# Who is The Murderer (谁是凶手)
**Who is The Murderer** (谁是凶手) is a 2021 Chinese suspense crime web series directed by [Sun Hao](https://www.edgepedia.org/sun-hao) (孙皓), starring [Zhao Liying](https://www.edgepedia.org/zhao-liying), Xiao Yang, and Dong Zijian, and co-produced by iQIYI and China Media as the third entry in iQIYI's Light on Theater (迷雾剧场) suspense anthology for that year.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713) Its sixteen 45-minute episodes follow a serial murder case in the fictional city of Hai Zhou that goes unsolved for seventeen years, and the intertwined fates of three people connected to it.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | 16 episodes, 45 minutes each; suspense crime web series[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) |
| Release | December 5, 2021 on iQIYI; member finale December 20, 2021[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Sun Hao (孙皓); written by Kong Youyou, Chen Weihan, and Huang Kaiwen[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html) |
| Main cast | Zhao Liying as Shen Yu, Xiao Yang as Leng Xiaobing, Dong Zijian as Xia Mu[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) |
| Setting | A serial murder in Hai Zhou City, sealed for lack of evidence, reopened seventeen years later[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html) |
| Reception | Douban 7.1; first-day iQIYI heat broke the Light on Theater premiere record; heat later passed 8700[4](https://movie.douban.com/review/16273261/) • [5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) • [2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713) |
| Controversies | Two public apologies within the first six episodes, for poster plagiarism and for misusing actress Song Qian's photo as a victim[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202112/10/content_135797.html) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story opens in the winter of 2001, when a murder takes place in the family courtyard of a printing factory in Hai Zhou City. Leng Xiaobing, a newly appointed criminal police officer, and his senior colleague Li Lan respond to the report. Because Leng Xiaobing freezes and cannot pull the trigger, the killer escapes, and Li Lan is killed. The serial killer then stops working, and with no physical evidence or leads the police seal the case.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/)
Sixteen years later, Xia Mu, the student of victim Xia Jinlan who had lived in her home and survived the murder by hiding in the attic, joins the police force as a trainee and is assigned to follow Leng Xiaobing.[11](https://www.tvsou.com/storys/f42a69f40c/) Together with the mysterious psychiatrist Shen Yu, they confront a new case almost identical to the one from sixteen years earlier, and the truth begins to surface.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) iQIYI's own synopsis frames the same premise as a Hai Zhou serial murder whose truth was sealed for seventeen years, drawing together people with secrets of their own.[3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html)
The opening episodes establish the case's signature details: the killer leaves victims with a characteristic "death smile," uses an alarm clock to mark the length of a victim's final moments, and leaves a fingerprint on both a public telephone and a posted notice, along with a burn scar on his right hand.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) • [3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html) Later episodes follow the reopened investigation through side cases, including an animal-abuse revenge killing, and the disappearance of Shen Yu's father Shen Haiyang, which Shen Yu comes to suspect was staged.[3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html)
### Cast and characters
The three lead roles carry the story's three-way structure: Zhao Liying plays Shen Yu, a psychiatrist; Xiao Yang plays Leng Xiaobing, the officer whose hesitation at the first scene haunts the case; and Dong Zijian plays Xia Mu, the murdered teacher's student who was living with her and later became a police officer.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/) • [3](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html) • [12](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15936701) Supporting roles include Liu Lin as Cao Yingxia, Jiang Zhuojun as Chen Han, Hao Ping as He Weiguang, Sun Shaolong as Xiao Liu, Zhou Qi as Wu Chaochao, Wang Maolei as Hu Daodao, and Liu Hua as Hu Shanquan.[1](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/)
The producer of the Light on Theater slate described the project's distinguishing angle as character-driven rather than case-driven: instead of advancing through the investigation itself, the series shows how a single case shapes the fates of three people and the shifting entanglement of their relationships.[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713)
## Broadcast and reception
The series premiered on iQIYI on December 5, 2021 and reached its member finale on December 20.[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713) Its commercial performance was strong for the slot: the first-day iQIYI heat value broke the premiere record for Light on Theater titles, the series' share of drama viewership across the web passed 17 percent within three days of release, peak sentiment volume reached 1.11 million, and the main Weibo topic surpassed 1.2 billion reads.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) The Paper reported that the series' heat score later broke 8700.[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713)
Critical scores were moderate. A Douban review noted a rating of 7.1 after twelve episodes, observing that while every episode trended on hot-search lists, the trending topics were mostly about matters outside the plot, and judging the drama itself as solid but unremarkable in story, acting, and visuals.[4](https://movie.douban.com/review/16273261/) The Jiemian entertainment outlet agreed that the mystery was competently constructed, praising the opening case's signature details, but found the case-within-a-case structure and criminal-psychology framing familiar to the market, so that viewers lacked the urge to unmask the killer.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html)
Douban rating activity was heavy and polarized by fan conflict. By December 14, 2021, about 67,500 users had rated the series, with 73 percent giving three or four stars, 15.3 percent five stars, and 1.8 percent one star.[7](https://k.sina.cn/article_2040393581_799def6d00101ejoy.html) Jiemian reported that attacks on Zhao Liying's acting flooded Douban before she had even appeared on screen, and argued that without these off-screen factors a Douban score between 7.5 and 7.7 would not have been a problem.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) A 36Kr analysis of rating manipulation during the same season placed the series' four- and three-star share above 72 percent, with five stars at 15 percent and one star at 1.8 percent, and questioned how much credibility such scores retained amid fan wars and review-bombing.[8](https://www.36kr.com/p/1518829163330053)
## Production controversies
The series issued two public apologies while only six episodes had aired. The first followed the discovery that its poster was suspected of plagiarism; the second followed the misuse of actress Song Qian's photograph, placed alongside images of victims in the drama.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202112/10/content_135797.html) Jiemian also noted further prop-carelessness findings, including stills showing Song Qian, Yu Hewei, and Wang Likun appearing together inappropriately within the drama's world.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) A Liaoning newspaper commentary titled its coverage of these episodes "The apologies never end," using the series as an example of production quality control problems.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202112/10/content_135797.html)
## Place in Light on Theater and Chinese suspense drama
Light on Theater was iQIYI's branded suspense anthology, which had built its reputation in 2020 with the hits *The Bad Kids* (隐秘的角落) and *Silent Truth* (沉默的真相). The 2021 slate did not repeat that success: *Mystery of Octagonal Pavilion* scored below 6 on Douban and *Wishful Killers* fell as low as 4.1, so *Who is The Murderer*, with a score just above 7, became the season's strongest performer and was described by Jiemian as the closest of the year's Light on Theater titles to what general audiences expect from a suspense drama.[6](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202112/10/content_135797.html) • [2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713) • [5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html) Even so, Jiemian counted only five mainland suspense dramas with Douban scores above 7 for the whole of 2021, and argued that the series could not by itself rescue the theater brand or the wider market.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html)
Academic surveys of Chinese suspense and crime web dramas list *Who is The Murderer* among the representative works of the genre's recent wave, alongside *[Day and Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/day-and-night)* (白夜追凶), *The Bad Kids*, and *[The Long Season](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-long-season)*, as examples through which the genre builds aesthetic, social, and commercial value orientations.[9](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0425/23634668.html) Critics have also cited it as a typical instance of the whodunit narrative mode in which the search for the killer drives the plot, with the case's setting and daily life serving mainly as backdrop rather than narrative subject.[10](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2024-09-25/150925.pdf)
## References
1. [Who is the Murderer – Chinese Drama 2021, CPOP HOME](https://www.cpophome.com/who-is-the-murderer-zhao-liying-xiao-yang-dong-zijian/)
2. [《谁是凶手》热度突破8700后，迷雾剧场还能再做什么？, The Paper](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_16022713)
3. [谁是凶手-电视剧-全集高清正版视频在线观看, iQIYI](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_ii7abef9wp.html)
4. [《谁是凶手》为啥没成为爆款？（剧评）, Douban](https://movie.douban.com/review/16273261/)
5. [《谁是凶手》"撑"起迷雾剧场，但悬疑剧的春天远没到来, Jiemian](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6915801.html)
6. [《谁是凶手》的"道歉"没完没了, 辽沈晚报](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202112/10/content_135797.html)
7. [《谁是凶手》口碑不错，赵丽颖却躺枪, Sina Entertainment](https://k.sina.cn/article_2040393581_799def6d00101ejoy.html)
8. [《风起洛阳》超前点评"粉黑"大战，豆瓣评分正在被"流量"反噬？, 36Kr](https://www.36kr.com/p/1518829163330053)
9. [中国当代悬疑刑侦题材网络剧价值取向的建构, 电影评介 2024年第2期](https://m.fx361.com/news/2024/0425/23634668.html)
10. [探索剧的生活化叙事及其悬念解构问题, 文汇报 2024-09-25](https://dzb.whb.cn/imgPath/2024-09-25/150925.pdf)
11. [谁是凶手第1集分集剧情介绍:夏金兰惨遭入室杀害 冷小兵初出警不敢开枪(共16集)_电视剧_搜视网](https://www.tvsou.com/storys/f42a69f40c/)
12. [《谁是凶手》：大结局还是泄气了](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15936701)
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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 21, 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