China's “Sohu Entertainment” distributed a questionnaire to 60 media peers (with 46 valid responses) to compile the list of local artists with the highest media favorability for 2025. In addition to Charmaine Sheh becoming the only listed Hong Kong star who drew attention, the top five artists who received the most praise from media outlets were also in the spotlight: Xiao Zhan, Bai Lu, Wang Hedi, Li Landi, and Song Weilong.
In addition to Charmaine Sheh, there were 10 other artists who received positive reviews from the media, such as Jackson Yee, Chen Duling, Li Yitong, Song Yuqi, Yang Zi, Xin Zhilei, Ayanga, etc.
Overall, among the young actresses (“Xiaohua”), the proportion of those who perform appropriately is noticeably higher, while among the young actors (“Xiaosheng”), only about a third can truly be deemed “pleasant and professional.” As for young actresses with poor reputations, it is only individual cases, while there are plenty of young actors whose words and actions do not match.
As is customary, artists who have projects airing often do more interviews, thus receiving more media feedback and accumulating higher favorability. Artists who have no recent projects or rarely appear in public naturally have less exposure.
1st Place: The 'Perfect Score' of Top-Tier Star Xiao Zhan
The keywords for Xiao Zhan's favorability are modest, professional, thoughtful, and well-mannered.
Media reviews: “Many traffic artists strictly control the interview outline, not allowing questions outside of the provided list. But Xiao Zhan is completely unconcerned about reporters going beyond the outline in interviews. He treats both the prepared questions and any off-script inquiries with the same earnest attitude.”
“It wasn’t my interview, but I witnessed it firsthand on site. Halfway through the interview, the media's filming equipment malfunctioned, forcing the process to halt. Staff members panicked and rushed out of the interview room for an emergency fix, and the artist waited onsite. During that 'wasted' time, neither he nor his team uttered a single complaint. After the fix, he continued the interview without any displeasure, and neither he nor his team brought it up again afterwards. The interview was ultimately published successfully. Such respect and tolerance in the face of unexpected situations is what true top-tier demeanor looks like.”
“He is never overly lively or evasive; everything is carried out methodically and completed perfectly. I used to think such behavior was 'mediocre,' but after comparing it, I realized for a top star, this is the hardest 'perfect score' to achieve.”
2nd Place: Bai Lu, Who 'Saves the Day' When Interviews Go Wrong
The keywords for Bai Lu are warm and attentive.
Media reviews: “Starring in three dramas a year means a ton of interviews and promos, but Bai Lu always manages to bring surprises. She is interesting, witty, and never comes across as tired or scripted, so I actually look forward to her interviews. You can tell she is well-prepared but, even rarer, she is genuinely willing to share.”
“Every interview, she arrives punctually right after we set up, truly values timing. One thing that impressed me was a segment involving trending jokes; we were worried she might be self-conscious about participating, but she agreed instantly. When a small problem occurred in the middle, she worked out another method herself to ensure the session was complete. It's hard not to love an artist who cares so much about media needs.”
Song Weilong: Too Many Jokes for Us to Catch Up
The third place is the 'everyone’s favorite' Wang Hedi, with keywords: warm and vibrant. The fourth and fifth places went to Li Landi, who doesn’t ask for photos to be airbrushed, and Song Weilong, who has a cool sense of humor.
Media reviews for Song Weilong were especially amusing: “I asked if he put on his coat temporarily because he was cold, he replied, 'No, it’s just to look cool.' Too witty!” “I thought he was a quiet introvert, but in person, he’s both handsome and funny, never lets a conversation stall, and jokes come so fast we can hardly keep up.”
Ayanga: Asking Staff to Leave the Room
Other listed artists also received interesting comments from the media. For example, Ayanga from the music reality show 'Super Vocal' was described thus: “At first, several questions were removed from the interview outline by the staff, which we found a pity but couldn’t help. Unexpectedly, once Ayanga entered the interview room, he immediately asked his staff to leave, saying ‘you don’t need to watch over this.’ So we tried bringing up the deleted questions, and he answered them all thoughtfully with deep insights; the article received great online feedback.”
The media thinks the questions were probably deleted due to team over-cautiousness, while actually the artist didn’t mind and even had a lot he wanted to share. They further called on teams to be less sensitive when reviewing interview outlines, because when journalists spend time writing them, only to have deeper questions cut and only regular content allowed, it's really frustrating.
Overall, among the young actresses (“Xiaohua”), the proportion of those who perform appropriately is noticeably higher, while among the young actors (“Xiaosheng”), only about a third can truly be deemed “pleasant and professional.” As for young actresses with poor reputations, it is only individual cases, while there are plenty of young actors whose words and actions do not match.
As is customary, artists who have projects airing often do more interviews, thus receiving more media feedback and accumulating higher favorability. Artists who have no recent projects or rarely appear in public naturally have less exposure.
1st Place: The 'Perfect Score' of Top-Tier Star Xiao Zhan
The keywords for Xiao Zhan's favorability are modest, professional, thoughtful, and well-mannered.
Media reviews: “Many traffic artists strictly control the interview outline, not allowing questions outside of the provided list. But Xiao Zhan is completely unconcerned about reporters going beyond the outline in interviews. He treats both the prepared questions and any off-script inquiries with the same earnest attitude.”
“It wasn’t my interview, but I witnessed it firsthand on site. Halfway through the interview, the media's filming equipment malfunctioned, forcing the process to halt. Staff members panicked and rushed out of the interview room for an emergency fix, and the artist waited onsite. During that 'wasted' time, neither he nor his team uttered a single complaint. After the fix, he continued the interview without any displeasure, and neither he nor his team brought it up again afterwards. The interview was ultimately published successfully. Such respect and tolerance in the face of unexpected situations is what true top-tier demeanor looks like.”
“He is never overly lively or evasive; everything is carried out methodically and completed perfectly. I used to think such behavior was 'mediocre,' but after comparing it, I realized for a top star, this is the hardest 'perfect score' to achieve.”
2nd Place: Bai Lu, Who 'Saves the Day' When Interviews Go Wrong
The keywords for Bai Lu are warm and attentive.
Media reviews: “Starring in three dramas a year means a ton of interviews and promos, but Bai Lu always manages to bring surprises. She is interesting, witty, and never comes across as tired or scripted, so I actually look forward to her interviews. You can tell she is well-prepared but, even rarer, she is genuinely willing to share.”
“Every interview, she arrives punctually right after we set up, truly values timing. One thing that impressed me was a segment involving trending jokes; we were worried she might be self-conscious about participating, but she agreed instantly. When a small problem occurred in the middle, she worked out another method herself to ensure the session was complete. It's hard not to love an artist who cares so much about media needs.”
Song Weilong: Too Many Jokes for Us to Catch Up
The third place is the 'everyone’s favorite' Wang Hedi, with keywords: warm and vibrant. The fourth and fifth places went to Li Landi, who doesn’t ask for photos to be airbrushed, and Song Weilong, who has a cool sense of humor.
Media reviews for Song Weilong were especially amusing: “I asked if he put on his coat temporarily because he was cold, he replied, 'No, it’s just to look cool.' Too witty!” “I thought he was a quiet introvert, but in person, he’s both handsome and funny, never lets a conversation stall, and jokes come so fast we can hardly keep up.”
Ayanga: Asking Staff to Leave the Room
Other listed artists also received interesting comments from the media. For example, Ayanga from the music reality show 'Super Vocal' was described thus: “At first, several questions were removed from the interview outline by the staff, which we found a pity but couldn’t help. Unexpectedly, once Ayanga entered the interview room, he immediately asked his staff to leave, saying ‘you don’t need to watch over this.’ So we tried bringing up the deleted questions, and he answered them all thoughtfully with deep insights; the article received great online feedback.”
The media thinks the questions were probably deleted due to team over-cautiousness, while actually the artist didn’t mind and even had a lot he wanted to share. They further called on teams to be less sensitive when reviewing interview outlines, because when journalists spend time writing them, only to have deeper questions cut and only regular content allowed, it's really frustrating.