Xiao Zhan: His Journey Back from the Dark | S&T Chats

But even till today, till this day, we still don't know exactly what's the cause of his death. And I just feel like Xiao Zhan, he could be a possible next target. Hello! Welcome to S&T Chats. Today, let's talk about Xiao Zhan. Yes. Why? Because recently his drama came out, The Legend of Shanghai. And it's pretty popular. And apparently it's pretty good. Yes, it is. I'm watching it. I haven't finished it. It's very similar to 狼牙榜. Oh. So if you like that kind of genre, you will definitely like it. Okay. Yes. So Xiao Zhan got famous from the Untamed drama. We both watched the drama, and he was like booming, booming, booming. And then suddenly the 227 incident happened. Why is it called 227? It's because it happened on February 27th. Ah, okay. So let's give a little background on him. So Xiao Zhan was born in 1991 in Chongqing, and he wasn't always in the spotlight. He actually, before his fame, he studied design and worked as a graphic designer. Oh. And then in 2015, he joined a talent show, The X-Fire, where trainees competed to debut as idols. That same year, he became a member of the boy group X9, marking the start of his entertainment journey. In 2019, Xiao Zhan starred in the fantasy drama The Untamed, playing Wei Wuxian. Okay, anyways, that character. Yeah, we all know him and Wang Yibo. They had great chemistry. So the show exploded across Asia, and turning him into a household name overnight. Fans love his charisma, his personality, and the chemistry with him and Wang Yibo. And he got a lot of endorsements. He just rose to fame from that one piece. Wow. Well, usually that's... Most people are like that. You get one thing, and then... But then... It doesn't last long. Usually. Yeah, no, that's the thing. So if you can maintain it, that's another thing. And unfortunately for him, that next year, on February 20th, the so-called 2227 incident happened. Oh. Yeah, so the film was in 2019. Okay. So a year later, in 2020. Okay. Yeah, 10 years. Wow. Let's talk about the incident. It all started when some fans reported an archive of our own fan fiction involving his character from The Untamed and the co-star Wang Yibo, which led the entire website being blocked in China. So a user on a fan fiction site known as ddchutaoji began posting a story called Falling. And the story had romantic and exclusive scenes between Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. It was a type of fan fiction known as BL, you know, and it was inspired by their on-screen chemistry and The Untamed, which itself actually is also based on a BL novel, but I think the drama... When I watched it, I didn't know. Okay. But obviously I saw that they had really great chemistry, but I took it as a brotherhood. Okay. Nothing more. Yeah, because it's China, you know, you can't produce BL stuff out of nowhere. So I didn't even think into that. I didn't know about the novel either. So I thought they were just, you know, a nice brotherhood story. So at first it was just a fan work. And then on February 24th, the author shared new chapters on Weibo, which is China's biggest social media platform. Two days later, some of Xiao Zhan's fans came across the story and were furious. They said it contained explicit sexual content and portrayed Xiao Zhan in a feminized way, something they considered disrespectful. Oh, okay. So they were really furious. So what happened is a certain fan leaders, a couple of them on Weibo, encouraged others to report the story and the author to the authorities. Oh gosh. Yes. So then the whole fan base started reporting that author and that article and everything. What happened next is within the few days, the reporting campaign grew so massive that the entire archive of our own website was blocked in Mainland China on February 29th. Oh my god. Yeah, crazy, crazy fans. I mean people are gonna... Yeah, I mean, I mean it just baffles me. It's like just because you don't like it. Yeah, exactly. Doesn't mean that other people can't like it. Yeah, and it's someone else's creation or fiction. You know, their imagination. But I think some people like their fan, they fantasize or they fan towards that character of the drama. And then some people are fans of him. Right. You know, so it was kind of those two that were fighting. Like there were fans that were the fan of the characters and the drama. And then there are fans of Xiao Zhan. Like the actual person. Yeah, yes. And then they were clashing together. Actually, it's the dumbest thing ever. Yeah, so it triggered huge fights online between fans, artists, and internet users. And this hugely affected Xiao Zhan's public image. Obviously, more or less. Backlash against Xiao Zhan. And even though he didn't do anything. Right, yeah. Yeah, that's the crazy part about it. So for months, he faced like boycotts, online bashing, and losing endorsements even. Ah, no. A lot, yeah. He filmed a show, reality show. And when the show aired, people were like, oh, Xiao Zhan, they were anticipating to see him. But when they saw the edit, they edited all his scenes out. Oh my god. Yeah, so he was like quiet for a long time. And then there was an interview actually later. Xiao Zhan. Congratulations. I hope to be a stronger and more powerful person. Laughingly, he said like, he told himself like, Xiao Zhan, you have to live well. He said it laughingly, but imagine like during that time, how much he suffered. After all this, he disappeared for like 10 months. His first public appearance was on Starlight Awards, which is a Tencent Starlight Awards ceremony. A lot of his friends came, not knowing if he would actually show up or be at that awards ceremony. But when he appeared, like that moment he stood on stage, like they all lit up a light, a red light. And then the whole stadium or the whole theater or whatever was red. So it was kind of like creating a red sea. That's pretty touching. I think he even cried. So later that year, he in 2021, he actually started to do theater acting. And he did a couple. And one of his pretty well-known one was a drama like a drama. It was pretty high praise. And I think he was been doing that for a while until this year 2025, Shanghai. Yeah, I didn't see much of him for a long time. Yeah, no wonder, right? Yeah, like he was so popular and then all of a sudden disappeared. Yeah. Yeah, and then I saw him when I saw the drama of Shanghai and I was like, oh, isn't that Xiao Zhan? And then I had really great reviews. So I'm like, oh, let me go watch it. The Legend of Shanghai. So it's actually a story about a young man from a destroyed family who spends 10 years training under a hidden identity. After 10 years, he slowly goes back into the capital where his family used to be and climbs up the court and the political ladder and tries to seek revenge for his family's massacre. That's what happened. I didn't watch the whole drama. So I don't know if he got his revenge, but I'm starting it and that's every step. He does what he's trying to do. Okay, but it's like it's crazy because he has to be friends with his enemies or people he thinks right now that are the ones that killed his whole family. Actually, a lot of people were like, oh, why did the director pick Xiao Zhan? It's a really famous director. He said that the main character had to be Xiao Zhan because Shanghai is Xiao Zhan or Xiao Zhan is Shanghai. And I think it's kind of like Langya Bang, like Hu Ge. He filmed that after his car accident, incident, right? And that took a really big toll on him. Yeah, and Langya Bang's story is also being like defeated and kind of paralyzed as well and then getting his revenge. So I think for people to be able to portray those kind of characters, like they experienced those kind of stuff in life. And I think Xiao Zhan experienced that too. Like it was, it's been five years. Yep. And imagine those years that he's been in. But we never know if there's like the people in the back screens, the back who like pull the strings and be like, oh yeah, Xiao Zhan doesn't, is not giving us what we want. You know, let's, let's have him disappear for a while. Well, yeah, he learns his lesson. Yeah, that's actually why I wanted to talk about Xiao Zhan, you know, because like recently, the Yu Meng Long thing, right? We did an episode on that. You can go watch it. I mean, that episode when we did, it was at that time, the most current evidence that we had. But even till today, till this day, we still don't know exactly what's his cause of his death. You know, there's just so many stuff surfacing and uncertainties, and it's just getting creepier and creepier, like really creepy. And then it's just like the things about Yu Meng Long, as of now, at least on Douyin, like a lot of the netizens, they don't even type the words Yu Meng Long in the text box. They use the fish emoji. Everything, even the word fish, 鱼, because it's really similar to Yu Meng Long, the same sound. It's even blocked. Oh my god. That's why people use the emoji. I guess it's kind of hard to block. I don't know. But like everything is blocked, everything is deleted. My husband is actually really Chinese, right? And he only uses Chinese platforms, social media. And I was like, yeah, did you hear about it? He's like, no. And then in America, we're like, yeah. This is a huge thing. But like he doesn't see it ever. And I even tried to talk to you. You know, you're talking to the phone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Yu Meng Long, nothing comes up. Wow. And the only thing that comes up is like those television reports, kind of like, oh, he died, fell off the window, whatever. And let's let him rest in peace. And that's it? That's it. None of the crazy things we've been hearing, you know, with the USB, now him going into the exhibition museum. Oh, yes. Yeah. And with the Bulgari Hotel, a lot of conspiracy surfacing. You know, it's like, hmm, it's like we're hearing it, but why isn't the people in China? Why aren't they hearing it? Yeah. And I just feel like Xiao Zhan, like he could be a possible next target. Yeah. He's got the really, you know, pretty boy face feature. Kind of like what those capital kind of like these days. Like they like perverted. Pretty girls and pretty boys. Yeah. You know, so he might be the next victim. Like we don't know. Oh, I do want to add though, the writer who basically got blocked. It's not the first time the Chinese government is doing this. So in one of our previous videos that we did, there was this one guy who was trying to kidnap a girl right off the street. And then he got like 15 days in prison, right? And then a online writer who was writing her own fanfic, got 10 years in prison. Yes. So I guess they're huge against the BL thing. But my question is, why are these capitals so into it? Yeah. That's so contradicting yourself. Like I'm not saying I'm not supporting it. I'm not anything about it, but I'm just saying like you are so against people writing it and you know, putting it out there. But why are these, you know, rich people, powerful people so into it? Yeah, that's disgusting. You know, like, so you just want to control people? Like, no, it's more like, it's more like whatever works for them. Yeah. You know, if I'm happy with it, I get it. If I'm not happy with it, you don't get anything. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. And you know, justice laws in China are so messed up. Just take this for instance, like just writing like fanfic gets you 10 years in prison and then trying to kidnap a kid off of the street only gets you 15 days. I mean, well, because one probably has the power, one doesn't. That's why I didn't. It doesn't matter what the thing was. It doesn't matter who you made displeased or who you affected, kind of. But it also reminds me of an interview that Hu Ge did with this whole thing, Yu Mono and Xiao Zhan. He said that if he didn't change his style path, like, he would be dead. Oh boy. Hu Ge used to be, you know, a pretty boy, you know, kind of style. And then he had the car accident and then he's like, thank goodness I changed my style to, you know, a bit rigid. Or else I'll be dead. What is Hu Ge telling us, y'all? We have to read in between the lines. I mean, we can kind of understand what he's saying. You know, he was really handsome and really pretty. He's probably a target for another person. And then he, because after the accident, he became not so perfect. Yeah. You know, and then the capital of the money was like, oh, you're not perfect anymore. Yeah. It also passed. Which saved his life. Yeah. So, which is, which is kind of sad though. It's very sad. It's sad. Like, I guess all of the male actors, like no one is safe. Yeah. Like we would, like we think like, none of the actors or actresses are safe. Yeah. Like, oh, I want to be pretty. I want to be, you know, but then if you are pretty, if you're like your, your life can be in danger. Yeah. It's like, it was joking. Yeah. It's pretty good to be ugly. Like at least I have my life. Yeah. And we're not in danger of, you know, the capitalists. Yeah. So, yeah, that's all I have. I just wanted to bring that up. um, you can support Xiao Zhan by watching his drama. Yes. But don't go crazy. I think fans sometimes are just. Let's be logical and calm. All the time. You know, as, as best as you can. And we can respect each other's opinions. Yeah. There's no right or wrong. You can dislike. I can dislike. It's okay. You can speak freely about it. Yeah. But, and, and just think about like whatever actions you do will affect the actor or actresses themselves. You know, so as fans, we want to conduct ourselves accordingly so that they don't get affected. Yeah. Okay. That's it for today. Don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll see you next time. Bye.