How does a super popular actor lose 27 brand endorsements in one day. Even in China that’s still lightning speed. The way C-actor Zhang Zhe Han was cancelled was so astronomically fast and widespread many people have wondered if there was more going on than he visited Yasukuni Shrine (housing Japanese war criminals who committed atrocities against Chinese people) and a wedding at another shrine dedicated to a Japanese military family also participating in Japanese expansion activities that impacted Chinese people. The kick off was on August 13th when the pictures were circulated. It was on his IG account long before but this circulated went to number one on search terms immediately due to his popularity from BL-tinged wuxia drama Word of Honor. He really only hit superstardom 6 month earlier. Zhang Zhe Han immediately apologized but his explanation was that he was not well learned in history and did not know the significance of those sites. But that opened another can of worms as he (or his agency) has been selling the image that he’s very well learned and well read. He is often recommending literary works to his fans, so how can someone who is projecting an image of educated and well read then claim to not know very broadly known historical and political sensitivities and facts? The reporter says the series of events that led to his cancellation felt very orchestrated, that pictures were first posted and then after his response additional facts highlighted that just made it near impossible for him to explain away his past mishap. So this felt like a targeted action to take him down, whether due to envy or because of conflict. The reporter claims Tencent played a role in pushing is both from search and also they have another BL drama ready to air later this year, hence why something that happened three years ago and was visible to the public got escalated now.
The reporter says it’s all the fault of his agency (team) – his rise to stardom in WoH attracted legions of BL fans who ship him with Gong Jun but then didn’t handle things well when shortly after rumors rose that Zhang Zhe Han had a girlfriend and he didn’t clarify either way and his team called deserting fans “the hands of the devil” for leaving him. It led to his BL fandom abandoning him (since they were fair weather fans) but then his original fandom felted slighted by how much his team courted the new BL fandom over them. The abandoned fans were so angry they actually set up anti-fan pages (6 different ones) to blast him. On top of that, his team pushed how literary he was with his reading of books, tagging him in literary and novel tags. And he would consistently recommend novels on his SNS to fans and even bookstores would join in promoting books he tagged, but honestly no one knew whether he read it or not. One time during an interview onstage, a host off the cuff asked him if he read any new good books recently to recommend and he stuttered and looked awkward and glanced at his manager off stage before giving a cursory explanation that he doesn’t want to give specific novel names on television.
The Zhang Zhe Han rise and fall just feels so theatrical. He has been in the industry for 11 years since 2010 and never once had any hint of being popular. He was just there. Only in 2018 when he was in the drama Legend of Yunxi did he start having a warm up in popularity. He saw that he didn’t have any chances staying with Yu Zheng’s agency so he found Zhao Wei who he courted and buttered up for over a year before she signed him. And after that it was off to the races as she found him promising projects and even brought him on a variety show about acting she was on. But in the end, the forces against him was bigger and he left a pretty wide swatch of material to speed up his downfall so in the end it wasn’t that he did nothing wrong just that those who fly high can also fall fast and hard as the saying goes.
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All this show that people are petty,and selfish,poor Zhang zhehan,he only did what other people have been doing,yet he paid dearly.being cancel is fine, but to be label traitor is overkill.good news at least he knows why,unlike Zhao Wei,they just cancel her without bothering to put reason cause they can.
Zhao Wei probably knows why they are cancelling her, but we don’t. That’s what I think.
Zhao Wei has been in many financial cases and her agency too must be not properly audited. So zzh was with the wrong agency and whoever wrote that apology letter which doesn't have the essence of apology to a whole nation and citizen was the last nail on the coffin. Mismanagement and arrogance is the best downfall for anyone. There's a lot of financial fraud behind the whole agency and whoever is working under them
Most of what miss koala wrote here are not c-ent reporter spills. It's called melon, which is not confirmed. It's not confirmed fact whether about Tencent involvement, other BL works involvement. He is targeted. That's for sure. But things got escalated during the time when anti-japanese sentiment are at sky high in china. ZZH has been called out quite a few times in the past to explain/apologize about going to Yasukuni shrine, but him/his team just brush it off. The thing about marketed as literary well versed/ knowledgeable is true. Among the list of books that he recommended to his fans, there are 2 books that talk about Yasukuni shrine. The atrocity that happens around it. So saying that he lacks knowledge about it is just big no no. ZZH never reached super stardom. Same as GJ. They were pushed to liuliangs position that's for sure but most of C-ent said theirs are fake prosperity in which, their marketing help to push them a lot to liuliangs status and not by GP recognition. Noise marketing help them a lot, with no actually substance of their prosperity.
Agree with you on Koala and her so called 'reporter spills'. All that she wrote were just melon and as we know with melon, some might be right some are not. Half of them are just speculations. I.e. tancent involvement.
The Tencent speculation is rubbish. I had a good laugh reading this.
I'm honestly so tired of all the liuliangs that get popular off bl dramas. Few of them can act and most aren't even that attractive. it's like fujoshis have minimal requirements. as long as its gay, they'll stan lol
Being paired with Sooyoung is definitely a downgrade. The girl has no charisma on screen. The most I can only watch her in supporting roles. As for Yoona, she can barely acts.
Maybe it's time to move on to fresher topics. SNSD girls are striking it hot in dramaland ahead of 15 year anniversary next year. First up, Yoona with Lee Jong Suk in tvn law drama Big Mouth. Now Sooyoung has been offered FL role opposite Ji Chang Wook in hospice drama Tell Me Your Wish. One commenter said SNSD girls are on rotation pairings with LJS & JCW. Lol. How true!
??♀️ None of them can act.
Woohoo, Sooyoung-JCW pairing is waaay better than Yoona-JCW pairing. Please drama gods make this happen. JCW has been unlucky in picking scripts lately so this new OTP may help. Fingers crossed.
Being paired with Sooyoung is not the kind of OTP reset JCW needs to pull him out of his slump...
Lol. None of them are expected to hard carry the dramas. It will be the actors doing the heavy lifting. Then again sometimes an idol actress can surprise like Bang Minah winning a rising star asia award at New York Asian Film Festival for Snowball. Former recipients include Ryu Jun Yeol & Kim Go Eun.
More like GG members on rotation with 87 liners in dating/acting/rumours. Yuri-Jung Il Woo, Yuri-SIG, SY-SIG, Yoona-JGS, Yoona-JCW, Yoona-LSG, Yoona-LMH, etc. Ahn Jae Hyun maybe can join the club next. Lol.
Sorry, but SY has been in steady relationship with Jung Kyung Ho, yo!
Sorry but neither of these two can act let alone carry a drama to success. Lee Jong Suk will hard-carry, as usual. As for Ji Chang Wook, he needs to be paired with an established actress in order to get his mid-2010s hype back.
Ji Chang Wook is bad news. He hasn't picked a good script in ages and hasn't delivered a clean hit without drama since coming back from military. I hope Sooyoung declined.
Both drama will tank for sure,yoona and sooyoung don't have much range.ji chang wook and Lee jong suk usually don't bring their A game when pairs with young actress.
Casting producers have to cast superb 2nd FL to save the day. Yoona and SY ain't young anymore. Even Yoona admitted she felt the gen & age gap btwn them & newer idol girls.
What do you mean by "young actress"? Yoona and LJS (whom I consider VASTLY overrated for his alleged acting skills) are the same age. The pairing is not a mismatch in age, nor, imo, are they mismatched in terms of acting skills. CSY, otoh continues to grow, and did very well in Run On, she was the reason I stayed, not the 1D, 1-expression wooden male lead ISW.
Given this article clearly states that he's been seen to look to his managers for advice on what he should and shouldn't say, it seems he wasn't just targeted but also poorly advised. I mean, his apology was very likely cleared by his managers before he posted it. If they had been pushing the learned act, then they should have realised people would take offense.
Similarly, people turning against him because of the BL thing is insane! I mean, I know china has a problem with overzealous fans over there but this seems crazy!
China scares me, that is why I don't like giving them any chance when they move in a so called moral direction.. There is always an agenda and I see the same thing with liberals in western countries... They are both the same in my opinion.. The difference is that liberals do not have the total power the Chinese government have but they are already working towards it and may succeed
Seems like his management should take some blame for his downfall too as they made him look even more like a fake.
I knew disgruntled and entitled fans would have something to do with his downfall. The fans in China hold so much power. They can build you up or break you down faster than the speed of light. If I was an actor I would not take a BL drama under any circumstances. It might gain you instant fame but the BL fandom that comes with it are a special kind of crazy even by C-ent fan standards.
for how long will china's media be in a Soviet communist state, it's soo annoying
you've already punished Zhang zhehan enough
kindly leave him alone
I wish he can get a bigger contract in any of the European countries so he can be happy
It's a one party Communist state. Nothing is going to change.
This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read today. Thanks for the entertainment. Made me want to think a little. Got some points for you that I don’t really expect you’d have considered prior to writing something him about just for clicks. 1) I didn’t know there was such a place as Yasukuni shrine or other controversial places until his whole issue blew up, and I’ve been living and working in Kansai for more than a decade. Did you yourself know? You’d have to actively researched about stuff like that to know such info. 2) I’d say I’m well read myself, but does that mean I should know everything? Can’t people just read what they like to read? Even though my country was also invaded during the war, do I need to devote myself to reading and knowing everything about that? 3) He “stuttered” as you said when an MC asked him to name a book he was reading because at that point he needed to be careful about product citations and needed to check with his staff first. In the end, he could only hint at the book but netizens were still able to decode that it was Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors. This made the book shoot up to the bestselling list and Neil himself twitted that it was thanks to zzh. The same thing happened at other times before that. For example, he “stuttered” at a live guesting when he was handed a pair of earphones for a game that wasn’t the brand he was about to endorse. So at that time, he also hesitated and checked with his staff if he could proceed or not. In conclusion, I don’t blame you for sounding so ridiculous with this “insider” scoop. I don’t expect you to have the interest to dig more factually into the matter before writing about it. It’s also all water under the bridge at this point, isn’t it? Even if what you say has any credence or not, it won’t bring back what’s already been destroyed and lost. Peace.
I would like to add that I do believe that the timing for dropping those incriminating pictures was exquisitely well-planned. That week, people in Japan were preparing for the Obon holidays, the time when they pay respects to their ancestors which is usually around mid-August. At the same time, all eyes were looking which JP politicians would visit the controversial shrine that weekend. And this summer happens to be the centennial anniversary of the CCP. So you can just imagine how well orchestrated his downfall was just by the timing alone. Pictures dropped Friday, 8/13, fanning patriotic sentiments sky high just in time for the politicians’ shrine visit the next Sunday, 8/15.