron Yan with Han Dong, Zhang Yuxi, Merxat, and Zhu Shengyi. It follows Lin Jiuge, daughter of a police commissioner, who is framed for her adoptive father's murder and imprisoned, and her fight to clear her name with the help of a young detective.¹ The 60-episode series premiered on July 9, 2019 on Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku.²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	请赐我一双翅膀 (Qing Ci Wo Yi Shuang Chi Pang)¹
Genre	Republican-era romantic suspense drama²
Episodes / runtime	60 episodes of 45 minutes each²
Broadcast	July 9 to August 2019 on Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku²
Directors / writer	Lai Shuiqing and Guo Jianyong; chief screenwriter Wang Jie²
Lead cast	Ju Jingyi as Lin Jiuge; Aaron Yan as Long Tianyu¹
Viewership	4 billion cumulative video-platform views by August 17, 2019²
Recognition	Audience's Favorite Drama, 2021 6th China Quality Television Drama Awards¹

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set in the 1920s in the fictional city of Shanggu (上沽). Police commissioner Lin Aodong is shot dead, and his adopted daughter Lin Jiuge is identified as the murderer and wrongfully imprisoned.³ Inside Saint John women's prison she must survive among the inmates while contending with hidden forces reaching in from outside, and she ultimately decides to escape to seek the truth.⁴

Police officer Long Tianyu investigates the case and finds that the real killer is Leng Shinan, the powerful customs inspector of Shanggu, who also controls the city's drug trade.³ In the end, Jiuge joins forces with Long Tianyu and others to bring Leng Shinan and his associates to a fair trial.³

A parallel storyline follows Jiuge's friendship with Leng Nianzi, with whom she works to build an all-girls school to improve the fate of women in their town, an effort opposed by people determined to destroy it.⁵

Cast and characters

The main cast and roles:¹

Ju Jingyi as Lin Jiuge, a research graduate and daughter of Shanggu's police commissioner.
Aaron Yan as Long Tianyu, captain of the police detective team, with an extraordinary talent for criminal investigation and tracking.
Han Dong as Leng Liwei, adopted son of the Leng family and a key figure in underworld dealings, Leng Shinan's right-hand man and scapegoat.
Zhang Yuxi as Leng Nianzhi, young mistress of the Leng family.
Merxat as Xiao Linfeng, an orphan, disciple of Mao Jiu, and a humorous gambler and con artist versed in chess and instruments.
Zhu Shengyi as Long Xiangxiang, a passionate news reporter and Long Tianyu's younger sister.

Supporting players include Tse Kwan-ho as Leng Shinan, the underworld leader who outwardly holds a customs provincial military command; Qiu Xinzhi as Tang Dezong, the idealistic head warden; Tao Huimin as Yu Linglong, a famous thief known as the Thousand-Handed Buddha; and Yuen Wah as Mao Jiu, a former gambling master.¹

Production

The series was produced by Beijing Dongfang Feiyun International Film and Television with partner companies including Zhejiang Dongyang Changlong Feiyun and Yili Changjiang Rongyi Hesheng.² Filming began in Hengdian on October 26, 2017, and the final scenes wrapped on February 9, 2018, for a shooting period of 107 days.²

To recreate the look of a treaty-port city, the producers built a full "Shanggu city" set; the Saint John women's prison, martial arts hall, and factory scenes were shot on practical locations, with the prison set constructed in a combined Byzantine and Baroque style.⁶

The action-heavy production took a physical toll on Aaron Yan, who was playing a police role and performing fight scenes for the first time. Near the end of filming he strained his back and injured his neck, could not turn his head freely off camera, and briefly returned to Taiwan for examination and treatment before resuming shooting; the director moved his remaining fight scenes to the final day.⁷

The soundtrack album was released on July 31, 2019, with music composed by A Kun (阿鲲). The opening theme "I Want to Fly" (我要飞翔) is sung by Aaron Yan, and the closing theme "A Pair of Wings" (一双翅膀) by Ju Jingyi; Hu Shasha performs the insert song "By Your Side" (在你身边).²

Broadcast and viewership

The drama premiered on July 9, 2019 on Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku, with two new episodes at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and ten episodes available early to VIP members.² Within a week of release, cumulative views across the three platforms exceeded 700 million.⁷ Cumulative views passed 2 billion by July 26, 2.5 billion by July 29, and reached 4 billion by August 17, 2019.² In a Maoyan-based ranking of the ten most-watched dramas over the five days to August 24, 2019, it ranked third with 700 million cumulative views, behind Go Go Squid! and A Little Reunion and ahead of The Untamed.⁸

Reception

Despite the strong viewership, the drama's commercial outcome was poor for its producer. Dongfang Feiyun's 2019 annual report attributed the year's operating loss mainly to the drama's high production cost, with actual revenue falling short of expectations.⁹

Audience ratings were low. On Douban the series held a score of 4.6 out of 10 from 33,486 users as of September 4, 2025.² Chinese press reviews were mixed. Wenhui Bao judged that beneath an obvious idol-drama surface the series actually unfolds against convention, presenting high-tension suspense while emphasizing the resolve not to give up or bow to evil.² NetEase Entertainment praised the clear plot structure, frequent reversals, and more than forty named characters with distinct personalities, while a Baidu Baike commentary criticized the conversion of the genre's usual three-detective team into a familiar one-female, two-male love triangle that widened toward a four-way romance.²^•¹⁰

The series received industry recognition: it won Audience's Favorite Drama (Dong Fang Ying Shi, 2019–2020) at the 2021 6th China Quality Television Drama Awards,¹ and at the Golden Bud, The Fourth Network Film and Television Festival it was nominated for Best Web Series, with Ju Jingyi nominated for Best Actress.

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026