FYI Cnetz just discovered last night that 逆爱 (the drama's official Chinese name) and all the related tags of the show are now restored on Chinese social media sites like Douyin, Weibo, XHS 🥲 The show's countless video edits and previously hidden videos are also restored, plus here's the kicker, many official tourism social media accounts even those related to CCTV are using tags of the actors' names and the drama to promote tourism to the drama's filming location in Wuxi and the cast's hometowns. I think the earliest one I saw was a few days ago, Shandong's tourism authority using Tian Xuning to promote tourism but even CCTV is doing it which is surprising.
Also Chai Jidan the producer of the show just posted a new vlog saying she's so happy and her voice was trembling so Cfans are guessing it may be related to the show's tags, video edits, etc getting the green light to be promoted.
are u insane? its not bc theyre bl actors this happens with every celebrity in china , c idols, chinese influencers…
The Meteor Garden remake starring Dylan & Shenyue flopped bc the original Taiwanese version and Chinese version with Zheng Shuang & Hans Zhang were still very popular so nobody really bothered about the 2018 version. It did help Dylan kickstart his acting career but LBFAD made him popular. Shen Yue was also popular mostly due to ALSB not Meteor Garden. International fans did like Meteor Garden as well as SOKP, Hidden Love but these series didn't do as well in China as they did abroad? Like you will hear criticisms of the acting/plot or only the actor's fans talking about it whereas foreign fans rave about these shows uniformly.
are u insane? its not bc theyre bl actors this happens with every celebrity in china , c idols, chinese influencers…
Sorry but I hate Times Fengjun and their entire modus operandi of getting tween or teenage boys to market BL ships while they are underaged. A lot of their idols absolutely suck at singing or acting (the only exception is Jackson Yi, for instance Karry Wang's films have all flopped) and yet as idols they get immensely popular from underaged BL so much so that they keep attending top acting or music schools or taking part in singing competitions (i had the misfortune of seeing Ma Jiaqi on this singing show recently) or gala events (Roy Wang cannot sing too, cringe) even though they are mostly popular for marketing yaoi teenage BL fantasies? I can't stand Kpop too but at least Kpop idol groups have 1-2 members with great vocals or rap, unlike Times Fengjun and whatever underaged BL nonsense they are doing. Instead of debuting idols with skills in singing, acting, dance or whatever they debut any kid who looks like they would fit in a BL fantasy and when these TF idols grow up they keep making the entire C-ent industry worse due to their lack of discernible talent.
are u insane? its not bc theyre bl actors this happens with every celebrity in china , c idols, chinese influencers…
It really isn't. FYI this happens when male actors explode in fame i.e. 爆流量 due to a viral drama and people start digging up their entire lives, girlfriends, old photos to see who they dated, who they're dating, if they did any plastic surgery etc etc. The realest sign that someone has exploded in fame overnight is if this kind of extensive digging up of old photos, high school pictures, curiousity of their past acting/modelling/idol gigs, who their friends are in the industry etc etc. That means Cnetz are interested to know everything about you in the way people are curious about a celebrity, and for many actors who are moderately popular (they often act with popular actresses like Lusi, Esther, Churan, Meng Ziyi, Bai Lu etc and are called 待爆 or "actors waiting to explode in fame" ) but aren't fresh or new to Cnetz because they have done so many idol dramas, they actually find it harder to explode in fame from obscurity because everyone is used to their face already even if they never had a viral role or drama. A lot of the actors that are popular internationally e.g. Chen Zheyuan, Zhang Linghe, Lin Yi, Joseph Zeng are kinda like that.... They lack a viral role that makes Chinese internet want to sit up to notice them and deeply dig into who exactly they are in real life.
The last time I noticed this sort of explosive popularity was Dylan Wang after LBFAD (Meteor Garden kinda flopped in China) bc there was a lot of chatter about his background, his friends, his family's meat skewer business, his girlfriend from university and photos of her posted (they eventually broke up sadly) but I don't really pay attention and know idol fans regularly stalk TNT and Times Fengjun teen idols this way because they market BL ships.... FYI a lot of TF company fans are now chasing Ziyu & TXN hence their expertise at gaining information like flight details.
FYI in China there are also professional sasaengs i.e. they will stalk celebrities and sell the footage e.g. they film themselves asking Tian Xuning personal life questions on the flight and sell the video for a few hundred bucks. They often follow whoever is popular and film footage that can be sold to fansites, news sites, or paparazzi.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
Lol hopefully but it's best to keep expectations realistix because the drama didn't air in China and there are already calls for them to be 封杀 for using a loophole. They can't even promote the drama freely much less do magazine shoots together like the WOH cp did, so their commerical value isn't as high as other BL pairs who had a hit drama.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
I'm just being realistic. Xiaozhan and Yibo's Untamed aired in China so it had more viewers and measurable viewership unlike RL, plus it is a historical drama so it got very popular versus modern dramas. For instance Xiaozhan and Yibo have done films and I really doubt RL will catapult its lead into movies. Also Yuehua and WJJW are way better at managing liuliangs than Tian Xuning or Ziyu's agencies. Although RL is doing well in China it's still a drama that has no measurable viewership in China ("made for foreign market BL") so their best hope is that their next roles in Cdramas be it as lead or supporting characters will prove themselves and get good viewership in China which is super hard these days because longform Cdrama viewership has dropped a lot domestically due to short dramas and vertical dramas plus people preferring Douyin or gaming as entertainment over TV.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
Nah they won't become the next Yibo and Xiaozhan, times have changed and the economy isn't doing as well as back then so capitalists are investing less into longform dramas (short and vertical dramas are popular now bc nobody has anymore attention span ☠️) and both Yibo & Xiaozhan were popular idols at top companies even before Untamed. Ziyu is currently a former idol at an internet influencer agency where he's the only actor, Tian Xuning is at Huace which should help him a lot since they produce a lot of dramas but he'll be lucky to be another Hu Yitian (former Huace actor) since Hu Yitian had a decent run at their agency. It's a drama producing firm and not an agency that's great at managing liuliangs but they have Esther Yu who is leaving to Yuehua because she's an idol & liuliang and wants to be managed as such.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
I'm not blaming the actors? I'm saying that this is the direct effect and proof of their newfound fame as much as they are shocked by it they also are happy to see the fruits of their labour (Ziyu looked visibly happy to see the crowd tbh). All actors who film a drama thinking that they may explode in fame (BLs mostly but some go viral from BG dramas e.g. LBFAD) will have imagined this kind of airport mob scene in their head, and once the initial wave of popularity passes even the most popular actors don't get mobbed since their fandom becomes more organised and less chaotic. FYI the sour Cnetz comments online are like "Enjoy your 3 seconds of fame while it lasts, nobody is going to give a sht about you after your stupid drama ends". Haha
So yes, all (and i mean all) actors in China wish they could one day explode in fame and be greeted by airport crowds because it'll guarantee endorsements, lead roles, higher status in the industry rather than being an unknown smalltime actor nobody recognises, which is what TXN and Ziyu were before this show.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
That's because the clip that was leaked and trending was super explicit and out there i.e. bondage play, so they were afraid people would get alarmed by what the show was about.
Regardless, the production team and cast want and need the show to go viral in China for them to gain the full commericial and material benefits out of it. If it didn't trend on Weibo, XHS, Douyin (impossible given that the actors' companies and Chai Jidan herself are buying so many hotsearches like "XX is so handsome", "XX got bullied before", "XX's idol days", "XX dancing to Kpop" which are known marketing tactics) they would be super upset if the show didn't make a splash in China like Justice in the Dark, Advance Bravely and other BLs which "flopped". The companies behind the show spent a lot of money marketing the drama by buying hotsearches and posting BTS on Douyin, because they want Cnetz to watch it via YouTube with a VPN or pirate it and want them to tell other Chinese folks to watch via word of mouth.
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him…
Well I find it odd that people on YouTube, Reddit etc keep criticising Chinese fans for posting about this series online or "being noisy" because "China isn't supposed to watch it". The effect that the producers and main leads want is to go viral in China, not anywhere else, and get a lot of fans waiting at airports (Ziyu burst into smiles of disbelief, even if they pretend to look shocked they would rather get mobbed than take the VIP route) because they want the entire Chinese entertainment industry, brand sponsors, casting directors, fashion magazines to notice their rise in fame and to get more offers to endorse brands or be able to charge higher appearance fees per acting gig.
Chinese BLs producers and actors are exploiting a loophole (the government will be daft if they let it exist lol) to release BLs abroad and rely on word of mouth and Cfans using VPN to gain popularity in China, the only place they care about commercially. They do not care if they get famous elsewhere and the ultimate aim of the lead actors (or any BL actor) is to build a big Chinese fandom that can rival top liuliang actors like Xiaozhan, Yibo, Dengwei, Dylan Wang etc so they can compete for the same 1ML roles and endorsements. Popularity abroad isn't worth much, it has to be Chinese fans who are willing to spend time and money to organise themselves as fanclubs, photographers, souvenir makers etc so they will regularly post photos online, organise mass purchases of endorsed goods, organise offline events when the actor they like has a new show airing or birthday. Liuliang wannabe actors need to "prove" their fame by showing how much offline support they have, and airport mobs are unfortunately one way to show the capitalists that you can harness a decent amount of support, eyeballs, which may translate into buying power. They aren't trying to be popular abroad and work in Hollywood but to break into the Chinese market.
How can those so called chinese fans not support and praise Tian, but attacking him? Like wtf, he is just awesome…
He's gone viral in China and Cfans are 99% supportive but some who feel threatened by his rise are attacking him (other actors' fans, mostly the solo akgae fans of Ziyu, but this happens in EVERY POPULAR BL drama i.e. the gong & shou's akgaes will fight and post rumours/gossip of the other actor to help the actor they support gain more fans out of the drama's fandom aka 提纯... So far Ziyu's fans outnumber Tian Xuning because he's an idol who's younger and was bullied before), but TXN's got 400k likes on Xiaohongshu in 1 day which is more than any celebrity currently. If he can maintain his popularity/likes on XHS, Douyin, Weibo after 3 months he's going to be upgraded to 1ML roles with popular actresses next.
So WSW bought Chi an original Coach belt, and probably splurged despite his TIGHT budget... AwwwwwwwAnd then WSW…
He prob thought it was a super high quality fake bc that's what Dabao said but it didn't matter, he just loved that he got a gift from his special someone and wanted to do naughty shit with the belt immediately 😂
This is the CP supertopic https://m.weibo.cn/p/index?extparam=栩你渝生&containerid=1008085cf0862440cd3b74d986d8f0618870e0 it's currently ranked #1.
FYI Cnetz just discovered last night that 逆爱 (the drama's official Chinese name) and all the related tags of the show are now restored on Chinese social media sites like Douyin, Weibo, XHS 🥲 The show's countless video edits and previously hidden videos are also restored, plus here's the kicker, many official tourism social media accounts even those related to CCTV are using tags of the actors' names and the drama to promote tourism to the drama's filming location in Wuxi and the cast's hometowns. I think the earliest one I saw was a few days ago, Shandong's tourism authority using Tian Xuning to promote tourism but even CCTV is doing it which is surprising.
Also Chai Jidan the producer of the show just posted a new vlog saying she's so happy and her voice was trembling so Cfans are guessing it may be related to the show's tags, video edits, etc getting the green light to be promoted.
The last time I noticed this sort of explosive popularity was Dylan Wang after LBFAD (Meteor Garden kinda flopped in China) bc there was a lot of chatter about his background, his friends, his family's meat skewer business, his girlfriend from university and photos of her posted (they eventually broke up sadly) but I don't really pay attention and know idol fans regularly stalk TNT and Times Fengjun teen idols this way because they market BL ships.... FYI a lot of TF company fans are now chasing Ziyu & TXN hence their expertise at gaining information like flight details.
FYI in China there are also professional sasaengs i.e. they will stalk celebrities and sell the footage e.g. they film themselves asking Tian Xuning personal life questions on the flight and sell the video for a few hundred bucks. They often follow whoever is popular and film footage that can be sold to fansites, news sites, or paparazzi.
小 Xiao = Little
醋 Cu = Vinegar
包 Bao = Bag/Packet
It may be translated as Little Jealousy too because 吃醋 ChiCu= Being Jealous (directly translated it means "eating vinegar")
https://kisskh.at/772769-cross-the-ocean-of-time-to-love-you
Skimmed the novel weeks ago when I heard the rumour and I'm 50/50 about it, you can see my summary on the drama's mdl page.
So yes, all (and i mean all) actors in China wish they could one day explode in fame and be greeted by airport crowds because it'll guarantee endorsements, lead roles, higher status in the industry rather than being an unknown smalltime actor nobody recognises, which is what TXN and Ziyu were before this show.
Regardless, the production team and cast want and need the show to go viral in China for them to gain the full commericial and material benefits out of it. If it didn't trend on Weibo, XHS, Douyin (impossible given that the actors' companies and Chai Jidan herself are buying so many hotsearches like "XX is so handsome", "XX got bullied before", "XX's idol days", "XX dancing to Kpop" which are known marketing tactics) they would be super upset if the show didn't make a splash in China like Justice in the Dark, Advance Bravely and other BLs which "flopped". The companies behind the show spent a lot of money marketing the drama by buying hotsearches and posting BTS on Douyin, because they want Cnetz to watch it via YouTube with a VPN or pirate it and want them to tell other Chinese folks to watch via word of mouth.
Chinese BLs producers and actors are exploiting a loophole (the government will be daft if they let it exist lol) to release BLs abroad and rely on word of mouth and Cfans using VPN to gain popularity in China, the only place they care about commercially. They do not care if they get famous elsewhere and the ultimate aim of the lead actors (or any BL actor) is to build a big Chinese fandom that can rival top liuliang actors like Xiaozhan, Yibo, Dengwei, Dylan Wang etc so they can compete for the same 1ML roles and endorsements. Popularity abroad isn't worth much, it has to be Chinese fans who are willing to spend time and money to organise themselves as fanclubs, photographers, souvenir makers etc so they will regularly post photos online, organise mass purchases of endorsed goods, organise offline events when the actor they like has a new show airing or birthday. Liuliang wannabe actors need to "prove" their fame by showing how much offline support they have, and airport mobs are unfortunately one way to show the capitalists that you can harness a decent amount of support, eyeballs, which may translate into buying power. They aren't trying to be popular abroad and work in Hollywood but to break into the Chinese market.