China’s entertainment industry is witnessing a war without smoke, as rising male star Zhang Linghe, catapulted to fame by the hit drama “Pursuing Jade”, and celebrity Zhao Lusi, who once paused her career, break out into an online data battle. Fans from both sides clashed fiercely over the rightful owner of the “Douyin Annual Popularity” chart, with the topic “Zhang Linghe’s plaza was raided by Zhao Lusi’s fans” making the hot list and sparking more than 70,000 discussions in a single day.
Recently, Zhao Lusi held a personal concert and brand event in Bangkok, Thailand, while Zhang Linghe was invited by an international luxury brand to attend a fashion show in New York, USA. During the event, Zhang Linghe took the No. 1 spot on X’s “US Trending Chart,” which infuriated Zhao Lusi fans and escalated the online battle for the title of “Overseas Traffic King.”
Zhao Lusi fans pointed out that her IG boasts as many as 59 posts with over a million likes, and that she has 1.06 million retweets on X, mocking Zhang Linghe’s fans for celebrating on their own. Zhao Lusi’s fans also emphasized that she has had six dramas top the annual charts across all platforms in the past seven years, in addition to being the top-end jewelry brand spokesperson. They teased, “Zhao Lusi maintains a clear lead despite not joining any new projects for two years; if Zhang Linghe stopped working, he might vanish without a trace.”
Zhang Linghe’s fans certainly refused to back down, staunchly defending his crown on X’s US Trending Chart as “real-time hype,” and further highlighting that “Pursuing Jade” was simulcast on three platforms, which demonstrates Zhang Linghe’s meteoric rise.
Some believe that Zhao Lusi, thanks to her string of hit dramas, enjoys immense popularity in Southeast Asia and among overseas Chinese communities; meanwhile, Zhang Linghe has become a rising star in the Western fashion world in recent years. Both are evenly matched in overseas influence. On another note, while Zhang Linghe left a deep impression in “Pursuing Jade,” he has also been nicknamed the “Foundation General;” and though Zhao Lusi has had an uninterrupted streak of works, she has been labeled as “emotionally unstable.” Ultimately, who is stronger may be decided by their future endeavors.
News source: Liberty Times