iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Just makes me think that's where the writer is (or wishes they were) 😂

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From the other side I can say that I super appreciate it when people try but also after so many years of CQL fandom it's clear that some people just want to write about white guys with the faces and names of Asian characters

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It's funny to me that execs in China and Thailand etc have figured out there's a massive audience for BL and are acting accordingly (in the case of China they're even doing so in the face of government policy) and yet in the West: this.

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I was waiting for it to be on iTunes/Spotify but god knows how long that will take 😅

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Daily Xiao Zhan @dailyxzpics.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

XZ's new 4 song EP 异想天开 (Head in the Clouds) is out now on all major Chinese platforms! XZ commented: "my gift to you! Enjoy!" (The EP is free to download.) #xiaozhan

QQ music's poster with a photo of Xiao Zhan

Graphic with the names of the four songs

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Reposted by Lee

One photo for each year: 2020 Happy debut anniversary! #xiaozhan

Photo of Xiao Zhan in a blue blazer with wet eyes

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reading comprehension at an all time low

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Reposted by Lee

Pablo Maurer @mlsist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Going to state the obvious thing here, which gets said repeatedly about Messi: The frequency with which he makes the absurd look commonplace is like... it's insane, man. It never gets old. He's like a comedian who tells you the same joke 1000x, and you still laugh every time.

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I always think of this god-tier tumblr post: #xiaozhan

Sometimes I think about how Xiao Zhan had an office job for a bunch of years and it blows my mind, like can you imagine going to work every day and the graphic designer looks like that. You’re struggling not to get wrinkles in your business casual clothes on the train and you get to work and he looks like that. You’re trying to figure out the new coffee maker and he’s just there, looking like that. You give a presentation and he says something about it and you have to be like “Ah yes excellent suggestion” right into his stupid beautiful face. And then one day he’s like “oh right I’m incredibly good-looking, I’m going to go do that for a living instead” and you’re like “yeah that seems right.” RIP to his former co-workers.

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Eleven years ago, a young designer from Chongqing received an invitation to compete on a boy group survival show. He decided he'd give it a go, just for fun. Ten years ago today, Xiao Zhan debuted as a member of X-Nine. Happy anniversary! Look how far you've come. [Pic by XZ Studio] #xiaozhan

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Hopefully not but the Irish journos I follow are talking about this as Saipan 2.0 D:

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Reposted by Lee

aleesha 🦊🍁 @foxxcub.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

people out there have never seen an anon meme on livejournal cir. 2007 and it shows

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I end up trying to approximate it with tone/word choice Instead most of the time if I'm writing modern characters which isn't perfect but it's hard to think of another way

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

EP cover and photo announcing release on NetEase Music #xiaozhan

Cover with a figure dropping down into a confetti shower

Photo of Xiao Zhan in a white tank and black blazer

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Wish I could've gone but timing was sooooo bad. Glad you had a great time!

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Found these outfit breakdowns for XZ's Vogue shoot really interesting. The whole idea behind the shoot was to mix Italian fashion houses and Chinese brands, and they sure managed to get a lot of clothes on him in a few looks. Interesting combinations too. #xiaozhan

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He remembers the moment like it was yesterday. "At that moment, I was really happy and relieved for her. That was the moment that moved me the most in recent times." #xiaozhan

Xiao Zhan in a dark blazer and grey trousers

In August of this year, Xiao Zhan appeared as a guest at Na Ying's concert in Beijing. The tour has a moving name: "I've come, because you're here". During the song Echo, when she got to the words "you don't have to doubt yourself, you're already good enough, you're always free to give up", she teared up.

At that moment, Xiao Zhan was standing on the lift platform. There was a screen in front of him for backstage staff to keep up with what was going on on stage. When he saw Na Ying's tears, he was very touched because he knew enough of the backstory.

"Na-jie did so much to prepare for the concert that the audience won't see. Weighted burpees, lunges, barbell squats...the weight training she was doing was similar in intensity to mine."

He remembers the moment like it was yesterday. "At that moment, I was really happy and relieved for her. That was the moment that moved me the most in recent times."

As for what he's listening to, Xiao Zhan casts a wide net depending on his mood. Rather than something niche, he actually gets into a lot of popular songs and golden oldies. Recently he heard Chang Chen-yue's Perfume Breeze by chance - a love song released in 2002. Simple lyrics, a gentle melody. Xiao Zhan really likes it. The song contains this line: "That night we were carried on a breeze, your arms around me, slowly enjoying a perfume-like tenderness, time stood still."

Of course, time doesn't stand still. It only feels that way when the effort you put in and your emotional investment crystallises a moment into something eternal. Xiao Zhan understands that well.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"The Xiao Zhan that you see on screen, on billboards, and in the course of every day life, they're all me. There's no need to have these sharp distinctions, as if there are several different versions of me." #xiaozhan

Xiao Zhan lying on a mirror with his eyes closed

Time will never be sparing with its magic for those who are true to themselves. In 2023, Xiao Zhan said, "Then there's the other Xiao Zhan, the one with quotations marks around his name, but he might not be me anymore. We all work for him, including myself."

Xiao Zhan laughs when we bring this up. "at the time, I hadn't quite learned to live with myself. If you asked me now, I wouldn't say that. My state of mind and general disposition has changed a bit." He thought about it for two, three seconds more and continued. "The Xiao Zhan that you see on screen, on billboards, and in the course of every day life, they're all me. There's no need to have these sharp distinctions, as if there are several different versions of me. Maybe if we talk about this again in two, three years time, I'll have a different take again."

Two, three years is a very short time, gone in the blink of an eye. It's also a very long time, long enough for a shift in one's state of mind. If life is like scaling a mountain, what you see from moment to moment depends on the shifting of the clouds. Xiao Zhan's "everyday" is found in the crevices of a heavy workload.

He insists on working out, and will try to find time for the horror movies he enjoys, such as the recently popular Obsession and Backrooms. Once filming wraps, he'll escape into a cinema for Dear You. A great story and great performances with emotional heft and weight will move audiences regardless of language.

He sings, and listens to music. Acting is portraying someone else. What's expressed in his music is closer to him as a person.

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Reposted by Lee

great advice in general but doubly so if you're going to spend any significant amount of time on social media

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Some extras from the Vogue shoot posted by XZ Studio #xiaozhan

Three photos of Xiao Zhan hovering over some sculptures

Xiao Zhan in a dark jacket and light trousers

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Good night from XZ Studio with some behind the scenes footage from the Vogue shoot #xiaozhan

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Lee @aliasmarionette.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Talking about it now, Xiao Zhan wants to modify his previous statement: "looking back, I was always living a grounded life. No one can exist apart from real life." #xiaozhan

Peace of mind can also come in the course of every day life. Xiao Zhan has begun to frequently mention the importance of living. Two years ago, he went on an overseas trip with his parents and posted a photo of the family on social media, shot from the back.

Later, in an interview, he mentioned that through this trip he had become certain of one thing: "I still have a real, grounded existence."

Talking about it now, Xiao Zhan wants to modify his previous statement: "looking back, I was always living a grounded life. No one can exist apart from real life. At the time maybe it was because I was sharing the outside world with the people closest to me, that feeling of happiness made me feel very grounded."

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In June 2024, when he was taking a walk around the old alleyways and the Liberation Monument, he even went to visit the place where he'd done an internship. #xiaozhan

Xiao Zhan posing in a suit and colourful trousers

Acting is a process. So is life.

Xiao Zhan describes his relationship to his characters as like looking into a mirror. He will often incorporate his own experiences when thinking about theirs: on this particular issue, the character dealt with it better than he did; in those moments, the character was stronger than he himself. Not only comparing, but also imagining. Liu Zhengliang has been away from home too long and returned as an adult, a bit like the main character of the novel Brooklyn, Eilis, who feels like a foreigner in New York but returns to her small Irish town to find that her hometown has become unfamiliar to her.

That's not Xiao Zhan. He maintains a close relationship with Chongqing, "meeting up" every now and then.

In June 2024, when he was taking a walk around the old alleyways and the Liberation Monument, he even went to visit the place where he'd done an internship. After that, he went back a few more times and discovered to his surprise that there was a new bridge across the river.

"I asked my friend, when was this built? Where does it go?" Xiao Zhan said. "I hadn't been back for a year and a bridge sprung up out of nowhere!"

He found it magical how, no matter how long he'd been away, as soon as his feet were on familiar ground and he could hear the local dialect, it would be enough to soothe him.

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100% I'm so looking forward to them!

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Hilarious new trailer for #SmallTownRemedy starring #XiaoZhan (in which his character gets so mad he drops an f-bomb!)

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That date is the 10th anniversary of XZ's debut as a member of the boy group X-Nine so fans are speculating that the theme of the EP will be his journey from the person creating the ads to being the person on the the billboards. #xiaozhan

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