Junzhe Extended Universe
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | JZEU, Junzhe Universe, Junzhe derivatives, 俊哲衍生, 俊哲48宇宙 |
| Related tropes/genres | Junzhe |
| See also | actor-based crossover pairings |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Junzhe extended universe is a term used by English-speaking fans of Gong Jun/Zhang Zhehan (Junzhe) to refer to crossover fanworks pairing up non-Word of Honor characters played by the actors Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun.
These pairings are also sometimes known as JZEU, "junzhe universe", or in Chinese as 俊哲衍生 (Junzhe derivatives).
See Derivative Ship, Adjacent Ship, and actor-based crossover pairings for examples of this trope in other fandoms.
History
Early English-language primers indicated that only a predetermined list of non-overlapping ships were included in JZEU, but this practice seems to have ended, if it was ever true. As of late 2023, Zhang Zhehan's characters Zhang Min from Everyone Wants to Meet You and Xu Jin from The Blooms at Ruyi Pavillion are each paired with 12 Gong Jun characters (not including threesomes) in fanworks on the Archive of Our Own. The Chinese video-hosting service Youku shared official music videos featuring a crossover between Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan's firefighter characters from The Flaming Heart and The Bravest[1][2], but the other JZEU ships are pure fandom inventions.
On AO3 fans started posting JZEU fanfics in Chinese starting in April 2021. English-speaking fans started posting in October 2021.
JZEU was nominated as a fandom for Yuletide in 2021, but rejected on the grounds that the exchange wasn't designed to handle this type of fandom.[3] Instead, various JZEU canons were nominated, and fans wrote three LingYue fics (Begin Again and Brother). Later, JZEU pairings were allowed in several LLD AO3 fests and exchanges.
JZEU became popular in the DZZS discord server, and was included in several server gift exchanges. DZZS may be responsible for JZEU's continuing popularity in English fandom, as well as some of the more mysterious AO3 fanon tags like "Pearl Chicken Endorsement Universe".
As of November 2023, at least 654 JZEU fanworks have been posted to AO3, 302 in English.[4]
Popular Ships
On weibo several ships are popular enough to have their own supertopic. On AO3 there are some visible differences between Mandarin and English in terms of popular ships, but Ling Rui/Wang Yue is the most popular ship in both language communities.
Popular AO3 ships in Mandarin:
- Ling Rui (Gong Jun's role in Begin Again)/Wang Yue (Zhang Zhehan's role in Brother)[1]
- Huang Weiping (ZZH: Retro Detective)/Lin Shen (GJ: Dream Garden)[2]
- Zhang Min (ZZH: Everyone Wants To Meet You)/Zhao Fanzhou (GJ: The Love Equations)[3]
- Han Ye (GJ: Legend of Anle)/Ji Fa (ZZH: Zhao Ge)[4]
- Han Ye/Xu Jin (ZZH: The Blooms at Ruyi Pavillion)[5]
- Huo Yan (GJ: The Flaming Heart)/Zheng Zhi (ZZH: The Bravest)[6]
- Lu Weixun (GJ: Flavour Its Yours)/Xu Jin (ZZH: The Blooms at Ruyi Pavillion)[7]
- Han Ye (GJ: Legend of Anle)/Long Feiye (ZZH: Legend of Yun Xi)[8]
Popular AO3 ships in English:
- Ling Rui (Gong Jun's role in Begin Again)/Wang Yue (Zhang Zhehan's role in Brother)[9]
- Jin Li (ZZH: ad for the Jade Dynasty: New Fantasy game)/Qing Lian (ZZH's other character from the game)/Tian Zhao (GJ: ad for Tiān Yù game)[10] aka Mobage
- Xu Jin/Zhong Wumei (GJ: Unique Lady)[11]
- Xu Si (GJ: Rising With the Wind)/Zhang Min (ZZH: Everyone Wants To Meet You)[12]
- Zhang Min (ZZH: Everyone Wants To Meet You)/Zhao Fanzhou (GJ: The Love Equations)[13]
- Huo Yan (GJ: The Flaming Heart)/Zheng Zhi (ZZH: The Bravest)[14]
- Han Ye (GJ: Legend of Anle)/Ji Fa (ZZH: Zhao Ge)[15]
- Xia Yao (GJ: Advance Bravely)/Zhang Min (ZZH: Everyone Wants To Meet You)[16]
- Lin Shen (GJ: Dream Garden)/Zhang Min (ZZH: Everyone Wants To Meet You)[17]
Of note, Zhao Ge and Retro Detective have not yet aired and might never air or might replace ZZH with a different actor.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
Fanart
- 龙鲤莲, Archived version by 275boxes on twitter. Video game threesome art. (Jul 21, 2021)
- i can't think of anything to say. i can't even think, Archived version by butleronduty on twitter. More video game threesome art. (Jun 23, 2021)
- Koi boy and his dragon BF❤️💙, Archived version by brilcrist. Video game ship Jin Li/Tian Zhao (August 30, 2021)
Video
- 【俊哲48宇宙🍊THE GODFATHER】, Archived version by yywaiwai on lofter. A Godfather AU. Includes footage of Gong Jun's character Lin Shen from Dream Garden (2022)
Fannish Resources
- Gong Jun/Zhang Zhehan Character Combinations fanworks tag at AO3
- Junzhe Extended Universe AO3 collection
- Junzhe Extended Universe Bookmarks AO3 collection
- JZEU Mobage March 2024 AO3 collection
- Junzhe universe, you guys, Archived version, tweet thread by supertingg (Jul 3, 2021)
- The JunZhe Cinematic Universe (Part 1), Archived version and (Part 2), Archived version by myu21 (July 20, 2021)
- JunZhe Extended Universe profile page with list of ships
- junzheEU twitter account
- list of ships and supertopics, Archived version on weibo (April 17, 2022)
- 凌越 Ling Rui/Wang Yue supertopic
- JZEU CHARACTER GUIDE
References
- ^ tweet by xiaobabiiwawa, Archived version, 13 April 2021.
- ^ Re: Bangs, Fests, Exchanges - Yuletide, Archived version, fail_fandomanon comment, 2021-09-21.
- ^ Evidence Post 2021, Archived version, comment thread in yuletide-admin, September 20th, 2021.
- ^ Junzhe Extended Universe Bookmarks, Archived version (bookmark collection updated on 22 November 2023.)