Xiao (Sean) Zhan

A Must Read for iXFXs

A Deep Look at Xiao Zhan and his 2020 about the 227 plot

About Xiao Zhan.


Do you recently have your eyes on Xiao Zhan? You are not alone! With Douluo Continent, the Untamed and the Wolf, Xiao Zhan has gained a significant number of fans (Xiao Fei Xia, aka XFXs) outside of China. There are so many reasons to fall for him! For example…

1 / 7
Ranked No.1 in the “100 Most Handsome Men 2020” by Top Beauty World
2 / 7
Ranked No.1 in TC Candler Asia’s “100 Most Handsome Faces 2020” list
3 / 7
Ranked No.7 on TC Candler’s worldwide “100 Most Handsome Faces 2020” list
4 / 7
He is the gentle but strong Tang San in Douluo Continent
5 / 7
He is also the purest Wei Wu Xian in the Untamed
6 / 7
And the fearless Ji Chong in the Wolf
7 / 7
And soon to come powerful yet distanced Shi Ying

But once you dig deeper into Xiao Zhan’s past and understand what he has gone through, you will realize that his handsome face is no longer the main reason why you love him. He has so much more to offer, and that’s what makes him so special. Once you get to know him, his face becomes the last reason why you love him.

Brief introduction.


Xiao Zhan (肖战) was born on October 5, 1991 in Chong Qing(重庆), China. He had a somewhat normal life growing up - loving parents, only child, finished his K-12 education, graduated from college and became an interior designer. One year later, he got a call from his college professor who encouraged him to join a singing contest/reality show called “X-Fire”(燃烧吧少年), where he was voted by the fans to be part of X Nine(X玖少年团), the boy band formed by winners from the show, and started his new career.

For Xiao Zhan, this is a BIG change. He had a lot to give up - he had a very good starting point of his designer career, winning awards for his design and owning his own studio since his junior year. But his passion for singing pushed him to take a leap of faith. “Follow your heart”, a phrase that inspires so many, is so easier said than done. He did it.

However, his star journey was not all that smooth. After joining X Nine, he did not get a lot of opportunities to be on stage. He made another big move and started trying to become an actor. He made appearances in several productions in supporting roles. Finally in 2019 summer, the Untamed (陈情令), the first TV drama where he was in the lead role, premiered. He became one of the hottest stars in China within 2 months. In September, his first leading movie Jade Dynesty I(诛仙1) gained over 400 Million in box office, putting his name on the short list of actors in leading roles with solid box office performance. Not that many actors hold box office over 100M in China. At the end of 2019, Xiao Zhan became the most popular star in China.

Seeing his great potential, his competitors got anxious. In late February 2020, a plot named “227 United” was executed against him. Antis first attacked his fans using false accusations, then quickly changed their focus to him. He suffered unprecedented web bully/cyberviolence. With the goal of making him “socially dead” and the hope to lead to a suicide, antis not only made personal attacks against him, but also harassed his family members, business partners, news media, brand owners… Until now, the antis are still trying every opportunity to attack him. But Xiao Zhan did not give in. He stood strong and used the law to protect his rights. His fans (XFXs) have also rallied behind him. This unprecedented anti campaign did not destroy him but made him stronger, along with a surging number of fans and supporters. People fall in love with him after finding out the truth behind the cyberviolence and seeing the many outstanding qualities this young man has.

It’s very important for fans, especially international fans, to understand the 227 plot and the parties behind it.

The unthinkable 227 plot and Xiao Zhan's 2020.


As mentioned above, the 227 plot is an unprecedented cyberviolence campaign against Xiao Zhan organized primarily by his competitors. Since 2019, Xiao Zhan’s competitors had made many attempts to attack him by spreading invalid rumors, falsifying Weibo screenshots to claim he made inappropriate comments against women, and even tried to build a fake Weibo account in order to mislead the public about his sexual orientation. None worked. He is so clean that they could not find anything concrete against him. Finally, they decided to change their strategy. They went after his fans. The 227 plot was then baked. The purpose of 227 is to: (1) kill Xiao Zhan, socially, if not literally (forcing him to commit suicide under huge pressure); and (2) destroy his fan base - you will suffer a lot being a XFX, why don’t you give up and become a fan of my star?

Please be patient reading through the information below. Every word below is backed by evidence. A LOT happened in 2020, and what’s mentioned below is nowhere near the full story.

Who's behind the 227 plot?


We already know it’s Xiao Zhan’s competitors. The goal is to take him out of the market and win over his large fan population. Multiple parties joined forces in this plot. The biggest proof is during one of the plots of claiming teachers forcing students to like Xiao Zhan in the classroom as mentioned above, there were 6 “trending topics” with the same or similar title showing up on Weibo’s Hot Search chart near the same time (it’s public knowledge that you can pay to get on to the Hot Search chart). This means at least 6 different companies were buying this Hot Search Topic on Weibo. Even for those that did not invest, the fans of various stars jumped in and bashed XFXs during the difficult times. After 227 CXFXs have learned to ONLY focus on Xiao Zhan and no one else.

Multiple Hot Search Topics indicate different parties involved

But there were leading forces and countless facts kept pointing to one direction. I will only state the facts below for your own judgement.

Fact 1: Wang Fugui’s connection with WangYibo and his company, Yuehua Entertainment

Wang Fugui, one of the key anti leaders since the start of 227, has always focused on destroying Xiao Zhan’s commercial resources. Since June 2020, Wang Fugui spread rumors about Xiao Zhan becoming the brand ambassador for ChunZhen, a popular dairy drink brand, and asked his followers to harass ChunZhen about it On November 13, he urgently called for his followers to stop their boycotting actions, as he confirmed that Wang Yibo (WYB below) would instead be the brand ambassador. In order to prove this, he posted a picture on his Weibo where it clearly showed a finance system interface dated on November 3 with WYB’s various income items listed, relating to ChunZhen TVC shooting and another game company WYB is representing. He deleted the picture shortly after stating that the material was “too sensitive and is insider information”, but the picture had been saved by many people and was made public. This led to wide speculation on his identity. Experienced Finance professionals pointed out that only top executives or Finance leaders of a company would have access to such sensitive finance data. Only Yuehua Entertaiment (YH below) insiders should have the information Fugui shared. On December 31, ChunZhen did announce WYB as their brand ambassador, confirming Fugui’s information.

xiao zhan 227 wang fugui's weibo
Weibo Post of Wang Fugui on Chunzhen & WYB
xiao zhan 227 chat history of wang fugui
Pic#2 in the above Weibo post - Chat history of Wang Fugui with someone

It’s also interesting that many of WYB’s fans call themselves WangFugui. Many “WangFugui”s are even certified “粉丝大咖” (Big Fan Influencer) in WYB’s SuperTopic on Weibo. Is this a coincidence? Just a few examples below.

xiao zhan 227 search result for users name wang fugui
Weibo Search Result for users named “Wang Fugui”

Fact 2: Who did 227 leaders support?

During a fan voting event in June 2020, multiple 227 Super Topic hosts voted for WYB. They didn’t realize Weibo would generate an automatic weibo message a few minutes after they voted and randomly cue 3 of their closest friends/Weibo followers (not selected by themselves). Once they realized this, they quickly deleted their Weibo posts and called to halt the voting activities.

xiao zhan 227 host evidence 1
227 Host #1 Voting for WYB
xiao zhan 227 host evidence 2
227 Host #2 Voting for WYB
xiao zhan 227 host evidence 3
227 Host #3 Voting for WYB
xiao zhan 227 host evidence 4
One of the most famous 227 KOLs Voting for WYB

Fact 3: Official and large fan groups organized attacks against Xiao Zhan using 227’s typical approach

In August 2019, a picture of group chat history was leaked to the public. In this group chat, members were discussing how to spread negative rumors about Xiao Zhan. This chat group proved to be owned by the official data support team of WYB's fanclub, and certified as WYB SuperTopic host on Weibo. The language they proposed were very similar to how 227 later attacked Xiao Zhan. After the leak, a large WYB fan group claimed that they had “enormous” negative materials about Xiao Zhan that they always were ready to share.

Just before 227, WYB's official fan group published a series of “hard core” commentary against XZ, and the names they called XZ were exactly the same as used by the 227 antis. This so-called “hard core” document was filled with outrageously nasty language all against XZ and XFXs.

xiao zhan 227 evidence: wang yibo super topic host
Host/Owner of this Chat Group is certified WYB SuperTopic Host
xiao zhan 227 group chat discussion from wang yibo to destroy xiao zhan's reputation
Group Chat Discussion on Angles to Sabotage XZ's Reputation
xiao zhan 227 wang yibo official fan group sharing messages against xiao zhan
WYB official fan group sharing “Hard Core” messages against XZ & XFXs

Fact 4: YH’s Professional Fan Operation department and their direct reach to fans

YH has a department specifically overseeing fan operations

Official fan clubs and influential fans with many followers receive direct communication from the company

Isn’t it safe to assume that large scale fan activities (such as 227) have the approval or even are under the direction of YH?

xiao zhan 227 wang yibo's company yue hua indicating they have a fan operation department
Announcement from YH indicating they have a “Fan Operations” department
xiao zhan 227 wang yibo's company yue hua's recruiting ads to run fans operation department
YH Recruiting Ad, including an open role of “Fan Operations Supervisor”
xiao zhan 227 wang yibo's fan club post
WYB Fan Club Weibo Post (Proof 1 of YH's direct reach to fans)
xiao zhan 227 wang yibo's tie ba post
WYB Tieba Post (Proof 2 of YH's direct reach to fans)
xiao zhan 227 wang yibo's company yue hua direct reach to fans
Proof 3 of YH's direct reach to fans

Fact 5: The capital connections between YH and those supporting 227

Key parties and active participants in 227 are connected to YH via different ways. One example below:

xiao zhan 227 yue hua's relationship with yi kai
Connection between YiKai & YH
xiao zhan 227 Wang Ran and Yue Hua boss Du Hua's interaction on wei bo
Wang Ran & Du Hua's Interaction on Weibo
xiao zhan 227 Wang Ran showed support to 227 KOL
Wang Ran showed support to 227 KOL with 52k Likes, 1.9k Comments, and 26k Forwards
xiao zhan 227 Same 227 KOL showed her support for Wang YiBo
The same 227 KOL showed her support for WYB in March 2021

Fact 6: YH’s partnership with the social media king Colorful Tech

As a result of this partnership, Xiao Zhan’s negative news always appeared on Weibo “Hot Search” at the usual No.17 ranking, the so-called “annual subscription” spot for WYB’s positive news when needed. Many of the big self media accounts also post identical messages on a regular basis - positive on WYB and negative for XZ. During 227, those who voiced their support for Xiao Zhan on Weibo either received no reads of their posts (not made publicly visible), or had their account suspended. The media attack on XZ went across most major social media platforms and key news channels.

xiao zhan 227 Yue Hua's deep partnership with Colorful Tech
YH's Deep Partnership with Colorful Tech

Fact 7: “When in doubt, follow the money”. Who benefited the most from 227?

After the outbreak of 227, the one star that quickly rose to the top is WYB. His media coverage and business resources EXPLODED.

After Untamed became popular in 2019, Xiao Zhan was leading in the total number of brand resources amongst the two. After 227, WYB became the top star on Weibo Hot Search Chart (the major indicator of popularity & media coverage) and took on 25 new brands till end of 2020 as their representative/ambassador, topping all other C-stars.

During 227, anyone who spoke up for Xiao Zhan was bullied and harassed. Former colleagues were attacked. However, WYB, the supposedly “close” partner in the Untamed and said to be “close friend” to Xiao Zhan, was an exception. Antis even proactively protected his business resources even when there was speculation that Xiaozhan might become the brand representative. WHY?

Media Coverage Comparison
xiao zhan 227 Top popularity in 2019
Xiao Zhan was the top star on WeiBo popularity in 2019
xiao zhan 227 Wang YiBo top popularity in 2020
In 2020, WYB became the 2nd most popular on Weibo, just after Trump
*Although Xiao Zhan is also on this chart, the vast majority of his hot search topics in 2020 were negative thanks to 227
Business Resource Comparison
xiao zhan 227 Xiao Zhan's endorsement situation before The Untamed
Xiao Zhan Brand Representation before Debut of Untamed
xiao zhan 227 his business value was way higher than Wang YiBo in 2019
At YE 2019, Xiao Zhan was way above WYB
xiao zhan 227 Wang Yibo's business value topped in 2020
WYB topped Brand Ambassador list with whopping 21 new brands added Q1-Q3 2020

Because of the many commercial resources he gained during 2020, WYB joined the “Billion Dollar Club” on the “2017-2020 Most Wealthy Stars” chart with a whopping 1.12 Billion RMB total income. Xiao Zhan on the other hand, did not earn a spot even with the excellent performance in 2019.

xiao zhan 227 Wang Yibo's income ranked top in 2020

How did Xiao Zhan managed through the crisis?


Xiao Zhan stood firm on his principles throughout the crisis. He did not give in to the powerful dark forces. Nor did he separate himself from his fans as his competitors had hoped. On the contrary, he did everything he could to lead his fans out of the trap filled with desperation, sorrow and revenge.

Summary

All in all, we saw a strong character through this crisis. Someone that has strong principles and doesn’t give in easily; someone that cares about his family, friends and fans; someone that never gives up and always prepared to seize any opportunities; someone that earns the respect of more and more people.

Now that 2020 is over, Xiao Zhan has had a strong comeback in 2021, with even more supporters. His competitors probably never imagined this outcome. They planned a plot, almost did the trick but forgot to consider the fact that people have their own judgement when they see the facts, and many still believe in justice, dignity, and goodness. Xiao Zhan is on his way to become an international superstar, a legend with many more stories to tell.

xiao zhan 227 the red sea

A special message for the Untamed fans


If you got to know Xiao Zhan through the Untamed and enjoyed the abundant Xiao Zhan & WYB videos on social media, the above understandably would be disturbing and tough to swallow. But many like you in China have gone through the same journey, and decided to face the brutal fact.

On Netease Music (a digital music platform in China like iTunes), fans who purchased a song can set up group chat forums under that song. Under WYB’s song “Wu Gan '', there is a group called “WYB and His Sisters”. This is a group consisting of former WYB fans who purchased WuGan when it was released at the end of 2019 but decided to not only stop being his fan, but also speak up about his dark side and the dirty tricks by his team. Many were CP fans who love both XZ and WYB, and after they realized the truth behind 227, they were angry about being misled and started listing WYB’s wrongdoing in this forum. YH monitors this forum closely and continuously deletes messages that include compelling facts about WYB and YH’s unethical tricks to bring down XZ (and others). Today, the total number of former fans in this forum reached over 10K. Remember, all of them PAID for WYB’s song and later decided to turn against him. They are angry about being deceived and feel so guilty about their behaviors as CP fans during 227. It’s really sad that so many people are heartbroken and struggling to get over it.

If you can read Chinese, feel free to visit this forum yourself: https://music.163.com/v/m/fansclub/detail?unionId=3241002&id=84547195

If not, see below some of the recent comments in this forum:

xiao zhan 227 Former CP fans realzed the truth
Comments from former CP fans realizing the truth

BJYX is a commercially run scheme started from the very beginning when the Untamed was shot. It was a carefully planned plot, filled with techniques and tricks designed by psychology experts. Those who have never been exposed to the RPS (real person slash) concept will easily fall into their trap.

xiao zhan 227 Fake photo to brain wash CP fan
Example 1
xiao zhan 227 Fake photo 2 to brain wash CP fan
Example 2
xiao zhan 227 Fake photo 3 to brain wash CP fan
Example 3

Xiao Zhan's long-time fans never believed the BJYX scheme, because they know Xiao Zhan well. He is a powerful man with strong will and dignity. He was raised in a family full of love and with traditional Chinese values. He is nothing like how the BJYX scheme tries to depict him.

If you truly love Xiao Zhan, get to know him beyond his handsome face. Go watch “Our Song” season 1, “X Fire”, and all of his interviews. Once you know the real Xiao Zhan, you will not fall into the trap of BJYX, or it will help you get out before it’s too late.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long article!

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