Somewhere in a dank prison cell Wu Yi Fan is breathing a sigh of relief that C-ent and C-netizens attentions just moved on to another star. C-actor Zhang Zhe Han, easily one of the IT stars of this year 2021 after the BL novel adapted wuxia drama Word of Honor aired to great acclaim and reception, just went from countless brand endorsements and acting projects lined up to none within the span of 24 hours. No joke on the speed, it was way faster than brands dropping Wu Yi Fan during his rape and drugging allegations (which took a few days for all brands to drop him), so I guess it means patriotism and national honor remains the hardest line never to cross in things Chinese public won’t accept. I went to sleep and woke up to the shit show that is Zhang Zhe Han’s cancellation, starting from netizens unearthing his SNS pictures posted a few years ago with one set featuring cherry blossoms and the other him attending a wedding. The netizen scanned the backdropped and realized the cherry blossom pictures were taken at Yasukuni Shrine, a hotbed of controversy since the remains of WWII military figures are venerated there and one can argue whether said figures are heroes (to the Japanese) or war criminals (to the Chinese and anyone else those dudes led armies against).
The wedding pictures were at a ceremony held at Nogi Shrine also dedicated to a dead Japanese general. Zhang Zhe Han immediately posted a contrite apology for his lack of knowledge about Chinese history vis-a-vis those shrines and simply visited as a tourist and to attend a friend’s wedding, and will go reflect and repent for his lack of national awareness. That is not enough this time as the government owned newspapers are coming down HARD on him saying his lack of knowledge is not good enough and he has to pay the price for going to those shrines. Within 24-hours, every single brand endorsement he has (over 20) has cut ties with him in official press announcements including but not limited to Wahaha, Pandora, Shanghai Textile, Xu Fu Chi, Anker, Xue Lu Beer, Glico, Nivea, Clinique, and his movie and drama lined up also fired him. I don’t know if his cancellation is temporary or basically permanent in the sense that he can come back a long time from now but will never get back his top actor/leading man/IT boy status he just recently enjoyed after the career making hit that was Word of Honor. Sigh.
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This is the dumbest reason I’ve heard for a celebrity getting canceled. He probably didn’t even know the shrine honored Japanese war criminals. And the fact that he got dumped by his endorsers faster than Kris Wu…SMH.
I have to agree with you. I get it, I do. It’s a source of national pride, etc. But I still think it’s stupid. The pictures are old and yes, a person might not know the cultural significance especially if he only went there to attend a friend’s wedding. It shows he didn’t bother to look up the significance of the shrines he visited. It would be like a Chinese tourist going to the Vatican yelling and arguing in a high tones while mass is conducted. (I was offended, okay, but it’s not like the tourist was jailed or stoned to death…) she was just ignorant.
Your analogy of a Chinese tourist yelling and arguing at the Vatican shows YOUR lack of understanding at what went on in WWII – about how the Japanese cruelly murdered and raped masses of Chinese in Nanking. And unfortunately, Japan has not shown much remorse over the incident or over any of the atrocities they committed in WWII. It is not about cultural differences. If Zhang Zhe Han was educated in China, it is impossible for him not to know about China’s history with the Japanese. Even if he was educated abroad – he is now working in China and is a Chinese citizen, how can he make the lame excuse that he did not know? He should have taken the pains to find out more as he is a public figure. China probably sees Kris Wu’s crime was one against a group of people, but ZZH’s crime is against an entire nation.
I know about history and I know about the shrine since it has appeared in the news when I was younger. But you know what, I would not be able to describe how it looks like or its location. So this actor goes to a friend wedding, is he expected to be an expert in the local attraction or ask his friend if there is controversial shrine located nearby that will ruin my career years in the future? If he did know, should he tell his friend he won’t attend just because of its location? Some people just like to be outraged about the smallest things without understanding the impact it will have
@chiangf
His issue not only because he attended a friend’s wedding (where many of right winged people were invited) but he also went to other shrine and took pictures there, posted rising sun flag in 2017 and this is came from a guy who recommended two books that mentioned those said shrines, a persona of someone who loves reading and can speak Japanese (he spoke Japanese in that said wedding and there’s clip of that)
Can go to dramapanda to see the rising flag that he posted
Correction. 38jiejie not dramapanda for the rising sun post
That’s just wrong…Sounds like censorship is alive and well. This is not the 13th century. Zhane Zehan is a very talented young actor. Is this based on petty jealousy?
OK, make sure everyone who will have business relation or plan to stay in China will self-censor their photo and travel records on any social median.
1: No flag of Japan or US or any other unfriendly country at the backgrounds.
2: No record of visiting places like Korea War Monument in DC. The Chinese official should provide the list of sensitive locations (that could hurt feeling) worldwide so that other people will not take photos and visit.
3: Make sure that arms should rise above shoulder during any photoshoot. it will also be good to have official to issue the standard position for photo shot.
Sounds like great idea to avoid career and lift destroyed. Welcome to the new rule.
The list for “sensitive places” should cover for next 30 years. Don’t want the wrong photos to harm your future.
His original sin is from his photo post at Yasukuni Shrine. However, the government official news outlet encourage every Chinese to visit the Yasukuni Shrine to learn history https://world.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnK4GuU. The article was posted in 2017 and the editor is considered as the official voice. So, ZZH is killed in Chinese society for posting photo at the shrine – it does not make sense. .
No, I am sure he knows but I think he most likely did not think it is a big deal. Maybe he was just careless but definite not ignorant.
He get cancelled faster than Kris Wu….ignorance vs drug and rape (to minor). The priority really messed up in this one. Oh, and this kind of reminded me of that AO3 scandal back then. Is there a mandate to give to most absurd reason to cancel IT star from successful BL drama?
I think those it boys who achieved this status through a BL drama attract a lot of antis who work overtime to find dirt so they can end their career. It’s not different from K-pop idols being overly scrutinized and exposed once they hit big (except that they rarely get canceled, they just put out a PR apology and lay low for awhile then everything is forgiven and forgotten).
Exactly bro like they need to get their priorities straight.
It is time fans and actors realise that this manipulation is not a way to live. If all the hard working actors and agents, production team and everyone concerned in the power and influence of Wonderful Chinese drama, then they should support an actor who makes a honest mistake.
Those actors who use their position to subjugate others, rape and deliberately commit a serious crime then obviously there must be repercussions.
But this is a serious attempt to discredit an actor who has suddenly, after years of hard work and generosity (to the less fortunate) has become famous. In doing so he has stirred up some suspect individuals and companies who are trying to smear him.
I understand the horror of cruelty and the horrendous time the innocent people of China suffered and lived through under Japanese occupation. It is credit to the Chinese people’s courage and strong self worth that they survived this destructive time and have achieved greatness.
It is important not to forget, but also to learn from history. Other nations have also exploited and preformed dreadful acts on the people of China.
It is also to recognise and learn that the horror of Japanese occupation was and is a stain in Japanese history as is in other Countries subjugation of a people.
Monuments are a time of reflection and understanding that these crimes should never be repeated. As human beings we always have a choice to be true to ourselves as well as working together to form a compassionate and caring society.
Stuck at home… You know… that was war… Let me put it this way… Spain occupied Mexico and the Philippines for hundreds of years. It became part of the collective history of those places. They killed off half of the people with their disease, slavery, and general arrogance and ignorance. However, if I have a chance to travel to Spain, I will go to all its churches that venerate those conquistadors and Magellan. To me, they’re dead. They’re dust. China is doing a slow battle. Much more insidious in its conquest of the world. Or have you not noticed? They demand that their culture and their people be respected without them respecting others. Just saying… You should look beyond the propaganda and the “outrage” and look to how China has spread its greedy fingers all over the world. Just look to its neighbors and follow the Chinese yuan to where it has gone. You tell me… If I were you, who know so much about Chinese pride and Japanese obstinancy in war… You ought to start learning how to speak, read, and write Chinese. War makes fools of all its citizens. If reparations and all are to be paid, Europe needs to pay for all its sins from eons ago. But… hey, even Spain can’t pay for all the sins history has done to Mexico and all its territories. If such were the case, England, France, the Netherlands, India, Asia, China, all need to pay for the tragedies that befell Native Americans. There is a lot to pay!
Find every chinese who visited or just took photo outside of the shrine. Kick them out of schools and work places. They all committed the crime towards the whole nation. Nobody disputes the history. But the way of treating your own people is not progressive.
@Rh
Guess what? I do know how to speak, read and write in Chinese! Have been doing for years!!!
No, it is definitely not ignorance but carelessness.
I myself didn’t even know that the Yasukuni shrine is the controversial shrine until this news came up. I quickly did the google search and surprisingly it was very famous among the foreigners despite its controversy. I think mostly around these time, the Chinese government always want to educate their younger generation and revisit the history, and lucky for them, ZZH happened to be the famous star to be the scapegoat.
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The Yasakuni shrine is INFAMOUS for what it represents, and Japanese officials regularly get shat on for visiting it. This is not some obscure shrine for Chinese people and I’m very surprised ZZH didnt know where he was. The closest equivalent would be an Israeli actor posing for pics at Auswitchz. Given the horrors the Japanese wreaked upon China and other Asian countries, this cancellation is understandable.
You say what??
@Daebak
WW2 atrocities is not limited to Hitler and his Nazis. The Japanese were also extremely cruel not just to the Chinese – please read the Massacre at Nanking – but also to the other nations in South East Asia that conquered. I know, cos my parents and in laws and relatives have first hand experience! I doubt if any family in my country was spared the death of a loved one because of their occupation.
True, they did not kill 6 million people in concentration camps, but they were non the less as cruel. Why the Chinese, Korean and many other people who suffered under them find it hard to forgive is primarily because the Japanese did not ask for forgiveness or show remorse. Their textbooks for years did not mention any of the atrocities they committed and they glorified these war generals and set them up as heroes unlike Germany.
However, while many people have more or less moved on, and even like all things Japanese, it is still insensitive not to be aware, and there are lines not to be crossed.
I am sorry, but you can’t compare that shrine with a concreration camp that imprisoned and killed more than a million people.
@Weneedquality – That’s why I said closest equivalent. Germany did not construct shrines to its Nazi generals, else that would be the closest equivalent.
Commentators here do not seem to understand how big of a faux pas this is or how bad the memory of Japanese war crimes are to the Chinese. This is not a case of Cnetz being overly sensitive. Knetz would’ve raised the same stink if a Korean star was discovered to take pics at multiple Japanese war shrines over the years.
Comparing this to WYF’s case is also false equivalence.
Weird choice to invoke the holocaust to defend a nation that’s putting people in concentration camps and doing ethnic cleansing right now, in the present year, 2021. Not a good look.
@Stuck.at.home
Being an African, I know all about war crimes and atrocities committed by the said ‘overlords’.
But let’s be reasonable here, what exactly is this guy offense?? Just standing there to take pictures.
What if that’s where the lighting looks nice, I mean I take pictures everyday and just pick ones with good angles..
This sh*t should just blow over with an apology, is all I’m saying
ZZH is purely a tourist how would he know where he really is? Tourists normally would take pictures because of the beautiful view. Even if you were educated in a very good school, doesn’t mean you’ll remember every detail. And school doesn’t show the exact map of the place of the war. Do you say you’re using google map to exact the location and you’ll have to avoid it no matter what? It’s not ZZH’s fault because as I said, he’s purely a tourist who went to his friend’s wedding. He simply enjoyed the view and took a picture. He didn’t mean to offend anyone. Just like how people would say something unintentional that would offend the other party. ZZH is not Japanese so how would he know the history of the place he went? There are many buildings built at this time ever since the war and all. Not everyone will know what building or shrine or house it is.
Also, if this was really unreasonable, come to think of who ever dug out those pictures and showed it at this time. It’s old pictures. Why show it now when he’s getting famous? yes, it’s sad for Chinese people because of the history. But if they had really knew it was that place that would offend every chinese, they would have told ZZH to put it down right away that time. Why show it now? Isn’t it looking for a reason to put ZZH down?
A lot of Jews visit Auschwitz exactly because it is important to remember history for the lessons it teaches about hate and how people in power whip up nationalism and hatred against those unlike yourself for their own purposes and it is innocent people who lose their lives. So yes war should be remembered, but for the consequences of irrational hatred and irrational nationalism it engendered. Getting irrationally angry about an entire group of people for the ethnicity or nation they belong to is exactly what led to all the worst atrocities of WWII. The people in power who made those decisions may be dead, but blaming their descendants for not apologising is less useful than trying to stop yourself from making the same kind of irrational, angry hate-filled mistakes. While getting apologies would be great, teaching ourselves not to make those mistakes again is even better.
Nobody is disputing history. Did he deserve for what he did. No
Following the logic, everyone who visited the shrine should be kicked out of schools and work places. What is next place on the list? Korea war monument in DC?
That’s too bad. The guy worked so hard to get where he is. I feel this cancel culture is getting out of hand. People make mistakes and he has not done anything horrible like Chris Wu.
A: There’s NO WAY he didn’t know, China remembers that stuff way too well and makes sure its people do.
B: What a ghastly sense of priority when his “crime” is punished more rapidly than Wu’s
It’s ironic that citizens & the government in China are angry at Japan for not acknowledging their human rights violations during WWII when Urghyrs in China are currently being detained in camps to be “re-educated” by the Chinese government. That’s like the kettle calling the pot black…
For better or for worse, it’s important to have freedom to individual thought even if those thoughts & sentiments are different than the government and the majority. US celebs like Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds can have their wedding at a slave plantation, apologize and say that they didn’t interpret the location to be a painful reminder of slavery like others but just ignorantly thought it was pretty, people accepted hey you’re different and then move on. ZZH swift fall from stardom shows just how little room there is to have a different opinion than the masses or the government in China. You didn’t interpret it was a horrible place to be, we ghe government do, therefore you’re ruined.. This is how authoritative governments stamp out dissent. Show everyone you get ruined if you even slightly fall out of line.
LOL this is so dumb I feel really bad for him.
This is not dumb. This is a very painful part of history for Chinese people. He made a mistake & i hope people will forgive him. I do think that someone is out to get him also. Who would go out of his/her way to dig out these pictures to ruin him?
If he was there to pay his respects for the deceased … then I could understand the outrage and the cancellation. But he wasn’t. Yes, it was ignorant of him to visit even as a tourist but still..his punishment is a bit much, especially in comparison to Kris Wu.
It’s now at the point where celebrities in China will be cancelled if they breathe in the wrong direction.
According to this reasoning, there should be no flights to Japan from China, Chinese nationals in Japan are considered traitors, Japan made products banned in China, no sushi or any other types of Japanese food or restaurants in China. Being patriotic is one thing but this is unreasonable.
Also it’s someone else who decided where to have their wedding.
So ironic that Glico canceled his endorsement as they themself is a Japanese company.
No one ever gets to whine about too-harsh Korea netizens canceling their own for cultural offenses ever again.
The most dumbest and overblown reason to cancel an artist. Brands dropped him faster than the Kris Wu situation, I guess violating a woman body is not that big of a deal over nationalism. 10 years of hard work doing down the drain over something that’s a little trivia to me.
Facts bro like I guess raping over 30 women isn’t as bad as getting a shrine in the back of a picture he took
@laihonn
FYI, the Japanese raped and murdered thousands in Nanking and else where, my country included – and are not remorseful about it. Think of all the comfort women they created for their officials! Some of my aunts had to hide when the Japanese stormed into their homes to look for these young girls, some barely 13, to rape and force into prostitution. Some had to cut their hair to look like boys to avoid this. To date, there are still people, my own mother and in laws and elderly relatives included, who are still alive and had suffered during the Japanese occupation. Tell them that it is a dumb and overblown reason!
Moreover, the Japs created shrines (to honour and worship these Generals). What if Germany made Hermann Goering a saint? And had a statue of him in some cathedral in Germany and a native, celebrity Jew went there and took photos at the cathedral? And claimed that he did not know about it? Would you still think it is “the dumbest and overblown reason to cancel as artist?”
So before you rant on the Chinese people’s actions in China, please read up and do not show your ignorance. Frankly, you show as much insensitivity and ignorance as ZZH.
China shouldn’t have gone to the Tokyo olympics then. -.- cancel culture is getting out of hand everywhere
It has nothing to do with the government. Every Chinese people know what Japanese 731 did to us back to 1930s-1940s. Zhang Zhehan is 3 year older than me and he’s not like me (staying abroad for over 10 years), so he should know that he should not acting happily in front of Yasuguni Shrine. Every person knows that the US bombed Japan but it is for a reason. I am a Japanese Anime fan and I know very well that I can love Japanese culture but I will never forgive Japanese people praying in Yasuguni Shrine, since Yasuguni Shrine had lots of war criminals from the Second World War. I’m glad his cancelled because he should be. He also posted his own photos with Nazi like gestures once. I’m sorry he’s 30 not 13. So yes he should be cancelled good and for all.
Yes, he made a mistake and that hurt people’s feelings. But that is not a reason to say he is a traitor or not patriotic. Also, the incident was at least 3-4 years old, why dug it up and put in public now?
My sentiments exactly…it’s so way overblown and outrageous that ZZH became the scapegoat about this monumental historical event in Chinese history but it’s in the past and it is good to know what happened. It is just not a justifiable reason to cancel a famous person but rather to use this controversy to educate everyone so history doesn’t repeat itself coz this issue is touching other occupied countries who went through it. We all need to overcome this type of atrocities and be complacent about past events. Educate and make younger generations aware but do not use it as a form for HATE since we are now living in a different time and situations are better. Otherwise, it will just spark more animosity among citizens of different countries. I have faith in younger generations and my generation that we are more understanding and we believe more in creating PEACE in this world ? ?.
very true and I totally agree with you.It is really was bad happened in the past history but now it’s a history which we can’t change. Everyone can understand the feelings of this history I guess including him. But this incident was happened in past so why can he suffer for his past now it has gone long. Cancellation of the contracts is totally wrong only because of this reason. He worked so hard and he is not against his country he always tries to do good things for his country. It’s his one mistake c’mon we all are humans even if you are celebrity. We can’t punish him like he did some big crime.
Please read up on the Nazi gesture before you post something like this. This picture is another thing they dig out to ruin him. In 2019, he participated in a short film competition and his film is called “older brother”. The night it was aired he post this picture to tag his older brother in the film, who is retarded. This gesture is an significant part of the show. It is like their cue for each other since they were 7 years old. The actor who played his older brother replied to this post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Fse0nJluc watch this. This gesture showed up 3 times in the show but the most emotional time is at 20:50. It is exactly people like you who would believe anything online and does not do research properly before judgement that ruins him. I do hope you apologize to him by defending him. Let me know is there any more lies they led you to believe and I can explain it all to you with facts.
If all the Chinese people like you, then damn there Will be WW3, i admit that maybe ZZH in here know about history, but hey he in vacation and just go to Japan to attend the wedding, he know that the place if famous, that’s why maybe he take a picture in there, but after that get punishment like that, and the photo is already past, i think he called by pro Japan is very dumb, what crime he commited, is he killed the China netizen? Or he provide weapon from China to Japan? Or he slave the China Netizen? Why just take a photo become pro Japan, so if like that, you have to check all the Chinese netizen that already take photo in there and punish too for all the ignorance, don’t just blame 1 people like that
That’s terrible! I really hope he isn’t forever cancelled and that they could accept him after a period of sincere reflection and after the news die down. I liked him from the behind the scenes clips from Word of Honor and he seems like someone who is passionate about acting.
I feel like the moment an acting agency signs a new artist, they should give them intense courses on what NOT to do and then be refreshed on it yearly, just like how we all have to regularly go through workplace trainings.
And of all the shrines – why 2 WWII ones? *facepalm* at least let one be from the 1600s.
I feel so bad for him. He is a good actor with promising talent and been working very hard.
I just can’t brain such ridiculous reason for cancelling someone. It wasn’t morally or criminally wrong in any sense at all, just a little lack of sensitivy and ignorant.
Since China is so petty, maybe they should have listed the places where the Chinese are prohibited from visiting. That will save a lot of trouble.
Exactly. I wish they can publish the list so that no more life is destroyed. Also, the list should have some longevity so that your life will not be ruined in 20 or 30
Nobody is disputing history. It is about a progressive society can tolerate and respect others.
Is he stupid? Absolutely. But is this enough to cancel his entire career for? What he did in the past deserves major criticism, but C-netz are acting like he committed a crime. I don’t agree with those saying you can’t compare the Kris Wu situation and his. Kris raped and sexually assaulted MINORS but this guy who took pictures at controversial shrines is cancelled faster? lol
Perhaps a more detailed history refresher is needed here to understand just HOW BADLY Zhang Zhe Han messed up. Now, should he be forever cancelled? That’s a different topic. Let’s just discuss why what he did so casually was so bad to Chinese people.
Btw, I give him a pass on Nogi Shrine, that’s pretty obscure and honestly it was a wedding held there. And if he didn’t know the significance of Yasukuni Shrine then god knows how he would have known that Nogi was also a pacific war general family shrine.
Okay, back to Yasukuni Shrine. It’s a military shrine and holds the souls and venerations of countless Japanese military figures from shogunate eras to modern era. It is not solely a shrine devoted to WWII generals. However, it includes WWII general and military figures including fourteen Class A war criminals were enshrined as “Martyrs of Shōwa” because they were on the war dead registry. When I saw war criminals, I mean they were convicted of Class A (the worst) war crimes at the Tokyo Trials after WWII.
The Taiwanese which is the closest to the Japanese will not even visit Yasukuni Shrine as part of any tour group (i.e. no tour agency will include it on the itinerary), and those tour groups hit up every major shrine and temple in Japan all around the islands.
The Chinese and Koreans (both North and South Korea, which are united in this common hatred of Japan from WWII) have constantly and vigorously protested the inclusion of WWII war criminals in Yasukuni Shrine, all the Japan government has to do is take them out but they can’t/won’t. This is taught in history books and is part of current news cycles, anytime a sitting Prime Minister of Japan visits Yasukuni it’s headline news and China/Korea throw hissy fits (for good reason).
So visiting Yasukuni Shrine as a Chinese person is SO FUCKING BAD I don’t have words. I think Zhang Zhe Han is just ignorant and either did not know the history of Yasukuni (dude must be dumb and failed history), or knew a bit and didn’t think much of it (dude is clueless and self-absorbed).
I like Zhang Zhe Han a lot as an actor, but his tsunami of hate from the Chinese government and netizens is 100% legit and deserved. If any Korean star visited Yasukuni Shrine then he/she would be also immediately 100% cancelled in K-ent as well, that’s how much this matters as to both countries due to the atrocities committed by Japan led by some of these war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni against China and/or Korea. And it’s not just the Japanese actions during WWII, it’s that Japan continues to deny certain actions (comfort women) and whitewash history (Rape of Nanjing) that pisses off every single Chinese and Korean even more. Like, for the comfort women who were kidnapped and raped daily by over dozens of men, the Japanese still say those women willingly went to work there as a “job”. OH FUCKING HELLS NAH!
I just wished he didn’t do this or knew enough to say hey, let’s not walk to Yasukuni and take selfies and for the wedding just attend but don’t post it online.
Sigh.
And no, I don’t think what he did is worse/better than Wu Yi Fan’s current allegations. But what Zhang Zhe Han did was judged on its face whereas Wu Yi Fan still has to go through a trial and be convicted.
?????
Ok, why don’t we find out who took him there? did he even know the place was what it was?
He messed up so he deserves to be hated? He’s either dumb or self-absorbed? Can’t he be just a human who did something dumb and made a mistake? Or is it the fashion nowadays to be unforgiving and unkind?
It’s sad how social media has provided a platform for people to unite in their hate and rally with their torches and pitchforks.
I still think the hate and backlash is way too much. As a tourist and I travel a lot, I normally just take photos to whichever places I deemed pretty without even bother to check the history behind. Some people just don’t care much of history or general knowledge like my sisters, so I can understand where ZZH came frow.
Hailing from a country that was ever occupied by Japan, I can understand the sense of patritotism but I still find the whole canceling of him and the way Chinese reacted to this honest mistake is blown out of proportion. He doesn’t deserve this.
I didn’t know much about him and I didn’t watch any of his dramas but as I followed some news, it was a backlash since he has been promoted as a scholar, well educated, smart person who loves reading and stuff..
as a Chinese and a scholar, educated, loves reading, they said there is no reason he doesn’t know about Yakusuni shrine history.
Another reason that everything canceled on him was because his scandal/mistake happened right at the moment the Chinese communist party is trying to reshape and filter their party/ opponents. So they must use him to diverse the attention or educate their people or whatever reasons.
ZZH also posted a picture with Dewi Soekarno who was a guest on the said wedding. She was infamously defending Apa Hotel chains owner who penned the book denying The Rape of Nanjing and put the book in every Apa Hotel.
She did what? She should stop using that name then, that Indonesian name given by our founding father, Soekarno. Our country suffered in the hand of Japanese too. They killed, they took everything till people used sack for cloth, they force people to work like slave until they died because of hunger, they rape and force our women to becoming ‘comfort women’. So to read someone using Indonesian name mentioned for something like this… especially Soekarno name just…
@Weneedquality
She (Dewi) was defending Japanese back in 2017 at Apa Hotel stating that the Nanjing Rape and other things that Japan did during WW2 was untrue and it was made up by the Chinese. And to make it worse, she as well as the Apa hotel CEO, they both attended that wedding event. They are clips of them from the wedding.
Totally agree!
You said it well Koala. Thank you!
I just want to add what Koala wrote above.
The one Japan cannot deny is the Najing Massacre in which estimated 2 million people died. I read in the history book, how 2 japanese soldiers were on killing spree to collect the most number of dead. They just literally shot random people they met on the street and shot them in their heads.
I live in one of SE countries, my country also experienced the same violent treatments from the japanese: rape, killing, etc. My father who was a young man at that time witnessed the killing of innocent people and saw many dead bodies thrown away, floating on the river.
Also, I’ve visited Auschwitz and Unit 731 museum in Shenyang in which the Japanese conducted biomedical experimentation and used the Chinese as guinea pigs and injected with virus. They are comparable in their abomination.
Thank you ockoala!
perhaps is he really dumb ? In my country a lot of youngers don’t know what is Shoah , and when you see people taking smiling selcas while visiting Auschwitz , it’s just intolerable ! But even as a french i know that chinese and koreans went trough atrocities . Not to mention that the separation of Korea in 2 parts was decided arbritrarily by 2 americans( who didn’t even know the country)in 30 minutes, destroying M of families .
Well, he is officially cancelled. Congratulations to those ppl who created this elaborated scheme. Yes, it was a scheme cause he had several scandals and attacks weeks before the photos of him at Yasukuni shrine. I have two Chinese friends and have consulted with them about the significance and sensitivity of this topic.
I agree there should be repercussions, but being cancelled and cyberbullied and threatened is not the way to handle things. I read comments on Weibo, BiliBili and Twitter and it honestly disgusts me.
This is no longer an educational discipline. Heck, I would have agreed if the China Association For Performing Arts suspended his career for 2 years or so. But for a lifetime? I heard the police is investigating Zzh for the rumours of him being a Japanese Imperialist. Investigations have not started and this association has decided to ban him and boycott him.
*****Ppl also kept mentioning he did a NAZI salute in Germany. PLS TAKE NOTE, Zzh filmed a short movie about having a mentally disabled older brother who would raise his hand in order for him to be found by his younger brother. There is solid evidence for it where he quoted a line from the film and the actor playing his older brother replied back. ******
This is a witch hunt, drilled by adrenaline started and fuelled by anti-fans and they’re using the patriotism and national card to hurt and drive Zzh. Ppl call his fans ‘worse than Kris Wu blinded by stars and neglecting National Pride.’
I assure you, this is not a blind defense from ‘uneducated fans’ for a good actor, this is called fairness.
Give reprecussions to what he deserves but adding more than that and slandering his name, dragging his family and national identity in a country where it could lead to dangerous situations is totally uncalled for. Yes you could say Zzh bought it upon himself for posting these picture, but could anyone 100% say that this outcome of him being cancelled wasnt flamed by anti fans. When everything could be settled if they waited for proper investigations and Zzh giving a full length explaination of what he did?
No.
For ppl who could not read or understand how bad the cyber bullying is, these are some of the things he gets every second, copied and paste:
” Check his family, I read his father carried a japanese flag.” ” He is a Japanese Orphan.” ” DISGUSTING SHAMEFUL TRAITOR. A NAZI AND JAPANESE IMPERIALIST” ” GO AND DIE. JUST DIE” ” GET OUT OF THE ENTERTAINMENT CIRCLE. YOU SHAME EVERY CHINESE” ” YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH RIGHT WING JAPANESE”
Someone even posted a F U video of him and burned his signed photo. Many, and I meant a lot, commented how the police needs to check his family background. Someone posted a photo of a WW2 JAPANESE SOLDIER and compared their faces saying it was similar and it must be his great- grandfather. You can see how disgusting and totally out of hand these ar.
Now he is totally cancelled, comments that gave evidence he was not a pro japanese or a Nazi was taken down. His fans kept quiet not beacuse he is a villain but it’s better to be quite then let ignorant comments defending him upset others as it could worsen Zzh image.
So yes, you could talk about history and how ignorance isnt an answer, but what’s worse than ignorance is the fact that so many ppl used it as a weapon.
I have seen alot, Cyberbulliying an artist off the industryt, sabotaged, scandal and whatevernot. But harrasing and creating mallicious rumors that could possibly drive a person away from his country, stripping of his national. identity, making ppl question his loyalty to the country he was raised in and therefore dragging his family and anyone close to him being seen as a national threat (a spy?)is borderline ridiculous and inhumane.
Visiting a site honoring war criminals is distasteful but the ability to do so without censorship is an important freedom of speech and liberty. Whether you’re there as a tourist or an individual seeking to conclude for yourself what you should believe, it’s something you should be able to do without being censored, bullied, and deleted. All roads point to a government looking to ensure they make an example out of someone who might interpret history differently than they do aka squash dissent. I’m sure all the things Japan did is true but focusing only on their atrocities fails to recognize that the freedom to believe differently or interpret differently is being crushed by the Chinese government to dust. No one with any influence would dare to speak out about anything they see wrong in China anymore..
Ok, why don’t we find out who took him there? did he even know the place was what it was?
@May
*facepalm* Does it matter who took him there? The dude is an adult, a supposed intellectual and a popular public figure! Shouldn’t he at least use some of his intelligence to say, ‘No that’s not a good place to go’. Or least, don’t post on social media! And instead of apologising humbly, he gave ignorance as as excuse! For me, this excuse is worse than making the mistake of visiting the shrine.
The reason why all his contracts, endorsements and acting were cut is because no one wants their business to be affected by aligning themselves with him. It’s sad, but that’s the truth and that’s business, and China is not a country to mess with.
I have a Chinese friend, and I asked whether everyone knew about the shrine and she said yes. It was taught to. them. But what irks me is. that it is not widely known knowledge where the location of the shrine was and how it looked like.
I could only explain it this way, I am not Catholic or Christian, I am not knowledgeable about them nor tell them apart. I could not even differentiate which Church worships what and to me, everything looks the same. Now I love watching biblical shows like Lucifer and even research different archangels and their stories. Does that make me a scholar in Catholic and Christian? No. AND to be honest I would never research abt churches cause I would never see myself go into one and worship or pray. Yeah, I would look at it as a passing building.
What I’m trying to say is, human behaviours and logic are simple, if they are not programmed or taught a certain thing, they would never learn it. I would never learn abt which church is which even if I’m a tourist in Vatican City, cause never in a million years would I think of gg into one.
So maybe zzh passed by and took a photo because he truly is ignorant. Since this shrine is infamous, it would be logical to think it’s taboo to even think about visiting the shrine since you’ll be treated as an outcast in China. The media and commentators say that he should’ve known better, it’s public knowledge and. he must be a fake scholar.
Most comments also said they have no idea what the shrine looked like. And where the location was until this scandal.
That’s where you’re messing up. You don’t even suspect that it might be someone who is trying to ruin ZZH. How could you say it doesn’t matter? It was pictures from A LONG TIME AGO!! If they knew what that place was in the first place, they would have already told ZZH about it at the time they posted the picture. It wasn’t only ZZH who is ignorant. The others who liked it and just let the pictures be at that time are also ignorant. They didn’t know it also. Of course ZZH wouldn’t know too. But after all the times that passed, they showed the pictures so suddenly ? How could you say it’s not something suspicious? Yes he was ignorant. But aren’t the people who saw the pictures a long time ago also ignorant?
Yes, he made a mistake and that hurt people’s feelings. But that is not a reason to say he is a traitor or not patriotic. Also, the incident was at least 3-4 years old, why dug it up and put in public now?
Idk…every super power country in this world did some pretty bad shit to anyone in their way so yeah, I don’t understand this type of cancel culture in China. When we have the same argument against China or any Country that has treated other countries or their own citizens during those times…will they apologize?? Who knows. As a person who’s ancestors were basically killed, raped, and driven out of China…We never got a sorry but because we aren’t expecting an apology anymore, we have learned to move on. Also, if these countries hated each other so much, whats the point of acting as if their citizens liked each other? Boycott each other…that way it wouldn’t be so scary to be a celebrity in China.
I feel extremely bad for ZZH. Admittedly, he made a colossal bad mistake but that should not be enough to be canceled. He is a good and responsible person. I read that he took the initiative to canceled canceled his endorsements so that brand would not be affected, and that he deleted all the support comments from his fans so that they wouldn’t get hate comments.
Commentators here defending ZZH are 1) almost as misguided as WYF’s defenders and 2) display an appalling lack of knowledge on WWII Asian history. This isn’t a case of jingoism – read up on Rape of Nanking and Unit 731. The only bloc of countries with more bad blood between them than Japan & China, Korea might be Israel & Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, etc.
Yasukuni Shrine is definitely covered in all Chinese history classes. This guy must’ve slept through all his classes.
Man, some of these posters here who screamed ‘overreaction’, please stop being ignorant as the person you guys are defending for. Try to look for more background information about this and all those posts he posted (not only the shrines but also posted rising sun flag, car with rising sun symbol and so on) and how it became this serious.
Plus like someone mentioned above, he was selling a smart bookish persona guy, he recommended 2 books that talked about these two shrines. So that’s why people don’t buy his apology excuse
I didn’t know until I know the name and Google it. I don’t go around remembering black listed shrines. So I give him a pass. He didn’t screw up. Chinese fans should just give him a break. It is ignorance that can be cured. Try asking chinese public if they know significance of this shrine without hindsight and I doubt they know. He should say sorry, make huge donations, do charity, lay low for a year, do theatre and he should be fine. Unless china is into cancelling everyone for everything.
Please continue to embarrass yourself by displaying your ignorance.
Yasukuni Shrine is so controversial every mainlander knows it. It’s in the history syllabus in school. It makes the media rounds every so often. Every year Japan sends either the prime minister or a high-ranking official to pay respects at the shrine. Every year China and South Korea kick up a huge fuss. This year is no exception – they blasted Japan’s defence minister Kishi Nobuo for visiting it on Friday.
Just about every other comment by c-netz acknowledges the gravity of a Chinese celeb having visited Yasukuni and enjoying himself there. They have every right to be angry about it. This is a huge faux pas and he’s being rightly cancelled for it.
The Yasukuni Shrine appears in the news at least once a year and was even a bigger deal during the Koizumi and Aso period. Thus, to say you don’t know about it and was just a tourist is just terrible crisis management and insulting other people’s intelligence. Just based of the terrible PR done, he deserves to be taught a lesson.
As a Mainlander who said he didn’t know about Yasukuni Shrine is equivalent to a Jew who said he got no idea about Nazi.
Perhaps it’s the vast difference in culture, but the people who committed those atrocious crimes are dead. He was attending a wedding of a friend whose heritage included both Chinese and Japanese.
From the description of the pictures (I haven’t actually seen them) whoever brought up this pic from 2018 must have been specifically looking for something to get him in trouble. If it had been obvious where he had been at the time this would have been brought up then. So this screams of a vindictive person cause link trouble to someone who appears to be a genuinely nice person. I understand that there is an issue with an old grudge surrounding some atrocious goings on. My own grandfather despised anything Japanese because of world war II. It may be the case that he should he scolded for being ignorant of the historical significance of the venue he had no control over (I will admit he could have declined to attend his friend’s wedding but he was just being a good friend in attending), at the same time the extent that this is being taken to compared to a person who is accused of not only molesting and raping women but some who weren’t even of age (I understand the age of consent is very young in China too which is even more worrying). Its very worrying that the reaction to a picture compared to someone commuting a crime as heinous as rape is so extreme.
As a chinese fr other country, always remembered our forefathers fr china. ZZH a true chinese citizen how can he not know the history. No sense ad a pulic figure.
What a repressive government and culture.
Criticizing other people’s culture? A big no no.
Tell that to Koreans also who shares the same sentiments regarding this issue.
This is other Nation’s history that you know nothing about nor directly impacted you. Better just stay quiet. Don’t make yourself sounds ignorant
I’m not sure where you live, but freedom of speech is a right that some people in the world actually have. You, on the other hand, are in no position to tell others to be quiet. Also btw, criticizing cultures happens all the time both online and in the real world. On this very blog, there was criticism of SK netizens and their cancel culture. Respecting cultures and personal opinions are not mutually exclusive things. A big no no would be you insulting and bossing a stranger around.
@Rila
Lol. I suppose you have a problem with your reading comprehension. I didn’t tell her to shut up. But suggest her and all of us who don’t know other country’s history to better be quiet. If you understand what I mean, you will understand. If you choose not to, then you won’t understand
Don’t use your freedom of speach to argue here. Freedom of speach doesn’t excuse you to write whatever you want without consequences. Yeah, the freedom of speech to diss other people’s culture. Good freedom of speech you don’t have any idea of.
I was born and raised in North America so I have no problems with reading English…
Telling someone to “be quiet” is just a more polite way of saying “shut up”; they share the same meaning. Also, you just assumed that the readers here are ignorant about history when it’s known fact that the PRC is not a democratic nation. Some people choose to call it just the government being more zealous in taking care of their citizens while others find it rather repressive to be living under communism. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. As a follower of this blog for 10+ years, I naturally do not agree with every post or comment, but I have never told anyone to be quiet and not say anything.
Freedom of speech obviously has limits; libel (false statements about people) and misinformation/fake news are examples. There’s consequences for those because it negatively impacts people in real life. Criticizing a culture just offends people. I’m not saying all criticism is fair, because some people are ignorant about it and one just has to accept that. Imo, taking photos and visiting a war shrine is distasteful and disrespectful but does not warrant sacrificing a career.
@Rita – exactly.
@crazyahjummafan What I was trying to say is if these pictures were a problem, it should have been addressed when he posted it 3 years ago. To me, he’s either very dumb or so arrogant to posted controversial pictures for the whole China to see. I said what I said because of the smearing campaigns against him for months now. And I take a stand of giving him the benefit of a doubt that he made an honest mistake of taken some random pictures without realizing that a certain places would created controversial.
Like I said, this issue should be brought up 3 years ago, the smearing campaigns against him made this issue a little overblown. It seems like someone going through all of his posts to find something to destroy him.
Obviously it’s coming up now since he’s popular for the first time in his career and people are looking at his social media. And it’s fine to not want his career to be permanently damaged, but he’s absolutely an ignorant idiot at the very least if he didn’t know about the Yasukuni shrine as a Chinese citizen. Apparently he cultivated the image of being scholarly and intellectual so it’s not too much to expect he’d have known better.
This is a classic example of young people not understanding the history of their region. I guess the education system can also be partly to blame for his oversight. This is the case of ignorance not excusing his faux pas. I understand the outcry but the severity is more severe than I expected.
I know my history and what the Japanese means to China, China means the same way to my people. China is not that innocent either in history, but you don’t see me hating on China as much as China hates on Japan. My people have a history with China that we don’t even exist in their history of conquest and killings. The only thing that exist is that they call us Miao.
This is what I’m talking about. The person in suspicion should be the person who dug up the photo from 3 years ago. If chinese people really knew that place from the start, they would have already pointed it out 3 years ago. Why bring it up now? It made them look like they’re trying to look for a fault from ZZH.
I get it that it’s not a good place to visit but then it’s his friend’s wedding, we have no idea about their affiliation.
He didn’t deliberately went there for the purpose of vacation. Before everyone said that I am ignorant, I know the place and its history but I also aware that personal relationship also hold different priority from people to people.
It’s not like you can ask your friends to not do the wedding there or argue about their patriotisms and history. It’s wedding, people wish it’s as one time things and I think he did the right things for apologising. No need to make him as the traitor when he hasn’t even visited the place after or endorsed any things regarding war crime.
It also 3-4 years ago, he probably doesn’t think it matter because his career hasn’t taken off and his friend’s wedding weight more than that. We have no idea about his life back then.
I am saying this because we should use the cancellation for things that actually hurt people rather than one wedding invitation to banish people from their workplace. He apologized, he knows he fucked up, give him a chance.
This is riddiculous. We are all well aware of the dark stains these shrines are. But come on. It’s so exaggerated. Like.. just because I visit a Nazi museum it does not mean I support Nazis… what I seek is Knowledge… so I visit places that has the history written down… does going to a massgrave in Auzwitch mean I support mass murder? … NO.. I visit a historical site, dark or light and I learn about it. My conclusion does not have to be support of The Arian raciology just because I buy and read a book about it… nor support of genocide just because I visit a location where genocide was commited… Japan and China both have dark historical eventd that happened. And both countries have made dark and dire wrongs. Visiting such a historical monument does not automatically mean I support Either… I just want to know what happened. And if I’m ignorant of the fact that the “Cool statue” I’m looking at is that of a holocaust victim… I would rather someone inform me about the dark history of said statue… Than to go about and publically Shame me for being uneducated…
You are so right ! Is this how badly they treat their people. He has brought Recognition to their movie Industry and country through the series word of honor. He should be giving a chance to repent and for forgiveness.
There should be forgiveness for something he did unintentionally. We all have pride in our country in our hearts as I’m sure he does as well. It is sad that he receive the shame treatment as a person that has committed a serious crime. Where is the love for a person that is asking for forgiveness in a mistake he has made? If anything I wouldn’t ban him and use him to bring attention to the issue of pride for the country. Don’t ban him have him to Atone for his mistake by having him to promote the pride of their country. How can they turn their back on someone that has brought much attention to China Cinema? I am a newfound fan of China Cinema because of him in Word of Honor. It made me think of china in a whole new light. It made me think China has progressed so much that it must be a great place to live and visit. I think not so much so now if they still treat their people so harshly and with out forgiveness of unintentional mistakes that they make. Wow !!! The world is watching and waiting to see what will take place. Set a heart felt example of how you treat your citizens.
@notafan re Nazi salute; please read up on the Nazi gesture before you post something like this. This picture is another thing they dug out to ruin him. In 2019, he participated in a short film competition and his film is called “older brother”. The night it was aired he post this picture to tag the older brother from the film, who is disabled. This gesture is an significant part of the show. It is like their cue for each other since they were 7 years old. The actor who played his older brother replied to his post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Fse0nJluc watch this. This gesture showed up 3 times in the show but the most emotional time is at 20:50. It is exactly people like you who would believe anything online and does not do research properly before judgement that ruins him. I do hope you apologize to him by defending him. Let me know is there any more lies they led you to believe and I can explain it all to you with FACTS.
oh these arguments are so dumb, He stared in gay movie word of honor. the netizens found some garage on him the government ate the garbage. The government hates word of honor. They thought it would be a low watched movie not the creative much watched movie it is. The government wanted to punish the stars they first tried wen kexing
but couldn’t get any garbage to stick on him so they went after zzh and yay the filthy netizens came up with the shrine pictures. I’m disappointed in the gays word of honor was a great movie. But the gays are so wimping out the usa gays spanish gays any gays– wimps