Reflections, Part II: Xiao Zhan one year after the AO3 incident
Chinese actor Sean Xiao, or Xiao Zhan (肖战), shared a lengthy and deeply personal message on Saturday, exactly one year after the “AO3 227” incident that nearly killed his career. His post, translated in full here by Chinese entertainment blogger, 38jiejie, was a heartfelt reflection on what happened a year ago and the fallout that followed. A friend of mine described it as a letter to his fans — and himself.
But why would he even draw attention back to the event — on its anniversary no less — at a time when his career appeared to finally be recovering? There are no obvious upsides for him, but great potential for backfiring, especially if certain factions accuse him of offering empty words that come too little, too late. For me, it is perhaps an indication of how profoundly the event likely affected and weighed on him over the last year. I would be deeply traumatized were I in his shoes -- not simply for the personal career impact and the intense online abuse -- but foremost over the knowledge that I was inadvertently the reason why creative and marginalized communities in my country suddenly lost an important online space for anonymous self-expression. I wonder if this is something he too is keenly aware of as an artist himself.
I first discovered the 29-year-old actor because of his turn as Wei Ying in The Untamed. Unlike the crop of young Chinese actors in recent years who graduate from theatre academies straight into a television or web drama production (and sometimes even before), Xiao Zhan was a little bit of a late comer, having started off as a graphic designer and artist before trying out for a singing competition in 2015.
In countless interviews, he comes across as introspective, sensitive, and humble — much more so than many other Chinese actors who light-heartedly charm their way through interviews with seemingly more trained polish. Perhaps the kindness and earnestness he exudes are simply how he is “packaged” by his handlers, but that introspection and thoughtfulness, in my view, are difficult to feign.
He certainly did not have to revisit the events around China’s ban of Archive Of Our Own. But he did, and at length. (For those who don’t know what happened, I explain it in Part I of my post.) I was confounded by the irrational fandom backlash against him over the last year and its relentlessness. He was forced to shoulder the blame for actions completely outside his control and — depending on who you believe — caused by warring fandoms, a smear campaign, or some combination of both.
For me, what happened to him was an eye-opening look at the power and influence of toxic fandoms, how the Chinese entertainment industry operates, and the relationship between the two. For Xiao Zhan, the fallout was swift and dramatic, and coincided with the death of his grandfather. His “friends” distanced themselves from him. He was blacklisted, subjected to relentless online vitriol, and lost endorsement deals with brands including Estee Lauder, Piaget, and others, for not “controlling" or “guiding” his fans better. He and his team apologized for taking up public resources during a pandemic, but throughout much of 2020, the scandal would resurface with some new rumour or accusation just as things appeared to be dying down. On the surface, this might sound like a classic example of the so-called “cancel culture” in the West. But Chinese fans are extremely online, and the complex artist and fan relationship is significantly more intertwined.
“This time last year, the storm happened so suddenly, as though a barrel of explosives had suddenly detonated with such force that my entire being was left completely dazed,” Xiao Zhan wrote in his Weibo post that garnered over a million comments and nearly 7 million likes in less than 24 hours.
Credit: Xiao Zhan Studios Instagram
TALKING ABOUT AN ISSUE … WITHOUT ACTUALLY MENTIONING IT
It has always been somewhat ambiguous to me whether the criticism of “poor fan behavior” was just about the fans who got AO3 banned, or whether it was about the fans who created the content that sparked the controversy. Given the environment in China where one might talk around sensitive subjects without ever explicitly mentioning it (it is truly a skill, IMHO!), or where sensitive topics are avoided altogether over fear of reprisals, I’m not sure it will ever be truly clear (though I am happy to be corrected on this). We also see this in the statements Xiao Zhan, his management team, and his fan club have issued. AO3, the fan fiction in question, the ban -- these are rarely, if ever, actually mentioned directly.
In China, celebrities are, at least publicly, often held to a high so-called “moral” standard, where their actions are closely watched and managed, and any scandal or behaviour considered to be a “bad” influence (such as being cast in a drama considered “inappropriate”) can put you on a black list for a year or two, or derail your career completely. Even social media companies will make “recommendations” to agencies to keep fans in check, as Weibo did for Xiao Zhan. The notion of being some kind of “role model” is not simply an ideal, but almost a requirement of the job. Naturally, the government defines what being a “role model” means exactly. And of course, who you know or who likes you also matters too.
Censorship in China has worsened significantly in the last several years, but even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. For the average person, a sensitive post may get deleted. For anyone prominent — be it politician or celebrity — every word is intensely scrutinized by both hundreds of millions of people and government censors. What happened to Golden Globe winner Chloe Zhao in China this week is a classic example of the whiplash of public opinion — from celebration to vilification — that can happen in an instant and also the seemingly arbitrary decisions around what gets censored and what does not.
So to me at least, it not only speaks volumes to Xiao Zhan’s character that he would revisit AO3 again, but that he himself has never explicitly or even implicitly condemned the existence of the fan fiction. In an environment like China, doing so might be an obvious and easy route to take, especially given the government’s wholesale decision to ban the entire site. Instead, he tells fans in broad terms to lead a good life, to focus their energies in the real world, to become better versions of themselves.
In his most recent post, it is ambiguous whether he is talking about the love and hate directed at him, at the people who got AO3 banned, or at those who created the fan fiction. But he writes: “So here today, I want to tell my fans that everyone has the right to like and hate; whether it is like or dislike, it should all be respected, be allowed to exist in an individual’s personal space of expression.” He goes on to say that this right should not cause harm to others.
“Everyone has their own interests and preferences. Fully respect each person’s freedom of choice and opinion. It is an individual’s right to like me or hate me. Love itself should be the source of strength for everyone.”
* Excerpts are my own translations, please flag any errors