Hello all you wonderful figthusiasts! Today is the day that I hit 600 fan figs on my spreadsheet total (not all in hand, the vast majority are in some stage of production or transport), and I wanted to take a minute to stop and celebrate what is, by all accounts, an incredible number.
This is less about me (and my perhaps fiscally-questionable use of disposable cash) and more about the fact that more than 600 individual figures of Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan were produced and made solely by fans. That this many actually exist in the world. What this is about, above all other things, is about love, and resilience, and the awe-inspiring, unstoppable combination of both.
I don't normally talk about the current situation with Zhang Zhehan and Chinese entertainment, because this blog is meant to be a little island of happiness and fun for us that love this show, love these two actors, and love seeing cute renditions of them. But 600...well, 600 feels powerful. It feels like something worth talking about.
This fandom has had half of our vibrant, beautiful soul ripped from us in the nastiest, cruelest, most contemptible way possible. This is greed and evil in the most overt form I've seen in the world, and it was horrifying to watch it unfold that August.
As overseas fans, we at least can still see Zhang Zhehan's past works, post videos and photos of him, and freely say his name as much as we want. The Chinese fandom cannot. Zhang Zhehan has been so comprehensively erased from Chinese media that he cannot even use his own name. The fandom can't even search for his name online, his pictures and videos have been removed, and any of the shows or movies that feature him that remains still available has him (literally) scrubbed from the screen.
This is what I see when I search for Zhang Zhehan on Taobao, Weidian, and Xianyu:
The Chinese fans have taken matters into their own hands, and stood up and fought back and refused to forget him. The fig makers, the doll makers, the merch makers - all of these incredibly brave, loyal, and loving fans have gone out there and dedicated thousands and thousands of hours of their own time and their own money to keeping his memory fresh, his work front and center, and his light constantly burning.
They took him from the fans, but they can't make the fans let him go.
Luckily, the fandom still has the other half of it's soul, and continues to celebrate Gong Jun and his accomplishments, and his own fiercely loyal and great heart, and celebrates the love and affection and care these two souls have for each other. Zhehan promised Junjun forever on May 5th, 2021, and the fandom honors and helps keep his promise.
Think about it. Six-hundred-plus fan-created figurines of the two of them. I don't even own all the fan figs - there's absolutely more than this, I'd estimate closer to 700.
There's Wenzhou figs, of course, but random side character in a long ago TV show? Check. Main characters? Check. Appearance(s) on a variety show? Check. Ad campaigns? (Lots of) magazine shoots? Check check. Casual airport outfit? Workout pose? Douyin moment? any number of Weibo posts? Livestream? not just one, not just two, not just three, renditions of childhood photos? Check check check.
And the figs are still coming. I have a whole list of figs in sketch form sitting in my Weidian cart, waiting to be opened for deposits. One after another, fig makers dipping deep into their precious hoards of recorded shows and magazines and photos and videos of Zhehan, designing one fig after another. Every time Junjun wears some fancy new designer outfit, fans are hard at work pairing that look with a complementary one from Zhehan's archive, determined to keep these two front and center in a country where they can't even type Zhehan's name into a search engine without it being censored.
My respect for the Chinese fandom and the fan creators is immense. They have souls of steel. Every time I hold one of these figs in my hand, and marvel at the cleverness and creativity and all the fine little details, I feel the strength of that connection to them, that iron determination, the fierce will to persevere, that pride and joy, and the love that can't be stopped. ๅๅผบ indeed.
Yeah, 600+ figs is a trauma response, no question. For the fan makers and the fan buyers. But it's a response, all right. Today I have 600 and more tiny (giant) shouts of, you can't stop us, we're going to keep loving and celebrating and remembering him no matter what happens.
It's incredible. I don't know why 600 is the number that really hits me - I had thought it would be 500, but I blew past 500 without blinking in a frenzy of late night and early morning fig drops, and then it was Gong Jun's birthday, and a tidal wave of love and figs, and now here I am. I was at 598 yesterday and already today I'm at 612. I'll be at 700 before I know it, with a lot of remainders starting to be released and the Spring Festival coming up.
I have less than 200 fan figs actually at home, and it's ... a lot. My husband asked me a while back, staring at my display shelves, so, what's the end game here? and I just looked at him, and said, I don't know.
I really don't. I have to believe this is totally unprecedented, but then again, what happened to him is totally unprecedented. The only thing I know that if the fans keep making them, I'm going to keep supporting them.
So here's to resistance, and resilience, and love. Here's to the fans staying strong, and here's to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan. It's going to be a glorious sunrise on the mountaintop when it comes.
MY FRIEND, I ABSOLUTELY CAN!!!! ๐ฅฐ Starting from the beginningโฆ
PART ONE: ORIGINAL FILMANIA PRODUCTION & FATE
Itโs 2019-20, youโre Mile Phakphum Romsaithong, a very rich socialite who plays guitar. Youโre bored and youโve been thinking about getting into acting, and have been offered misc. BL casting opportunities before, but never really felt like any of them were For You, so you turned them down.ย
Then, one day, you find out that there is a BL currently casting from the studio Filmania, where the male lead is based on you, at least your public persona/physically/whatever. Being a puppy of a man, you are delighted, and go read the script, and then the books, and decide youโll go to the casting call for it.
At casting call, you re-meet Apo Nattawinย Wattanagitiphat, who you went to college with and had a giant crush on. You guys hit it off IMMEDIATELY, chemistry unhinged, and get cast as Kinn and Porsche. Apo takes it, even though he has historically had a bad experience with the Thai acting industry. You are delighted by this incidence of FATE!!!!!!
PART TWO: IF YOU DONโT HAVE FATE ON YOUR SIDE STORE-BOUGHT IS FINE
The show gets dropped. Something something the authors, something something the company, whatever. I assume, if you are Mile, you are very sad! And if youโre Apo youโre also pretty sad, because it seemed like for once even with all the industry BS you had a cool dude on your side who you hit it off with, and it was gonna be a cool show. On the heels of that, if you are Mile, and have stacks of money, and see your college crush who is an unbelievable actor about to re-give up on acting and call it a wash, you are like,ย โwait, I have stacks of money and know everyoneโ.
So you, Mile, call up the head of the small talent agency youโre signed with, Be On Cloud, which is really just your buddy Pondย Krisda Witthayakhajorndet in a fake mustache and a trench coat, and go, hey! So! Have you ever wanted to make television? I have a man here I CANNOT allow to be sad under any circumstances, and also, weโre really good at this and thereโs an audience here.
PART THREE: BE ON CLOUD, KINNPORSCHE TAKE TWO!!!!
Pond, being just as unhinged as Mile, thinks about it for a second, and is like. Well. How different can making television be from running an event planning company, which is my real job. Itโs just calling up a bunch of different guys who are good at their jobs and putting them in one place. And I know so many different guys! Letโs do it!
They get the rights (handwaves this I donโt know anything about it) and jump into production. They get their shit together UNREALISTICALLY quickly, and on top of that, since theyโre starting from scratch and theyโre just A Bunch Of Guys led by Pond and Mile, they decide that their priorities are #1 making art and #2 making Apo happy. With regards to #1, they rework the script, hire the best acting coaches money can afford, and put the cast through character-building and intimacy workshops. With regards to #2, they toss out all the industry bullshit that has sucked for him in the past โ no more crew/cast hierarchy, no more homophobia on-set, no more fake fanservice.
FINALE: MIRACLES IF U BELIEVE ETC.
Magically, it turns out, when you create a great working environment, you get really, really good TV!!!!! Which means that their unhinged plan succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and now Mile & Apo are internationally famous superstars who hang out 24/7 with their squad of 16 close friends, and we get to watch them do it. And it has been, genuinely, a fucking privilege.ย
To end this tale with a personal note, one of the reasons I allowed myself to get soย invested in KinnPorsche so fast is because it was evident from every aspect of it โ the show itself, the BTS, the actors interviews โ that the people working on this show both really cared about the show and were genuinely having a great time. There is nothing like seeing art made by people who are passionate about making it!ย
Their enthusiasm, their hard work, and their obvious enjoyment of the process & each otherโs company are what made me feel like I could trust what they were making, because you could tell no matter what else it was, it was from the heart. And thatโs really something special! Especially in this day and age!!ย
And even though they could pull it off this time because of the circumstances (financial and social), I hope that it shows BL television CAN be made in a way that keeps the actors comfortable and safe and happy, and encourages change for the better across the industry as a whole. KinnPorsche shouldnโt be the last wild BL passion project; it should be the first one of a new wave. (bangs gavel) Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I'm just going to rant here about the Zhang Zhehan situation. Specifically about some people that consider themselves his fans. I'm talking about those who believe that he would establish a fashion brand to sell overpriced, low quality hats and jewelry to his fans.
You guys should know him better than anyone else. You have the knowledge of the fans that have been with him for more than 5 years. You have seen him through so many ups and downs. And yet it looks like you don't really know his voice.
I have only known about him for a bit over a year now. This is what I know about Zhang Zhehan.
He is kind. On his bike ride to Tibet, he helped strangers cross the water in heavy rain. On the set of The Hero, which we will never see, he stopped to help an elderly lady down stairs. When there was a flood, he sent in supplies to help quietly.
He believes in people's innate goodness. Even in such a cutthroat industry, he lifts people up rather than putting them down. His interactions with Ju Jingyi were called motherly. He bribed the guest judge on Chuang in order to raise his shidi's profile, and then pointed him out at the concert. He gave so many pointers to Gong Jun, his co-lead, to let him be the best possible Wen Kexing.
He is magnanimous. It is clear who can be blamed for the setbacks in his career. The injury that took away one of his greatest passions, basketball, could have been avoided if it weren't for certain people. He is also generous with his money. He has said in interviews, he lets his mom handle his finances. He doesn't spend a lot of money because he doesn't drive, he's on set most of the time so rarely has to wear his own clothing, and doesn't buy a lot of other unnecessary things. He apologized to fans for the cost of his EP. He has told his fans not to buy endorsements just because of him, buy it only if you need it.
Zhang Sanjian is none of those things.
Zhang Sanjian is cheap, begging fans to support him by buying a hat that costs $2 to make for $100 and a necklace that costs $25 to make for $500. Zhang Sanjian is petty, publicly calling out a fellow lead actor of Word of Honor.
By believing that Zhang Sanjian is Zhang Zhehan, you believe that he has become cheap. That he has become petty. That he suddenly thinks clarifying his relationship with the other lead actor of Word of Honor is worth committing the crime of jumping over the firewall and therefore jeopardizing his case. That he is a liar and an oath breaker. Because on May 4, 2021, he stood on that stage and said to that coworker, "ๆๆฐธ่ฟ้ฝๅจใ" I will always be there. And the Instagram video is the opposite of that.
If you really believe this is the kind of person he has become, shame on you. You are no longer a kind-hearted fool. You are actively choosing to believe that this kind, optimistic, generous person is actually petty, cheap, and full of lies. It is, frankly, insulting that you think he would stoop to such levels.
As for me, I choose instead to believe that Zhang Zhehan is a man of his word. That he is above fandom squabbles. That he has enough business savvy to know not to publicly call out a former coworker, because who would want to work with him after that? That he is not the kind of person to see his fans as a personal piggy bank. I choose to take the kinder route of believing that Zhang Zhehan is still the person I knew rather than the caricature put up on a hacked Instagram account.
You're finally back!! So straight to the point: what are your opinions on the brand "zhehan" is promoting? Any theories? Because personally I don't buy it. Something about this entire operation stinks
I don't buy it either and I have a lot of questions.
The ownership of the brand itself is rather sus. The brand has four logos, three of which were registered by a company that belongs to Xie Yihua (90%) and her sister Xie Yiwen (10%)
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This is the same Xie Yihua that worked as ZZH's former music manager. You can even check her baidu page to confirm.
Her company currently has 73 registered (and pending) trademarks under several categories, from bedsheets to clothes, shoes, jewelry etc. Around 50 of these trademarks are for Zhang Sanjian logos alone. The rest are for ELPV, 7HL and EHZ logos, three out of the four logos used in the EHz.Z merch itself and the online store. You can look this up yourself on ็ฑไผๆฅใ
So why doesn't ZZH own the logos of his own brands? The reasoning seems to be that he can no longer use his name to open a company or register trademarks. Not only do I have a lot of questions about the legalities, of whether there is anything under the law that would support this claim (if you can find one let me know) but also...if this is the case, then why not use his mother's name instead? We know it's possible cause the fourth logo used in the brand (Haizhe handsign) was registered by a company that belongs to her (99% stake) and a Chen Qunying (1% stake)
This is often used as "proof" that ZZH does own this brand, but it still bugs me that his mother didn't just register the rest of the logos herself.
Currently they are selling via a store set up on wechat (if you have the app just search EHz.Z) and I have questions about the ownership of the store itself. Wechat shows you the owner of a store right off the bat.
And you can see here that the store is owned by a company called ไธๆตท็ฑ็ฆพๆ่ฃ ๆ้ๅ ฌๅธ, and if you look it up you'll see that it isn't owned by ZZH or even his mother. It's owned by someone named Chen Liying (88% stakes) and Xie Yihua (12% stakes). Why is this woman's name all over the brand that allegedly belongs to ZZH? While his name is nowhere to be found?
A lot of the marketing was done through gossip disseminated by so-called insider fans who had access to information that nobody else has. Allegedly, these fans (especially ones with large followings) were approached by certain people claiming to have connections with ZZH. This network of so-called insiders then disseminated information to the rest of the ignorant plebs in the fandom especially through private groups. This gossip network, plus the essays published by "Zhang Sanjian", were used to craft a specific narrative around ZZH: that he was giving up on his case, that there was no chance of his name being cleared, that he suffered severe financial losses after 813, became utterly destitute and can no longer afford to support himself. There were unfounded claims of him being sued by brands he had active contracts with during 813 for millions of RMB. I found these really strange at the time because you can actually find these things on websites like qichacha, and up to this day there are no recorded lawsuits against ZZH. At the time I was wondering who was spreading these rumours and what their purpose was. I still don't have an answer to this, but I find this even more interesting now, considering all that has happened recently.
So again, the story is that ZZH is utterly broke, that there is little to no chances of him clearing his name and going back to being an actor, and the only thing he can do is to sell merch. This is why they attack anyone who casts doubt on the brand. This is the only way for ZZH to make a living now! Why are you people destroying the only source of income he has??!! ๐ก๐ก๐ก
So my biggest question here is that if the whole schtick of the brand is that it is poor, destitute ZZH's only source of income, it implies that this is his business, and he profits from it. So why is the store not under his name or his mom's? The reasoning of his fans is pretty problematic. They say that his music manager Xie Yihua is the one handling everything for him, and even lends her name for the business so he doesn't have to use his own. And this is possible because they have super secret special contracts! So don't worry! Even if it looks like other people own the brand, the money still goes to ZZH! You're supporting him by buying!
Am I supposed to consider this an acceptable explanation? This sounds more like tax fraud than anything else.
I could go on and on but I don't want to make this post too long. Point is, so many things just don't add up. If I'm proven wrong, I'm willing to change my mind and post clarifications, but for now I'm on the side of the skeptics.
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