# Riverside Code at Qingming Festival (清明上河图密码)
**Riverside Code at Qingming Festival** (清明上河图密码) is a 2024 Chinese costume mystery drama adapted from Ye Wenbiao's (冶文彪) novel series of the same name, following the Northern Song dynasty family of Zhao Buyou and Wen Yue as they solve a string of strange cases in the capital city of Dongjing while guarding its residents.[1](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/16/c10344913.html) Directed by Yang Fan and Xiong Chen with Wang Qinan as executive producer and chief screenwriter, it stars Zhang Songwen as Zhao Buyou and Bai Baihe as Wen Yue, and premiered on December 16, 2024 on CCTV-8 and Youku.[2](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241225/ae98a0164f934fb891676d88f481fe10/c.html) • [1](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/16/c10344913.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 清明上河图密码; English title Riverside Code at Qingming Festival; IMDb tt29539168[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/26758243/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends) |
| Source material | Ye Wenbiao's six-volume historical mystery novel series, each volume centered on one social class of the Northern Song[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768) |
| Broadcast | Premiered December 16, 2024 on CCTV-8 and Youku; later on Jiangsu Satellite TV and Zhejiang Satellite TV; 26 episodes of 45 minutes[1](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/16/c10344913.html) • [3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/26758243/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends) |
| Main cast | Zhang Songwen (Zhao Buyou, a Dali Temple clerk), Bai Baihe (Wen Yue, his wife), with Zhou Yiwei, Hou Yansong, Zhang Yao, Xia Meng, Lin Jiachuan and others[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B8%85%E6%98%8E%E4%B8%8A%E6%B2%B3%E5%9B%BE%E5%AF%86%E7%A0%81/58935140?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Viewership | CCTV-8 peak live rating 2.6996%, first in its time slot; Youku heat score passed 10,000 by December 30, 2024; Maoyan effective views exceeded 500 million[5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B8%85%E6%98%8E%E4%B8%8A%E6%B2%B3%E5%9B%BE%E5%AF%86%E7%A0%81/58935140?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Douban score | 6.4 from 76,052 user ratings[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/26758243/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends) |
| Production scale | The crew consulted more than 3,000 ancient tombs and paintings and produced more than 900 costumes[6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_3970126254_eca351ae001017t1s.html) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and source material
The drama is set in the Xuanhe era of the Northern Song dynasty and centers on a family of five living on Que'er Lane in the capital Bianliang (Dongjing, today's Kaifeng, Henan): Zhao Buyou, a modest clerk at the Dali Temple (the central judicial office); his wife Wen Yue, who runs an umbrella shop; his younger brother Zhao Mo'er and sister Zhao Ban'er; and their father Zhao Li.[7](https://www.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/4KlzuvQ12gc) • [5](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B8%85%E6%98%8E%E4%B8%8A%E6%B2%B3%E5%9B%BE%E5%AF%86%E7%A0%81/58935140?fromModule=lemma_inlink) An accident draws the family into the sensational Meichuan (plum boat) murder case, in which all fifteen people aboard a boat die on the Bian River, and from there the family members each apply their own skills to solve successive cases.[8](https://thetvdb.com/series/441043-series) • [9](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241218/08d1d058615e493a88c6cfcf54521af5/c.html)
The opening establishes the show's anti-formula character: in the first episode Wen Yue kills a bully who harassed her, and Zhao Buyou, discovering how practiced his wife is at killing, helps conceal the body.[9](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241218/08d1d058615e493a88c6cfcf54521af5/c.html) The Meichuan case's method resembles a fifteen-year-old unsolved case, which pulls up Wen Yue's past as a kidnapped child raised by river bandits.[7](https://www.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/4KlzuvQ12gc)
The source novel is a six-volume series that Ye Wenbiao wrote over roughly a decade, with each volume portraying one stratum of Northern Song society, the first centered on the litigator Zhao Buyou of the "scholar" class and the second on the broker Feng Sai of the merchant class. The six volumes name 824 characters in a deliberately scattered, panoramic narrative, and the series holds Douban scores above 8, with the concluding sixth volume at 9.1.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768) • [10](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/27/c10380689.html)
## Adaptation and case structure
The television version departs sharply from the novel's structure. Instead of the book's scattered multi-protagonist narrative, it extracts the lead characters from the first volume and builds a conventional mystery-drama spine around Zhao Buyou and his family solving linked cases.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768) The series uses a case-of-the-arc and case-within-case design covering the Meichuan case, the Maoyao (hat demon) case, the exam-substitution case, and the Fanlou case. Only the Meichuan case has a textual basis in the novel; the other cases are largely newly written for television, and the adaptation added the villainous Zou family as a causal thread tying the cases together, culminating in a public trial staged in an entertainment quarter in which the on-screen crowd and the audience jointly pass judgment.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768)
Critics identified the show's recurring推理 pattern as a "Di Renjie"-style scheme: each case appears to involve supernatural causes, such as an auspicious omen or a hat demon, but is in fact engineered by people exploiting rumors for private gain.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768) Reviewers also noted logical loose ends, including an implausible public search for a missing man in the first episode and a weakly motivated on-screen killing, while crediting the series with maintaining dramatic tension.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768) The strong-conflict adaptation also moved away from the novel's detailed depiction of Northern Song judicial institutions.[4](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768)
## Recreating the painting
The series takes [Zhang Zeduan](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhang-zeduan)'s famous Northern Song handscroll *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* (清明上河图) as its entry point, and several signature scenes from the painting were recreated on screen, including a boat lowering its mast to pass under the Rainbow Bridge over the Bian River and the detail of horse riders and sedan-chair bearers meeting on the bridge and refusing to yield.[2](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241225/ae98a0164f934fb891676d88f481fe10/c.html) • [11](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2024-12-23/51223.pdf) Xinhua quoted the claim that it is the first Chinese television drama to completely and accurately recreate [Song dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/song-dynasty) architecture and Song economic and social life.[2](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241225/ae98a0164f934fb891676d88f481fe10/c.html)
**Production detail.** According to executive producer Wang Qinan, the crew referenced more than 3,000 ancient tombs and paintings and made more than 900 costumes.[6](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_3970126254_eca351ae001017t1s.html) The production was also reported as a leading domestic user of virtual shooting scenes.[12](https://epaper.qingdaonews.com/qdzb/resfile/2024-11-21/A12/qdzb-20241121-A12.pdf) Period texture extended to entertainment culture: the series built out the goulan washe (entertainment quarters) and depicted performances including Puyang string opera, medicine puppetry, and women's wrestling.[10](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/27/c10380689.html) Each episode closes with a "Song trends mini-encyclopedia" segment explaining period details, and episode openings carry classical epigraphs matched to the plot.[13](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29856779)
## Reception
The premiere drew a strong audience: the first episode's peak rating exceeded 2.6 and ranked first nationally, and the show's Baidu index passed 100,000.[14](https://www.dzwww.com/xinwen/shehuixinwen/202412/t20241220_15280490.htm) Reception later split. Supporters praised the recreation of Northern Song life and production quality; critics called the adaptation unfaithful to the novel, questioned the deductive logic, and found Zhang Songwen's costume-drama appearance distracting.[10](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/27/c10380689.html) The final Douban score settled at 6.4 from 76,052 ratings, with 44.7% of users giving three stars.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/26758243/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends) Commentators placed the series in the recent wave of costume mystery dramas following *The Longest Day in Chang'an* and *Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty*, describing it as a work whose concept and production outpaced its plotting and characterization.[10](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/27/c10380689.html) • [15](https://www.hunantoday.cn/news/xhn/202501/21658902.html)
## Other adaptations
The novel has also been adapted for the stage. A stage play version, directed by Wang Junye, went through more than ten script drafts and immersive actor training, and was received as a careful treatment of the cultural IP.[16](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6804328be4b0ec1c3d9601a9.html)
## References
1. [张颂文白百何领衔《清明上河图密码》开播，真实还原宋朝美学, 南方都市报/南方+](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/16/c10344913.html)
2. [《清明上河图密码》：一次置身长卷的探案之旅, 新华网](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241225/ae98a0164f934fb891676d88f481fe10/c.html)
3. [清明上河图密码 (2024), 豆瓣](https://movie.douban.com/subject/26758243/?dt_dapp=1&dt_platform=com.douban.activity.wechat_friends)
4. [崔辰丨《清明上河图密码》缺了什么？, 上观新闻](https://www.shobserver.cn/wx/detail.do?id=840768)
5. [清明上河图密码（2024年杨帆、熊琛执导的古装悬疑剧）, 百度百科](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B8%85%E6%98%8E%E4%B8%8A%E6%B2%B3%E5%9B%BE%E5%AF%86%E7%A0%81/58935140?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
6. [到《清明上河图密码》，一种新的历史剧样式成了, 新浪新闻](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_3970126254_eca351ae001017t1s.html)
7. [《清明上河图密码》"入画探案"，剧集有创意故事缺高光, 北京日报客户端](https://www.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/4KlzuvQ12gc)
8. [清明上河图密码, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/441043-series)
9. [《清明上河图密码》开播引关注 古装探案剧缘何备受观众青睐, 新华网/今晚报](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20241218/08d1d058615e493a88c6cfcf54521af5/c.html)
10. [宋朝版"狂飙"，为何口碑两极分化？, 南方+](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202412/27/c10380689.html)
11. [文汇报 2024年12月23日](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2024-12-23/51223.pdf)
12. [青岛早报 2024年11月21日](https://epaper.qingdaonews.com/qdzb/resfile/2024-11-21/A12/qdzb-20241121-A12.pdf)
13. [剧版《清明上河图密码》：古画微观"宋潮"，历史悬疑能否"卷"出新局面？, 澎湃/文学报](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_29856779)
14. [视说新语丨《清明上河图密码》：一部剧如何复活一幅千古名画, 大众网](https://www.dzwww.com/xinwen/shehuixinwen/202412/t20241220_15280490.htm)
15. [艺评｜周宏亮："正义者联盟"的爽感与美学, 新湖南](https://www.hunantoday.cn/news/xhn/202501/21658902.html)
16. [舞台剧《清明上河图密码》：深度融合悬疑推理与宋韵美学, 北京日报](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s6804328be4b0ec1c3d9601a9.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 › Chinese modern and contemporary drama*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license