# Tientsin Mystic (河神)
**Tientsin Mystic** (河神) is a 2017 Chinese suspense-fantasy web drama adapted from the novel *He Shen: Gui Shui Guai Tan* (河神·鬼水怪谈) by the web novelist Tian Xia Ba Chang (天下霸唱, real name Zhang Muye, born 1978 in Tianjin), the author best known for the *Ghost Blows Out the Light* series. Produced by iQiyi and Kung Fu Motion Pictures (工夫影业) and directed by Tian Li (田里), it is set in Republican-era Tianjin and follows the river-corpse retriever Guo Deyou as he investigates a string of uncanny cases tied to an evil cult.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [2](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premiere | July 19, 2017, exclusive on iQiyi; 24 episodes released Wednesdays and Thursdays at 20:00, with VIP members one week ahead[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Source | Tian Xia Ba Chang's novel *He Shen: Gui Shui Guai Tan*, a collection of Tianjin folklore and strange tales; the script took roughly two to two and a half years of development[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [3](https://www.sohu.com/a/164624472_226897) |
| Main cast | Li Xian as Guo Deyou, Zhang Ming'en as Ding Mao, Wang Zixuan as Gu Ying, Chen Yumi as Xiao Lanlan[4](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/73031/watch) • [5](https://www.scdnews.com/images/paper/170706/170706C.pdf) |
| Production scale | 121 days of shooting, 12 days of pure underwater filming, a crew of more than 400, 112 actors, and 60-plus sets across four locations[2](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162) |
| Reception | Douban score of 8.4 and total views above 1.6 billion; Netflix acquired the rights for worldwide streaming[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
| Recognition | Named alongside *Day and Night* (白夜追凶) and *Burning Ice* (无证之罪) as one of the "three carriages" of 2017 Chinese suspense web dramas; won silver for visual effects and bronze for directing at the 2018 New York Festivals[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [6](https://www.contents7.co.jp/service/lineup/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E-%EF%BC%8Dtianjin-mystic%EF%BC%8D/) |
| Sequel | *Tientsin Mystic 2* (河神2) premiered on iQiyi in July 2020, with Jin Shijia replacing Li Xian as Guo Deyou[4](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/73031/watch) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) |
## Spoilers
### Story and setting
The drama is set in Tianjin (天津卫) during the Republican era, a period when floods were frequent and stories of strange happenings in the river never ceased. Guo Deyou, captain of the river police and heir to his master the "Old River God," possesses the signature skill of "reading grievances through burning incense smoke" (点烟辨冤). When the chairman of the Caoyun merchants' guild is found dead in the river, Guo Deyou falls under suspicion and joins the chairman's son Ding Mao, a Western-trained forensic doctor, his childhood friend Gu Ying, and Xiao Lanlan, daughter of the municipal government secretary, to investigate. Their inquiries point to the Mo Gu Dao (魔古道), a cult that ravaged the Beijing-Hebei region twenty years earlier.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
The plot opens with the discovery of two bodies, the guild chairman Ding Yiqiu and a green-haired dead infant, at the "Rite of Worship of the River," and then unspools through linked cases including the floating corpses of the Haihe River, a riot at the British consulate, and the Xiaoxiguan prison. The central mystery concerns the identity of the cult's "holy child," and the finale ends on an open note, frozen at the moment of an explosion with the fates of Guo Deyou and Gu Ying unresolved.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
### Sequel and later adaptations
*Tientsin Mystic 2* (河神2) premiered on iQiyi on July 6, 2020 and ran for 24 episodes to a July 27 finale. [Li Xian](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-xian) did not return, and Jin Shijia took over the role of Guo Deyou, a recasting that drew audience controversy.[4](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/73031/watch) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
The IP later extended into films. A 2023 feature, *He Shen: Gui Shui Guai Tan* (河神·诡水怪谈), directed by Liu Xuandi and starring Xie Miao, follows Guo Deyou and Ding Mao through a sunken-corpse case at the Sancha River mouth. A 2026 web film, *He Shen zhi Du Yin* (河神之渡阴), directed by and written by Zhang Tao, is a prequel set before Guo Deyou became the River God.[10](https://hamivideo.hinet.net/product/242825.do?cs=2) • [11](https://ent.china.com.cn/2026-09/07/content_43487822.shtml)
## Style and adaptation
The adaptation kept the folkloric texture of the novel while strengthening the detective plot. The novel's stolid Master Guo became the quick-witted "Little River God," Ding Mao was recast as a forensic doctor returned from study abroad, and the shamaness Gu Ying was added to enrich the emotional threads. Every episode opens with a recap delivered in the Tianjin-flavored storytelling style of pingshu (评书), a form drawn from the source novel's own storytelling idiom.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
The series mixes Eastern folk-supernatural elements such as incense divination and ghost-procession lore with Western scientific methods such as autopsy and chemical analysis, and it leans on Tianjin customs, rivermen's rules, and Nuo opera to build its world. Director Tian Li said Chen Guofu, founder of Kung Fu Motion Pictures, asked at their first meeting for a tone that was "demonic and a little wicked," which matched his own view that the show could not be shot conventionally.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [7](https://m.jiemian.com/article/1884331.html)
## Development and production
Kung Fu Motion Pictures acquired the rights from Tian Xia Ba Chang around 2014, while the company and the author were working on the film script for *[Mojin: The Lost Legend](https://www.edgepedia.org/mojin-the-lost-legend)* (寻龙诀). Producer Tao Kun judged that the novel's scale and subject matter, a gathering of Tianjin street tales of the strange, could not fit a feature film or pass television censorship, so a web drama was chosen. Script development ran for roughly two to two and a half years while the team worked out how to shoot the river scenes that the title made unavoidable, settling on built dock sets combined with green-screen work.[3](https://www.sohu.com/a/164624472_226897) • [8](https://www.sohu.com/a/227667344_116162)
An early platform offer of 1 million yuan per episode, about 13 million yuan in total, could not cover the intended production budget. In the first half of 2016, iQiyi commissioned the series for a price above 100 million yuan and classed it as an S-level self-produced drama. The original plan was a single 13-episode season on the American model; because the budget would not stretch that far, it became two seasons of 12 episodes each, 24 in total.[3](https://www.sohu.com/a/164624472_226897)
Rather than hand the project to an established television company, Chen Guofu backed a young team. Director Tian Li, a 2008 graduate of the Beijing Film Academy's directing department for whom this was his first narrative work, was introduced by his classmate Wang Boxue; the company set up the subsidiary Xian Gongfu (闲工夫) together with the new crew to support them.[7](https://m.jiemian.com/article/1884331.html) • [2](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162)
Shooting ran 121 days across three seasons in Xiangshan, Shanghai, Yixing, and Haikou, with 64 days extending past midnight and 1,755 working hours in total. The underwater scenes were shot for real: the production built three underwater studios and brought in the underwater cinematography team from the film *Wolf Warrior 2*, and the actors trained in scuba diving beforehand. A hospital scene involving "zombies" took seven days to film.[2](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
## Reception and distribution
The series became a summer 2017 hit without star actors or a top-tier IP. By late August 2017 it had passed 1.5 billion views with a Douban score of 8.4 from more than 45,000 users, and its final total exceeded 1.6 billion views. Netflix bought the rights and streamed it worldwide. On February 5, 2018 it was temporarily removed from iQiyi for policy reasons; it later returned to the platform.[9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2017-08-31/doc-ifykqmrv5702821.shtml) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink) • [2](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162)
At the 2018 New York Festivals, an international competition for advertising and television programs, the series won the silver award for best visual effects and the bronze award for best directing.[6](https://www.contents7.co.jp/service/lineup/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E-%EF%BC%8Dtianjin-mystic%EF%BC%8D/)
## References
1. [河神（2017年播出的中国大陆悬疑奇幻网络剧）, Baidu Baike](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E/68614479?fromModule=lemma_inlink)
2. [网剧10人｜导演田里：等到《河神》，我终于有了讲故事的机会, 影视独舌 via Sohu](https://www.sohu.com/a/226864866_116162)
3. [解码《河神》：超前布局下，工夫影业如何把握一个正被重新定义的网剧市场, 数娱梦工厂 via Sohu](https://www.sohu.com/a/164624472_226897)
4. [Tientsin Mystic, The Movie Database](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/73031/watch)
5. [大陸影視 Daily News, 美南日报, July 6, 2017](https://www.scdnews.com/images/paper/170706/170706C.pdf)
6. [河神－Tianjin Mystic－, Contents Seven](https://www.contents7.co.jp/service/lineup/%E6%B2%B3%E7%A5%9E-%EF%BC%8Dtianjin-mystic%EF%BC%8D/)
7. [《河神》导演田里：仿佛自己在面临一座山，但是很快就要爬过去了, 界面新闻](https://m.jiemian.com/article/1884331.html)
8. [网剧10人｜陶昆："工夫"在网剧上的成功，不是因为电影模式的引入, 影视独舌 via Sohu](https://www.sohu.com/a/227667344_116162)
9. [传统公司懵懂的触网之路："河神"的诞生与制造, 新浪娱乐](https://ent.sina.com.cn/v/m/2017-08-31/doc-ifykqmrv5702821.shtml)
10. [河神．詭水怪談, HamiVideo](https://hamivideo.hinet.net/product/242825.do?cs=2)
11. [《河神之渡阴》定档, 中国网娱乐](https://ent.china.com.cn/2026-09/07/content_43487822.shtml)
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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 Sp to Z*
*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