Xiao Zhan: An Unyielding, Ambitious Gentleman

Original Article:https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404474473679028256#_0
Original Author: 雪色烟波里

I have been reading Portrait Magazine for longer than I have known Xiao Zhan, so when I heard that he was going to be on the cover of Portrait Magazine, my initial reaction was as though the fourth wall had been broken. Portrait Magazine has always been a magazine famous for reaching deeply into people’s lives and I wondered whether Xiao Zhan, an actor who has just started his career, able to give a deep and exciting interview as required by Portrait Magazine? Very soon, I found out that my worry was needless, not only did he match the expectations, he exceeded it by giving a 7 hour long interview consisting of 20,000 over Chinese characters. As such, I decisively put down my order for Portrait Magazine, and entered the world of Xiao Zhan as an explorer.

In psychology, there is this famous theory about the halo effect, which basically means that a person’s special or outstanding characteristic may overpower and cover all of his other qualities and affect our understanding of that person.

In Xiao Zhan’s case, most of the first impressions of him are of him being a good looking new celebrity, and maybe like all other looks based celebrities – a crazed fanbase, average acting capabilities and perhaps even shortsighted in terms of his career. However, the Portait Magazine interview shattered this narrow minded view, and brought forth the true Xiao Zhan.

He is not a natural born star, but just someone who works hard to pursue his dreams.

Xiao Zhan’s life experiences are almost legendary. Portrait Magazine describes him aptly – he broke into the entertainment scene by chance, battling without armor, and this means that he is an anomaly. After being an ‘ordinary’ person for 20 odd years, working in an industry totally unrelated to the entertainment business, he participated in an idol search variety show by chance and debuted as part of an idol group. After 3 years, he burst into the acting scene with “The Untamed”, and since then, his burst in popularity meant that he attained what many others have tried for years in the short span of a few months.

In the short span of a few years, he was able to work with the photographer that he used to follow as a photography senior; he was able to perform on the same stage with the very same idol that he used to fanboy. Just a few years ago, he was being interviewed as a commoner with movie dreams, and now he had become the lead in a movie. This is almost miraculous, and this is even more so when you realize that Xiao Zhan did not let all of that go to his head. Instead, he is taking things one step at a time – “This is just the beginning.” I started following him because I wanted to see how an every-man person like him would survive the entertainment business with just courage.

Xiao Zhan can be considered as the icon of a commoner joining the entertainment business. With some understanding of him, you will realize that he is different from the carefully packaged idols and celebrities. He had a completely common education, mature moral values and had been part of the working class. He went through the pains of society and therefore, he does not put on airs, but is instead, down-to-earth like every-man. In his words, he is simply “a common person, who happened to be working as a celebrity.” He calls himself “an entertainment business wage earner”, “Beijing drifter” and a “foreign staff”. Like many of us, he is a workaholic, he focuses on whether overtime is needed, and he still cannot afford an apartment in Beijing.

From the Portrait Magazine interview, you can see that he loves his career, finds joy in working hard in all he does, rejoices at the thought of knocking off and annoyance when his off-work time is being interrupted… to many, he might even feel like the “other self”, your alter-ego who is working hard in the entertainment business.

As such, I felt that it was very apt for Portrait Magazine to choose Xiao Zhan for an interview. Beneath the glitz and glory of him pursuing his dreams, we can see ourselves in him. At this point, some may ask, I have already been through a commoner’s life, why would I want to follow another commoner? This, we will have to see what sets him apart from the rest of us.

He is not a perfect idol, but just a proactive perfectionist. Xiao Zhan could be said to be someone who has no shortcomings, or in his fans’ words, good in all that he does.

From his appearance, he has good looks that appeal to the mainstream – great height, long legs and an amazing amount of hair on his head. He does not dye his hair, nor have any piercings and wears minimal makeup. To me, this is where I started noticing him. It is ridiculous that some would consider that as being feminine (not that being feminine is a bad thing, but there is absolutely no correlation here at all), because his clean looks, attitude and temperament points to him being a gentleman.

For his capability as an artist, his singing and acting abilities are good. His representative work “The Untamed” had garnered 7 billion views on Tencent’s platform with positive reviews; his participation in the variety show “Our Song” broke 2.0 on the viewership charts, and received widespread audience recognition and support, as well as the positive acknowledgements from the participating mentor singers. Even his weakness, dancing, received more than a million views on Bilibili, a video streaming platform in China.

Besides all these, he knows how to draw, cook, use Photoshop, etc. He does not display these skills deliberately, but brought up offhandedly in various interviews and shows. He does not want to use these to setup a character or a label of himself – these are just parts of him that shows up occasionally. I used to wonder why he seems to be favored by the stars, but after reading the interview, you realize that there is no all-round talent, but just plain hard work in the background.

Progressive improvements in his acting came from repeated practice of lines and every performance class he took. The perfect look under the camera lenses came from a strict discipline of diet and exercise plus professionalism. Singing and drawing were cultivated from his youthful passion. Diplomacy and tactfulness was learnt from his period of entrepreneurship. “For every single thing, if you want to do it, you do your best for it,” Xiao Zhan said, and also used his own actions to show that. No matter what he did – designer or artist, he did his best.

Many would think that this interview was a channel for him to bemoan about his miseries, but if you studied these 20,000 characters, you will realize that the interview simply laid down his steps and experiences. If you think that the interview showed that he is miserable, then he is, in fact, miserable. To me, the tale of Xiao Zhan is not a tale of misery, but a tale of a man who took the harder path, and an ambitious one at that. He went through the period of being a nameless extra in his acting career, but also attained the period of being a famous actor with countless awards under his sleeves. This is the result of him working hard while not knowing the outcome, and this is something which is admirable – for not everyone has the determination to push on not knowing if there would be positive results for all of his efforts. He did, and therefore, achieved these results.

“If you have the time to discuss, why not just do it?” Xiao Zhan offhandedly said this, which made a deep impression on me. He has always been proactive, one who personifies the phrase “actions speak louder than words”.

While others were still mocking him for weak lines, he had already done his work to practice them. Waiting on the horizon were “The Oath of Love”, which would not be dubbed over; “The Most Beautiful Performance”, a series of short clips with acclaimed directors; “I Like You Liking Me”, a play to be performed on CCTV’s Spring Night. It might not be of the highest quality, but his improvement was evident in all of that.

While others were mocking him for needing the director to teach him step by step for his role in “Joy of Life”, he has already found teachers and attended countless performance classes. It is only through Portrait Magazine’s interview that we discovered that the director in “Joy of Life” is actually his teacher, but somehow, that particular behind-the-scenes video was twisted to become ‘evidence’ of Xiao Zhan’s lack of acting skills. His improvements have always been constant, and so instead, I look forward to his new works coming this year.

While others were mocking him for being nervous in his first fashion show, he had already looked into improving his overall aura, and in his subsequent red carpet events, he was already a star.

While others were mocking him for not being generous in disaster efforts, or even spreading rumors of him faking donations, he never said a word to explain himself, but made arrangements behind the scenes to purchase critical medical supplies and equipment to be sent directly to the heavily affected city of Wuhan. It was only when the medical staff from the receiving hospitals posted pictures that this information was revealed. There is no need to speak of the good deeds you do – this is Xiao Zhan, and a rarity in our impetuous society.

He sincerely accepts all constructive criticisms and will improve upon it. There is no need to have a negative stance against idol/celebrities, his self motivation is as good as any other artistes.

He is not a packaged character, he has his own ideals and principles in his heart.

Like any popular artist, he has his fair share of anti-fans, and there is a group of “professional anti-fans” who are paid to spin rumors about him. With so many different stories about him, some would wonder who he really is. In many compositions by “fans leaving him”, the most frequent traits they brought up would be “hypocritical” and “fake”.

So what is Xiao Zhan really like?

Let’s take a look at how he does that.

He wants to win, but not because the opponent lost.

He has a strong desire to win, but it always stems from fair competition. He is gentle and patient even to his opponents. While watching this video, I had already lost my temper, but he remained gentle and patient throughout. This is almost a classic example of restraint and courtesy. If you want to understand him further, continue with this series, and you will realize that he is as real as you and I.

Being uncouth and impolite does not represent realism. To someone who had been through the ups and downs of society, and has strict moral values, being polite and diplomatic is also real. A teenager may find having a temper with words to match it being realistic, but after meeting various people and becoming part of society, being polite and diplomatic is a reflection of the education and culture you have received. Being real simply means that you face the world with everything of you, and being truthful, doing no wrong is also being real. There is no right or wrong, the real you is as fluid as your experiences build up. The 16-year-old you is not the same as the 26-year-old you, but it is still you nonetheless, and the difference is made up by your growth. Our real self should be one who is able to face his/her past and present logically, be always forward-looking and be always improving.

In Xiao Zhan’s words to his 18-year-old self, “You can have the frivolity, disdain, arrogance, and wildness befitting of your age, but you must always remain respectful of everyone around you, and stay in awe of those around you in your heart at all times.”

You can see a man’s character from the details of the things he does. These details I would not have taken much of a notice, but I should start learning these good habits as well.

When you want to understand a person thoroughly, it is best that you do know it not from what others tell you, but from what his action does. From his works, his shows, his interviews, his words, you will find that you can understand him better with your own eyes.

For more information:

• Variety Shows
  • Our Song《我们的歌》
  • Eternal Classics《经典咏流传》
  • Who’s the Murderer《明星大侦探》
• Dramas
  • The Untamed《陈情令》
  • The Oath of Love《余生请多指教》
  • Douluo Continent《斗罗大陆》
• Interviews
  • Portrait Magazine《人物》
  • 人民网采访
  • 《文化十分》

His working capabilities have brought him fans from all corners, but also anti-fans from all over. For a short period in my time with Xiao Zhan as a fan, I momentarily gave up on him because there were just too many anti-fans. However, in these 6 months, he has shown to me the kind of person he is – never speaking about his miseries, fighting his way through on his own, always showing a happy face to those around him. He takes care of everyone around him, from his staff to his colleagues, always emphasized the importance of education to his teammates, and everyone who has worked with him, from his seniors to his staff, has nothing but praise for him. Being an independent person myself, I choose to believe what I see. He is the first celebrity that I took time to write an article on, and would probably be the last as well. I believe, and I hope you to will, that he is that unique person with a universe in his heart.

Easter Egg – Quotable Quotes from Xiao Zhan

1. Regardless of how life is bringing down the roof on you, there is always a sky of hope beyond.
2. Idol and fans are actually symbiotic, we support each other and move forward together. When we live our respective lives well and continue to become better selves. Hence I would say that my fans, I feel that you must first live your lives well so that you have spare time to like and follow the idol you like.
3. I don’t think I’m a perfect person, and I don’t want to be a perfect doll.
4. There is no technique – throw away the vanity, the most precious component would be sincerity, let us use our passion to do well.
5. I feel that the ideal status is not changed by regrets. What is most important about life is making sure we live in the present and live well, and not regret the past. The present and future are the most important.
6. Maintain your passion and persist, maybe the path forward is not bright and straight, but there will be countless possibilities. Passion can withstand the test of time, protecting each other is not something that is just said.