#Zhang Zhehan clarifications

[bluebirdmuppet]

It’s December 24 in China. One year ago today the Beijing police accepted Zhang Zhehan’s report for the crime of slander.

Zhang Zhehan chose to depend on his country’s legal system to get justice. He would not do anything to undermine that choice.

[bizarrequazar]

08-27 Zhang Sanjian/Scam Gang Recent Events Space

This was a Twitter space held to review recent events with the scam gang and Zhang Sanjian, as well as to address topic about fandom culture and likely reasons why Zhang Zhehan’s case is taking longer than many would hope. Notes are organized by topic, then by order presented in the space. [Recording]

KL concert and review of the Bangkok concerts

Another Zhang Sanjian concert is going to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on September 17th. The previous concerts were held in Bangkok on May 10th and 11th.

Things seem to be operating fairly similarly as with the Bangkok concerts, though whalers are not rushing to buy tickets the way they were last time.

Tickets went on sale yesterday (08-26); ticket release seems to be similar, ie. not all tickets—including VVIP and the front few rows—are currently available. With the Bangkok concert, these held back tickets were partially due to the tour packages they were selling. I (the note taker) am not aware at this time of any similar tour packages with the KL concert, and none was mentioned in the space.

Quite a few of these held tickets for the Bangkok concerts were only released generally a week in advance. Part of this was because Xie Yihua had been working with scalpers who were trying (with little success) to sell them at roughly twice the original price. Flora and MB talked to one scalper separately who offered them both the exact same ticket for the Bangkok concerts that was being sold by another scalper, and blatantly lied about his own location.

Chinese citizens are able to get a travel visa at the airport when traveling to Bangkok, meaning that the short notice (announcement less than one month prior to the date) was less of an issue. The same is not true for Malaysia, visas have to be obtained in advance and tend to take a couple weeks.

The VVIP tickets included a backstage meet and greet after the show. With these, fans were not allowed to take photos themselves but were sent the photos by Zhang Sanjian’s team. These photos took weeks to arrive (likely due to the amount of editing done to the photos) and were quite low quality. 

Zhang Sanjian was quite physical with fans during these meet and greets, with photos including his arm around their waists and fans reporting hugging him. This is completely inconsistent with Zhang Zhehan’s behaviour—the only time he would ever initiate contact was with children (and some fans would specifically bring his children for that reason lol.)

The tour group for the Bangkok concerts had not been in operations for quite a while prior but suddenly came back, did not seem to have any proper registration, and was run by someone with a gambling addiction who had had a number of complaints against him about him and his company scamming people, as well as employees reporting not being paid. Whalers who went on the tours admitted to being afraid to talk about it because of the amount of personal information they had given, but some who spoke said that they were not picked up from the airport and were taken to a place very out the way. Some of these whalers returned early (implied to be by their own choice.) 

A direct business partner of CAPA is the producer for both the KL and Bangkok concerts. If, hypothetically, Zhang Zhehan caved and agreed to work with CAPA, why would they be doing these international concerts rather than rescinding their blacklist against him so he could work in China where it would be much more profitable?

Before the Bangkok concert, a number of bought articles in oversees publications were published, always saying that Zhang Zhehan had gone to the shrine without any clarifications about those allegations being false. This is the exact opposite of what any logical PR would do. The information for these articles and the similar radio blurbs given with the fake songs have been provided directly by Zhang Sanjian’s team.

Paid PR articles can be 100% made up. Sheena talked about a friend of hers who was hired to do a PR piece for a member of BlackPink and wrote the entire thing, questions and answers, herself, with the manager only reviewing it before publication.

Whalers have repeatedly reposted the various articles about Zhang Sanjian, blatantly blurring out the lines repeating the slander about Yasukuni and/or omitting it completely from their translations.

(A reminder to seek out information and confirmation yourself. Keep in mind that it is very easy for your own views to be manipulated by translators if you do not speak/read Chinese.)

The venue for the Bangkok concert was designed for conventions, not concerts, ie. there was no raised seating. It wouldn’t be surprising if this was done specifically so that people further back would only be able to see the screens rather than Zhang Sanjian himself.

Ticket prices for the concerts are ridiculously expensive, more than you would pay for even many A-list artists. One Malaysian tabloid paper ran an article talking about how expensive the tickets are, again including mention of Yasukuni with no clarifications. Comments underneath the Facebook post for it were filled with passersby questioning why someone they had never heard of was charging so much.

Money laundering

The article Flora translated on money laundering in c-ent

Basic economics: prices are set based on supply and demand. 

Whoever is putting on the Zhang Sanjian concert clearly works in the industry, yet is charging enormously inflated prices. This makes no sense if the goal is actually to sell a large amount of tickets. 

The main idea behind laundering is that you create opportunities to falsify and inflate sales records. The Bangkok concerts were clearly not sold out despite claiming to be.

The production for the concerts is not high: these are small cheap venues, there are no opening acts, etc. Another part of laundering is to claim that production costs were higher than they really were.

When your goal is money laundering, it doesn’t matter if you actually make money or not. Your aim is only to create records for the movement of money, preferably as large an amount as possible.

Thailand and Malaysia have looser regulations for moving money than China.

Changing currency is another way to make it easier to falsify records, as is the case if you are holding concerts internationally. 

This is very serious. Corruption of high enough financial levels can receive a death sentence in China, and it’s not uncommon for whistleblowers of money laundering to be murdered. This is another potential reason for Zhang Zhehan to not speak out against the scam.

[my post of collected info about the Bangkok concerts]

The Chens

The Chen family in particular are really not smart about how they’ve been doing their sketchy business, given that they’ve been opening dozens of companies in their own names and the names of their relatives. 

Flora suspects that the shell companies are more likely for tax evasion than money laundering. Their product releases have been tracked to see which company is responsible for each, and every clothing release is under a different one. This is likely to avoid hitting a higher tax bracket, and is literally the most obvious form of tax evasion.

The tea shop has been fined for other things (ex. unsafe food production, false advertising, etc.). These are pressing safety issues, unlike tax evasion.

It’s quite likely that the government IS aware of the Chens’ activity but that they aren’t a big enough concern yet. The longer someone is allowed to get away with something, the more bold they become, which is apparent in the Chens’ behaviour. Letting them get away with it now means that the authorities should be able to book them on heavier charges later.

To reiterate for the millionth time: Zhang Zhehan’s name is not on any of the paperwork for any of the Chens’ companies. The HZ Baobao brand is owned by Chen Ahyi’s boyfriend’s son and his wife, how is it there is any realistic connection there with Zhang Zhehan?

The main motive for the Chens’ involvement with the scam seems to be the money they are able to leech off of fans.

C-Ent politics

The unfortunate reality is that CAPA is very powerful in c-ent. For the people whose livelihoods depend on being in the industry, they have little choice but to cooperate. Xiao Chu, the screenwriter for Word of Honor, is likely an example of this—notice that she has not had any more projects despite the popularity of Word of Honor.

It’s important to remember that c-ent is a very different environment than what westerners might be used to. Keep in mind that, while we are international fans, we are in a Chinese fandom and need to try to understand how the significance of own behaviour might differ from in western fandoms. 

Artists in c-ent have little independence and control over their careers, that power is held much more heavily by the companies holding their contracts. 

Fandom is also VERY manipulated by capital. Planted fans are extremely prevalent for the purpose of increasing sales and traffic. Fan culture and endorsements are much more for important—a celebrity’s success hinges heavily on how they do in endorsements, not just their own projects. 

Toxicity in fandom often is created and/or manipulated by a celebrity’s own company for the sake of increasing traffic. The celebrity might or might not be aware/involved in this—Gong Jun’s studio has done this.

Buying fans (ie. plants) or otherwise artificially inflating traffic (ex. water armies) is extremely common in order to create the appearance of popularity. Nearly every current big whaler has been found to be a plant, and some of the real big whalers were intentionally driven away early on, likely because the scam wanted to make sure they could control the fandom.

If you see a “big fan” loudly saying they’re leaving a fandom, often they were a hired fan and their contract is almost up. With Zhang Zhehan “fans”, notice that there is an uptick in these sorts of posts around August. 

Virginia and Yajing

Virginia worked for Pulin, Zhao Wei’s company. When Zhang Zhehan worked for them, she seems to have sometimes accompanied him. She closely follows the Zhang Sanjian accounts and it is known that she’s involved in the scam.

When Zhang Zhehan lost access to his Instagram account for a while, Virginia was the one he thanked after getting it back (2020). It’s not known exactly what she did. The phone number the account is registered under is not Zhang Zhehan’s. The account was created for him while he was working under Yu Zheng, so it’s suspected that Virginia put him in contact with the person in possession of that phone number. The phone number was not changed.

Yajing is a livestream host who did a number of livestreams with Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun after Word of Honor’s success. She’s quite popular for having a non-threatening motherly vibe, and a fair bit of candy came from her livestreams with them.

In July 2022, Yajing posted a photo of herself wearing the EHz.Z slippers, then deleted it shortly afterwards because she lost a huge amount of followers. She has not said anything else related to this since. At the time people questioned if she posted it in ignorance, however, it is now known that she and Virginia follow each other online and have worked together multiple times in the past, including with stage productions funded by CAPA.

This again comes back to the topic of how powerful CAPA is. It might not be that Yajing and many of these other people have any malicious intent or ill will towards Zhang Zhehan personally, but they’re in a position where if they don’t stay in line with what CAPA wants, they could lose their entire careers. How many people would be willing to do that for someone they only worked with a few times? That doesn’t excuse their actions of course, but it does explain them.

Legal matters

People involved in legal cases (including jury) are advised to maintain Internet silence. This gained more public awareness recently due to a case of a woman whose daughter was killed oversees trying to seek justice, who was advised not to speak despite being slandered heavily by the accused. Kris Wu’s victims are another example of this. Speaking online easily complicates your case, sways public opinion, and muddies the story that you want to tell in court.

A major aspect of defamation cases are what the damages of the defamation were. Zhang Sanjian’s activities are a way of trying to sway public opinion into thinking he sustained less damage than he really did. 

With that being said, have faith in the Chinese legal system—as stated above, the online culture is very extreme, but the courts are aware of this. As well, Chinese people culturally place a lot less significance on what happens outside of China (ie. the concerts and aforementioned articles.)

It’s important to keep in mind everything that has been discussed above about how corrupt c-ent is and how many different things are at play in the background. While on the surface Zhang Zhehan’s case seems like it should be open and shut, there are a lot more factors at play that complicate and prolong the legal process. What Zhang Zhehan is doing is extremely brave given the circumstances, and it’s obvious that he has not caved despite indications of them giving him opportunities to do so.

Misc.

A CPF was able to train AI within a day to change her voice—feminine and with a Northern Chinese accent—to Zhang Zhehan’s in real time, with the only significant noticeable difference being some of the Northern speech habits.

Ranyi Music was created in June 2021, before 813. One of the shareholders is one of the Chen Ahyis. She recently created a subsidiary company where Zhang Mama is listed as one of the executives. When creating a subsidiary, everything can be done remotely electronically, so likely all they would have needed to do was fake her signature. It is also known that they have a copy of Zhang Mama’s ID (as well as Zhang Zhehan’s and possibly Xiao Yu’s. This would be because the Chens were helping with things such as travel bookings prior to 813.)

The various online accounts of Ranyi Music were accounts repurposed from ones previously run by other companies (ex. the Weibo was for a company run by Xie Yihua’s brother.) Just because a social media company says it’s related to Ranyi doesn’t mean it’s actually registered to them.

Zhao Wei (Zhang Zhehan’s former boss)’s Instagram recently updated for the first time in a while. Flora et al. do not have enough information to speculate about this at this time; there is not currently reason to believe she’s involved in the scam. Some background: Zhao Wei’s husband is well known to be part of the Chinese mafia, and she has a number of connections to many other very wealthy people in China. Both she and her husband have been in legal trouble in the past, including at one point shortly after 813. 

It’s hilariously obvious that the scam has been regretting trying to cut out CPFs via the divorce video (22-05-04): there was recently a fan group created for JunJian shippers, the Instagram post that used the 😺🐶 emojis, the concert video that showed Zhang Sanjian interacting with someone in an orange hat, etc. They’re very obviously trying harder to appeal to CPFs, likely because they’ve squeezed solo whalers dry.

Xie Yihua recently posted some photos from Tibet when she supposedly was traveling there with Zhang Sanjian and captioned it “Find Our Voice.” She quickly took it down because of how much whalers came after her for it, ie. they don’t like her “trying to leech attention off him” because they refuse to acknowledge that he’s a fake character created by her.

Whalers proudly talk about how they don’t go back and look at Zhang Zhehan’s old material anymore because of Zhang Sanjian’s narrative of “wanting to forget the past,” seemingly with no awareness of how obvious it is that that’s a ploy to make them not see how different Zhang Sanjian is from Zhang Zhehan.

Candy to lighten the mood

A reminder that during the Friendship Institute interview, Gong Jun said that he thought Zhang Zhehan had a cat, and Zhang Zhehan corrected him by saying “I also have a dog.” (Timestamped in the link.) Fans were confused about this because Zhang Zhehan is not known to have a cat. It has been found out that Zhang Zhehan used to foster stray cats. Specifically, it was discovered that he once took in a stray kitten that he posted pictures of in his WeChat friends circle, which is presumably what Gong Jun was referring to. Supposedly, this is the same kitten that Don’t Want to Be Anonymous posted pictures of. (Below, thank you to Harry for sharing these with me.) Given that some people in the scam gang were in Zhang Zhehan’s friend circle, this is not evidence supporting Anon—only that Anon at the least was someone who had access to his circle. 

On the topic of Anon, it’s been noticed that Gong Jun has been posting scenery photos much more often since that account was shut down. Anon’s IP also always stayed consistent with Gong Jun’s location.

It’s worth noting that in the time that it was active, Anon never posted anything harmful, ie. unless it comes back and does something, there’s no harm in believing in it (with a grain of salt.) ❤️

Harry, Coya, and Zell are organizing a fandom event for the Mid-Autumn Festival! Stay tuned for more info! Harry has also recently been running a group for Russian Zhang Zhehan solo fans, please check it out if you’re interested. :D

[masterlist of my posts about zzh]

[holly-poly]

Nomination Clarifications #3

We've almost finished processing all the nominations - just 29 ships left from 15 fandoms to process once we have some clarifications. The current count overall is 459 fandoms and 2788 ships. We'll also be spending the next couple of days looking over the tagset ourselves for any issues but we don't know most of the fandoms so please do let us know if you see any errors with the tagset - wandering tags, typos, duplicates, things in the wrong place etc.

If you nominated Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg under Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, this is only 2 people and we don't allow 2 people ships. If you meant to write in a third person, please let us know who and also whether the ship is for The Witcher books, games or TV.

If you nominated Botanist("When t War Came")/Famine/Pestilence/Pollution(GO)/Teller(Dr Atomic)/small god of Chernobyl for crossover - Fandom, can you clarify what fandom small god of Chernobyl is from.

If you nominated Hinata Shoyou/Kageyama Tobio (Haikyuu)/Miyazumi Tatsuru/Shiratori Mitoko (Ryman's Club) under crossover - Fandom, we assume you may mean Shiratori Mikoto for the last character but can you confirm since we're not familiar with the fandom.

If you nominated Kristin | Death/Niki | Nihachu/Technoblade/Phil Watson | Philza or Technoblade/Philza/Kristin | Death (Dream SMP) under Dream SMP, we feel this may be borderline on if Kristin is a public figure in her own right or should be considered a significant other who would not be allowed under the rules. We don't know the fandom ourselves, could you provide more info to help us decide - for example, does she have her own stream/channel, or is she in a significant number of streams/videos?

If you nominated Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy/Any Character(s) (LM AMT) under Les Misérables - All Media Types, could you confirm if you are fine with literally any character, including original characters, or do you want any canon character?

If you nominated Beranardi al Auriga/Mandala Flynn/Hikaru Sulu under Star Trek: Classic Timeline, we assume that was probably a typo in there but can you confirm if this is meant to be Bernardi al Auriga from the The Entropy Effect novel.

If you nominated Aiden/Coën/Lambert (Witcher TV) under The Witcher (TV), can you confirm whether Aiden is actually in the show since we couldn't see anything suggesting the character was in it on character lists, only Aiden mentioned in the games.

If you nominated Kamisato Ayato/Thoma/Other Commissioner under 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), could you clarify what you mean by other commissioner, does this mean either of commissioners from the other two commissions or something else?

If you nominated Klimt van Zieks | Klint van Zieks/Prosecution’s Office under 大逆転裁判 | Dai Gyakuten Saiban | The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Video Games) is that meant to be the specific Prosecutor's office or a more general term?

If you nominated Gong Jun | Simon/Yu Xiang/Zhang Zhehan under 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021) RPF, we weren't 100% sure if we'd found the right actor for Yu Xiang, is Yun_Xiang who plays Bi Xingming in Word of Honor the correct person?

If you nominated Erik Lehnsherr/Pietro Maximoff/Charles Xavier or Erik Lehnsherr/Raven | Mystique/Charles Xavier or Kurt Wagner/Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier under Marvel (Comics) or Logan/Ororo Munroe/Kurt Wagner under X-Men (Comicverse), please can you let us know if you meant Marvel 616 or another comics universe.

If you nominated the fandom Mr. Malcolm's List, can you clarify if you mean the novel or the 2022 film.

If you nominated the fandom ユリ熊嵐 | Yuri Kuma Arashi, can you clarify if you meant the anime or the manga since they look to have the same characters but very different plotlines.

If you nominated Hernando Fuentes/Lito Rodriguez & Daniela Velasquez under Sense 8, that is rejected because we don't allow &'s for relationships in this exchange, however, the version using all /'s - Hernando Fuentes/Lito Rodriguez/Daniela Velasquez - is already in the tagset. Similarly, we've rejected Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey and Neal Caffrey/Mozzie under White Collar (TV 2009) but Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey/Mozzie is already in the tagset.

We also still have 5 questions outstanding from the other clarifications posts. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can also send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com. Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2022 Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/12906 Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex

[kagehikaru]

Zhang Zhehan case sources

I just wanted to put together a post of currently (January 2023 revision) relevant articles / accounts and pages to follow when it comes to Zhang Zhehan’s still developing situation.

ZZH information archive with daily updates:

Published articles:

China’s Extreme Cancel Culture and Increasingly Hostile Online Environment (June 14, 2022, teddyfoxfluff)

Zhang Zhehan denies entering Yasukuni Shrine, says he's willing to be investigated (January 11, 2022, Lim Yian Lu)

Ennis' ZZH info tumblr posts:

Collected Information on the Zhangzhehan_Super3 Instagram Account

Masterpost of ZZH informational posts

Teddyfoxfluff's blog with clarifications of Zhang Zhehan rumors, translations and other explanations:

Clarifications for Zhang ZheHan

Flora's daily updated timeline of events during Li Xuezheng's involvement:

Justice of the People Timeline

My carrd link list with all of the above:

[jeriafterdark]

813 - The Reprise, Part 3.1/?

ZZH's mother, Zhang Xia, has made an official statement: warning for TW: suicide, cyberbullying. This is via Uncle Li's weibo.

Translation by Quellevous here - ENG - currently being translated as of Dec 3, 6:28AM EST

Source of Weibo post here

Google Translation -Zhang Xia, ZZH's Mother

#人民的公义# #Famous producer Li Xuezheng questioned the China Performing Arts Association's punishment of inferior artists program justice# The full text forwarded a text of a 36-year-old party member. "A voice from a mother, hello everyone! My name is Zhang Xia, the mother of actor Zhang Zhehan, and a 36-year party member. My son suffered a cherry blossom photo incident during a trip to Japan in March 2018 and suffered in August this year. After the 13th, the most powerful cyber violence in history has been unprecedented. I would like to talk about the impact and trauma that this incident has brought to my son and me. On August 13th, my son was still working in Shanghai. Before that, he had been vilified and attacked him for various reasons. It was unsightly, but after 813, it reached a peak, with overwhelming overwhelming verbal abuse, traitors, spies, Traitors, traitors, etc., under the storm of online public opinion, were blocked by the entire network in less than three days. Among them, Baidu entries were modified, history was tampered with, stories were arranged, human family members, family backgrounds were faked, and rumors were framed and abused. He even wrote the rumors about him into the test papers into the classroom, and even his name is a taboo word on all major social platforms...The dreams and achievements he has worked hard for more than ten years have not only been wiped out, Moreover, the entire network is one-sided black his manuscripts, positively, his once love for the party and the country are gone, and his works are also removed from the shelves. My son told me that he did not enter the Yasukuni Shrine, did not visit, and did not visit the shrine. The Internet information was false. He said that he was willing to accept the organization's investigation. I think that if a person’s character can be judged based on a few photos, then he still has many patriotic photos, honoring the country’s competition, and making a record of public welfare undertakings. Isn’t his positive, patriotic, dedicated, and hardworking side insufficient? To prove his positive energy, his patriotism? He was convicted by public opinion and sentenced on the Internet. Most of the accusations against him came from information that was not verified and confirmed on the Internet, and the conclusions given were not subject to necessary investigation and verification. Regarding the widespread dissemination of false information, we also There is no opportunity for clarification, and we are deeply powerless and sad about this. However, starting from the overall situation, in order not to cause trouble to the country, our mother and son have been suppressing the extreme pain in our hearts, insisting on not speaking out and not causing trouble to government departments. We believe that the party and the country will take facts as the basis after investigation and evidence collection. Based on the correct judgments and conclusions. But as a mother, I really can't accept that my son is stigmatized like this. He is only thirty years old! His future, career and prospects were destroyed by a few photos more than three years ago! Not only that, but he has to live in the cold-eyed insults of others! When he came home this time, he saw my first sentence: "Mom, I am ashamed, I am still making you worry when I am 30." I burst into tears, but he said, "Why are you crying? Isn't my health good?" His healthy optimism is the greatest comfort to me! But the little nephew he likes is only four years old, and he dare not face him, saying that his uncle is a bad person, and he keeps covering his face and dare not look at him. When the son saw this, he hid in the room and cried and shed tears... He is really a strong person at ordinary times, but at this moment he really broke down. I saw it as a mother, heartbroken, at that moment I seemed to hear the feeling of my heart being torn apart! I’m a mother, I brought him up, and the country The son grew up in a party member’s house. Both parents were party members (his father died of illness in 2016). His

grandfather was also a leading cadre of the judicial department. He was loyal to the party and dedicated to his work. He suffered a sudden heart attack due to overwork in his early years. The infarction fell on the job. My six sisters and brothers have four CCP members and one CPPCC member. My son’s generation has five adult children and three party members. They work for the party in various fields. Our whole family loves the party and the motherland! The son grew up in the warm embrace of the party. I have always taught him to love the party and the motherland, to pass on the fine qualities of the older generation, to teach him to be honest, kind, courageous, strong, hardworking, and his son is basically a positive education. He is not perfect, he has shortcomings, but He has no taint. Those who say that I am a Japanese mistress, my son is a Japanese mixed-race, I registered Yatairong (a small company that produces selfie sticks, and has nothing to do with Japan, because the losses have long been written off) are also tainted. Named Japanese companies, etc., all the Japanese elements imposed on us are deliberately slanderous and insulting us! For more than three months, we have lived in fear and trepidation, anger, pain, sadness, and helplessness. My son did not dare to go out, and I saw all people feel envy. I feel that it’s too painful to live so struggling and humiliating. , And even want to awaken people's kindness by ending their own lives. But my son has always comforted me, asking me to believe that the party believes in the country, and in turn educate me: You are still an old party member, we must believe that justice will be late, but we will never be absent! My son’s words woke me up and made me strong! We firmly believe that the party and the country will make correct judgments, clean up the roots for us, return the truth to the truth, and give us a way out for life and career. I would like to swear again: If my son goes to the ghost club, my whole family is willing to die! I guarantee that everything I say is true with my party spirit and humanity! Thank you everyone, and thank you Li Xuezheng for his adventurous speech! "

My thoughts: We were all really wondering what was happening with ZZH in these months weren't we? I'm afraid I didn't want to know what's really been happening.. it just breaks my heart how much they've all suffered. And his own nephew, even though he's only 4 years old, thinks his uncle, ZZH, is a bad person? And he cried over that? Goddd, knowing how much he loves children, he must've really hurt then. Please let there be justice for him and his family, thanks Uncle Li!

[demonic-intervention]

To this day a year ago, Word of Honor/Shan He Ling aired for the first time.

At that time, I was still neck deep in processing The Untamed that I had watched just mere weeks ago. I was totally new to Chinese dramas. But after weeks of getting SHL recommended to me on YouTube, I finally gave in mid-March and couldn't get enough of it. I binged the episodes that had already aired in record time after which I was constantly torn between waiting patiently for the next episode or getting myself spoiled on tumblr.

These weeks all seems like a blur in hindsight, yet I still remember that feeling of absolute excitement and emotional involvement that I hadn't felt for years, if ever. Watching SHL was very much spring for me: something blossomed in me. And as I learned to nurish it well, it eventually bloomed.

It is not just the interest in Chinese culture, history, and language that has kept me going until now. It's the connections I've made - or rather the feeling of belonging somewhere.

I wrote fic for the first time in ages, remembering why I love it so much. SHL was like an electric shock to my creativity. My mind has been in creative overdrive since that. (Well, sometimes it's just Wenzhou brainrot, but I guess we've all been there.)

Of course, it hasn't always been easy. The events in August were and still are gut-wrenching if I just think about it. My heart still aches for Zhang Zhehan. But the collective effort I've seen since then, of people posting translations, rumor clarifications, legal information, sometimes makes me swell with pride and gratitude. There will always be people who choose to spew hate, violence, and rumors but the majority does not. I chose to focus on the good. And I trust that the legal process that has been kicked into motion will allow Zhang Zhehan to clear his name, regain his rights, and make a return if he wants to. Whatever will happen, whatever he'll chose, he has my support.

For the coming year, I have just one wish: for people to stay. Keep being the beautiful, creative, and engaged people that you are, that fill this fandom with so much life.

So, happy first anniversary, 山河令! For all the laughs and the tears, the inspiration and motivation, your cast and crew who worked tirelessly to bring the show to life, and all the friends we made along the way - thank you.

Who would have thought that this silly, little show with its peanuts budget (forever grateful for Wolong Nuts) would still be with us one year later? To many more years!

[screaming-apple]

ON ZHANG ZHEHAN BEING ACCUSED OF S*XUALLY HARASSING CO-ACTOR (Ju Jingyi)

I don’t think this is known much among fans in the West but here in Asia, it was made a huge deal and even now, when proof has been found and clarification has been made, some people still think that this is one of many deals that has got him “boycotted or/and cancelled”. So, before I get to translating more well-known matters among the Western fans, I wanna do this first to warm up to translating these kinds of posts. Note that in the original post, they used a lot of slang and I have tried my best to make it clear in English while keeping the original poster’s tone.

---

ARE THE “ACCUSATIONS” OF ZHANG ZHEHAN HARASSING HIS CO-STAR RELIABLE?

Zhang Zhehan and Ju Jingyi collaborated 2 times: the first time in Legend of Yunxi - filmed in 2017, aired in 2018; the second time in The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion - filmed in 2019, aired in 2020. From 2017 to early 2021, there was never any information on accusing ZZH of sexually harassing his once co-star, along with the actress never having any criticism towards him, and the two of them even interacted really friendly and comfortably in real life.

From late February - early March 2021 (the time the whole world was preparing to celebrate International Women’s Day and WoH was airing), to the most recent being mid-August when ZZH continuously got accused of many unverified rumours, with the “accusations” of him harassing his once co-star Ju Jingyi kept being brought out and distorted to add insult to injury, tarnishing ZZH’s image.

One of the “proofs” that got used the most often for these accusations of harassment is a behind-the-scenes cut video of Legend of Yunxi when ZZH was holding JJY tightly and pressing into her shoulders. ZZH was immediately deemed as taking advantage of work to “sexually assault”, “harass”, “find her bra strap”.

Firstly, this needs to be affirmed, every action and word here is judged based on their full context. In the behind-the-scenes videos that the producers have released, along with comparing to the official scenes, we can see (video can be found being the first one in the OG post's comment section):

The hugging scene is in the context of standing opposite to each other, the two actors then went into their positions to continue filming the next scene.

His right hand was on JJY’s back, and did not move much or have any “handsy” action.

His left hand was pressing on one place on JJY’s shoulder, not “handsy”.

All of the crews on the set knew what the two were doing and showed no distasteful reaction, even going on putting notes of them feeling comfortable with this action in there.

The second “proof” for the case of ZZH taking advantage of work to harass his co-star was said to be the scene on the bed of The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion when he “trapped” his co-star and “did not let” her get up.

In the full video, the whole setting can be seen clearly (the second video in the comment section of the OG post:

ZZH backed down 2-3 times to avoid getting too close to his co-star. His actions were pretty slow, bit by bit, because then, he had recently gone through knee surgery. JJY was not in a hurry to get up and out either after the cut signal, but going well along with his speed.

The two actors were discussing with the crews in really fun and enthusiastic manners about their scene, they even joked with each other, the side of the actress showing no discomfort.

=> Therefore, we can see that ZZH never had any inappropriate action, never took advantage of or harassed his co-star in their two collaborations. Furthermore, male-female acting with each other, in both rehearsal and real shooting, always need time to warm up and build up feelings, the director even asked them to massage each other’s ears to create more effects (yeah, this is kinda weird but this was the director’s doing, this can also be found in one of the videos in the comment section). Not to mention, a star in the place of Ju Jingyi (more famous, with more weight to her voice compared to ZZH back then), having no protest, accusation nor avoidance to supposedly harassment and exploitation, but instead happily interacting and continuing to collaborate with ZZH for the second time - impossible.

---

*Notes:

The link to the original post - it would be better if you go into the link using a computer/laptop and remember to click "see more" in the comment section to see the hidden videos (again, don’t judge me for using Facebook, it’s the most popular here, and I think you can still see the post without signing in?): https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=599281397871631

ZZH’s and JJY’s “mother-daughter relationship”: There was this one scene they filmed that his action was reminding her of her own mother, so he kinda like said that she should just consider this a mother-daughter relationship and she replied “Okay! (Hǎo!)” loudly. Later on, before, like a basketball match of his and she even wished her “mama to have a good match”. And some said she even visited him in the hospital while he had knee surgery but I haven’t searched this up.

I have managed to download the video from the post but not from its comment section to attach them along with each explanation, but you can still visit the link if you want some cute GIFs and the rest of the videos of their interaction.

Video in the post: Just a cute short behind-the-scenes video.

(Context - first vid in the comment section) The scene where he hugged her and moved his hand a little on her shoulder was when Qin Wang (his character) gave Yunxi (her character) a small shoulder massage.

(Context - second vid) What was said to be the action of him “trapping” her under while it is clear in the video that she showed no sign of discomfort and he got up slowly because of his knee.

(Third vid) Their interaction on set, and the ear massage thing.

(Fourth vid) More on their interaction on set.

(Fifth vid) Them on the set of The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion.

(Sixth vid) More of The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion behind the scenes (he even said some English here).

=> So, that was my translation and some additions to this case. It was not one of the main accusations that got brought up during 813 but this piece of wrong information is still spread through ignorant people. So, just in case you guys see some stuff on this, remember that he is not guilty of harassing anyone and especially not Ju Jingyi. Their relationship was so cute and precious, and I hope the recent events haven’t affected it much.

Link of the full list of my translations:

[soli-net]

https://teddyfoxfluff.wordpress.com/

Boosting one of the best eng blogs on Zhang Zhehan's case&clarifications! Made thoroughly and responsibly, with resources.

[pawsnread]

Brief run down on what’s been happening on Twitter the last couple of days regarding the ongoing incident about Zhang Zhehan:

On New Year’s Day, we got to hear Zhang Zhehan’s voice for the first time since August. It was the first time he got to say anything about what has happened to him and how it has affected him and his family. I won’t post it here because there are discussions of self-harm, but it felt both good to hear him finally but also heartbreaking.

On January 2nd, an account on Twitter that has been working hard to share unbiased information about Zhang Zhehan reached out to Neil Gaiman, asking if he would share a clarification article about Zhang Zhehan. The reason Mr. Gaiman was chosen is because Zhang Zhehan is a great admirer of his books; he has talked about Neil’s The Graveyard Book and Smoke and Mirrors on his socmed accounts, which resulted in both books selling out on the CN market.

After Mr. Gaiman retweeted the article, antis from Weibo surged onto Twitter and began attacking Zhang Zhehan’s fans to him (they actually tagged Mr. Gaiman). In true Gaiman fashion, he politely refuted them but then the antis began attacking Mr. Gaiman, one of them saying he had “room temperature IQ” (yeah, nobody knows what that was supposed to mean; even Chinese speakers are confused). Another seemed to threaten him, to which Mr. Gaiman said “I mute people who do that to me on Twitter”. (I adore him and his brand of polite shade.)

The attacks on Mr. Gaiman have made their way back to CN socmed, and people are horrified and shocked. They cannot believe their fellow countrymen would do such a thing and embarrass them on an international platform. There are apparently people calling for the antis’ citizenship to be revoked.

(Mind I’m getting that news secondhand since I am not fluent in Mandarin and am not on CN socmed, but I trust the sources that provided the translations and news.)

So yeah...that’s the craziness that has been happening on Twitter. Sup Tumblr? How have you been doing? 🙃

[bluebirdmuppet]

Zhang Zhehan Clarifications - Twitter Archive

These twitter posts contain posts, resources, and sources clarifying the smears against Zhang Zhehan in August 2021. In the space of two days, a large number of false smears against Zhang Zhehan were posted by marketing accounts on Weibo, creating a wave of misinformation about Zhang Zhehan. Many of these claims were clearly false and the work of malicious capital, seeking to destroy a rising star.

[bizarrequazar]

Hi. I have read some of your updates and may I ask what happened between Gong Jun and Zhan Zhehan? I don't speak Chinese and I am a fan of their drama Word of Honor. I am following Gong Jun's career in other productions but I have never seen or heard about Zhan Zhehan. I am not in a country where you can easily follow Chinese media. I understood from Zhehan's wiki english page that they had some controversy going on but the gist of it is evading me. I am just curious. Thank you for your time.

Hello!

First of all, please check my FAQ for the explanation of why you never see recent stuff about Zhang Zhehan. In short, he was unfairly blacklisted by an industry organization and is currently pursuing a lawsuit against them, and he is staying out of public view while that is in progress. The blacklisting incident and its immediate aftermath is referred to as 813.

With regard to what has happened between Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan:

As far as can be seen through reputable sources (aka primarily Gong Jun himself), the two of them still have a good relationship and care very much for one another. While we have not had any confirmed interactions between them since 813 due to the aforementioned blacklisting and lawsuit (with Gong Jun as well being unable to talk about Zhang Zhehan without risking his own career), Gong Jun has often given hints that the two of them still see each other, has shown disapproval of people/groups that engage with the slander against Zhang Zhehan, and has never said or done anything against Zhang Zhehan despite his own career being so associated with Zhehan's. (A large part of why I do my update posts is to record these things, [this post] gives some highlights.)

If you have heard that there is some sort of controversy going on between the two of them personally, this claim primarily originated from the zhangzhehan_super3 Instagram and is completely unsubstantiated. The jist is that the Instagram account, which was previously Zhang Zhehan's, is currently in the possession of the industry organization Zhang Zhehan was slandered by, who are using it in part to further the slander against him. Gong Jun's continued quiet support of Zhang Zhehan is one of the main reasons that fans have continued to support the two of them, so the organization (CAPA) were quick to try to break the public's opinion of their relationship when they first reactivated the account. All of the claims related to this have been thoroughly debunked, and CAPA being the ones in control of the account is known concretely and backed up by a mountain of evidence. I have written extensively on this, and a full section devoted to it can be found in my masterlist.

You also mentioned Zhang Zhehan's Wikipedia page: unfortunately this is a case where your teachers' ranting about Wikipedia not being a reliable source is very right. The page has been monitored since 813 by an editor who is maintaining slanderous "information" on it while removing any attempts by others to correct this. This actually recently came up again because of other information that was discovered about the editor's unsavoury activities.

If you have any other questions or anything you would like clarification on, please don't hesitate to ask. 💙

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — June 11-17

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This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

Late addition to last week: The Singaporean paper Shin Min Daily News (aka Zaobao) published an “email interview” article about “Zhang Zhehan” (ie. taking the Zhang Sanjian scam and concerts as legitimate) with the first line of the article saying that Zhang Zhehan visited Yasukuni Shrine. This article was celebrated by whalers, with some blatantly omitting this first line; when confronted about this, they claimed it was no big deal for the very smears at the centre of 813 to be repeated here. The article also went on to say that Zhang Sanjian was “grateful for the opportunity” that his cancellation gave him.

06-11 → An article about Word of Honor was published by the Collider, an English language film news media company, promoting the drama as “one of the best queer historical dramas”.

06-12 → #Chen Lu's suspected extortion case enters the review and prosecution stage# got on Weibo hotsearch, about a legal case involving Huo Zun (a singer who performed 锦书来 for Word of Honor) and his ex-girlfriend that started in summer 2021.* All the featured posts under the hotsearch were from marketing accounts affiliated with CAPA and presented Huo Zun in a more positive light than his ex, indicating that he likely reached some sort of agreement with CAPA for them to back him. At least one post was written in a way that can also be read to allude to Zhang Zhehan’s case, saying that “there's no benefit to making your enemy go to jail, seek a win-win result and don't insist on them going to jail.” (CAPA seems to be scared as of late, no?) *I have not been following this case and have no opinion on it. 

06-13 → 361° posted nine photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun donated 230,000 RMB to the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, including the 30,000 RMB he received as compensation in one of his lawsuits against an anti.

06-14 → On Aura Tout Vu (see 06-05 under last week) posted a blog article about Zhang Sanjian, in which they mentioned Yasukuni Shrine and the Nogi Shrine wedding photos without clarifications, and said Zhang Zhehan was banned by “authorities” who “also suspected him of homosexuality[.]” [screenshots] This was edited twenty minutes later to remove the specific mention of the shrine, referring to it as a defamation campaign, then was edited again several hours later to remove the mention of homosexuality. [records showing the editing history]

→ Xie Yihua made claims that she had won a defamation suit against an “anti” account. There is no record of any such suit existing [1] [2], the “apology letter” posted that was supposedly written by the person sued does not include a UID number, and the account mentioned only has five followers. The UID that was later found was discovered to belong to someone who had had a hand in 813. It was subsequently passed around whaler circles that Zhang Zhehan must not be pursuing his case because otherwise Xie Yihua’s wouldn’t have concluded first, as if the two could be compared even if Xie Yihua wasn’t a compulsive liar.

→ ELLE magazine posted a teaser video for their photoshoot with Gong Jun they would release later. Caption: “In the July issue of ELLE, we talked about music, movies, work, study plans, and even childhood memories with the cover character @ Gong Jun Simon. We have seen a Gong Jun who regards sincerity and frankness as the wall of his comfort zone, we have seen Gong Jun who likes strong-paced pop music and brain-burning suspense movies, we have seen Gong Jun an actor who treats each character with heart, and we have seen Gong Jun who is willing to learn more. Gong Jun who takes a little time, and Gong Jun who has too many ideals. Stay tuned!”

→ L’Oreal posted a photo ad of Gong Jun from Cannes.

→ ELLE posted the covers of their issue featuring Gong Jun. Caption:  “For more than a year, @ Gong Jun Simon has been in a crew almost all the time, ‘Legend of AnLe’, ‘Rising with the Wind’, ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Red Chapter’... Meeting ELLE on the long-lost holiday, it seems that everything can trigger his joy. At the shooting scene, Gong Jun lamented the good weather, beautiful scenery, and enjoying the beauty of nature. What's even more rare is that his happy personality doesn't have much purpose. In his opinion, the foundation of an actor's life is his work. He already has happiness, and now he wants to ‘walk more steadily step by step’.” This was reposted by Gong Jun’s studio with the added caption: “Perched on a canoe, leaning on the prow of a small boat, @ Gong Jun Simon listens to the gurgling water~” Fan Observations: The covers use the famous first line from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, one of the poems written about the Fair Youth believed to have been his male lover.

→ ELLE posted eleven photos from their shoot with Gong Jun. Caption: “We are naturally happy to see the person opposite speak crisply; but for public figures who need to be cautious in their daily words and deeds, will this kind of directness cause trouble? @ Gong Jun Simon said that he is very satisfied with his personality and does not need to change: ‘If you want to express it, you can express it directly, and if you have a request, you can express it directly. The friends around me are also the same kind, and they are all straightforward people.’ When we discussed the topic of ‘most recently listened to music’, he directly opened the music app in his mobile phone, showed me the playback history and favorites, and even played the song he listened to the most recently to invite us together listen. Parson James' Sad Song sounded in the dressing room. It didn't sound so sad, but the rhythm made people feel the urge to dance.”

→ Gong Jun posted nine photos from the ELLE photoshoot. Caption: “Fresh summer! Thanks @ ELLE” He also posted nine to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Vacation  Just a joke 😱” and ten to his Instagram, caption: “Fresh summer😉” Fan Observation: The Weibo post was at 11:06, which wouldn’t really be notable except the post from his studio an hour later was at 12:01. 🤔

→ Tangle Teezer posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun. (1129 kadian)

→ ELLE posted a video of their photoshoot. Caption: “Everyone likes the contagious smile of @ Gong Jun Simon, the kind of smile that stretches the brows and eyes and is full of vitality, as if the surrounding is always sunny and the air is fresh; his personal temperament is also happy and bright, even as long as you mention this the name, the face that comes to mind is the smiling one. In an industry that is often overworked, it is not easy to stay energized and positive. It may take a little bit of luck, but also some determination to be yourself. The warm and loving family endows Gong Jun with a bright and optimistic personality background, while his straightforward social attitude guards a pure heart.” This was reposted by Fresh. Fan Observation: The straw hat looks similar to that of Luffy from One Piece, the character Zhang Zhehan used as his Weibo pfp. 

→ ELLE posted their interview with Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a video of behind the scenes footage from the photoshoot. Caption: “In the lush season of summer, record the cool moment of @ Gong Jun Simon” BGM is White Lies (Instrumental) by ODESZA. 

→ Hogan posted four of the ELLE photos, highlighting their clothes. Caption includes “Go into the mountains and start an adventure.”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted six behind the scenes photos from the shoot. Caption: “Watching nature quietly, @ Gong Jun Simon is at leisure, enjoying the peaceful world beyond the turmoil.”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a douyin of behind the scenes footage from the shoot. Caption: “@ Gong Jun Simon takes grass and trees as a seat and lies flat!” BGM is After Hours by The Weeknd.

→ 361° posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

06-15 → EHz.Z changed recipient companies again, this being the eleventh time since October 2022. (see 06-03)

→ Tangle Teezer posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted six photos of “Zhang Zhehan”.

→ Huang Xiaoming posted a photo to celebrate Go Fighting! season 9 wrapping, with the regular cast members who weren’t present for the photo poorly photoshopped in. Gong Jun commented, “Ge, why do I blend in more naturally than you in this picture?” to which Huang Xiaoming replied, “This is the extent of my photoshopping skills 😂”

06-16 → STELLAR, the production company for Rising with the Wind and Fox Spirit Matchmaker, posted a video celebrating their 5th anniversary with brief messages from various actors. [subbed cut of Gong Jun]

→ Louis Vuitton posted a teaser video of Gong Jun from when he was in Seoul in April.

→ Gong Jun posted the full video for Louis Vuitton, showing him spending a day in Seoul with Jin Chen, who was also there in partnership with LV. [subbed video] Caption: “Set off with a comfortable mood and unlock an unforgettable adventure. Roam Seoul with @ Louis Vuitton and explore the infinite joy of travel.”

→ The 不想匿名 account was deactivated. It’s unknown if this was done by the account itself or the platform.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing a new song.

06-17 → Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ L’Oreal posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” having a photoshoot.

Additional Reading: → A Twitter event, #ShineWithTheMoon, is being organized for 08-03 for fans of Zhang Zhehan to share positive messages about the fandom. Update: This event has been postponed due to concern over recent bot activity.

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This post was last updated 2023-06-20.

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — February 5-11 (nice)

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

02-05 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a photo of him for the Lantern Festival. Caption: “The full moon is in the sky and joy is in full swing, and the Lantern Festival will show the reunion of [The Bunny Gives the Year] Boss @ Gong Jun Simon wishes everyone a happy Lantern Festival!”

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun posted a vlog from visiting Universal Studios on 01-13. Caption: “The first Vlog in 2023, just play without talking! Happy Lantern Festival everyone!” [subbed video] BGM is Happy by Pharrell Williams, Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter, the Jurassic Park theme song, Darlin’ (I Think About You) by Delegation, and Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas.

→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” and “Xiao Yu” shopping for shoes.

02-06 → Nothing of note.

02-07 → Bluebird posted an exposé of an email sent by Aja Romano last June in response to an article published by The China Story about Zhang Zhehan, in which Romano falsely claimed that Zhang Zhehan was cancelled by the government, that CAPA is a government organization, that Zhang Zhehan has family ties to Japan, and that the general public were in support of his cancellation. Despite her claims that she found this through “research”, all of it is blatant misinformation that has by now been disproven multiple times, including by the NRTA and MCT, CAPA, and Zhang Zhehan himself. (For those who aren’t aware or don’t remember, Romano is the “journalist” who wrote the Vox article calling those of us talking about the deepfakes conspiracy theorists. They’ve also had a reputation of being a fandom shit-stirrer since the early 2000s.) Followups: [1] [2] [3]

→ Flora posted an exposé about edits made to Zhang Zhehan’s Wikipedia page since 813 by the user Oncamera. These edits have removed cited clarifications about 813 while adding and maintaining smears citing tabloids, as well as maintaining claims of the Instagram and stolen songs’ validity. Oncamera is known of and celebrated by whalers for her support of Zhang Sanjian. Followups: [1] [2] [3]

02-08 → #ZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.

→ Continuing from the previous day, whalers on Twitter defended Aja Romano and Oncamera, refusing to respond when questioned about why they’re supporting people who have actively contributed to slander against Zhang Zhehan.

→ BAZAAR’s director posted an unused photo from Gong Jun’s recent shoot with them.

→ New airport photos of “Zhang Zhehan” were spread, originating from Lao Ahyi who is now under the username 一串字母kk. Fan Observations: The photos show “Zhang Zhehan” alone at the terminal exit (one photo has a single person near him) despite air travel in the last month averaging at roughly 660 people at the Shanghai Pudong airport per hour, not including staff. 

02-09 → #ZhangZhehan continued to trend on Twitter.

→ Gong Jun posted a commercial for Hogan. This was reposted by both Hogan and his studio. Hogan also posted four new photo ads of Gong Jun.  (1129 kadian for all of these, they were speedy.) The first of these photos was used as a Weibo app opening screen and as Hogan’s Weibo header. Fan Observation: The first line of Gong Jun’s caption, “Modern reboot, retro revival.”, seems to be his own addition rather than a set part of the ad campaign. “Retro” (复古) here is written the same as in the title for Zhang Zhehan’s cancelled drama Retro Detective. There have recently been rumors of this drama doing reshoots—QuelleVous checked and the NRTA’s Beijing branch has not given any permits to do so, the original permit expired in November; the original casting company has no affiliations with such a project. In other words, if reshoots ARE happening, it is not on the original set and the associated persons are sketchy, ie. these rumors are likely (possibly elaborate) fabrication.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. Fan Observation: The illustration includes a girl in an orange sweater and a bucket hat, a man with a buzzcut, a baseball cap, glasses, and a sweater with a star, and a man in green with hair similar to Gong Jun’s. The caption is about friendship. [x]

→ The brand’s VIP fashion show that was originally scheduled for 2022-11-23 (the one that required a purchase of 20k RMB and a submission of personal identification information) was announced to be rescheduled to 02-14, now also stipulating that electronic devices with recording functions cannot be brought inside the venue, and forbidding “forms of support” such as banners and light signs both inside and out. Additional information:   -  Some resellers refused to sell tickets, not wanting to damage their reputations due to not knowing if a fake Zhang Zhehan would show up (or not even a fake).  -  Some resellers who DID choose to sell them stipulated to potential buyers that they could not confirm if this was “the Zhang Zhehan who was in a CP with Gong Jun.” Prices also seem to have significantly lowered, with one reseller offering them for 3000 RMB.  -  The above suggests that members of the general public (ie. those not following the scam) can still tell that the whole situation is fishy and have doubts about if Zhang Zhehan is really involved.   -  I haven’t seen it myself, but there’s apparently a chatlog with the police regarding the event. It’s possible that an excuse is being sought to cancel it.   -  Chinese CPFs seem pretty much unfazed by this whole thing, this is old hat by now. [ibid.]

→ Hogan tweeted the earlier commercial and new photo ads [1] [2].

→ Gong Jun posted the Hogan photos to his Instagram. Caption: “The new look is beautiful”

02-10 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted three douyins [1] [2] [3] featuring Gong Jun and his Rising with the Wind co-star Zhong Chuxi for the episode that would air the following day. 

02-11 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a still from the episode.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted thirteen photos of Gong Jun from the day of Hello Saturday’s filming (2022-12-28). Caption: “Looking far away in the mist, there is a deep and long silence. Today at 19:30, boss @ Gong Jun Simon’s character Xu Si, a surprise investor, is online! #冯俊你好Saturday# We’ll see you soon 😎”

→ Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a teaser of the episode.

→ Hogan posted a behind the scenes video (flashing lights cw) and photos (1129 kadian for both) from their new ad campaign with Gong Jun. They also later tweeted four of the photos.

→ Wonderland magazine posted pictures of the AI persona Jifeng; four of these use unreleased photos from their 2022-11-28 photoshoot with him, two of which are solo shots. (1129 kadian) They also posted a video of Jifeng with a couple seconds’ footage of Gong Jun. [Here] are just the solo photos and [here] is a cut of just Gong Jun’s shots in the video, for fellow Jifeng dislikers. Fan Observation: The video includes jellyfish for a brief moment, as well as broken mirror imagery.

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→  Another promotional douyin for the Hello Saturday episode was posted.

→ The Instagram posted a selfie of “Zhang Zhehan” and pictures of guitar chords and Kele.

→ The Hello Saturday episode aired. [Full episode (no subs)] [GJ cut] [written summary with clips] Addition 02-18: In behind the scenes footage released of the episode, Gong Jun’s Rising with the Wind costar Zhong Chuxi asked him for advice about a knee injury she sustained while filming the drama. His first response was to ask if she had hemarthrosis, a symptom that Zhang Zhehan has had with his knee.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted nine photos of him from the episode. Caption: “Xu Si's debut, have fun! Boss @ Gong Jun Simon reminds everyone that investment needs to be cautious!”

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → Starting at the end of last month, whalers started buying billboards in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Canada advertising the Deep Blue album. The images for these appear to have been directly supplied by those releasing the songs. [photos of one] → Works for the LLD Bang are still being revealed!

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This post was last edited 2023-02-18.

[bizarrequazar]

Collected Sources about the Stolen Songs

Yesterday an article was published by What’s On Weibo giving an objective overview about the stolen songs accredited to Zhang Zhehan that have been released in the last month. I was going to make a post today linking that article, but it has been taken down for unknown reasons (still viewable through [screenshots] and [the Wayback Machine]), so I may as well just write my own thing.

Below is collected information and sources outlining concerns regarding the legitimacy of the songs Melancholy Sunshine, Knight Errant, and 途. I will keep this up to date; if you have more information, feel free to send it to me so it can be added.

Despite the fact that 813 was specifically concerned with nationalism, the songs have only been released on international platforms, none native to China. Please consider how this looks to the general public.

The YouTube account posting the songs is YoYoRock: a Taiwanese distributer, not a licensing company. [Here] is an ask I previously answered about this.

Online streaming makes you pennies nowadays, money is not the primary goal of these releases.

The chart ratings (ie. views and sales) were openly artifically inflated, with people known to be involved in the Zhang Sanjian scam publicly encouraging fans in China to use illegal VPNS and make additional accounts in order to boost sales. [Here] is a video of Zhang Zhehan apologizing to fans for charging the equivalent of $0.60 USD for his album, [here] is a video of him telling a fan to spend money on their family rather than him.

The iTunes charts are entirely based on sales, [here] is a YouTube video explaining how easy this is to manipulate if you have the means. [thread tracking the huge rises and falls of the songs]

Melancholy Sunshine fell dramatically after the song’s title was changed to English, and the scam gang blamed that as the reason. iTunes would not change the title, that was something done manually. It falling coincided with midnight in China and was likely actually a result of the time running out on how long water armies has been bought for.

Songs being released without an artist’s permission is unfortunately far from unheard of, with the most well known example being Taylor Swift.

Spotify will not take down songs posted illegally unless a copyright claim is registered.

There is some question of if these songs were sung by Zhang Zhehan at all, as the scam has already been using proven deepfakes since May. [example of audio deepfaking] Melancholy Sunshine is the only one that has any evidence of being legitimate in this regard, as the demo for it was leaked after 813.

Knight Errant has an Explicit rating on iTunes—again, this was probably manually applied, as the song does not contain any language that would auto-trigger iTunes’ filter. China has much higher standards for celebrity conduct that western cultures, releasing an “explicit” song would not reflect well on Zhang Zhehan.

途 was premiered via radio rather than online streaming:  -  The first of these radio stations introduced it with audio supposedly spoken by Zhang Zhehan, only for a fan to admit shortly after that she had spliced this audio together using two videos of him from 2020, saying that she had not intended for people to think it was new. [further info about this]  -  Another radio station that played it briefly discussed 813 in their introduction, referring to the event that had many people fearing for his life for months and that almost resulted in his mother’s suicide as an “oopsie”, and not offering any clarifications about the falsity of the smears.

[Masterlist of my other posts regarding the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

[bizarrequazar]

This is a reminder as we near August that we are seeing Xie Yihua’s side already ramping things up, and we know more intense attacks are planned. Remember the full context of everything that has happened, and remember that you don’t need to be aware of everything new (or anything, frankly) that their side puts out. If you’re convinced that it’s fake now, keep that conviction; don’t let them gaslight you.

If something seems questionable to you, verify it for yourself if you are able. Do not trust anyone unequivocally—not me, or QuelleVous, or anyone else. We have been told some attacks are going to be specifically targeting those of us posting clarifications. People can lie, people can be paid off, accounts can be hacked. Check it yourself. (Also a sidenote that if I ever post something here that seems out of character for me, check my Twitter, it’s the same @.)

Remember that we have ten years of content of the REAL Zhang Zhehan. I encourage everyone to watch his old appearances—especially interviews, variety shows, and the like where it’s him and not a character he’s playing. If something Xie Yihua puts out has you questioning him, look at who he has always shown himself to be. Trust in him, not the false image they’re trying to sell you.

[bizarrequazar]

the "zzh" IG account has gotten so bold, i feel, with the multiple cycling posts. how do they keep doing this, in your opinion? i would like to hear your take on it, like the purpose, the end goal, the people they got posing in the pics, etc.

Well the how is body doubles, deepfakes, and likely VPNs. It’s the same song and dance we’ve been seeing since the golf videos in June.

The people on the bike trip are "Zhang Zhehan" (obviously), "Xiaoyu" (Zhang Zhehan’s childhood friend and former assistant, almost definitely deepfaked as well), and Teng Ziyue (an old classmate of Zhang Zhehan's who privated all his posts mentioning him after 813, then unprivated them at the end of July). I’m honestly not sure who the 4th person is, sorry.

The bike trip photos aren't actually as much of a sudden change as my posts have probably made it seem. Since mid-July there's been photos and videos of "Zhang Zhehan" almost daily from the group who have been unofficially dubbed the gym bros: Danny (former pro-basketball player who was in the fake girlfriend yacht photo), Mark (gym owner), Billy (basketball club owner), Vince (golf coach), Zhao Rui, our old frenemy the fake boyfriend Lexus, and a couple others. I’ve only been including the most significant events from this in my own posts; Flora has been doing a much better job including it in her timelines: [from the start of the gym bros saga] [from the start of the bike trip]

There seems to be two aims to the gym footage: 

First is to promote the businesses of the gym bros (many of which have ties to Songcheng) as well as the gym bros themselves by attaching Zhang Zhehan's name to them. The footage has been posted on all of their social media accounts for exactly that purpose: some of them have been using their newfound traffic to try to steer attention towards themselves rather than their inclusion of “Zhang Zhehan”, for example Danny (iirc, might have been Lexus) got mad at a fan who left a comment on one of his posts asking about Zhang Zhehan’s wellbeing. They were using him as a mascot. It’s worth noting that all of their traffic has gone down since the bike trip started lol.

The second aim—which is an aim of the Instagram broadly as well as likely at least part of the purpose for these bike photos—is to paint Zhang Zhehan as being unconcerned with his legal case and his public status, instead galivanting around having fun with all of these sports. The aim is to take the pressure off CAPA by making it seem like he’s living a completely happy and comfortable life with no need to get justice or clear his name. 

Some have commented, though, that this whole saga of the gym footage and now the bike trip has been a huge misstep: Zhang Sanjian's ever-changing physique, hair-length, and height have made it more obvious than ever that there are multiple people masquerading as him. Couple that with the fact that they've been releasing so MUCH footage like this and suddenly things like the fanmeet video fall apart—this gives more than enough evidence that they CAN and HAVE used deepfakes on videos that are more complex than simply a man sitting straight on towards the camera. When the fanmeet video came out there were defenses that it was “too complicated” to have been a deepfake, yet here they’re now throwing around obvious deepfakes of “him” boxing and playing team sports.

I don't personally have any other theories about the bike trip specifically, nor do I think there's really a specific end goal other than continuing to smear him / continuing to try to dwindle his fan base. At this point I've largely stopped giving the Instagram and Zhang Sanjian any attention and I would advise others to do the same, with the exception of still sharing clarifications with newcomers / passersby who aren't aware it's a scam.