In light of all the recent arrests and scandals, Karen and Cathy take a step back to discuss the public images and personas that Chinese celebrities carefully curate and the different levels of how those images crack or destroyed. Some celebrities simply have a smear on their image, others are soft blacklisted or no longer marketable, or to the most extreme, blacklisted or even imprisoned. Listen to our latest podcast episode as we discuss the different public personas and how many have come crashing down.

Arrests and scandal have dominated the Chinese trending topics for the past week. First, Wang Da Lu, who was already arrested for evading Taiwan's military service, is now further implicated in the assault of a driver. Then, Taiwanese actor Li Wei has been implicated in the murder of a woman and is now in trial. But the biggest scandal that has been exploding in China is the allegations that Korean superstar actor Kim Soo-Hyun had a 6 year long relationship with the late actress Kim Sae-Ron when she was only 15 and he was 27. Kim Soo-Hyun rose to fame in China with his 2013 smash hit My Love from the Star and has since been a beloved star. Listen to our latest podcast episode as we talk about these new arrests and latest scandals.

It's been a busy week in the Chinese entertainment world. Chen Xiao and Chen Yan Xi officially announced their divorce after 8 years of marriage. This is after several years of speculation of trouble in paradise, most notably Chen Xiao's absence from Chen Yan Xi's father's funeral back in December. Other celebrities have also been arrested including Wang Da Lu for escaping military service, Li Ming De for trashing a car, and an actress from Empresses in the Palace causing a stir. Listen to our latest podcast episode on the gossip and tea from this week!

The top trending topic over the past 2 weeks has been the shocking death of Da S or Barbie Hsu. The Taiwanese actress shot to fame in the early 2000s in the Romance Idol drama Meteor Garden and has stayed in the public eye ever since. She died while on vacation in Japan in early February, shocking everyone. The online speculation and vitriol towards different parties has been rampant. We discuss what happened and the recent aftermath.In other news, today marks the end of the Lunar New Year holidays and there's a clear winner in the box office battle. Ne Zha 2 has been breaking all sorts of records, becoming the biggest movie in China and the biggest $1B grosser in a single market. Listen to our latest podcast episode as we talk about Da S's death and the latest box office returns!

Happy Lunar New Year and welcome to the Year of the Snake! We will talk about this year's annual spectacle that is the Spring Festival Gala! While not as drama-filled as last year's show, the event was still an extravagant affair with a dizzying cast of celebrities and stars from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Heck, One Republic even performed this year! The 4 cities featured included Chongqing, Lhasa, Wu Xi, and Wu Han. Listen to our latest podcast episode on our thoughts about the performances this year.

We share 6 movies that are hitting Chinese movie theaters for Lunar New Year next week. They include Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Da Fei. Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force, NeZha 2, Detective 1900, Operation Hadal, and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn.

On January 11, 2025, the Chinese entertainment stars largely attended two events. The annual Weibo Night, including headliners such as Zhao Li Ying, Xiao Zhan, Wang Yi Bo, Wang He Di, Yu Shu Xin, Ni Ni, and many many more, had the stars walking the red carpet and making slight jabs at Weibo. Shen Teng was crowned Weibo King while Zhao Li Ying took the crown of Weibo Queen. Down in Macau, Youku managed to organize a whole Empresses in the Palace reunion, the largest in the 13 years since its original run. Sun Li, Chen Jian Bin, and Jian Xin all made appearances, marking the first time for this trio.
Listen to our latest podcast episode on our thoughts of how the evening went with these two star studded events!

The end of the holidays and into the new year saw quite a bit of chaos on social media. First was the revelation that Zhao Lu Si, who was filming a drama, was very ill and in the hospital. More stories came out afterwards about her illness, different causes and other trauma she suffered int he past. Afterwards, relatively unknown actor Li Ming De blasts the cast and crew of his drama, stealing all the social media thunder from Tencent's All Star Night. Tune in to listen in to what happened!