So there has been one return from the recent batch of cancelled C-stars and it’s none other than the talented Zhang Zhe Han. Unfortunately for his OG fans who became his fans through his breakout hit period C-drama Word of Honor, his acting career in Mainland China remains so over with zero hope of return but he is back as a singer full time. He started in 2022 by releasing a few songs and in the year since he’s gotten his singer career off the ground and towards the end of 2023 held a fan meeting in Singapore and also attended a local station awards ceremony to accept a Artist of the Year award. He’s look has changed from trendy preppy during his acting days to full rocker look much like that era of Jang Geun Seok after he did Mary Stayed Out All Night and transformed his character into his real life. If you’re a ZZH fan at least now you can follow along with his singing career.
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He was affected by Zhao Wei, is that the main reason behind his ban? Of course having evidence of Pro Japan photos from years ago just made it easier for them to target him.
I cannot think why else... One thing occurred to me, Yu Zheng might be laughing behind his back.
How is taking photos as a tourist before A Japanese Shrine equivalent to pro-Japan? It's so dumbfounding. Those ppl supporting Chinese ppl banning him are paranoid. LOL
@Somebody, 🫢🫢
I should have "" my "pro Japan" photos... because even I found that ridiculous. I really found his ban one of the most bizarre. I suspect they tried to find wrong doings in his taxes but he was clean thus they picked on it.
From time to time, CCP would create scandals among celebs to divert public attention from the government mess to those C-ent gossips. There were numerous reports linking the timing of these C-ent sandals with CCP party shakeup or foreign policy fallouts. Surely news like that won't be circulated on C SM.
Whenever CCP had something messy going on within the party, they promoted anti-US or anti-Japan or anti-whatnot nonsense in China. ZZH was prolly just a victim under this sort of unhealthy sentiment.
I'm glad he's able to pivot to a different career. And he looks better than ever. Still sad that he was kicked out of acting altogether in China because of his pictures in japan. He didn't break any laws. And there were terrible people going after his parents too. Even if he can come back, he may have PTSD from it all.
Again, some people just like to pretend the shrine that he visited is some ordinary Japanese shrine when it's a shrine that worships WW2 Japanese soldiers. Imo non-Chinese have no say over what the Chinese find offensive. Some Chinese celebrities also had scandals too but they bounced back in China just fine, how come ZZH couldn't? Obviously it's because his issue caused a threat to China's national interests. I'm pretty sure America will also ban a Hollywood actor from appearing in the public's eyes if the actor is found to have relations to CCP, and a certain third-class American here will fully support it.
But I'm glad that ZZH seems to be doing well, previously heard about him trying to sell tea leaves to his fans and what's not. Is he currently under a Taiwanese or Japanese agency as a singer?
@Lilith…I agree that the issue is not him visiting any regular shrine but that specific shrine. The public has the right to cancel him because those pics touch upon a very sorrowful and tragic part of their history. That makes sense. But saying that his picture actually pose a threat to China national interest is pretty asinine. It’s only a threat to their national interest because they made it so. Saying that ZZH has actual power to wield that kind of influence on national security as a celeb is so nonsensical.
@R I beg to differ, celebrities are public figures with fans that look up to them and they do have influence over those fans. The Chinese government has always been against Japan commemorating and worshipping their WW2 soldiers as they see them as war criminals. A Chinese celebrity visiting a shrine that worships WW2 Japanese soldiers is a major slap in the face for China that goes against their national interests. If the Chinese government doesn't punish him, Japan will say "Look, you're fine with your celebrity visiting a shrine that worships my WW2 soldiers, why make noise when I worship them?".
And imo there's more to just the visiting shrine photos for ZZH getting banned. There's long been rumours about him and his boss Zhao Wei having Japanese capital backing them. It's no coincidence that both of them got banned at the same time.
I'll try to cut my words short so as not to trigger any filters. It could be that it wasn't just because of the photo. There was rumours of him and his boss ZW having Japanese capital backing, which can actually pose a threat to China's national interests if he really is helping Japan to hold influence over the Chinese.
Lilith is like always mad extreme about cancelling people and being super pro dictatorship. Like everyone has to be so goddamm perfect. Oh wow sure he is pro empire of the sun and totally knows every location of the shrines even though he doesn't read Japanese or live in Japan. You are probably the type to not believe the TNM square massacre existed. Like why even choose the name Lilith as your tag??? CCP is against religion so don't choose an occult name.
Mad reaching and always sound like some hater or miserable person. Literally if you don't like America, Japan and Taiwan just say it. You sound racist at this point. Don't ever visit these countries please.
@KJJ Lol get a grip. Who says the name Lilith is a symbol of any religious beliefs? And since when did I say I don't like Japan and Taiwan? How am I racist? By the way, I've already visited all those countries and will be visiting them again soon, what are you going to do? 😘 LOL.
I've visited Yasukuni shrine and it's museum. What you all don't seem to understand is that the shrine houses CONVICTED CLASS A WAR CRIMINALS, those responsible for planning and carrying out WWW2 among the other war dead and that the Japanese primoe minister and members of his party continue to go to to the shrine each year to pay their respecrs which upset not just China but Japan. That'd be like Germany paying tribute to Hitler, Goebbels and the rest of Nazis every year. What's worst is the museum next to it has justified WW2 as Japan freeing Asia from colonialism. Japanese aggression has been white washed from their school text books and many Japanese don't even know about the atrocities their country committed.I remember a bunch of exchange students from Japan who were shocked to learn that Japanese soldiers had massacred 50,000 people in my country during WW2.Unlike Germany, Japan has NEVER fully apologised and that's why Yasukuni is so sensitive.
I don't think ZZH is a national security threat or his agency accepting Japanese capital is a big deal when there's been Japanese-Chinese Co productions as recently as 2017, e.g movie Legend of the Demon Cat.
But ZZH as a Chinese won't be unaware of the shrine's background so he's a total idiot for posting those pics. He won't get cast anymore because from a purely commercial standpoint why bother with someone like that when C-ent is awash with so many good looking young talent? It's not like he was a super top star to begin with.
Sorry Lilith but thus is a nonsense argument. It is like saying that because the British Empire was behind so much bloodshed and oppression in so many areas of the world for so many years, anyone taking photos in front of the Buckingham Palace or the London Bridge must face repercussions in his work. Imagine Bolywood banning 95% of its actors.
Or imagine the whole of Europe and the US and Canada banning BTS back in 2017-2018 for the Nazi insignia scandal.
Or maybe whoever has ever visited the Berlin Reichstag or the Kremlin should be labelle à Nazi and a KGB mole respectively and get fired from his job. Sounds logical?
I haven't watched Word of Honour nor anything else starring Zhang Zhe Han, but cancelling an actor for a picture in front of à controversial historical monument is ridiculous and would only happen in an authoritarian state.
Well my reply to R got stuck in filters again, but I've pretty much explained it there. It wasn't just visiting the shrine alone, there had long been rumours of him being backed up by Japanese capital, which can actually pose a threat to China's interests if he really is helping Japan to hold influence over the Chinese. It's no coincidence that both him and his boss Zhao Wei got banned at the same time.
Looks like Koala wants to filter out some words. Both my comments to you and R aren't showing up which explains why it may not just be due to visiting the shrine.
Lilith is just one pathetic mouthpiece of CCP. What she has spewed so far is consistently in line with CCP's propaganda, total bullsh*t. There's a lot of CCP money backing evil communists' infiltration in the US, Taiwan, and other democracies including Japan and Australia to just name a few cos there have already been numerous cases brought to the court in these countries with spying charges and guilty verdict. Per Lilith's spurious logic, all the Americans and Taiwanese people visiting China and taking pics before Tiananmen Square should be cancelled by the US govt/American society and Taiwan govt/Taiwanese society cos both countries have been very vocal protesting 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square. Lilith's excessive mental gymnastics would imply those American or Taiwanese tourists posing before TS to take photos were fishy with Chinese backing to have bad influence in the US and Taiwan cos to all the democratic countries, Tiananmen is a symbol of CCP brutality and dictatorship. LMAO. How dense!
@Somebody Oh, here comes our in-house CCP fanatic. Thanks for supporting my opinion that various countries can attempt to infiltrate other countries with money. But you need to improve your comprehension skills, I never said taking photos at controversial places are "fishy". I'm only pointing out there could be further reasons behind this ZZH and ZW's scandal such as helping Japan to hold influence within China.
@Lilith, LOL. You're delirious all the time. You always talked as if someone from the inside circle knowing a lot of deals behind the door. That's why it's legit to gather you're just a CCP stooge with strong connections with the regime since you position yourself as someone getting the first-hand information. Otherwise, you're just a delusional CCP lackey good at mental gymnastics. LOL
@Lilith, Besides, I don't support your BS. Here comes the same trick CCP stooges love to use online. Whenever ppl criticize CCP China, these CCP lackeys including Lilith would say: Oh, every country in the world is the same. So here you go! I pointed out CCP did a lot of infiltrating in democratic countries, specifically in the US and in Taiwan. Then you said that every country infiltrates other countries with money. LMAO. This is exactly the same cheap and dumb trick that CCP stooges love using to divert criticism of their beloved regime to everyone else in the world. Dunce! We all know that CCP is the one country doing heaviest infiltration around the world. Futile for CCP stooges like you to deny it. Futile for you to deny you're a CCP stooge.
@Somebody Oh? You think China is the only country capable of doing infiltration into other countries? Well, that's all we need to prove how brainwashed you are. Even American propaganda movies also feature American spies going to all parts of the world but of course in a sanistised way where the American spies are always featured as the good guys.
@Lilith, here you go again, just self-proving you're an avid defender of CCP and attacker of democracies using exactly the same BS point CCP stooges always love to insinuate: China isn't the only country doing blah blah blah. Countries like the US also doing the same blah blah blah. LOL. I just watched news about Chinese spies infiltrating Australia and US government for decades but getting caught up recently. All the spurious fallacy you have been spreading on this drama blog is only real in your own airhead always exercising excessive mental gymnastics LOL but without evidence to support.
Just move to China and hail to your communist emperor. Then nobody bothers what crap you're talking about. Support your belief with your action! LOL
@Somebody Telling the truth is not defending CCP, but of course a brainwashed American third-class lackey like you refused to comprehend it. I see someone else below calling you unhinged, which I totally agree. One more count added to the large number of people here who unanimously agreed that you're an insufferable a-hole. Majority wins 😊
You are so double standard like the country you belonged to. You tell people to stop interfering with a country's affairs if they are not that country's citizen? So why are you interfering into China and Japan affairs now? You aren't even of Chinese ethnicity. A word of advice, if you are aged 13 and above, please go consult a psychiatrist, you are in need of serious help.
@Lilith CCP lackey! Look how dense you are having no hope to change. Call me troll. Sure! Be my guest! I don't mind playing word games to have frivolous exchanges with you just to continue exposing your connection with CCP. Basically you've been exposed to be a US hater and democracy naysayer! A real hypocrite living outside China, much worse than those Chinese 50 cents and pinkies who have no choice but being a swarm of propaganda cockroaches pushed by their evil government. I can't take you, such hypocritical leftards, seriously for now. How many times have I repeated this? Deranged Chinese expats spreading hatred against democracies including the US and Japan etc. should just move to China or Russia and then ppl might take you more seriously. There are a cohort of such incoherent CCP lapdogs visiting this site. Everyone knows whom I'm referring to. LOL
Hey Lilith! Who pointed out who has mental issues first? It's me advising you first to have a mental health check per your persistently voicing for CCP and all the incoherent nonsense out of your mouth. LOL. Sure the majority of Cdrama fans have Chinese genes in their blood and by default are most easily brainwashed by Chinese state propaganda through entertainment. The opinions of ethnic Chinese on this SM don't mean anything significant. Even 1.4 billions vs. the rest of 6+ billions are still minority. China is a force messing up the world order. The majority of the world have recognized that thanks to Wuhan pandemic and all the recent wars with CCP being the mastermind behind. These hard facts won't change! You continue to live in your bubble built by your CCP master through C-ent propaganda. LOL. It's futile to brainwash rational people with critical thinking. A lot of ppl are silent on this site. But I won't. I live in the US and there's nothing for me to be afraid of speaking freely about the truth. You delirious CCP stooge just get a grip without going crazy cos your master in Beijing is doomed. LOL
@Somebody, stop yapping and go see a psychiatrist already. Yep, it's futile to brainwash rational people with critical thinking, so stop trying to brainwash us with your American propaganda.
LOL. All the CCP lackeys are mentally unstable and need collective counseling. You're particularly ill.
@Somebody You need to be locked up in a mental hospital, it'll do the world of good.
To be locked up in cells? LOL. Ppl must love to see that happen to all the CCP stooges like you. Hahahaha. CCP and all its lackeys are literally possessed. It would be good riddance if all of you just disappear from the sight of human beings.
@Somebody "Ppl must love to..." Lol an assumption made one-sidedly by you as usual, typical brainwashed unhinged behaviour. Practise what you've preached below, stop interfering into China and Japan affairs if you aren't their citizens. LOL.
LOL @Lilith the dunce! When did I interfere with Japan and China? Did I tell the governments to do or not to do anything? LOL. I have no interest in foreign affairs. Everyone is entitled to speak openly and freely about anything outside China, you the clueless included. LOL. I spoke of my opinions openly and lawfully. But I don't tell their citizens what to do, unlike a silly CoraLIE trying so hard to influence my voting decision in the upcoming US election. That's called interference.
You should just move to China and ppl might take you more seriously since then you would live your own words not just rambling crap on a democratic forum where we believe what is contradictory to your own values. LOL. You're the perfect definition of hypocrisy. SMH!
@Somebody Lol so when others talk about America, it is interfering, but when you're talking about other countries, it isn't interfering? *Double standards AND hypocrisy* just like the country you moved to. I'm very sure my values aligned with many others here, you're the only odd one out.
Oh...it is the shrine I forgot. He did visit some shrine that is taboo...but did he really not know?
@Lilith, even thru I found the photos taking being the reason quite bizarre, but I find your comment of Zhao Wei may have Japanese finance interesting.. We may never know the truth...but if it was investigated by PRC she did get undertable Japanese money. It will definitely cause harm to her brand. If it is above board and open, I dont think it is a issue. As we know the are Japanese investments in China and China in Japan. The economics side is not unusual.
But if it was unreported then that is where she got herself in trouble. Zhang Zhe Han being under her agency is also caught up.
Yeah you have a point, under-reporting is a pretty serious issue too.
The place where he stood and took pictures is a tourist hotspot that CCTV has reported on. Zhang Zhehan himself has clarified that he has never visited or paid homage to this shrine. There are so many tourists in spring, and he is just one of them. Why only criticize him? There are millions of tourists, including tourists from other countries besides China. Do they count as visiting the temple if they pass by? How ridiculous!
didn’t he attend the wedding of some Japanese people of influence? There’s more to the story than merely taking photos at a shrine. We will never be told of the truth!! The fact is China can cancel anyone anytime because it is a communist country… everyone is being watched and tracked. We can never use our outsider mind to decipher their thoughts unless we are one of them.
you must've only read the surface rumors.
1. He never went into the shrine or worshipped.
2. The shrine in One of the picture (not the one where he attended the wedding) was actually not the WW2 shrine. It was a normal shrine.
3. There were barely any documents about those particular shrines until AFTER the scandal. I lived in China and when my family planned a visit to Japan, the shrine was part of a popular tourist destination. But guess what? They removed those books after the scandals too.
So please fact check before you join the hate train :)
Can he act in dramas outside of China? Like a Taiwanese or Singaporean drama? If his passion is music, that's great. If he enjoys acting, then it seems a bit of a shame to not be able to do that anymore.
@Soph
I read an article where he said he’s reconsidering returning to acting this year. However, he expressly said he was looking into romcoms and will NOT be starring in another BL drama. He said that part of his life was over and done and he wanted to move on. I do believe he plans to return to acting in probably Malaysia and Singapore. And if allowed, they could possibly air his dramas in Hong Kong or Macau and Taiwan. Not sure about the politics of those regions, though. It wouldn’t be as large scale as working In Mainland China, but he will get plenty of support from his international fanbase and from people who are sympathetic to him outside China. As a non-Chinese, I feel sorry for him because the whole charges seem trumped up and bizarre but I would also like to give the Chinese government the benefit of the doubt as no one can tell another person how to feel about a tragedy that befell their people or nation.
If Taiwan wants to take him, Im going to question their sanity bc they were the dominant government at the time of the sino japanese war
I wonder why he didn't go to Hong Kong entertainment industry. There's hardly any good looking male actors in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is China.
He held a concert in Hong Kong on 16th Feb 2024, attended by around 10,000 people.
He cannot speak Cantonese. Non-Canto artists often will not get any leading roles. There is no voice-sub in Hong Kong. Will he settle for a supporting role?
Everybody in China knows what this shrine is and everyone knows how much of a no-no it is and what the consequences are. Everybody.
The things Japanese did in China are absolutely horrific and nobody but the Chinese gets to decide what is and isn't forgivable. That shrine is still a place where Japanese right worships those same criminals.
And let's not even start on the Japanese general refusal to fully acknowledge what happened before and during WWII. Korea has plenty of issues with them for this same reason.
Back to the shrine, Justin Bieber got banned for this very same thing. ZZH absolutely knew what he was doing and where he was going. His ties to Japan and through his family too are well known. These are the consequences for that. He has a career outside of China and is doing well so he walked out of it fine, again thanks to the money behind him. So his fans should be happy but leave the Chinese to sort out their own house.
I dont get why people kept parroting that zzh visited yasukuni sgrine. He NEVER VISITED YASUKUNI SHRINE. He denied it, there's no proof of him going inside the shrine (the shrine was even closed on that day). He like many millions tourists (including chinese tourists) just followed the hanami course that was suggested by CCTV and took pictures in front of sakura. As simple as that. Why people kept repeating fake news about him visiting yasukuni shrine?!
And to someone above saying he attended wedding with japanese controversial figure, the said figure is dewi soekarno whose husbands, the president of indonesia, was as pro china as he cd be. The haters and bots basically lied that her husband was soeharto, the one repoonsible for riots affecting chinese communities in indonesia, in order to slander zzh.
One thing for sure, all the charges against zzh has been proven false. Someone who have backing and money mustve wanted him gone and hence auch concerted attack on him. Zzh even filed though court challenging hus cancellation, but china being china, so yeah...
Anyhow, people should really STOP slandering someone without proof and based on hearsay. He has not done any crime and he has never visited Yasukuni shrine. So stop saying that he knows it's a nono shrine and he knows it. He never visited that vloidy shrine. End of story. Stop spreading fake news.
1) It might be true that everybody in China knows what this shrine is and how much of a no-no it is. But you also assume that they know what the shrine looks like and its exact location in Tokyo, as if they have an inborn Google map in their brain.
2) How did you come to the conclusion that "ZZH absolutely knew what he was doing and where he was going"? I came to the opposite conclusion. The shrine is located at a cherry blossom hotspot visited by millions of tourists each spring. The shrine compound has multiple entrances, and only the main entrance has the name written clearly. It even has a road bisecting it. ZZH could have wandered in unknowingly to take photos of the cherry blossoms.
3) "His ties to Japan and through his family too are well known". Again, where did you come across this? If this is true, they wouldn't need the shrine photo and the 30+ other rumours to bring him down. This alone is enough.
My friends went to his concert in Malaysia and had a blast. He was great in the Singapore concert too, donning Hanfu. ZZH, Jia Yo!
Here is my take on the whole Zhang Zhehan incident as a Zhang Zhehan fan.
I am ethnically Chinese, but I am a Malaysian citizen. Malaysia was also a victim of Japanese imperialism during WW2. I have heard horror stories from my elders.
So why am I in support of Zhang? Because he did not do what they accused him of, which is worship at Yasukuni Shrine. He was there to take photos of the cherry blossoms, which the shrine and its surrounding area is famous for. I cannot condemn a tourist for taking touristy photos.
Secondly, the shrine is located in busy downtown Tokyo with multiple entrances, and only the main entrance has the shrine name stated clearly. It is very likely he was not aware he had entered the notorious shrine premise.
Most importantly, this incident was clearly a frame-up. His accusers fabricated rumours and made changes to Baidu maps to trick the public into thinking the shrine is in a remote location, implying that Zhang travelled there expressly. They also claimed that the shrine was mentioned in two of the books Zhang had read. Neither of which is true.
Seeing as this scandal happened when Zhang was at the height of his acting career, it's easy to see that it's all a ploy to bring him down. Pointing at a deer and calling it a horse. If it was not this, they would have found something else.
This!
I haven't seen ZZH in anything but his scandal is bizarre. People were too harsh on him for something which could've been a legit mistake. He may have not realized he has entered the premise and well he's an actor, there's a huge chance he doesn't remember what the shrine is for. People forget what they read of their history in school. I don't want to hurt the sentiments of Chinese but there is a greater possibility of this not being intentional. The guy and his family were subjected to a witch hunt for this which is totally wrong. If you even think he was wrong, you can at least empathize that he was treated very wrongly. His nephew was bullied in school for these photos and what not which if turns out to be a sincere mistake was nothing huge. And then when people commit su****e, the audience then contemplates on what they did or they still keep thinking they were right in calling things wrong and right according to their limited perspective.
Why did other people survive the scandal that happened at the height of their carerr and he didnt? You make it sound like survival rate is zero
I saw a comment saying Americans would react very badly to an American celebrity who shows support to an "enemy" nation. I'd not be so sure. Countless American celebrities have showed support to America's enemies along the decades. Jane Fonda might being the most famous one. They're all working fine in the USA.
Zhang Zhehan once clarified that he had neither visited nor paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine. His trip to Tokyo in 2018 was organized by his friends at the time. . Many tourists passed by there at that time. Were they also guilty? Is traveling also a sin? Will others be able to travel to Tokyo, Japan in the future? just find an old photo to accuse you when the dark force want to ban you? What are the intentions of the people in the comment section who are bent on imposing charges on him? He has not been banned by Chinese officials, so he held a concert in Hong Kong not long ago. If it is officially banned, it will never be allowed.（the concert)
Hong Kong is not “completely” controlled by Chinese officials until 2047. Would this concert be a slip in the system? Let’s see if he can hold a concert in Shanghai or Beijing !!