Chinese audiences have crowned Zhou Ye's cunning heroine in Spring of the Blade the country's fiercest television villainess of recent years, according to a ranking pulled from Weibo and Douban fan discussion. The actress edged out heavyweights Chen Duling and Li Meng, whose scheming period-drama characters have also gone viral for turning delicate exteriors into weapons.
The ranking was compiled by tracking how often each role came up alongside terms like "villainess," "venomous beauty" and "black lotus" — Chinese fandom slang for a character who looks fragile but turns out to be the most dangerous person in the room. Ten actresses made the cut, each praised for turning a soft, sympathetic surface into a weapon.
Number 10: Dilraba Dilmurat In Light To The Night
Dilraba Dilmurat plays He Simu, a centuries-old spirit ruler, in the fantasy drama Light to the Night. On screen the character splits her time between a commanding, red-robed queen of ghosts and a fragile orphan girl wandering among mortals, and it is the gap between those two selves that has fueled much of the online buzz. Viewers have zeroed in on He Simu's icy stares and her habit of playing music on the battlefield with a faint smile still on her face, reactions that frequently invoke the phrase "villainess energy." He Simu is not written as a conventional antagonist, but the menace Dilraba brings to the character's colder moments has been enough to land her on the list.
Number 9: Zheng Hehuizi In Lan Xiang Ru Gu
In Lan Xiang Ru Gu, whose title translates roughly to "An Orchid's Lingering Scent," Zheng Hehuizi plays Du Cuique, a woman who appears delicate and easily wounded when she first appears on screen but is, underneath, calculating and ambitious. Du Cuique uses tears and a show of vulnerability to lower other characters' guard before maneuvering herself into a stronger position, and the reveal has caught many viewers off guard. Online commenters have described initially reading her as a "fragile little thing" before realizing she was "poison in disguise," with one popular comment framing her arc as proof that "a con artist has to fool herself before she can fool everyone else." Zheng, better known for sweeter, girl-next-door roles, has drawn attention for weaponizing that same softness for a darker character.
Number 8: Meng Ziyi In Hundred Flowers Kill
Meng Ziyi stars as Shen Xihe in Hundred Flowers Kill, a woman reincarnated with the memories of a previous life who returns to the people who wronged her determined to settle the score. Rather than waiting for fate to intervene, Shen Xihe actively plots her revenge, repaying old cruelty piece by piece, and the character's sharp edges have played well against Meng's own striking looks. Fans have taken to calling her the "ceiling of villainesses in Chinese entertainment," arguing that her features suit ambition and vengeance more naturally than the delicate ingenue roles she is sometimes cast in. Meng has said playing Shen Xihe gave her a taste of what it feels like to "play the villain" for once.
Number 7: Ju Jingyi In In Blossom
Ju Jingyi opens In Blossom playing Shangguan Zhi, a woman so fixated on winning over magistrate Pan Yue that she kidnaps his bride-to-be, coroner's daughter Yang Caiwei, and forces the two to swap faces. The character's obsessive, unstable devotion makes her one of the most jarring figures in the drama's early episodes, and a scene widely nicknamed "the villainess lifts the curtain" has become one of the show's most discussed moments. After the scene aired, viewers argued that Ju was a natural fit for a "venomous beauty" archetype, noting that her polished, striking features only sharpen the character's obsessive streak, in sharp contrast with the meeker roles that first built her fan base.
Number 6: Dai Luwa In Moonlight Mystique
Dai Luwa plays Fu Ling in Moonlight Mystique, a character defined by dark, ornate robes, heavy eye makeup and a cold presence that makes an impression the moment she appears on screen. Fu Ling strikes at her enemies without hesitation, yet keeps an almost placid, faintly innocent expression throughout, a contrast that has become the character's calling card. Viewers have described the combination as "double the impact" when a baby-faced actress plays a villainess, with others nicknaming Fu Ling a "bloodthirsty little beast who kills without blinking." One line delivered with an almost guileless expression — "wrong, I'm here to kill you" — has been singled out repeatedly online. The pairing of a sweet face with genuine menace has become Dai's signature in the role.
Number 5: Tian Xiwei In Gold Leaf
Tian Xiwei takes on dual roles in the upcoming Gold Leaf, playing both Wei Rao and Jun Dai, characters presented in early trailers as sharply different in temperament. Jun Dai is written as spoiled, possessive and calculating, while Wei Rao carries a harder edge shaped by a rough upbringing, a departure from the sweeter image Tian is best known for. Since the trailers dropped, fans have commented that "sweet girls make the best villainesses," with others calling her look in the role "gorgeous and wicked." Tian's large eyes and dimples have long given her an innocent, approachable image, so the calculating glares hinted at in the marketing material have quickly become one of the most talked-about parts of the show's rollout.
Number 4: Lu Yuxiao In My Journey To You
Lu Yuxiao plays Shangguan Qian, an assassin embedded in the imperial palace, in My Journey to You. The character appears soft-spoken and mild, often smiling faintly as she speaks, while quietly testing the people around her and maneuvering behind the scenes. Her cat-and-mouse dynamic with a fellow palace insider made Shangguan Qian one of the drama's most talked-about supporting characters. Lu has since appeared in colder, more severe styling for other projects, and fans immediately connected the look back to Shangguan Qian, commenting that "the villainess energy shows the moment her eyes narrow" and that they still "miss Shangguan Qian." For many viewers, the role permanently tied Lu's image to characters who look harmless but are anything but.
Number 3: Li Meng In The Double
Li Meng plays Grand Princess Wanning in The Double, a spoiled, vicious noblewoman consumed by an obsessive fixation on a man who does not return her feelings. Wanning wields real power and political leverage and carries a traumatic past of her own, and Li's performance lets arrogance, cruelty, fragility and loss of control all surface within the same character, making Wanning one of the drama's most memorable figures. Viewers have said Li was a natural fit for a character with this much barely contained mania, arguing the menace comes through in her eyes, tone and body language rather than makeup alone. By the time she appeared in Lan Xiang Ru Gu, playing a different, more overtly aggressive character, Li was again cast against a rival's softer villainess, cementing "unhinged villainess" as one of the labels most associated with her work in recent years.
Number 2: Chen Duling In Till The End Of The Moon
Chen Duling plays Tian Huan in Till the End of the Moon, a sharp break from the pure, gentle "white moonlight" image that had defined her earlier career. Tian Huan is born into privilege and appears otherworldly and serene, but jealousy and obsession slowly push her toward extremes. What has stayed with viewers is her ability to keep a faint smile on her face even while making her cruelest decisions, letting a beautiful exterior sit directly on top of brutal choices. Clips of the character still circulate years later, with fans jokingly begging for mercy the moment Tian Huan appears on screen, and viewers have since praised Chen for bringing similar intensity to other aggressive roles. Tian Huan remains the role most credited with transforming Chen's image from an innocent ingenue into a bona fide "venomous beauty."
Number 1: Zhou Ye In Spring Of The Blade
Topping the ranking is Zhou Ye, who plays Xie Qingyuan in Spring of the Blade. On the surface, Xie Qingyuan is soft-spoken and reserved, but she returns to her family with an agenda of her own, feigning weakness in front of others while quietly advancing her plans a step at a time. That combination of a classically delicate exterior and a calculating interior fits neatly into what Chinese fandom calls a "black lotus" — a character who looks harmless until she is the last one left standing. Since Spring of the Blade began airing, online commenters have taken to calling Xie Qingyuan a "villainess version of Lin Daiyu," a reference to the tragic heroine of the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber, arguing that her old-fashioned, delicate demeanor is deceptive and that her expression turns genuinely dangerous the moment her eyes go cold. From her breakout role as the bully Wei Lai in the internationally acclaimed film Better Days to Xie Qingyuan's calculating turn, Zhou has become one of the actresses Chinese audiences most associate with "villainess energy" in recent years.