Who is Xiao Zhan?
An extremely popular celebrity. A young Chinese man born in 1991. The center of a major publicity crisis. A person who plunged the Chinese Internet into heated social and political debates. A successful idol with over 24 million fans (as on Weibo) whose celebrity is now destroyed, thanks to those who made him.
With 24.4 million followers, Xiao Zhan is considered a “Top-Tier Traffic” (顶流) in the Chinese entertainment industry.
Today, we want to share with you the story of Xiao Zhan, how the reporting culture (举报文化) in today’s China ruined his career, and the ways the incident elevated into a meaningful, powerful discussion about politics, capitalism, and youth culture.
How the Star was Born
The construction of an idol is never an accident. In the case of Xiao Zhan, his successful career was a blend of various ingredients, cooked up together by a team of smart capitalists and, most importantly, his fans.
In 2015, Xiao Zhan debuted his entertainment career on the Chinese reality TV show X-Fire, which showcased the journey of young boys training to form a boy-band. At that time, Xiao was a completely raw piece of meat with some solid quality to start cooking with: extremely handsome by today’s mainstream Chinese aesthetic standard (big, Bambi-like eyes, pale skin, delicate face features, tall and slim), decent singing skill, relatively well-educated (a college graduate), good manner and gentle personality. After several rounds of competitions, Xiao Zhan debuted alongside eight other trainees in an idol group called X NINE , taking the position of main vocal. The group released their first album in 2016.
Xiao Zhan (center position) in X NINE.
From 2016 to 2018, Xiao Zhan’s career evolved around X NINE. Although certainly loved within its own fan base, the idol group never really broke through (出圈 – literally “broke the circle”), missing wide public recognition.
Then came 2019, a TV drama series titled The Untamed changed everything, propelling Xiao Zhan to become the most popular Chinese idol of the year.
Poster of The Untamed.
The Untamed’s huge success was rather unanticipated when it went on preview; yet it makes total sense from today’s perspective. If for nothing, the series managed to include two key elements that young Chinese audiences absolutely adored: fantasy (an imagined Jianghu) and BL, “Boy’s Love”.
Yes, Boy’s Love, a theme that had long been popular in China’s underground youth culture, and in recent years brought up to big screens through careful adaptations. The storyline of The Untamed evolved around a pair of “soulmates” (what they are really up to is for the audience’s imagination), played by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, another beautiful-looking, young male actor. In the series’ 50 episodes, the pair traveled around to solve a number of murder mysteries; they eventually defeated the evil mastermind together, all the while developed a strong bond as intimate friends (they fell in love in the original fiction, as you probably have guessed).
Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan as “brothers”.
Although the nature of the two characters’ relationship was officially defined as friendship, everyone who watched it believed, or was led to believe that there was something more. Homosexuality is still a subject strictly banned in Chinese TV shows and movies, nonetheless young Chinese audiences, especially females, have always loved the idea of two gorgeous-looking young men developing a love story. Having noticed such public taste, marketing staffs for The Untamed and for the two actors, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, came up with endless promotional campaigns along the line of BL (“炒CP”), leading fans to fantasize about the two actors’ real-life relationships. Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo quickly became the most popular on-screen CP (couple) of the year, both attracting endless brand endorsements in 2019.
“Xiao Zhan+Wang Yibo” stayed as the NO.1 CP couple on Weibo's ranking for many months.
From last August until a week ago, Xiao Zhan glided along the road of fast-rising fame. He gained over 20 million additional followers on Weibo, went on all the mainstream shows including China’s Central Television’s national Spring Festival gala. With more fans came bigger, more lavish brand endorsements, with more brand endorsements came greater publicity and even more fans.
Xiao Zhan in CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala.
However, while Xiao Zhan kept his carefully-cultivated public personality as humble and quiet, his fans went the opposite way. They wanted their love for their boy to be heard, and more importantly, they demanded more people to love their boy just as much as they did. Through various self-mobilized, extremely well-organized campaigns, Xiao’s fans, mainly young females who are highly skilled with social media, worked relentlessly on a daily basis to make sure the name of their boy was always trending on the internet, and was only mentioned in positive news. As much as these campaigns are run by volunteers, Xiao’s agency, just like every other company in the celebrity business, played a tacit role in encouraging these conducts behind closed door. It’s free and good PR at the end of the day so who could resist it anyway?
An “innocent”, “pure” boy idol; a team of highly skilled staffs who monetize on his fame; a group of devoted fans with endless love; together they became the image of Xiao Zhan, a delicate dish made from the ingredients of fan economy, love, and a twisted society where capitalism encountered youth mobilization not for politics, but for entertainment.
The “227 Jihad” and Beyond
Up until a week ago, the future of Xiao Zhan was still looking bright and radiant. Despite the hit taken by the entertainment industry from the coronavirus, Xiao remained the most popular male idol with 14 brand endorsement deals in his hands (many are international, first-tier brands). Sure, his fans’ massive PR campaigns annoyed the public sometimes, but fans for other Chinese idols have been doing the same things at competing levels of aggressiveness anyway. As active users of Chinese social networks, we were all used to the overbearing “fandom culture”(饭圈文化), and thought we had already developed the immune system for it.
“Fans have built a strict organizational system. Once they encounter challenges and attacks on their idols, they would counterattack by means of technology like a violent machine.” - definition of Fandom Culture from Baidu.
But then, something disastrous happened.
Here’s a little background –
As Xiao Zhan gained his initial popularity from a borderline BL drama like The Untamed, one should not be surprised by the amount of related BL fan-fiction out there. But take note, not all fans like this sort of content. Among the huge population of Xiao Zhan’s fans, people are divided into camps such as “CP (couple) fans” (in this case those who like to fantasize Xiao and Wang as a couple), “exclusive fans” (those who only like Xiao), “girlfriend fans”, “mother fans” and more. CP fans who had a particular taste for BL content are mainly active on an English website called Archive of Our Own (AO3), a nonprofit open source repository for fan-fiction and other fan-works contributed by users from all over the world.
The incredible amount of tags related to BL stories of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo on AO3.
On February 24th, fan-fiction writer Didi (迪迪出逃记), who also was a self-proclaimed “CP fan” for Xiao and Wang, published the AO3 links for a new chapter of her work “Falling” (下坠) on Weibo. In this work, Xiao Zhan was portrayed as a girl with gender dysphoria, working in a brothel disguised as a hair salon, where she ran into high school boy Wang Yibo and with whom she had a love affair. Having personally read a few chapters for research purpose, we must admit it is not for everyone’s taste. From transgender, under-aged, prostitution to sexual abuse, the fan-fiction itself crossed so many red lines in terms of ethics and legislation.
A fan-art based on Falling, which Xiao is portrayed as a sexy prostitute in red dress.
Here’s the thing about underground culture such as BL: they are not designed for everyone and are in nature offensive to established norms. Over the years BL fans have kept their fantasies within their niche, not forcing their peculiar taste on anyone else. Unfortunately, “exclusive fans” of Xiao Zhan didn’t think the same way; the moment they learned the content of this particular piece of fan-fiction, they immediately felt shattered and outraged. In their eyes, the author’s portrait of their beloved idol as a transgender person was an intentional stigma, an affront, a crime.
When there’s a crime, you start a war. With such belief in mind, fans of Xiao Zhan quickly came up with warfare strategies not just against the author, but against AO3 and other platforms for fan-generated content. Their main weapon? Report (举报). “Freedom must have boundaries,” as a fan vowed, “we are reporting these platforms (to the Chinese authority) today not just for Xiao Zhan, but for the many other celebrities whose privacy and dignity were severely violated.”
Declaration of War from a fan.
Fans sharing ways to report AO3 to the government.
So Xiao’s fans did what “fandom circle” youth today are particularly good at: escalating a celebrity’s personal matter to the level of social injustice, and fight for their own agenda through the ultimate tool for justice: the “report” button on every Chinese website and app. Fans gathered in an organizational structure, shared step-by-step reporting manuals, drafted reporting letters, and trained others to use wordings that would specifically trigger the authorities’ nerve receptors. The relentless online reporting finally worked; as of February 27th, AO3, Lofter, and other related BL content-sharing platforms were censored one by one, blocked by the Great Firewall of the Almighty Chinese Internet.
Fans sharing screenshots of successful report.
“We have done nothing wrong. What we did (filing report) was to exercise our rights as citizens and to uphold justice.”
Unfortunately, fans of Xiao Zhan didn’t have much time to celebrate their self-declared victory. Drunk with success, they completely overlooked a major fact: the disappearance of AO3 from the Chinese Internet was a huge insult to the millions of Chinese youth who didn’t bother with Xiao Zhan, but shared a passion with fan-fictions and BL. In recent years, as the Chinese Internet got smaller and more restricted, sites like AO3 became the last free haven, the hidden paradise kept secret within the underground circles. As long as the censorship radar didn’t come around, these sites would continue to serve as free platforms for those who like to create and share content. These websites were safe places; they were symbols of freedom for millions who need an outlet for expression.
AO3 made an official apology regarding its server's “unexpected disconnection” after the site was censored.
BL lovers quickly marshaled online. They decided to teach Xiao Zhan’s fans a lesson, and they even gave it a cool name: “227 Jihad”. (227大团结)
An eye for an eye. Furious rebels targeted what Xiao Zhan’s fans cherished the most - their idol’s public reputation. They hit Douban (the Chinese equivalent to imdb but so much better), marking extremely low scores on productions that Xiao Zhan was cast in, and then moved on to Weibo, flooding the accounts of all the brands that Xiao Zhan is currently endorsing with negative comments.
List of all the brands associated with Xiao Zhan.
In an e-commerce livestream, netizens protested against Xiao Zhan during the segment of OLAY products.
The boycott went on for several days with an incredible number of participants. Apart from BL fans, people with niche interests, from the LGBTQ communities, or even just those who were fed up with the crazy fan circle culture all joined in this huge online slaughter of Xiao Zhan. The incident became so big that it finally “broke the circle” (出圈); In just a few days, people who hadn’t been familiar with Xiao Zhan were paying attention to this case, learning about him through the frenzied online discourse.
The hashtag #boycottXiaoZhan was viewed over 380 million times.
On March 1st, Colgate and OLAY, two brands with Xiao Zhan as spokesperson, quietly took down posters featuring Xiao Zhan on their Weibo accounts. The same evening, Xiao Zhan’s agency issued an official statement regarding the recent incident. Trying to sound apologetic to the public yet not wanting to offend either side, the statement was interpreted by most as insincere to say the least. Dissatisfied with such response, netizens continued railing against Xiao Zhan and his fans at an intense level, creating greater online disorder.
Various self-made posters for the online campaign.
In popular Chinese we would say, at this stage, Xiao Zhan as a public figure is officially burnt. (糊了)
The Past and Future of Reporting Culture
As public emotion gradually cooled in the past several days, rational discussions began emerging. In the realm of public opinion, Xiao Zhan’s incident is no longer considered just an internet fight between certain fan groups; in fact, it had escalated into a social matter, an event that stimulated “melon-eaters” (吃瓜群众) like us to consider two important questions: to what extent is Xiao Zhan, the idol boy who has not spoken a word publicly till this day, responsible for this farce? More importantly, where did such unscrupulous reporting culture come from in the first place?
The Cultural Revolution, of course we have to mention it. A time when everyone was deeply suspicious of one another, busily reporting others, and feared being reported. A time that we mistakenly and optimistically believed had been buried deep in the past, but now is showing signs of re-emergence in today’s political climate.
In recent years, we have witnessed a trend in which the public would report politically incorrect or socially disfavored voices, requiring the authorities to take action upon the people’s demand. Take Mi Meng for example, the so-called “self-media queen” with millions of subscribers who was once known for writing controversial, clickbait-titled content regarding marriage, relationships, and personal growth. In February 2019, one of Mi Meng’s media account published an emotional article titled “The Death of a Top Scorer from a Poor Family”, which claimed to be based on true events. However, a few hours after its publication, people discovered that the entire story was fake. Angered by such operation, thousands of netizens reported the article not only to WeChat’s regulatory office, but to other bureaucratic branches and even national newspapers as long as they had channels of communications on social media. Agitated and furious, these people demanded the complete elimination of Mi Meng and all of her company’s productions for her “negative influence and conducts against socialist core value.” Days later, all media accounts by Mi Meng were banned across social media.
Comments under The People’s Daily demanding MiMeng to be banned.
Mi Meng’s example tells us that the past had never gone away. It exists in our lives today like old wine in a new bottle. With the internet as an efficient reporting tool and “against socialist core value” as a universally applicable charge, everyone is now capable again, or you could say more capable than ever, of alleging crimes by each other. Advocating for gay marriage? Report! Against socialist core values! Belittling our country? Report! Against socialist core values! Praising democracy and capitalistic elitism? Report! Against socialist core values! Writing fan-fiction of an idol boy and fantasizing him having sex with another boy? Report! Against socialist core values!
Kudos to the internet, to social network, and to our dearest, holy-grail “socialist core values”.
Last winter, the two of us were making a Chinese interview documentary series with our media firm. One day, we attended a pilot-viewing meeting with a major Chinese internet company to discuss the prospects of co-producing the rest of the show. As careful as all big internet companies in China would be nowadays, the meeting involved the company’s Government Relation team to assess the “political risk” of our content. Having self-censored numerous times in advance, we felt confident that the pilot episode was risk-free, with nothing problematic for official review.
Unfortunately, the GR folks sitting next to us didn’t think so. After playing the video, they raised many concerns that our content could potentially “trigger the nerves of the guys at the top”. Frustrated, we pointed out the fact that many of these topics had previous aired in another show from a major entertainment platform. “Oh, don’t worry,” said the GR folk with a smirk, “We’ve already anonymously reported their content to the authorities. It should be banned online very soon.”
No one is to blame, everyone is now in the same boat. Good luck, Xiao Zhan, and good luck, all of us.
Really great analysis of the issues at play. Very rare to see such detailed writing in English. Thanks for sharing! You’ve gained a reader
Super insightful, as always
Thank you for your detail analysis. I heard that Xiao zhan fandom is very big, some irrational fans who reported might be small part of the fandom, but now their idol and the whole fandom suffering the blames and cyber violence from furious writers and their supporters. I really sad for ao3 writers but cyber war and boycott is not good solution. If Xiao zhan really gone, will they happy to ruin a young idol career and life? My friend told me that Xiao zhan still no.1 on brand sales and rankings despite the controversy and boycott. I’m really curious… Read more »
It was the Xiao Zhan fans who started the cyber violence against the fan fiction circle first, if anything they are eating their own bitter fruit. Hopefully this whole farce has taught the fan circle (not just Xiao Zhan’s) a lesson, and no one would be a victim of reporting and cyber bullying in the future. I doubt AO3 would be back. Up until today Xiao still haven’t made a voice about this incident. He is not giving the internet a reason to forgive him yet.
I just want to ask a thing,,,in which country pictures of a public figure portraying as a transgender prostitute posted in social media with 10000 shares acceptable? Isn’t it a crime in first place? Why no body blaming the first person who posted sensetive content of a hidden group in social media n expose it to danger?? Second,,what people want Xiao zhan to say,,,if he say reporting is wrong,,then he is supporting spread of his indecent pictures n against govt policy,,,if he says reporting was right,,he is going against public opinion,,,in this case,,,does he have the right to say anything?… Read more »
You forgot to write the part Chinese government was already planning back in January, the Chinese government announced that beginning March 1, it would be enacting new regulations against content on Chinese websites. It would’ve been blocked with or without XZ fans reporting. Also it is fair for Xiao Zhan to lose his career over a fanfic website? A non profit website. His not a fault and should not take no responsibility for fans behaviour. Those AO3 users/anti did much worse things to XZ than what those fans did.
Insightful piece. Thank you, I have been following this as well. The fan fiction does crosses many red flags and I myself is uncomfortable with it but I do think the whole platform should not be reported by his fans, they were wrong in this. Im very sorry to all the AO3 users in China and understand they are sad and angry but another victim here is not only them but Xiao Zhan. The comment above says to —not just teach Xiao Zhan lesson but later says hopefully no one is victim to cyber bullying? Do they not realize the… Read more »
“He is not giving the internet a reason to forgive him yet” Are you serious? If anything, after reading this article it’s clear the idol has little to nothing to do about it. In fact, I think it’s best for him to not address the issues because he holds no solutions to them and he will only enrage one or the other side with whatever he says. People blindly blaming him make no sense at all, the dude didn’t even report the fiction himself? He’s also not his fans shepherd, literally what’s there to do in a case like this?… Read more »
Thank you for this article. As an outsider who has been lurking on lofter for the past one year, this article truly summed up the situation, and i agree with the stuff about reporting culture. The chinese internet now exists a new generation of red sleeves.
Lamento lo que pasó con el artista, pero esos fans creen ser jueces de la moral. Claramente hicieron mucho daño a Xiao Zhan. Él luchó un montón por su carrera y sus sueños y ellos por creerse héroes y madres y hermanas sobreprotectoras le han expuesto a difamación y calumnias y sobre todo a violencia. Los clubes de fans con adolescentes o jóvenes que creen que pueden controlar la vida de un joven que ha estudiado y tiene gustos propios. ¿Que sucede si Xiao Zhan en realidad es gay? ¿Ellas lo van a masacrar por ello? Obvio no puede decirlo… Read more »
Well, your article is nice, but not complete. It doesn’t mention the enormous amount of cyber-bullying that Xiao Zhan and his fans suffered as “retaliation”, even though the reporting was done by small part of his fans, while the majorory, and he himself had nothing to so with it. There was huge amount of vicious rumors and hate spreading on various social networks since then, from pronouncing him dead and organizing a funeral, to death threats to him, his family and his fans, deep-fake montages and much, much worse. All that, while Ao3 is still accessible in China under a… Read more »
And, yes, it is true, Ao3 is still accessible, with different domain. As an Ao3 user, I can tell you there is a lot of fanfics in Chinese bein uploaded each day, I was honestly surprised. But, then friends revealed the fact. So, can you live with yourself knowing you destroyed a man, without any reason at all?
I haven’t seen any evidence that AO3 was already on the target list so I can’t conclude it would have been blocked either way. Why is the value of a website determined by whether it’s profitable or not? Wikipedia is invaluable to me. Xiao and BL fans are all victims of this vicious circle, we wrote this hoping all netizens could reflect upon the reporting culture.
I don’t understand a word of this but…thank you?
Great article, absolutely fantastic for us English readers who are curious as to what’s going on with all of that. And personally, I think it’s smart as hell of Xiao Zhan to withhold commenting. He literally did nothing and had no control of fans’ actions. At this point, anything he says will be controversial and ripped to shreds. But anyway, that’s besides the point. Thank you for this article!
Xiao Zhan and the AO3 users are all victims of a vicious circle. But I don’t agree with you on he “had no involvement” in this incident. Sure, he hasn’t actively instruct his fans to do anything, but his utter silence is indulging the fanatic fans. Right now the public view him as the muppet of his agency and his fans, so the public target him as the symbol of the extreme fan culture. If he has said something with the slightest hint on against extreme actions like reporting, distance himself with the extreme fans, the AO3 users and other… Read more »
He has little to do with it, but not nothing. By not giving the internet a reason I mean he should make a personal voice, let people know his opinion on extreme fan actions, distance himself from them. It will cost him some fan base, but in the long term the fans will learn that their beloved “brother” advocates for a healthy fan culture. Does an idol play no role at all in the fandom culture? Why shouldn’t he hold responsibility for guiding his fans? The fanatic culture is relatively new, but we need to make adjustment every time something… Read more »
We did not participate in any boycott action against him, unless you think this piece analyzing the reporting culture behind it is some sort of cyberbullying against Xiao Zhan. So, are you suggesting we are destroying Xiao Zhan as well?
Xiao Zhan not only popular in China but international fandom as well. I didn’t see any chinese idols get this much hype on international fandom before. It was always k-pop here, but since last year his name trending on twitter pretty often and my friends know him and his dramas. Its such a pity if he really need to give up his career for some irrational fans culture and some toxic people who want to teach him lesson with destroying his career.
A big lesson and tragedy.
Thank you for your article.
First, have you seen the related fan art on James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender? The two actors openly talked about it on talk shows with millions of viewers and everyone had a laugh. My response to you for second and third are on other comments I’ve made above. No, he shouldn’t be punished to that extent, but I don’t think he hold zero responsibility either. If he could have a positive influence on his fans on things like living their life well, not be arrogant, why not on against extreme actions? The idol-fan relationship has a powerful and dangerous dynamic,… Read more »
Thank you for this incredible article. I get the rage of Ao3 writers and readers truly. If Ao3 is block in my country, I’ll flip. After conversing with a few of them, I can see that some felt the need to retaliate to protect the increasingly smaller space for creative freedom in China. They don’t blame XZ per say, but as the face of the problem, they feel he has to fall to teach his extreme fans a lesson and change toxic fan culture. They are fighting for what they believe is justice. Not that I think their form of… Read more »
Thank you so much for this detailed description of the situation. It is so helpful for understanding what’s going on. I live in Eastern Europe and only recently became a fan of XZ after watching the Untamed. The Untamed is a great success with many people in my country, so this situation as well raises interest. There are only some bits of info in English when you try to read about Chinese pop-culture, and it is hard to get anything for fans who don’t speak Chinese. As much as I am sorry for the users of AO3 and feel their… Read more »
May i say that Xiao Zhan’s career is definitely NOT OVER. You are too presumptuous to say that his career is destroyed. NO WAY JOSE!!!
I’m so deeply saddened by the situation. It came like a thunderstorm while I’ve been searching through accounts with lovely Xiao Zhan pictures. That’s a shock when you think that he actually hasn’t done anything bad to receive this negativity. Oh, he’s amazing acting in CQL contributed so much to the spred of Chinese dramas popularity (seriously I’m watching my fourth!) I still hope that he isn’t destroyed as you are saying. He loved by so many people worldwide now. Do you think he can make any decisions without his PR agency permission? I think that the silence is kinda… Read more »
Hello, while I think many parts of this article are good, I have to disagree with some parts. Let’s start with the fact that yes, Xiao Zhan is not to blame for anything his irresponsible fans did. What they have done were overblown and extremely thoughtless if not malicious. The people who started the counterattack were not any better. They lost a safe place to post fanfics but they have destroyed not just an innocent man’s career and livelihood but also people who worked with and for him. New safe spaces for fan contents could always be found again, but… Read more »
…”Apart from BL fans, people with niche interests, from the LGBTQ communities, or even just those who were fed up with the crazy fan circle culture all joined in this huge online slaughter of Xiao Zhan. “…
OH THE IRONY
This article fails on a lot of different points, maybe in an attempt to sensationalize what happened? Xiao Zhan’s career isn’t hardly over; the fact remains that he remains an endorser for the top brands you mentioned, one of which (Zhenguoli) sold out all items connected to his endorsement. One of the main things this article missed is how this entire drama relating to the nuances and limits to freedom of speech is highly connected to a very profitable business, on all sides of the equation: the ensuing attacks on Xiao Zhan was very likely exacerbated bys of yi xing… Read more »
XIAOZHAN didnt just have chinese fan..we international fans of him still here for him. Supporting believing and loving him forever. And I want to stand you correctly..HIS CARRER IS NOT OVER YET…… no one can destroy a good man.as saying goes..YOU CAN NEVER PUT A GOODMAN DOWN and it’s TRUE..
I didnt want to judge other fans of him but blaming him for all this mess is just pure evil..
I wish for all, spread love and humanity , think before u slander people..be a good person.coz
life is just short to hate someone✌✌
When I was young, what didn’t I see? banning, getting walled, imprisonment of our authors, defamation? Yes, we faced them all! The thing is, the people from the creative community are independent and have broad imaginations. Blocking them can not be good for a nation. If they were banned earlier, how could we get “Mo Dao Zu Shi” in the first place? If we can think rationally, it is an extremely well-written story. You’ve already seen it without the BL content, you have to know it was a masterpiece! But why would Xiao Zhan get all the blow? And why… Read more »
I like XiaoZhan. I even entertain his CP ship with his Untamed co-star because as someone used to shipping, hetero or non-hetero, I’m used to fandom culture. As much as it pains me, I honestly can’t see this end well for Xiaozhan. International fans mean nothing in the long run for Chinese celebrities, I foresee his career slowly dwindling down as time goes by because his fans had invited the wrath of too many people in variety of fandoms, plus people who are not in fandoms but concerned about LGBTQ issues, or those who simply dislike Chinese censorship. Current and… Read more »
My Xiao Zhan has done nothing except for acting beyond AMAZING in the best drama ever Untamed <3 he deserves everything and best <3
He is very cute and handsome actor also his best Drama untamed is very popular
His deserve love and best everything I love him
I hope Xiao Zhan could be strong enough to face this storm in his life…..I believe that no matter how crazy people is there is much as worst situation in the world that needs our attention rather than just minding others life….
The 227 alliance turned themselves into cyberbullies while depicting themselves as innocent, which is as hypocritical as it can get.
While XiaoZhan and his rational segment of fans have been silently raising funds for charity during the time of lockdown in China, the 227 have done nothing productive but engage in a ruthless anti-XZ smear campaign. As the covid crisis settles down, hopefully the government will censor and punish this toxic lynch mob which has had too much freedom to spew lies.
this article really gives me a better understanding of this issue. Thank you for letting me understand this better. What upsets me is that many people even in these comments are blaming Xiao Zhan for this situation even though he had nothing to do with it. The reason why I am saying that he had nothing to do with it is because he is not responsible for his fans actions. Its not like he can control them and tell them what to do and it is definitely not his fault that they are toxic. Another this is that in a… Read more »
Yes,some of these AO3 fans truly went too fast.But if you want write this article fairly,then translate some Xiao Zhan’s fans’ comments by the way.What most of us truly hate is that his fans just boycott anything they don’t like.For example,on Weibo there was a guy kept posting some literature from Africa.PURE LITERATURE STUFF.
Then Xiao Zhan’s fans came,they did their job so well that soon this account was cancelled.
For what?
FOR ONE SINGLE WORD IN ONE OF THE POSTS IS Xiao Zhan’s nickname(AND THE WRITER CERTAINLY HAS NO IDEA WHO’S THIS CHINESE IDOL)
Wow.
Thank you so much for writing this article—so much helpful contextual info and analysis! As a long-time AO3 reader and a newly-obsessed fan of The Untamed (and Xiao Zhan (and Wang Yibo (and BJYX, lol))) I find this whole situation incredibly sad. Hope that Xiao Zhan’s career can bounce back and that fanworks and the fan community will still have a safe space to flourish in China.
Ironically, XiaoZhan fans are trying to control the comments here, by vote down all the comments they do not like. They are so into reporting. Years after XiaoZhan Incident, people will fogot all the shows of XiaoZhan, but they will remmember XiaoZhan fans are nuts and they abused reporting system.
I think the whole situation is wild, to be honest. And I would like to make one thing clear, none of this is Xiao Zhan’s fault. Like just think… is he responsible for the actions of his fans… NO! NOT AT ALL! He is the victim in this all, he is the biggest victim! Do I think what his fan did was wrong? YES! Do I think he should be punished for what his fans did? NO, NOT ONE BIT! It makes no sense at all, he is his own person and they are their own person too… why should… Read more »
XZ’s lawyers have accumulated enough evidence against the cyberbullies who were paid by a company that specializes in smear/hate campaigns. The entire scenario was masterminded by these monsters using fake fans posing as XZ fans to sabotage him and his entire fandom. Hope XZ sues them for lost wages and mental stress before shipping them off to prison.
Very insightful and detailed, and as one commenter mentioned, it’s very rare to see a detailed analysis of the issue in English and, as a non-Chinese reader who has very limited access to the ins and outs of Weibo, Douban, and other Chinese sites where the marrow of the issue can be found, this laid it out in a nicely in a neat plate. Kudos! Though… While I appreciate the straightforward journalism about and surrounding this story, I still have to wonder: should Xiao Zhan be held accountable for his fan’s actions? What fault of his was it that started… Read more »
Is he wrong? I think it’s yes,the reason is that he haven’t prevented his fans doing the crazy things.Xiao zhan is too irresponsebility.In the latest news, he don’t think he has the responsibility to guide his fans, even has dalusion that he is innocent in this incident.
Still rooting for Xiao zhan no matter what happen, hoping he is okey and still fighting. I really love all about him on cam and off cam. Stay healthy and just continue smiling for your fans, ….. we love you, from ur philippines fans❤❤❤
I believe he holds no responsibility for this incident and asking him to publicly apologize for his fans reporting on a site that’s literally illegal in his Country is crazy! He didn’t ask some fic writer to use him in her plot and basically exploit him for their own agenda. Where are his rights? Because he’s a celebrity it’s okay to write about him anyway you want like the fic writer did? Because if I’m understanding it correctly- his character is a prostitute having an affair with a high school student (minor?). I know there’s a plethora of these celebrity… Read more »
I never knew such a world existed! Thank you for the fascinating account of “old wine in a new bottle!”
How can as you called yourself an idol’s fan create something degrading image of your idols? I really do not understand this. If you love and idolised someone, wont you wish him all the best in life? Why degrade him, hurt him, ruin his life and his love ones, etc. Are you even human? For someone I love, my pray is always for his well being, happiness, safety and peace for all times. Really make me cry for both my Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. They cannot be together due to all this nonsense. Do you all have any idea… Read more »
I Feel so sad for xiao zhan, hope he is keeping himself safe n healthy(mentally, emotionally, socially). But tbh I just don’t get it the hate he is getting unnecessarily, I mean what wrong did he do. I feel so bad and helpless, because of him and yibo, I was able to get a good taste of cdrama and cpop() but after getting into it, I feel sad that my very idols are getting hate unnecessarily. But still I will stand them no matter the situation is. . And thank you so much for the detailed description, I’m a newbie… Read more »
So bad to hear this. Recently watched untamed and became a fan of chinese entertainment. Couldn’t get over Xiao Zhan and searched more and got into this. As an international fan i am amazed at the situation. This is really bad to the star (mentally). Anyway the detailed report gave more insights to the issue. Author we (international fans) wants to know how Xiao Zhan is coping with the whole situation. Anyway i think the star is not in a situation to talk about this with his caring personality (what i grabbed from different videos). It’s really bad how Xiao… Read more »
Thank you for reporting on this! Personally, I am incredibly baffled at how any of this is in any way Xiao Zhan’s fault. Correct me if I’m wrong but he literally did not do… anything? Like he literally just existed and a bunch of people online ran a smear campaign to ruin his reputation because of what a bunch of rabid young fans did, right? Which is a whole other issue but he, himself, had nothing to do with it other than his name being involved, correct? He deserves an apology from the whole internet, not the other way around,… Read more »
Wow! I must compliment the writing of this piece. What a great article with such detailed analysis. What an insight into the world of Chinese fandom!