Xiao Zhan
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Name: | 肖战 |
| Also Known As: | Xiao Zhan, Sean Xiao, XZ |
| Occupation: | actor, singer |
| Medium: | |
| Works: | X-NINE, The Untamed |
| Official Website(s): | |
| Fan Website(s): | |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
Xiao Zhan is a Chinese actor and singer born on October 5, 1991. His singing career started in 2015 when he appeared on a reality TV show for training idols; he was placed in the group X-NINE. However, he is best known to fandom for starring in The Untamed in 2019 and for being a possible cause of AO3 getting blocked in China in 2020.
Fandom and Shipping
His name is commonly abbreviated as XZ by both international and domestic fans. He has a large fanbase on Chinese social media and was renowned as the most popular idol of 2019. In Chinese fandoms, there is a sharp divide between shipper fans (CP fans) and non-shipper fans. His solo fans are called Xiao Fei Xia (XFX), but the many fans who ship him with his Untamed co-star Wang Yibo have other fan nicknames, depending on the platform. "xzf", short for "Xiao Zhan fans", is another term for his fanbase that is used on Chinese social media.
Wang Yibo/Xiao Zhan is the most popular Xiao Zhan ship.
Example Fanworks
- 91.10.05 Happy Birthday Xiao Zhan!, Archived version, gifset by lulerains on tumblr (October 5, 2020)
- digital art, Archived version, by antaliasun on tumblr (Oct 13th, 2020)
- 让阳光亲吻你 , Archived version, digital portrait by 画糖精 on weibo. Alternate links: tumblr, NetEase (March 10, 2020)
- digital portrait, Archived version by 蜜粽蘸肉汤 on weibo. Alternate link: tumblr (August 18, 2020)
- various MDZS-related artwork, including some Xiao Zhan, Archived version by 空口说白头 on weibo. Alternate links: pinterest, facebook.
- cute digital drawing of XZ with a whale balloon, Archived version by PaParnParn on twitter (June 5, 2020)
- sweet dream little bunny, Archived version, digital art by es_zz on twitter (June 5, 2020)
- retooled portrait, digital art by 狐狸大王a on weibo. Tumblr link. (July 16, 2020)
Controversies
By far the most well known controversy involving Xiao Zhan occurred in February 2020, when a group of radical XFX who didn't like a particular Wang Yibo/Xiao Zhan fanfic reported AO3 to the Chinese government. Some people believe that his PR team tacitly approved of (or even orchestrated) the radical fans' reporting campaign, but this is unproven. People were angry that he didn't seem to try to stop his fans or apologize for what they did; XZ supporters argued that he couldn't be expected to control them and had nothing to apologize for (or that it would be dangerous for him to appear critical of the Chinese government's action). Whether the fan reports were the sole cause of AO3 getting blocked on February 29 can't be confirmed, but Chinese users of AO3 and other sympathetic bystanders (including gamers, apparently) who had never heard of him before joined a boycott movement against him. There are allegations that the backlash against him may have included paid agitators (a real phenomenon in China). Like many Chinese idols he already had anti-fans, but acquired many more during the fallout from the AO3 ban. Anti-Xiao Zhan retaliation included boycotting products he endorsed, getting one of the brands investigated for tax fraud, downvoting every tv project he was in, and harassing him and his fans. Impersonation, hacking, and death threats may also have been involved. No one covered themselves in glory; some XZ fans also engaged in doxxing, threats, and harassment. The conflagration grew big enough that it was covered in the Chinese press, and Xiao Zhan became a very public cautionary tale about the dark underbelly of Chinese idol fandom and the dangers of using Chinese "traffic stars" as brand ambassadors. The incident may even have influenced the Chinese government's decision to launch a summer Internet cleaning campaign focused on toxic idol fan behavior.[1] See Blocking of AO3 in China for more.
Other controversies:
- Post-AO3 incident, anti-fans brought to light racist comments Xiao Zhan made against an actress on social media before he was famous.
- In April 2020 his fans were pressured to buy 105 copies each of his new digital single.[2] Fans organizing to buy an idol's music as soon as it is released is common, but people criticized this event as extreme and an example of "fan abusing". Fail_fandomanon discussed it here.
- XZ fans are rumored to be responsible for Lofter's self-censorship campaign in 2020; starting May 27, 2020, they allegedly spammed popular tags with porn and then reported the app so it was removed from appstores.[1][2]
Further Reading/Meta
- Wu, Xueyin. 2021. "Fan Leaders' Control on Xiao Zhan's Chinese Fan Community." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.2053.