whoissilmoy

If you have an iQIYI membership, you can also watch these older Xu Kai dramas:
Story of Yanxi Palace *
The Legends *
Arsenal Military Academy
Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain
Dance of the Sky Empire
Court Lady *
Lost in the Kunlun Mountain

\* These have full episodes on YouTube, at least for me, so I don't need to watch on iQIYi.
The Legends is no longer on Viki, and for Arsenal Military Academy, I did a quick search and can’t find all the episodes with English subs on YouTube anymore.
Dance of the Sky Empire is still on Amazon Prime, but the subtitles in the later episodes are messed up.

Since I’m getting an iQIYI membership to watch Spring of the Blade, I can finally watch Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain and Lost in the Kunlun Mountain. These are the only two Xu Kai dramas I’ve never watched in full because they aren’t available anywhere except on pirated sites. The one I really want to watch is Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain. Hopefully it has English subs. I really like his acting in that drama and his character, Wang Lu.

Real mastery often comes from self‑learning.
I recall that Xu Kai says he doesn’t have the formal techniques trained actors learn, so he figures things out himself. It takes longer, but he still gets there — and with an original style.

His acting comes from watching others, adapting what works, and building his own methods. Solving things on your own forces you to think outside the box, and that’s how he developed a creative, distinctive approach. His crying scene in Best Choice Ever is so realistic. So are his scenes in Eight Hundred.

The correct answer is Spring of the Blade.

There’s really so much in this drama, and all the little details about Yao Zhiming are sprinkled throughout the story. I still feel like I need to rewatch BCE again. There’s just a lot to YZM character I want to explore. What you said is so perfect!

Btw, was that puzzle simply him wishing for a home? Also, Zhang said she helped YZM when he was at low point in his life, but they never said what she did for him. I'm guessing that since YZM watched over her daughter and YZM father remembers her daughter that she must have provided some assistance to him with the father going to jail and all when he was probably still in high school, I would assume. But then grandma showed up when YZM's mother was still alive, so he was even younger then and grandma funded his education and living expenses, so why he still lived like a dog eating scraps off the floor. I find it hard to piece together the timeline of his youth. Maybe the father or mother spent some of the money grandma gave them for YZM. It's no wonder grandma refused to give money to help them. Grandma knew YZM core is good but needs human touch. YZM's ability to forgive and love is amazing. He always comes around to the right side of things. Like when his father excitedly wanted to share wine with him, he told him it was fake. Seeing how pathetic the father was, he ordered him wine. Even he was still angry with his father he showed him compassion. When his father died, he realized that it was him who couldn't change which held him back from seeing that his father was sincere.

of course it will,

the leads in this drama are only 6 years apart. I think on screen, they put so much makeup on, it actually makes them look older.

hmm I'm not sure that Mo Li or TFJ exceeded expectations since it was awarded the platforms most or one of the most anticipated dramas for 2026 at its award ceremony but did not hit 30k. It peaked slightly above 28k. Most dramas wish they can hit 28k but I think platform was expecting at least 30k for TFJ.

"Despite still having a strong fanbase, First Jasmine “only” peaked at around 28,000 on Tencent’s popularity index. I say “only” because this drama was likely supposed to be a “30,000” hit for Tencent this summer. It was an S+ budget drama, directed by Lin Yu Fen, a director who helmed massive hits like Eternal Love, and stars popular actors Bai Lu and Cheng Lei. This drama unfortunately underperformed by this popularity metric. " - chasingdrama.com review

Yao Zhiming, "Work is far less important than family."

This drama doesn’t have an official “Most Anticipated” label from any platform or from Douban — it’s simply fans looking forward to it. So far platforms have spent very little to promote it.

I just happened to notice that Xu Kai’s official Instagram handle, @sosoalive7 (created mid-2018) includes the word alive, and that he recently got a tattoo “ALIVE” on his left forearm. There must be some history behind that word for him. When I try to look into it, I’m not sure what’s true and what isn’t, but it’s clear that “ALIVE” carries meaning for Xu Kai, likely before he became an actor. These words faith, alive, to me shows a person who at one time really had to persevere, perhaps during the lowest period in his life having to find ways to support himself when he just started college (based on what I know about his past). Gosh, it reminds me of Yao Zhiming but no where near as bad because I was just watching a scene, YZM tells his dad, he had to eat food off the floor when his dad was in prison. At least YZM had Grandma paid for his college.

Xu Kai has three tatoos:
The word "FAITH" on his right inner forearm.
The word "ALIVE" on his left inner forearm. This one was recent.
The Chinese idiom "尽人事，听天命" on his side waist/rib area.

The Chinese idiom on his waist, “尽人事，听天命” (jìn rén shì, tīng tiān mìng), literally means: "Do your best, and leave the rest to fate." It can be broken down into two equal parts:
尽人事 (Jìn rén shì): "Exhaust all human effort" or "Do everything within your human power."
听天命 (Tīng tiān mìng): "Listen to the mandate of heaven" or "Submit to destiny/fate."

Actually, this is similar to something he said about how he can do his very best, but the outcome of a drama is not up to him. These tattoos must mean a lot to him because he has said he's afraid of needles.

iQIYI gets all the overseas streaming revenue for Spring of the Blade because Youku is domestic-only; and Thailand is useful because Thai fan hype spreads outside Thailand. Xu Kai is Tencent’s ambassador for Thailand, so he can’t promote iQIYI as a platform there, only promote the drama. The offline turnout in Thailand is moderate compared to China, but Thailand’s online hype amplifies fast, and Xu Kai boosts it because even a small offline crowd turns huge once his fancams spread across SEA and get reposted back into China. Xu Kai has strong Thai fancam culture behind him. Thai editors already know how to shoot him, cut him, and push him into SEA TikTok. He’s a guaranteed multiplier.

Only a small number of Chinese actors have a real Thai fancam pipeline, and Xu Kai happens to be one of them. No major Chinese actor had a stable Thai fancam pipeline before Xu Kai’s 2018 Yanxi Palace era. Pre‑2018 fancams were isolated, not true pipelines. Xu Kai’s Yanxi Palace run is the earliest stable Thai fancam pipeline for a Chinese actor. His success showed editors and platforms that Chinese actors could circulate that way — Thai → SEA → Global → China, effectively paving the way for the 2019 wave.

iQIYI sends Xu Kai to Thailand because it’s cheap, and the Thai fancams give them free hype.
The drama airs first, and the Thailand meet‑and‑greet gives them a free boost. They don’t need to spend millions because Thai fancams do the work for them. Xu Kai is one of the few actors whose Thai fancam ecosystem is reliably viral.

Is this true?
Thailand is special because its hype doesn’t stay local — Thai fancams, edits, and reaction clips spread across SEA and then into global TikTok, where Chinese fans can see them and repost them, while most countries’ hype stays inside their own language bubble.

🤞 Go Thai fans!

I read that after his lower‑back injury he has to avoid basketball, which shows it’s a lasting injury and certain movements still aggravate it. He can’t play at the level he used to because basketball has so much sudden twisting, jumping, and impact, and those movements can still trigger flare‑ups. He’d likely avoid skiing or fast dancing for the same reason — they’re unpredictable.
He can still do big stunts because those scenes are planned and controlled to avoid injury.
Until recently, he’s working nonstop every year — sometimes three dramas in one year — no real break, just pushing through. Even injured, he avoided reinjuring himself because as a professional he has to think about the crew, not just himself.

It feels like such an odd way to introduce someone. A more natural English version would be: “Starring Xu Kai (from Shenzhen, born 1995, 188cm, briefly studied at South China Agricultural University, and rose to prominence in Story of Yanxi Palace).” I guess it must be a cultural thing, because in English “dropped out” carries a negative tone.

香港でsake and rain2
@Rain2And
·
10h
Translated from Japanese
On iQIYI, China's Netflix-like platform,
the drama *Spring of the Blade* is streaming—
a historical series set in the Southern Song Dynasty,
starring Xu Kai (from Shenzhen, born 1995, 188cm, dropped out of South China Agricultural University)
and Zhou Ye (from Chongqing, born 1998, graduate of Beijing Film Academy).
＊iQIYI is expanding globally
and especially popular in Southeast Asia—
next month, Xu Kai's event in Thailand is set to be a huge hit!

This isn’t readable at all — just a complete eyesore.

He exceeds my expectations. I just finished Eight Hundred and watched episode 20 a dozen times, then rewatched As Beautiful As You — my first rewatch — and now I’m rewatching Best Choice Ever, also for the first time. His acting is outstanding in every single scene. His expressions, his mannerisms, and his comedy — especially the deadpan — are so sharp, and only Xu Kai can deliver them that way.

I grew up watching American shows, so my taste is very Westernized, and I never had any interest at all in Chinese actors. Only Xu Kai feels different to me.

Pre-air hype grows the audience pool. It makes more people aware of the drama. Hype doesn’t create real demand — the show has to be good for that. But platforms still spend millions on hype because it is the most scalable and controllable way to enlarge the starting audience. Without strong hype, the initial pool stays small, so demand cannot grow fast. Word-of-mouth can spread quickly, but it rarely beats a coordinated hype push. Hype is manufactured. Word-of-mouth is organic. Only truly strong dramas can let organic spread catch up to or beat paid hype.

maybe he never had this kind of time before. So having some time is not a bad thing. He can do this. Such a rare treat.

I hope it will air earlier than later so it doesn't spill over to Oct (Q4)

is this an official Huanyu announcement?
https://x.com/IamSOSO0305/status/2093349724388786528/photo/1

Wu Jin Yan took over a year off and came back strong with The Double. During her time off, she took martial arts training. Yeah, it's great to be working non-stop, making tons of money, but then you hear about actors are burn out. Well, I've never read that about Xu Kai but I hear that about other actors. I really wonder the female actresses are they never having kids, other than Wu Jin Yan. Xu Kai has never looked better. Xu Kai has two tatoos that say Faith and Alive. He lives by it. He surely doesn't need people telling him how to live his life.

Xu Kai is finding time to level up his singing. I hope he's sticking with it. I really want to hear him sing.