LayarHijau – Sun Qian is enjoying a surge in popularity after winning over viewers with her performance in the romance drama The Early Spring (《早春晴朗》) opposite Jing Boran. Her next project will take her into a very different genre, as she stars opposite Bai Jingting, one of Jing Boran’s closest friends, in the crime investigation drama Detective Time 1: In the Prime of Life (《刑警時刻之風華正茂》).
The two dramas give Sun Qian the opportunity to showcase two very different sides of her acting. In The Early Spring, she plays Shang Zhi Tao, a young woman building a career in Beijing while navigating a complicated relationship with Jing Boran’s character.
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In Detective Time 1: In the Prime of Life, she plays Fang Kunyu, a forensic scientist whose life becomes closely tied to a long-unsolved criminal case. This time, her co-star is Bai Jingting, who plays criminal investigator Ren Jiangchuan.
Sun Qian Wins Over Viewers in The Early Spring
Before The Early Spring premiered, Sun Qian faced criticism over her casting as Shang Zhi Tao. Some viewers felt she did not fit the image of the female lead from the original novel, particularly because her appearance was considered too plain and lacked the character’s distinctive cool and striking aura.
But those complaints gradually faded once the drama got underway.
Sun Qian has brought Shang Zhi Tao to life as a young woman who moves to Beijing to build her career. Although she is inexperienced in her new surroundings, she is resilient, clear-minded and determined.
Several of her scenes, including her drunken and emotional moments, have attracted attention for their intensity. Her chemistry with Jing Boran has also become one of the drama’s biggest talking points.
The two actors capture the subtle push and pull of an adult relationship, giving their romance a more mature and emotionally complicated feel.
The success of The Early Spring has also given Sun Qian’s profile a noticeable boost. Just four days after its premiere, the drama reportedly surpassed a popularity score of 10,000 on Youku and entered the platform’s annual best-selling drama rankings.
The momentum builds on Sun Qian’s track record in modern and romance dramas.
In 2024, she starred opposite Johnny Huang in the romance drama Love Song in Winter (《冬至》). The series surpassed a popularity score of 9,000 and became one of iQIYI’s standout modern dramas that year.
Earlier this year, Sun Qian appeared alongside Wei Daxun in the mystery drama The Guilty (《有罪之身》). Despite arriving with little promotional buildup, the series received a solid response from viewers.
She later reunited with Chen Feiyu for the period drama Love Story in the 1970s (《純真年代的愛情》), which surpassed a popularity score of 28,000 and recorded the highest popularity score among Tencent’s Yinghuo unit dramas.
With The Early Spring giving her career another boost, attention is now turning to her next project, where she will leave romance behind for a crime investigation story.
Sun Qian Enters the Crime World with Bai Jingting
Sun Qian stars opposite Bai Jingting in Detective Time 1: In the Prime of Life, which wrapped filming in April and has recently released its first trailer.
Bai Jingting plays Ren Jiangchuan, a young grassroots criminal investigator. Early in his career, Ren is inexperienced and sometimes impulsive as he works to prove himself.
Sun Qian plays Fang Kunyu, whose life is deeply affected by one of the drama’s central criminal cases.
In the trailer, Fang Kunyu is initially introduced as a victim’s family member. The case has remained unsolved for years, leaving her devastated and increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress.
Her anger eventually turns toward Ren Jiangchuan.
“You said you would definitely catch the killer. If you can’t do it, then don’t make promises to me,” Fang Kunyu tells him.
She then bumps his shoulder and walks away.
Years later, the two meet again at a crime scene, but Fang Kunyu is no longer the same woman Ren once knew.
She has become a forensic scientist, a transformation that catches Ren Jiangchuan by surprise and earns his respect.
One of the trailer’s most striking moments shows Fang Kunyu staring at someone with tears in her eyes as her hands tremble. She says she can accept whatever decision the organization makes, but there is one thing she cannot give up on: getting an answer.
The scene offers a glimpse of a very different side of Sun Qian’s acting.
While The Early Spring calls for romantic chemistry and emotional tension with Jing Boran, Detective Time 1: In the Prime of Life puts her in a much darker and more intense setting, where Fang Kunyu is driven by the need to uncover the truth behind a case that has haunted her for years.
The drama is adapted from Feng Rui’s documentary work The Criminal Police of the Republic (《共和國刑警崔道植》).
Set in China during the 1990s, the series follows criminal investigators as they tackle a number of serious cases with major social impact.
The story also explores developments in criminal investigation techniques, forensic technology and forensic medicine during the period.
The role gives Sun Qian a chance to move well beyond the romantic territory of The Early Spring and demonstrate her range in a crime-focused drama.
Jing Boran and Bai Jingting Have Been Close Friends for Nearly a Decade
The connection between Sun Qian’s two projects becomes even more interesting because Jing Boran and Bai Jingting are not simply two actors who happen to share her as a co-star. The two have been close friends for nearly a decade.
Jing Boran and Bai Jingting first met in 2016 when they appeared together on the variety show Fighting Man (《我们战斗吧》). Their professional relationship eventually developed into a close friendship that has continued off camera.
Both actors are around 183 centimeters tall and share a strong interest in fashion. Their similar height and close friendship have even earned them the fan nickname “183 Duo” (183组合).
Fashion has also become a running joke between them. Bai Jingting once revealed that before meeting Jing Boran, he could spend an entire week deciding what to wear because he did not want to be outshined by his stylish friend.
Bai has also been known to “borrow” or take pieces from Jing Boran’s wardrobe. So when Jing Boran joked about giving away his clothes during The Early Spring promotional campaign, Bai was quick to treat the offer as something he intended to collect.
During an online promotional event for The Early Spring, Jing Boran jokingly promised to give away some of his clothes and even a house if the drama’s popularity reached 10,000.
Bai Jingting clearly had no intention of letting him forget that promise.
He made a collage of photos showing Jing Boran making the pledge, reposted it and tagged his friend. His caption simply said, “Thank you,” as if the clothes and house had already been handed over.
Jing Boran immediately played along.
“Haven’t you already taken one set? You still want more?” he replied.
Bai Jingting then borrowed a line from Jing Boran’s character in The Early Spring:
“That’s still not enough for me.”
Their exchange turned a routine promotional campaign into an impromptu “debt collection” session between two longtime friends, amusing fans who enjoyed watching their easygoing banter.
The friendship adds another layer to Sun Qian’s upcoming projects.
In The Early Spring, she shares the screen with Jing Boran in a romance built around adult attraction and emotional tension. She will then team up with Bai Jingting, Jing Boran’s longtime friend, for a crime drama centered on investigation and forensic work.
Sun Qian is therefore getting the chance to work with two close friends in two very different genres: Jing Boran in the romance drama The Early Spring and Bai Jingting in the crime drama Detective Time 1: In the Prime of Life.
With The Early Spring already turning early criticism over her casting into praise for her performance, expectations are now rising for how Sun Qian will handle her darker and more intense role alongside Bai Jingting.
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