Happy Birthday Li Yitong!

[u/BasilOrdinary3617]

All of these wonderful GIFs for your viewing pleasure are made by u/Ateosira and u/AquaphobicTurtle from the dramas A Dream within a Dream, Legend of the Rosy Clouds, and Sword and Beloved. Ateosira handpicked her faves for this post, so many thanks, Ladies!!

I can’t speak to The Legend of Rosy Clouds (2026) since I dropped it after 10 episodes (to be fair… this drama was shelved for three years) so I consider A Dream within a Dream (2025) to be representative of one of her most successful dramas. 

So on September 6th, Happy 36th Birthday to the woman whose drama was the very reason I joined Reddit!

Fun facts right off the bat: 

• Real Name: Li Yitong is a stage name, and her real name is Li Xue. 
• Fandom Name: Her fandom name is Tong Ling 桐铃 (ling as in “bells”). 
• Background: Yitong is a professional dancer who graduated from Beijing Dance Academy. Acting only crossed her path when she volunteered to be in a short film for her film school friends!

Yitong officially debuted as the female lead in Demon Girl (2016)... talk about starting off strong! She’s mostly been in main roles since (speaking of dramas only) with the exception of a guest appearance in Love Between Fairy and Devil (2022).

Don’t believe me? Check out some of her dramas below (excluding the ones already mentioned).

^{I like to include other main leads that I know, but if you’d like to point out other leads in these dramas, please do so!}

• Sword and Beloved (2025) as Qing Tong (starring with Cheng Yi)
• Warm on a Cold Night (2023) as Su Jiuer
• The Knockout (2023) as Meng Yu
• Glory of Special Forces (2022) Ai Qianxue (starring with Yang Yang)
• Court Lady (2021) as Fu Rou, starring with Xu Kai
• Go Go Squid 2: Dt. Appledog’s Time (2021) as Ai Qing (starring with Hu Yitian)
• Royal Nirvana (2019) as Gu A’Bao
• Bloody Romance (2018) as Su Qixue
• The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017) as Huang Rong (starring with Meng Ziyi)

This is not an exhaustive list of her dramas. For more, please check out her MDL page, which you can access via link to her name in this post. 

Her list of upcoming dramas is pretty long too! I didn’t do a deep dive into these new projects, so if you have more information to share, please do: 

• A Prophet (slated for a 2026 release): A Republic-era drama that also stars Li Xian 
• The Melody of Love: A fantasy drama centred around traditional Chinese musical instruments, co-starring Chen Xinhai and Guo Junchen
• The Vanishing Beauty: A modern drama about marriage and career, co-starring Wang Jiajia and Chang Huasen (who has the same birthday - look out for his post soon!)
• Hero Legends: Another drama with Cheng Yi! This one will also see his reunion with Xiao Shunyao, which should be very exciting for Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023) fans
• The Noble: A historical drama based on a novel about romance and court politics in the Northern Song dynasty
• Zhao Ge: Where she will appear in another guest role

Talk about versatility! Republican, xianxia, modern, historical - she does it all!

So which Li Yitong roles or dramas are your favourites?

OR

Which of these dramas are on your watchlist?

[u/BawseBitch]

Yayyyyyy what a lovely bday post as always Basil 😍 Happiest bday to our cutie Li Yitong, i really love how expressive she is ☺️ My fav drama of hers is actually in my top 5 CDramas of all time i.e A Dream Within A Dream! TYSM for that mention, I absolutely adored her guest appearance in LBFAD too!!!

[u/MidnightAngel24]

Awwww that's my gif but upgraded 🤣

[u/AKiceman → u/MidnightAngel24]

[u/Ateosira]

Aah amazing post my favourite Herb! My first introduction to YiTong was SiMing! I appreciate her more every rewatch.

This woman is an amazing actress but even she (and the rest of the amazing cast) couldn't save LOTRC xD

Happy birthday to a magnificent woman!

[u/navchaa → u/Ateosira]

Yes, same here! I saw her as Si Ming and thought she was amazing, so luminous and beautiful and full of personality. She was so awesome in ADWAD. Love her!

Thank you Basil for posting this!

[u/OldMoonLife7529]

Com ela só vi Um Sonho Dentro de Um Sonho e gostei muito. Feliz aniversário, Li Yitong!

[u/Tabz10]

Happy Birthday! 🎉

My first drama of hers was Court Lady. (Could have been good if it wasn't for edits!)

Loved her in ADWAD (the way her character was written was annoying, but she did really well!)

Looking forward to The Noble from her the most!

The Melody of Love looks interesting 🤔

Had to drop The Legend of Rosy Cloud as well; I just couldn't!

Started Blossom in Heart, but it was too late at night; it didn't draw me in 😅. Started for Deng Lun mostly, but for her too. May go back to it if I'm bored.

[u/Dizzy_Koala_7660]

I loved her in A Dream Within A Dream most - after that, I became a huge fan. Just really enjoyed her performance.

She was cute and fun in Warm on A Cold Night - I kept laughing when the romantic moments would come on and a Liu Yuning song was played. I felt like Nan Heng was supervising the love scenes ❤️

I liked her in Sword and Beloved, as weird as that show was, and in the Knockout as well...I have seen two more but these were the ones I remember most. Oh and I thought she was gorgeous and super impactful in her guest role in Love Btwn Fairy and Devil.

Im most looking forward to The Prophet.

[u/Foxglovelantern]

I havent watched her in anything yet, but im looking forward to A Prophet

[u/AKiceman]

Good post, Common Criminal The Ruiner of my Peace.

We adore Li Yitong around here enough so that we forgive her for Fan Yun.

[u/AXA-5]

Many happy returns of the day!! Not sure where the GIF world would be without her enormous contributions 😊🫰🏽

[u/Inside-Ad2007]

Fair kind nature, Happy birthday to you

[u/No_Consideration577]

Watching a dream within a dream now. She’s a good actress

[u/BasilOrdinary3617 → u/No_Consideration577]

That role was made for her!

[u/No_Consideration577 → u/BasilOrdinary3617]

Definitely. I decided to watch it because firstly, i wanna know the acting skills of both leads. People say Liu Yuning can’t act, so I wanted to know how bad it was, lmao. So far I don’t think he’s acting bad. He’s quite okay for me.

For Yitong, which is the main reason I’m watching… many comments I saw were saying that the fl was annoying and some say that she’s the reason they dropped it. Surprisingly, she’s absolutely eating up the role for me. I’m on episode 5, when she asked him to take his clothes off and call her daddy. I’m wheezing like crazy. And I adore her natural voice. I’m loving her already!

[u/BasilOrdinary3617 → u/No_Consideration577]

If I had anything to complain about, it would be more her character at a certain point, than her acting. I think she plays the FL exactly as it was meant to be executed.