Newbie in Chinese entertainment - Help a girl out! Who are the Walls? etc

[Saint Ren]

Over the past few months, I've found myself slowly getting emerged into the Chinese entertainment industry, but it is so damn big!

 

In the West we have A rank celebs - D ranks celebs, its the same in Korea, but every time I figure out a hierarchy for China, it just gets destroyed. My knowledge just isn't big enough. 

 

Drama's I've watched - Love 020, Nirvana In Fire and Cruel Romance. 

Variety Shows - Hurry Up brother, Go Fighting 

 

That's my experience so far, I think a few A ranks celebs are Huang Xiaoming, Huang Bo and Deng Chao and any female that's given a Four Dan title. 

 

But who are the Walls? Like Won Bin level for China 

 

and how popular are Yang Yang, Wang Kai, Luhan, Kris, Tao, Lay, TF Boys, Angelababy and out of the rising stars who's the current number 1. Like in the US, Taylor Swift ruled supreme for a minute and now we've moved on and in Korea BTS/Twice are the current it group.

 

How popular are Hurry up brother and Go Fighting? 

 

Are there any websites like netizenbuzz and panchoa? 

 

and please recommend some dramas/movies, I'm not really sure what to watch next or maybe some music. 

 

Thank you. 

 

 

[daisy1301]

This is something similar to netizenbuzz ---> http://weibo-go.blogspot.bg

I recently watched Duckweed with Deng Chao, Zhao Liying and Eddie Peng. It's a great and very funny movie with a heartwarming story. I totally recommend it.

[waycrispy1]

I don't think there are any walls, but the top stars have staying power. The younger ones you named are all very popular with pretty massive market value, because they have tremendous fan support so they will buy whatever is being endorsed. As for female, I'm biased but Zhao Liying, she is the undisputed ratings queen of China, the collective online views for her dramas surpassed 100 billion. Luhan usually tops the male singer list, as for actors it switches every week.

 

Variety: Go Fighting and Hurry Up Brother (now Keep Running) are very popular. You might want to try that 72 Floors variety with Kris and Zhao Liying, Divas Hit the Road (probably won't find subs though).

 

Dramas: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (if you've seen the newer Keep Running episodes, the girl that Luhan is always paired with Dilraba is in it, When a Snail Falls in Love (Wang Kai), Love Me If You Dare (Wallace Huo), Ode to Joy (also Wang Kai, the sequel actually comes out tomorrow), Fighter of the Destiny (Luhan), Dr. Qin Medical Examiner (gruesome, but fun and has Zhang Ruoyun), Wu Xin: The Monster Killer (Elvis Han, Zhang Ruoyun), Princess Agents (Zhao Liying - comes out next month)

 

As for music, I like most of what the Exo members come out with. Also been really into Hua Chenyu lately, he created the theme songs for the new Divas Hit the Road season 3 and Super Boys 2017

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZddiaUucXI

 

cnewsdevotee.wordpress.com - they compile stuff on dramas/varieties, but do not post as often

[blank_stare]

I suggest a virtual voyage dot net/com. They regularly update for Chinese drama and news.

[Queen's Mine]

I suggest a virtual voyage dot net/com. They regularly update for Chinese drama and news.

I didn't know u up to date with C entertainment.... I thought u only following K entertainment

 

[nutella]

Celebs ranking changes from list to list but usually the names stay the same. 

A recent one: https://twoc-ents.com/2017/04/13/feature-headline-news-and-jiemian-news-release-commercial-value-ranking-income-ranking-little-fresh-meat-ranking-and-social-media-ranking/

 

As for websites all the other ones mentioned. I just follow their twitter accounts. Also, if you want just cdrama news: https://twitter.com/dramapotatoe

 

Dramas: Scarlet Heart (historical), Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (historical fantasy), Boss & Me (romcom from the same writer as Love 2O2), My Sunshine (from the same writer as Love 2O2, a bit darker than the others but it is a love story), The Mystic Nine (if you enjoy tomb robbing and republican era dramas- same period as Cruel Romance), Sparrow (Republican era/spy drama), Journey of Flower (historical fantasy), Legend of LuZhen (historical) + some of the other ones mentioned above

 

Movies: Duckweed (Deng Chao, Eddie Peng, Zhao Liying), First Time (Angelababy, Mark Chao), I also liked the movie version of Love 2O2

 

Variety shows: Divas hit the road, Happy Camp, 72 Floors of Mystery, Hurry Up Brother

 

[blank_stare]

I didn't know u up to date with C entertainment.... I thought u only following K entertainment

 

 

I follow mostly Chinese and Japanese. Korean not so much now. Although I do like watching K-dramas from time to time. (I gotta finish watching Chief Kim and review the rest of the episodes.)

[Saint Ren]

Thanks for the recs, I found some great sites to check out and some new shows, I'm thinking of starting with Divas hit the road S2 but I sadly can't find eng subs anywhere. 

[waycrispy1]

Thanks for the recs, I found some great sites to check out and some new shows, I'm thinking of starting with Divas hit the road S2 but I sadly can't find eng subs anywhere. 

 

DHTR S2 was really good, that's when I fell for Yang Yang (my sig is from that show)....so vain yet so adorable. I also liked how they show how not everyone gets along like most other varieties. People with big personalities will clash. You're right, unfortunately there are no subs.

[everypart]

Walls would be the legends in the industry who have been working for several years.. Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, etc. Several of them are from HK.

 

But young stars are already A list too with several hit movies under their belts, Kris already released 7+ successful movies in 2 years, Luhan with around 4 and he has a drama now too, Li Yifeng has hit drama after hit drama and around 3 successful movies too, Yang Yang's drama didn't do amazing but his movie with Deng Chao was a hit.

 

I don't think you can really compare young A-listers with those from Korean ent tbh. Their staying power is different because the fanbase and the audience are different. It's just a different industry, if you've established yourself somewhat in C-ent then you'll keep on getting projects.

 

If you want to follow news then I I'll suggest Two C-ents aside from the blogs already mentioned above, I write for the site and we try to cover as much as we can, we also do movie/drama reviews and Weibo translations.

[Saint Ren]

I'm loving Twoc-ents at the moment, I've read so many posts, it's a great site, unfortunate about DHTR S2 but I've got Duckweed and Boss & Me on my to watch list for this week. 

[YingYang]

Definitely recommend Boss and me.

Eternal Love if you like Xianxia. Sound of the desert is also pretty good.

Recently I've been watching a variety show called who's the murderer, although it does get a bit repetitive, it's enjoyable. 

[I_BS]

I remember Chinese RM or Hurry Up Brother being very popular and very good in the first few seasons. I stopped watching after season 3 because it became repetitive. Idk much about it now. I'm sure it is still very popular. Go Fighting is great. It's first two seasons received great ratings and reviews. I'm excited for the third season.

Love O2O, Nivana in Fire, and Cruel Romance were all popular, for different reasons. Loveo2o was an adaption from a very popular novel. Yang yang and zheng shuang are trending actors. The drama was going to be hit from the very beginning. IIts reviews were okay considering it is an idol drama. I don't remember Cruel Romance except one of the cringy topless Hwang xiaoming scene. I know it was popular but i couldn't get past the first episode.

Nirvana in Fire was on a whole different level than those two. It was a cultural phenomenon and received both great reviews and ratings. It sat on the top of weibo search bar days after the last episode. The Chinese honor the dead on the 7th and the 49th day. So 49 days after the last episode, mei changsu trends again. It was THE drama of 2016, reaping multiple awards for the drama and the actors. It allowed Hu Ge to completely break away from the idol actor mold that he was known for since 2006. I'm biased of course. It is my favorite drama after all so I paid way more attention to it than the other ones.

I agree with most of the actors you listed. I would also add Hu Ge, Wallace Huo, eddy peng. Of course you have the old legends that other people mentioned before.

You probably have heard of the term before, but Yang Yang, Luhan, Kris, Tao, Lay, TF Boys are considered fresh meat. They have not established their acting skills yet. Yang yang blew up in 2015 for his looks. Luhan, kris, tao,  and lay are popular because of exo. Tf boys are not actors. They have acting roles but their popularity is due to their social media presence and variety shows. All of them can get main roles because of their popularity, and solely based on their popularity. Most of the dramas they are in are considered idol dramas if you will. If you go on douban.com, the reviews are....  Wang Kai is kinda different. He got popular after the Disguiser and Nirvana in Fire in 2015. I haven't watched a lot of his new stuff, but his acting is good. I have yet to see anything good from Angelababy.

I guess I'm being too critical, but keep in mind that the Chinese industry is very different than the Korean one. It is a lot bigger and for the most part less competitive. Anyone with a little popularity can survive. 

[abra]

Idk about the movie/drama scene.

 

For music these are probably the three biggest legends: Teresa Teng, Jay Chou, Faye Wong. I can't think of anyone else that is as big.

Other very popular singers are: A-Mei, JJ Lin, Jolin Tsai.

A lot of actors have released popular songs too.

 

Chinese entertainment is mostly focused on soloists but there are some notable groups: F4 (project boy group), S.H.E (girl group), Mayday (rock band). There's also a popular boy group now with members that are in 12-13 years old or so.

 

A couple of recommendations:

 

 

 

 

50% of my Chinese playlist is Hebe Tien

[Eternally A Xingmi]

WATCH NIRVANA IN FIRE AND GO FIGHTING!!!!!

 

NIF: https://www.viki.com/tv/22943c-nirvana-in-fire?locale=en

 

GF: Season 1:

http://www.dailymotion.com/gofightingyixing

Season 2 is under the official channel (subbed) - 

 

Enjoy!

[Hyooga]

I think the hierarchy in C-ent goes like this

 

 

Top of the chain - Fan Bing Bing, Zhao Wei, Huang Xiao Ming, Deng Chao, Andy Lau, Chen Kun, He Jiong, Sun Li (they're already truly established in their own way)

 

A-listers (you can consider them top of the chain, but they slightly trail behind because they might lack some things but should join the top chain give or take a couple of years) 

- Hu Ge, Yang Mi, Wallace Huo,Tang Yan, Li Yifeng, Zhao Liying, Angelababy, Chen Qiao En, Liu Shi Shi (pretty much a lot of the former Tangren kids and Taiwanese/HK idols)

 

 

Fresh meats/Youngbloods (the most marketable and popular young talents right now who are set to take over - they're very popular and are in demand, but some of them still need to prove their actual consistent value in terms of critical, box office and ratings success)

- TF Boys, Wu Lei, Yang Yang, Wu Qian, Kris Wu, Luhan, Zhang Yixing, Tao, William Chan, Dilireba, Zheng Shuang, Yang Zi, Ma Ke, Zhang Binbin etc...

[everypart]

I think the hierarchy in C-ent goes like this

 

 

Top of the chain - Fan Bing Bing, Zhao Wei, Huang Xiao Ming, Deng Chao, Andy Lau, Chen Kun, He Jiong, Sun Li (they're already truly established in their own way)

 

A-listers (you can consider them top of the chain, but they slightly trail behind because they might lack some things but should join the top chain give or take a couple of years) 

- Hu Ge, Yang Mi, Wallace Huo,Tang Yan, Li Yifeng, Zhao Liying, Angelababy, Chen Qiao En, Liu Shi Shi (pretty much a lot of the former Tangren kids and Taiwanese/HK idols)

 

 

Fresh meats/Youngbloods (the most marketable and popular young talents right now who are set to take over - they're very popular and are in demand, but some of them still need to prove their actual consistent value in terms of critical, box office and ratings success)

- TF Boys, Wu Lei, Yang Yang, Wu Qian, Kris Wu, Luhan, Zhang Yixing, Tao, William Chan, Dilireba, Zheng Shuang, Yang Zi, Ma Ke, Zhang Binbin etc...

I'm curious how you chose the A-listers? Because a lot of those in the list are NOT consistent in critical AND box office success.

[Hyooga]

I'm curious how you chose the A-listers? Because a lot of those in the list are NOT consistent in critical AND box office success.

 

"They might lack some things...."

 

Please kindly re-read.

 

Also most of the A-listers have been part of multiple projects in the past 5 and so years that made a positive & lasting mark on audiences, not just one or two hits and a hundred other CFs.

[yxsodamncharming]

Think A-listers in China can emerge in a bed of roses (still highly sought after for projects and endorsements) even after bad press or box office dumps or poor TV ratings.

 

They may also be spilt into the international segment vs local segment. E.g. Zhang Zhiyi & Zhao Wei are huge internationally, while someone like Yang Mi or Huang Bo may not be well-known outside of China, but among the China population, these are the biggest stars currently and their China market's TV ratings or box office easily eclipse most of better known "international stars".

 

If you can read Chinese or can fins someone to translate this, think this chart very nicely sum up majority of the well-known artises' market segment and popularity/reputation in the China entertainment industry.

 

http://wx4.sinaimg.cn/large/ae242350ly1fdnllxh7wzj22rf1yvx6r.jpg

[everypart]

"They might lack some things...."

 

Please kindly re-read.

 

Also most of the A-listers have been part of multiple projects in the past 5 and so years that made a positive & lasting mark on audiences, not just one or two hits and a hundred other CFs.

There is really no difference between the success of Angelababy compared to those you placed in the last list. She's not consistent in box office success, critical success, or drama success. Her biggest representative work is a variety show. That's why I asked you because she isn't just "lacking some things" compared to the young bloods tbh. Some of them are even more consistently successful than her. She doesn't get cast in lead roles in huge tentpole projects either and movies with her as lead either underperform or do really badly.

 

A lot of those you listed have successful dramas but flop movies too so again, inconsistent. Yang Mi is probably the only one who's pretty successful in all fields (bar critical success although that's improving lately). Using your criteria, she's the only one who fits the bill (and tbh she deserves to be on the top list, especially since she's building a successful empire). And maybe Li Yifeng since he's only really lacking in consistent critical success (he has hit movies and hit dramas). 

 

Of course, I'm not talking about social media presence. 

[I_BS]

I think the hierarchy in C-ent goes like this

 

 

Top of the chain - Fan Bing Bing, Zhao Wei, Huang Xiao Ming, Deng Chao, Andy Lau, Chen Kun, He Jiong, Sun Li (they're already truly established in their own way)

 

A-listers (you can consider them top of the chain, but they slightly trail behind because they might lack some things but should join the top chain give or take a couple of years) 

- Hu Ge, Yang Mi, Wallace Huo,Tang Yan, Li Yifeng, Zhao Liying, Angelababy, Chen Qiao En, Liu Shi Shi (pretty much a lot of the former Tangren kids and Taiwanese/HK idols)

 

 

Fresh meats/Youngbloods (the most marketable and popular young talents right now who are set to take over - they're very popular and are in demand, but some of them still need to prove their actual consistent value in terms of critical, box office and ratings success)

- TF Boys, Wu Lei, Yang Yang, Wu Qian, Kris Wu, Luhan, Zhang Yixing, Tao, William Chan, Dilireba, Zheng Shuang, Yang Zi, Ma Ke, Zhang Binbin etc...

Great list!

However there are a few that I personally disagree with. I think Li Yifeng and Yang Yang should be in the same tier. They are both above regular Freshmeat but below the A-listers. I personally don't think Angelababy belongs with the other A-listers who have multiple hit dramas under their belt. If I remember correctly, she is mostly known for her Running man appearance and relationship with Huang Xiaoming. Her dramas were popular nothing compared to the other A-listers' representative works.

I would add Liu Haoran to the Fresh meat. He looks very promising.

I miss the old Tangren so much. Now they only have Hu Ge after Yuan Hong and Shi Shi left. I would die the day the three of them show up in a drama again. Chinese Paladin 3 was truely legendary. Hu Ge, Liu shi shi, Yuan Hong, Wallace Hua, and Yang mi in the same drama.