#Chongqing University

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

Rightist Memoir XLV: What Become of My University Sweetheart Ma Kaixian? A Brutally Interrupted Love Story

Chapter Eleven: Searching for Old Friends Find table of contents chapter links at Kong Lingping’s Rightist Memoir I: “Blood Chronicle” By Long-time Prisoner of Mao Zedong The full Chinese text can be downloaded from bannedbook.org  In 1980, after temporarily settling into my teaching position at the 24th Middle School, my life stabilized for a while. With each fragment I wrote, whenever the…

[xtruss]

What Happens When You Season a Cast Iron Pan! Here is How Oil and Heat Can Form a Durable Coating.

— By Attabey Rodríguez Benítez | Published: Monday August 1, 2022 | NOVA— PBS

Image Credit: Jack Kennard, Flickr

Ahh, Cast Iron Pans. Love ‘em or Hate ‘em, they’ve been around for hundreds of years. With proper maintenance, they can last long enough to become family heirlooms. A cornerstone of this pan’s upkeep is seasoning, the process of baking oil onto the pan. Contrary to the name, you won’t need salt and pepper, but fat.

To season, you heat the pan covered in fat to scalding temperatures in an oven. What is left behind is a somewhat nonstick surface that not only helps with cooking but protects the pan from rust.

You can use the fat of your choice, but one thing to keep in mind is the smoke point, the temperature at which it starts to smoke. That temperature varies from oil to oil. For example, virgin avocado oil has a smoke point of 520 F, but coconut oil smokes at just 350 F. As soon as that temperature is reached, the seasoning process begins.

There are multiple hypotheses about what’s happening at the molecular level inside that hot oven. The predominant one is that the oil is polymerizing. Fats are made up of different fatty acids, like saturated and unsaturated. When heated, those acids break down into smaller molecules called monomers. And when monomers join together, they form larger molecules called polymers. When this joining happens over and over in an iron skillet, the polymers form a protective layer that keeps water at bay.

A group of researchers from Chongqing University studied this phenomenon in the context of another cast iron cooking tool: the wok. Woks, mainly used in Chinese-style cuisine, are usually round-bottomed. The team hypothesized that the slick surface formed during seasoning is due more to the iron than the oil. To test their hypothesis, the researchers coated a wok with beef tallow and heated it up. As the temperature increased, the fat started to reduce. And the scientists, using X-ray technology, started to see oxygen molecules sneaking into the places where iron was present. With this unexpected guest, iron atoms had to shuffle around to make space, creating small lumps along the surface. The final product is what the team called “iron nanoballs.”

They point out that these nanoballs didn’t make the wok completely nonstick, but rather made the surface conditionally hydrophobic. That means that it repels water when there isn’t much around, but gets wet when there’s a lot of it. The study authors claim this property comes in handy during cooking, because if the pans are completely nonstick, the fat will lump together, causing uneven cooking. If the surface can get wet, it creates an even layer, and the food can cook evenly as the water evaporates, creating less charring.

[accio-victuuri]

this topic about xiao zhan on hs is so cuteee! he really is the campus crush. he has always been so popular even before he became a celebrity. ♥️

in the video, students were asked: "who do you think is the most handsome guy in chongqing technology and business university (CTBU)?” and everyone’s answer is obviously xiao laoshi. 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ these men know what’s up! their senior is the most handsome!

source.

[rainbowsky]

Nineteen-year-old Xiao Zhan and his classmates represented Chongqing Technology and Business University on local TV stations.

[blueiscoool]

A Rare Western Han Dynasty Tomb Found in Southwest China

A well-preserved tomb, dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-25 AD), with a clear recorded year has been discovered in Wulong District of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, the Chongqing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute said Tuesday.

This archaeological project is a rescue excavation and protection work carried out to forge cooperation with the Baima project, the last of a cascade of hydropower stations on the section of the Wujiang River in Chongqing.

With the approval of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the Chongqing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute set up a work team of more than 20 people from different archaeology research institutes and universities to excavate the site in March this year.

According to Huang Wei, the leader of the archaeological project, a collection of tombs dating from the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) to the Six Dynasties period (222-589) were newly discovered as part of this project. Among them, the tomb dating back to the Western Han Dynasty was the most important, and more than 600 precious cultural relics such as lacquerware, wood ware, bamboo ware, pottery and bronze ware were unearthed from the tomb.

Due to the tomb being filled with water throughout the year, it remains undisturbed and unharmed, and the funerary objects in the tomb are well preserved.

"What is exciting about this discovery is not just the large number of unearthed artifacts but also the list of burial items containing a precise year record, which has been verified as 193 BC, providing clarity on the tomb's burial timeframe. An unearthed jade ware from the tomb shows the prominent position of the tomb owner," Huang said.

The list of burial items found in the tomb is complete and clearly records the name, quantity and size of the funerary objects.

The tomb discovered this time is the one containing the largest quantity of lacquered wood and bamboo wares ever found at one time in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China, said Bai Jiujiang, head of the Chongqing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.

Based on publicly available information, it is also the earliest tomb of the Western Han Dynasty found in China, with a clear recorded year, according to Bai.

This is a major archaeological discovery regarding the Qin and Han Dynasties in the Wujiang River Basin, offering physical evidence and important basic research materials for future study of burial customs and the comparative analysis of famous artifacts from the early Western Han Dynasty, according to the archaeologists.

[steppingonyourshadow]

Selected excerpts from Elle September 2024

Right now, in his dressing room after the shoot, Xiao Zhan is holding his grain salad and doing a pitch perfect impression of his meeting with Legend of Zanghai director Zheng Xiaolong.

"I was a little unsure, so I asked him if he wanted me to be a little thinner or a bit more buff. He said thinner, of course thinner, looks really good, sharp." When he met Zheng Xiaolong again for the costume fitting shoot, "he said, aiyo, you did it." During that time, he lost more than 10 jin [around 6-8 kgs].

In the second half of 2019, when he was shooting The Oath of Love, Xiao Zhan would shoot during the day, and record the variety show Our Song at night. Both were challenging. The former was his first male lead role in a modern urban drama, he didn't have much experience and was under a lot of pressure; the difficulty with the latter were the harmonies, "[I] had to memorize all the harmonies that differed from the melody, and not be led stray."

"Back then I didn't mind, I'd sleep a couple of hours and wake up a new man. But now even if the spirit is willing, the body will raise complaints."

Earlier this year, while shooting in Hengdian, he got tonsillitis. Swallowing hurt, but he went to work as usual. It wasn't until the director came over to ask him what was going on with his eyes that he looked in the mirror and realised they were swollen. He kept going until the afternoon, "until I fully resembled a frog."

He then had to go to hospital. Getting sick is normal and he got better after taking medication. What he can't do is what the doctors always say: you have to rest.

More importantly, "you might become less perceptive, that's what I'm really afraid of - becoming more mechanical and automated." When he said this he emphasised "really". When he speaks with seniors in the industry, "they also say you have to experience life."

Actually, a life in the spotlight is more or less incompatible with normality. But that's what the work of an actor requires of him - to stay in touch as much as possible with the wrinkles of an ordinary existence.

Recently he watched a segment from a variety show depicting the ordinary working life of today's youth. Before he entered the industry, Xiao Zhan opened his own studio and had an ordinary job, so he can still relate to the difficulties associated with working life, but new terminology and tools which had appeared [since he left] weakened his sense of connection. He realised that to a certain extent he had gradually lost touch.

At the beginning of June, Xiao Zhan had a short holiday, and he took a trip back to Chongqing. He really likes going for walks, and one evening he wandered for hours, down old alleyways, to the Liberation Monument, and went past the place where he used to work.

In 2014, the 23 year old Xiao Zhan graduated from university and began working at a design studio as a designer. Every morning at the beginning of each work day he'd change from the second line to the third at Niujiaotuo Station, make his way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, squeeze onto the light rail. Many times it was so crowded on the train he'd have his face pressed up against the glass window.

Since he was stuck anyway, he'd look down at the Jialing River, the strange rock formations revealed at low tide and various groups of people, those doing a winter swim, running, fishing, in the spirit of an optimist.

He still really enjoys observing humanity around him -

"Why are you still here so late?"

"The ones walking really fast definitely just finished work and are hurrying to get home. Their expressions and behaviour is just like when I used to have to try and make the subway, it's the last train of the day and you have to run for it, all flustered. Some delivery guys rushing forward with no regard for their own safety. And some very relaxed folks sitting there drinking beer, scattering home after getting to the bottom of their bottle, and then the next day begins."

"All of them going through their own compelling stories, and their lives together make up our society. It's really marvelous, they're all protagonists in their own biographies. In which direction will the story go tomorrow?"

At that moment, he was like any other person who'd spent a long time away, busy with work, and finally had a chance to go home, who finds that "it's been a long time, a lot has changed".

"It's not like I was overjoyed and sentimental [about being home]. I'm just living my life, that's all."

After two and a half days, Xiao Zhan had to go back to Beijing because of work commitments, and then he hurried on to Shanghai to head to France. This time he took his parents along. This was the first family trip for a long time. In a single week, they went from France to Switzerland and then back to France. Every detail became magnified during the trip - they were happy, they bickered, or just went for an ordinary walk - "it was all very vivid".

The day they were due to part, after having a meal together in a restaurant in the south of France, a car arrived for him - he had to leave first. Before he left his mother hugged him and told him to take care of himself. Unusually, his dad also gave him a clumsy hug.

The taste of life is in the details.

"Before I used to think work was everything and life wasn't that important, beyond having a place to sleep and then getting up, going to work, coming home from work, and resting. But now, with my parents getting older, after not living with them for a good while, you'll feel like your lives are getting further and further apart, even with family." He really doesn't want to see that happen.

The way to avoid losing touch and regain a sense of reality doesn't sound difficult, "take time whenever possible to go out and see the world. The important thing is to experience life, experience this world. Even if it's something upsetting, something cruel, that's still life, and will still turn into energy when you need it."

Halfway through the interview, Xiao Zhan suddenly said that he felt conflicted about doing long interviews. On the one hand he worried about not having matured enough and showing timidity during the conversation, and on the other hand he wants to use the conversation to excavate some subtle emotions, because he's no good personally at describing them in words.

Observation, feeling, understanding, describing - these are the key to an actor's creative expression.

"Conversation is also a form of muscle memory," Xiao Zhan says. "Although I'm very introverted, I'm not anti-social. Because I think actors need to learn to express themselves, their inner thoughts, and internalise what the other person is transmitting to you."

Before Sunshine By My Side started shooting, he met up with the main creatives and had a few script meetings in order to deepen their understanding of each other and the character. In the early days of Legend of Zanghai, the producer mentioned that Xiao Zhan would engage in in-depth discussions of the script; he'd have a lot of his own thoughts about any scene.

Xiao Zhan isn't an actor by training. When he first started acting in Battle Through the Heavens and The Wolf, he had strong doubts and asked himself: am I suited to this? Repeatedly negating and overturning his sense of self caused him to lose confidence.

Sometimes he'd be asked if he hadn't auditioned at 23, debuted, joined the industry, what would he be doing now? He's thought about it, but he won't look back.

When he couldn't give a good performance, he put in extra time doing acting classes, watching the monitors, asking seniors for advice. Taking it seriously plus putting in the work slowly led to improvement.

Later, when he started shooting Where Dreams Begin, Xiao Zhan's character Xiao Chunsheng was a Beijing compound kid, very different from him, right down to the accent. He didn't feel comfortable. Before many scenes, the director Fu Ning would run over and whisper, don't be afraid Zhanzhan, just come out and say it, if you feel it then you can say it, the audience can actually feel your emotions and what you want to express.

He gradually became more self-aware: "technique is perhaps not my strongest suit, I rely more on feeling. When I feel it, that's when I have the confidence to act it out. If I rely purely on technique, I think that's not sufficiently moving."

It's been 8 years since Xiao Zhan's first acting experience. Going through his credits, one can see male protagonist roles of many different genres across TV and film. But he still thinks of himself as a newcomer. Given the opportunity, he still wants to work with more and more veteran creative teams.

[jiannguo]

Weibo Hot Search "We are Xiao Zhan's direct relatives" 😆

Chongqing Technology and Business University used this phrase in their Admission Meeting 😆 😆

Let's share more photos of XZ being adorable in a graduation gown 😁 from the song "The Best Summer" from 2019

[bpod-bpod]

Protective Wrapping

A study in zebrafish reveals that the membranes that support and protect the central nervous system (the meninges), and the meningeal vessels are nurtured and supported by a previously unidentified specialised population of lymphatic cells distinguished by expression of the molecule ependymin

Read the published research article here

Still from video from work by Xiang He and Daiqin Xiong, and colleagues

Institute of Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing, China

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, July 2024

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[fateandloveentwined]

City C, University P -- the way modern chinese names places

Alright, you may have come across such initial-based namings in books, danmei and other cnovels: City S, University P, C市 (City C), S大 (University S)

-- is it lazy translation? why aren't they giving places actual names?

A tad bit of informal history below:

When did it start?

As a person very much inexperienced in chinese historical literature, I couldn't say for sure either. But what I do know, is that it has been in writing since the 20th century (around the 1920s and after). You see renowned writers of that time like Lu Xun 鲁迅 and Zhu Ziqing 朱自清 using these initials.

(I don't have concrete examples in mind, so I'm flipping about what I have around me, and Zhu Ziqing and Lu Xun's books happen to be near me so -- let me use their works as examples of the day.)

There's this novella Lu Xun wrote, with a protagonist which he named 阿Q (read as "Ah-Q"). I also see in his short stories that he named a dog S, a side character 小D (Little D), and a city S城 (City S).

Zhu Ziqing tends to write more about realistic things that happen in his life in the form of short writings, and for that reason he uses initials way less. He did refer to a person by "Y" in one of the pieces though.

So what are they doing?

So around that time of Lu Xun (we're in the republican era) there's a movement called the May Fourth Movement, and out of the movement it spurred in the literary realm the New Culture Movement. I honestly don't want to go into the details and confuse everyone with my inexperience here, what is worth noting is that they began promoting "modern chinese" (白话 bái huà) over "classical chinese" (文言 wén yán). "Modern chinese" is the kind of chinese you read in cnovels and everywhere else nowadays.

And in this movement, they also advocated quite a lot of western ideas. This is where they proposed a complete romanisation of chinese characters, and probably to do with this, in their new modern chinese writings, they started using anglicised phrases like "City Y" and "Dog S".

All movements are controversial, their failure or success is controversial, I really don't want to get into past history so let's move on.

What they use now.

When journalling one's own experiences, important places and all that, obviously real places and names are used. Otherwise, in fiction, alphabetic initials are used in place, likely to 1. distance fiction from real life, and also I suppose nowadays 2. to avoid heated topics. For instance china may be referred to as 华国 (Huá guó), which probably makes things less sensitive and easier to handle.

again i really don't want to get into nations and stuff. let me literary-this meta out in peace.

How can I understand where means where?

It took me a while to get used to them, basically sometimes you can guess the place -- City B may be Beijing, C could be Chongqing, S could be Shanghai -- the big metropolitan cities. University T and P (or Q and B) would be Tsinghua and Peking University.

As for the other names, when they say University A or High School No. 1 it usually means the top school in the area, because (at least for high schools) that's how quite a number of schools are named. If you couldn't tell what the letter represents, it's probably a random one.

additional note: these initials are only used in modern and futuristic sci-fi novels (at least from what I've seen so far!) using letters in historical or historical fantasy ones would break the fourth wall quite a bit for me haha.

Addendum

See Guardian article linked in the comments should you be interested.

Some points of note, made up places have been used in other fiction too, to avoid trespassing geographical localities and cultures aboriginal to a group of people;

Russian novels also have used mysterious initials -- "in the town of P", this is in the 19th and 20th century -- so it may well have come from Russia instead of literature under greco-roman influence (excuse the terrible description) -- but likely it did result from the movements, that's what instigated modern chinese writing in the first place.

(yeah it's on my lack of russian classics perusal -- i'll rectify that some time.)

[umichenginabroad]

Week 8: Cost Breakdown!

Okay 8 weeks in let's get down to business, how much money have I spent and where. First of all, there is the tuition which was base of $5,205 which includes housing and tuition for 3 months in addition to various trips that were planned by IPE. Through the trips, they likely spend a decent amount of money. However, I got a scholarship for $3,500 which most people in the program got if not more. The most pricy part of the program was probably the plane tickets which was approximately $2,000 for a round trip. Since coming to China, I’ve spent ~12,000RMB (1,500 USD). Here is a breakdown of my other expenses and how far everything can go.

In the first week, I spent a lot of my money on various dorm necessities like toilet paper, trashbags, and miscellaneous expenses. In total, it added up to approximately $300RMB (40USD) which is fairly cheap for all the little purchases that added up. Here is the rest of the breakdown for the past 8 weeks.

Utilities/Essentials: 504 RMB (68.85USD)

This includes hot water which we need to pay for separately which isn’t too bad since it is so hot I don’t end up using the hot water much and this also includes laundry which I do often because the hot weather makes me sweat through all my clothes at a lighting pace.

Food: 2043.18 RMB (279.12 USD)

This is crazy cheap considering I only eat out and I don’t pay attention to my food budget whatsoever (before I decided this blog was going to be a cost report). However, this is just my actual meals, I summed my snacks/drinks separately.

Snacks/Drinks: 1469 RMB (209.86 USD)

How have I spent almost the same amount on snacks and drinks as real food? I am ashamed but also it is so easy to buy snacks here and there when there is a convenience store everywhere (including in our dorm) and each snack is approximately 1 USD but those costs can add up for sure.

Shopping: 2964.3 RMB (404.92 USD)

It is sooo easy to spend so much on clothes when everything here is so cheap and cute. I also have been buying gifts and souvenirs for friends and family back home but I think I definitely need to reel in my shopping addiction.

Experiences: 1261.56 RMB (180.14 USD)

This includes fees and transportation for miscellaneous activities such as watching Inside Out 2 (which was really good), doing an escape room, going to a gaming cafe, or exploring downtown. This I would say was all 100% worth it.

Solo Trip: 3290 RMB (449.45 USD)

A few weeks ago, I went on a 4-day solo trip around Shanghai to Hangzhou and Nanjing. I ended up spending 449.45 USD for the train tickets which were approximately 120 RMB (17 USD) each and for the hotel rooms which were 340 RMB (48 USD) per night. Although, my friend who took a solo trip to Chongqing only spent 150 RMB on a hotel so it can definitely vary a lot. It was definitely worth the experience and you can definitely solo travel for even less money too!

Hopefully this helps put in perspective what studying abroad means in regards to money. To be honest, I have not been the most careful with money, because my parents have money in RMB that they won’t be using anytime soon. Regardless, hopefully my breakdown was helpful!

See ya next week!

Erin Xia

Mechanical Engineering

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Researchers fabricate mechanical metamaterials with ultra-high energy absorption capacity

Chinese researchers have successfully fabricated mechanical metamaterials with ultra-high energy absorption capacity using ion track technology. The results were published in Nature Communications as an Editor's Highlight.

The study was conducted by the researchers from the Materials Research Center of the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and their collaborators from Chongqing University.

Mechanical metamaterials refer to a class of composite materials with artificially designed structures, which exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties that traditional materials do not have. Among them, energy absorption mechanical metamaterials can absorb mechanical energy more efficiently, which requires the material itself to equip both high strength and high strain capacity, which, however, hardly co-exist in general.

Nanolattice is a new class of mechanical metamaterials with characteristic sizes on the nanoscale. Due to size effects, geometrical configuration, and material selection, the mechanical properties of this type of porous materials are very different from those of bulk materials. Given its even better mechanical properties with lighter weight, nanolattice is expected to bring revolutionary applications in the field of high-performance functional materials in the future.

Read more.

[beardedmrbean]

Prosecutors in northern China have charged dozens of suspects in a decade-long scheme in which corpses marked for cremation were instead sold to one of the country's largest biomaterial firms, a company with ties to the state.

Owners and operators of Shanxi Osteorad Biomaterial Co. and Sichuan Hengpu Technology Co. are accused of receiving more than 4,000 cadavers via illegal means, allowing the former to turn over nearly $53 million in revenue from 2015-2023.

The alleged corpse trafficking spanned at least seven provinces and nearly a dozen localities, where dead bodies were either transferred, dissected, stored or turned into material devices for bone-grafting procedures, according to a leaked May indictment by the Taiyuan People's Procuratorate in Shanxi province.

The case involves at least 75 suspects, including funeral home managers, doctors and company shareholders. The wide investigation was still ongoing as of Thursday, prosecutors told the Shanghai news site The Paper.

The report was carried briefly by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Thursday, but both were removed just hours later. Conversations about the topic were also being restricted on Weibo, China's largest social media website, at the time of writing.

Newsweek reached out to China's National Health Commission for comment.

Shanxi Osteorad was founded in 1999 as a subsidiary of Taiyuan's China Institute for Radiation Protection, part of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp. headquartered in Beijing.

It is among the country's largest bone-graft and substitutes providers in a market to be worth a half-billion dollars by the end of the decade. Its biggest shareholder also owns Sichuan Hengpu, a medical devices manufacturer.

The medical industry uses bone grafting to repair injuries such as severe fractures. Bone tissue can be obtained from the patient—an autograft—but possible complications mean it is commonly harvested from cadavers—an allograft—with donor consent and strict regulatory oversight.

Shanxi Osteorad was accused of forging donor agreements to create allogeneic bone implant material used to treat Chinese patients. Its staff also mistreated cadavers, prosecutors alleged.

In China, the biomedical devices market is overseen by the National Medical Products Administration. The funeral industry falls under the Civil Affairs Ministry. Newsweek reached out to both for comment.

Chinese authorities have for years encouraged small burials, sea burials or cremations to save land. The pandemic also saw a surge in cremations as families were left without access to traditional funeral rites.

But four funeral homes in China's southwestern provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, as well as in the Chongqing municipality, collected cremation fees from family members before selling the corpses to two hospitals for dissection and storage, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said some family members paid for cremation services but did not wish to bring home the ashes. In other cases, unclaimed cadavers were selected instead.

A staff member at Guilin Medical University's anatomy department was alleged to have knowingly purchased at least 450 corpses from three of the funeral homes named in the complaint. The employee bought the bodies for $125 each and later sold more than 300 to Shanxi Osteorad for $1,400 each.

A transplant surgeon at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, in China's eastern Shandong province, was accused of processing and selling at least 10 corpses to Shanxi Osteorad for $1,400-$3,000 each. Newsweek reached out to both hospitals for comment.

Authorities were alerted to the scandal in September 2023, when China's National Audit Office probed the irregular earnings of the Guilin teaching hospital's faculty member, according to The Paper.

Chinese authorities seized more than 34,000 biomaterial products and over 18 tons of semi-finished goods, as well as 16 properties and 29 vehicles, it said. All suspects have reportedly admitted to their roles.

[accio-victuuri]

xiao zhan - cctv drama awards interview 🎤

On the road of being an actor, Xiao Zhan continues to unlock new roles. #中文字幕片年Celebration# Ceremony Road interview site, he looked back on his mental journey along the way, which has both changes and changes. . What has changed is that I am more calm, but what remains unchanged is that I always put myself in the position of a new person and study hard↓

Q: We know that in 'Where Dreams Begin', Xiao Chunsheng is born and raised in Beijing. But, Xiao Zhan, you are from Chongqing. When portraying the character, how did you capture the spirit and essence of Xiao Chunsheng?

XZ: At the initial stage of filming, I watched a lot of footage on old Beijing, I also worked closely with the director and production team to discuss the core of the character. I learn and imitate how Beijing people talk, their attitudes towards life, and the spirit they display.

Q: It must be tough for a Southerner to nail the Beijing dialect. Also, in 'Sunshine by My Side', you play Sheng Yang, a very cheerful, caring, and fearless young man. You once said Sheng Yang is like you in a parallel universe. Why’s that?

XZ: Sheng Yang's experiences and family background are very similar to mine. So, during filming, seeing familiar scenes and experiences, it kinda transported me back to myself in a parallel universe.

Q: We've seen you take on many new roles, and each time filming wraps, you share your insights and reflections. On a great day today, could you also sum up your thoughts and changes in mindset from when you first started acting?

XZ: In terms of insights, it's all about self reflection. With each new role, I push myself to do better and to unlock different characters. As for changes in my mindset, it’s changed, but yet still the same. What’s changed is that I've become more composed. But what’s remained the same is that I still see myself as a newbie and constantly learning.

Host: What Xiao Zhan says the most is learning. With that mindset, we look forward to seeing more of the roles you'll unlock in the future, and seeing you do better. We've witnessed Xiao Zhan’s growth over the years and are excited to see you continue to grow. Thank you, jiayou!

[mysticmonkiebusiness]

ISSUE 69 BLOCKS MAGAZINE PAGE 32 + 33

[ID 1: A magazine page, on the left is text and on the right is two pictures. The first is digitally painted concept art of the Demon Bull King, behind him are flames, flags, and silhouetted bull clones. Under it is a photo of designer, Chris Perron showing Simon Lucas a work-in-progress LEGO build of DBK. Below the text is a picture of six LEGO designers sitting at a table with several Monkie Kid s] 

[ID 2: A splash page of the set 80010 Demon Bull King. The Bull King is brick-built out of LEGO. He has two black cannons mounted on his shoulders, and a flame-thrower replaces his left arm. His chest is flaming and his legs are robotic. He wields a large axe. A minifigure of Princess Iron Fan sits atop his right shoulder, she wields a fan. ] 

Transcript:

Researching Monkie Kid

Simon and his core crew of LEGO designers flew to Shanghai, where the LEGO Group has an international hub office. 'I really relied on my colleagues in China to tell me everything they think of when they think of their home and their culture. That was a great brainstorm, because you realize how much culture there is; how much creativity. Also, the mix of old and new is fascinating - China's an amazing place that embraces newness like nowhere else."

The design team sat down with their China-based colleagues to get that feel for where they should go next, which led to a number of different potential sparks. 'At the beginning we explored multiple ideas - we had nine directions that we tested with children. We filtered that into three really strong themes,' Simon explains, but keeps the two ideas that didn't make it this time around under wraps. 'They actually tested really well, so there is huge potential there.

In August 2018, the testing was conducted with children and families across China, with the team visiting Chongqing, Xi-an, Beijing, Manjing and Nanjing as well as Shanghai. There was something special about how children responded to LEGO Monkie Kid. 'It blew me away, just how iconic and recognizable the characters from Journey to the West and the Monkey King were. I can only compare it to how when testing in America children recognize the Avengers, they know all the backstories. In China, when they saw this line-up of concept art that Xiaodong made of these characters we recreated, they were like, "That's Pigsy, that's Sandy, that's Sun Wukong.

'While it is a 500-year-old novel, Journey to the West has been brought to life in many different ways over those years and it is still so relevant. I learnt that everyone has their own connection to the story, whether their parents read it to them, or they studied it at school, or they watched a cartoon version of it that was made in 1968. But I realized that everyone I met had a universal love for the 1980s TV series that they made in China.

"CAN YOU MAKE A FANTASY PLAY THEME FOR CHINA THAT IS ROOTED IN CHINESE CULTURE? THAT WAS THE BRIEF - A WHITE PIECE OF PAPER"

Thanks to still being repeated on television during the summer holidays today, different generations all have a fondness for the show. To pay homage to that we have been allowed to use a couple of the sound effects in our animated TV series,' Simon explains. "You hear it, and I think you are only going to know it if you are familiar with that, but it sounds fantastic."

Testing with children; ensuring that Chinese designers worked on the theme; visiting the country to brainstorm - more consideration for local sensibilities has been taken than ever before. 'Authenticity has been our goal. We do take a risk here in reinterpreting a classic that is so dear and is part of the Chinese culture.'

[nutty1005]

Cover Story | Xiao Zhan: Rift

Original Article: https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404886388649624013 Original Author: 时尚先生Esquire This article was originally published on 3 Apr on Esquire’s Weibo.

The April Cover Story

I’m beginning to know myself. I don’t exist. I’m the rift between what I’d like to be and what others have made of me, Or half of this rift, since there’s also life… That’s me. Period. Turn off the light, shut the door, and get rid of the slipper noise in the hallway. Leave me alone in my room with the vast peace of myself. It’s a shoddy universe.

-- Fernando Pessoa “I’m Beginning to Know Myself”

Brown knitted shirt – TOD’S Brown long pants – TOD’S 

Deep blue jacket – TOD’S Deep blue long pants – TOD’S 

“There is already two Xiao Zhans, one of them is here, that’s me.” Early February, while filming in Chongqing Mount Xiannü scenic area, Xiao Zhan said as he ate. “There is another Xiao Zhan, the Xiao Zhan in quotes, but he is probably not me anymore. We are all working for him, including myself.”

Xiao Zhan set his chopsticks down, opened his hands and faced the palms at each other, like gesturing a small shapeless box.

Like before; same as most people; really nothing special; just want to do this job well; did not actually think so much; do not know what else he can do; just staying alone — in the narration related to Xiao Zhan,  no matter whether it’s Xiao Zhan or the staff around him, from time to time, when faced with the questions suspended in the air, they could only end with these phrases.

To a celebrity,most of them have a contradictory mentality. On the one hand, people are used to a world of labels, using a few words to summarize a stranger, unwilling to spend any effort; on the other hand, the impulse to explore attracts us to question labels, seeking out the more familiar emotions and human nature. For Xiao Zhan, this contradiction is particularly prominent: He has hardly any labels, and no one can accurately find these few; at the same time, the closer people are to him, the more we will find that his life is exactly one that is most familiar to us, and because it’s so familiar, we start to suspect that it’s not real.This contradiction is like a rift. Xiao Zhan is just doing everything he should be doing within this rift.

1. The House on the Hill 

Deep blue jacket – TOD’S White singlet, Black long jeans – Personal belongings 

When he was young, usually before Chinese New Year, Xiao Zhan had to climb a hill to pay respects to his ancestors. He felt then that Chongqing was really too big, the hills were so distant, and in order to climb that hill he had to walk so far. Early morning, just after waking up, he had to follow the adults, setting off from his home, taking the public bus to the central station, switching bus, going from the southern district of Chongqing to the north of the river, crossing the river, then he would only arrive at the entrance to the hill. This was in the 1990s, that road then was still a muddy road that was created by years of villagers’ footsteps. There were wild grass by the road, and the road was narrow, less than a meter wide, so cars could not drive in. Xiao Zhan remembered that the road under his feet would be barely visible, clear for a while, blur for a while, and if it was a rainy day, the road would be very slippery, and the children would run ahead. Children would always dash to the very front, the adults would always yell from behind, it’s wrong, it’s wrong, not that side, it’s this side.

There were no landmarks, no GPS, Xiao Zhan and his family found their ancestral home by the road on that hill just by memory. It was a dark brown wooden house. The house was probably a hundred years old, it used to be the home to the parents of Xiao Zhan’s grandmother, or even grandparents of his grandmother. Of course, there is no one living there now. Xiao Zhan walked in the old house, he remembered that the first floor had 2 bedrooms, the second floor also had a small bedroom, the first floor led to the second floor with a wooden ladder. An old stove which burned firewood. The entire house was made of wood, there was a small courtyard outside of the house, and there seemed to be a pomegranate tree inside.

White singlet, Black long jeans – Personal belongings 

This was a necessary trip in the big family. When they were on the hill, there were a lot of activities, Xiao Zhan would gather wild onions, pluck carrots and dig for wild vegetables with his elder cousins, and they also tried to setup a fire to cook. When tired from playing, sometimes he would also try to stay by himself for a while. He saw that there were small hills behind this big hill, so he left his family and climbed up that small hill, starting a child’s exploration. When he was at the back of the hill, there was no one around him, he would stay there quietly alone, looking at the greenish black shadows of the faraway hills. His family would usually stay on the hill for a day, and only come down in the evening.

“A child will not fear,” he recalled his then-self, “only someone, who is grown up, will.” Looking at the hazy faraway hills, he really wanted to walk over — a child never lacked courage — then he felt, no matter how difficult the road would be, he could climb up with his hands and legs. But later on, as he slowly grew older, going to middle school, to university, when he came to this hill again, he did not dare to climb it as boldly and casually as he did as a child.

His most recent time to this hill was a few years ago. Now the road had been rebuilt, the highway could go straight to the foot of the hill. Xiao Zhan and his family would drive to the foot of the hill, but they would still need to climb it with their legs. They walked towards that road that they have walked on over and over again throughout the years. As a child, Xiao Zhan felt that adult’s legs could walk so fast, but now, he stayed in Chongqing less and less, and discovered that his parents were getting old and could not walk after walking for a while. He and his elder cousins carried the luggage, one step by one step, that long and tiring journey in their memories – they had to walk past so many places, such as a bamboo forest, an area of grave mounds, signifying a milestone for each segment – but this time it seemed to be shorter, without knowing it, in just a few steps, they had reached that door of the old house. Looking back on the journey, that big bamboo forest of his childhood seems to be just a small pile now. Those terrifying groups of grave mounds, only seemed to be two or three now. And then those small hills, it took so much time to climb up as a child, but now he seemed to be able to step onto it by gently lifting his legs. As for those steep ridges in his memory, it seemed that the slope had also flattened. The muddy road was gone, the winding mountain road in black asphalt shone in the sun.

The hill used to be so far, used to be so tall, Xiao Zhan now thought, but as time goes by, the hill was no longer faraway, and also not as tall anymore. Then, he was just a common Chongqing child, now, a lot of people know that his name is Xiao Zhan. However, what remained unchanged is that the hill is still without a name.

2. The Factory District in the Dreams

Now, Xiao Zhan would still dream of the places he lived in as a child, that factory district that represented the entire world then. The factory district seemed to belong to a certain car parts production company – Small District 1, Small District 2, Small District 3, Small District 4, Small District 5. He already forgot exactly which district he stayed in – the houses in the factory district looked very similar, 7 to 8 storeys high, one by one, it was a patch of grey in his memory. He had many playmates of the same age in the factory district. After finishing their homework, like other places in the whole country, the children would run down the buildings, the shouts came one after another, echoing in the air. “So-and-so come down quickly! So-so is already down here!” After playing until 8pm or 9pm, mothers would look out of their windows, shouting down in the dark: “So-and-so, come home! So-so, bed time!”

Brown knitted shirt – TOD’S

Soccer, hide-and-seek, hiding in a grass mound or a turn, some dark, unnoticeable corner. The scariest place in the factory district is an abandoned canal, the entrance was very big, the people were so tall, it was pitch black inside, nothing could be visible. Bats would fly out once in a while. Bolder children would walk in with a lit firewood. Xiao Zhan has never gone inside before, it was too dark inside, he would look at them from afar.

Injuries from falls were common, children would fall onto the ground as they ran, so did Xiao Zhan, he had quite a few scars on his knees. Now, looking at these scars from childhood, he felt that these were possibly the more realistic life instead. Now everything seemed more unreal, fantasy. There were no mobile phones and internet then, it seemed like every moment of the life then remained here, like a photograph, paused in his memory, left in his heart. Xiao Zhan still remembered now, sometimes his parents would not allow him to go downstairs, worried that he would play too wildly. He would stay alone in his room, resting against the windowsill looking down. He could still recall what he saw then – the neighbor’s balcony, the flowerpots on the balcony, the clothes drying in the sun, the garden downstairs, the small path in the garden. He could remember everything clearly. When he was in third or fourth grade in elementary school, he would fold paper airplanes, flying them down from the fifth storey. One paper airplane would fly very far, until it flew to the balcony opposite. He would frequently dream of running the the factory district, at the places meant for children to run. In those dreams, Xiao Zhan did not seem to have left the place and came back. He remembered his mood in the dream – I am still here, I’m just tired from playing, climb upstairs, go home, I want to have a nap in my bedroom.

Xiao Zhan’s home was on the fifth storey then. When going upstairs, the staircase was old, and many lights did not light up. Every time he walked until the third storey, he always had to take a deep breath due to the fear of the dark, dash up to the fourth floor with “thud, thud, thud” sounds, there would be light at the fourth storey. Now, intermittently, he would still dream of that dark third storey passageway. It was pitch black in his dreams, nothing would be visible, and there was something in an unknown corner. There was once that made a deep impression on him, he had already walked past the darkness of the third storey and reached the fifth storey, but there were still no light. Faced with the familiar front door, he reached out his hands in his dream, tried to turn the door knob with strength but he could not turn it, he clenched his fists to pound on the door, but there was no one at home. He could not open that door no matter what, so he stood fruitlessly in that passageway in his dreams.

Brown knitted shirt – TOD’S Brown long pants – TOD’S 

Like everyone else, sometimes Xiao Zhan would also dream of examinations. He would always wake up in a fright. There was once it was a mathematics teacher, who was quite fierce. Actually he quite liked that teacher, but in the dream, the teacher looked at him and said, what’s wrong with you, how did you not know how to do a single question? He looked at the functions on his book, dazed, “Why do I still remember functions? I can’t do a single question, I’m gone.”

The factory district was the whole world, it was almost vast without boundaries. To go out of the factory district, he had to get prior approval from his parents, just like going abroad. He was reading encyclopedia then, every set had 4 books, one of the book described Earth and the Universe, there was a picture on the book, showing the layers of the Earth’s mantle, and there were still many layers below the crust. He thought that Earth was like that, and then remembered that there was an especially large rock in the garden downstairs. He later called for his buddies to the rock, and suggested, let’s move it, below would be magma, that’s really how the Earth looked like.

Now when he recalled, his thoughts then were childish and laughable, but as he savored, he still did not know why he was so persistent on that rock, persistent on the true face of the Earth – it was just a normal rock, a child, but he wanted to see the entire Universe behind it.

3. City of Mountains

Deep blue jacket – TOD’S Deep blue long pants – TOD’S 

The Chongqing in Xiao Zhan’s memory was very old, but also very new. He remembered in the movie theaters, during the 1990s, his parents brought him to watch “Lover’s Grief over the Yellow River”, “Lotus Lantern” and “Anaconda”. He had to squeeze in the public bus to visit the People’s Liberation Monument. It was really difficult to squeeze onto the bus. Probably because everyone wanted to occupy up a seat. He could not remember the exact routes – it could be starting with “3”, after getting onto the bus, people would argue over the seats, sometimes they would even fight. That bus route was too rowdy, there would always be something like this happening. On the bus, Xiao Zhan would look out of the window, the bus would have a long period of quiet and tranquil road after passing the lower city district, on both sides of the windows, there would be scenes of an antiquated city. But after crossing the Changjiang Bridge, in a blink, he would have entered an optimistic, contemporary modern city. This was already the upper city district, that time, Chongqing was already starting to build skyscrapers. As to the lower city district, the area nearest to the river had most of the old houses, and now most of them had been demolished. That kind of city view was very mesmerizing, Xiao Zhan felt that now, he seemed to be within history, within the lingering understated past, but yet he could see the brilliant glass walls of the skyscrapers as he looked up, as though these mysterious things of the passing future were about to take him away.

And also the Datianwan Stadium in the Yuzhong district. The era of C League soccer. Chongqing’s home match was massively popular all over the country. His father would bring him to watch soccer, Chongqing Lifan FC, in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 – the best years of Chongqing FC, the stadium would always be full of tens of thousands of people, everyone yelling “Chongqing, rise up!” in unison. Xiao Zhan was young then, he did not understand, look at the full stadium of dense crowd of heads, he just felt it was lively.

That was still the era of newspapers. When he was young, Xiao Zhan’s family subscribed to Chongqing Business Daily, he liked to read newspapers, so many pages, and he would almost flip through all of them. Later, after a few years, he was grown up, there was free Chongqing Morning News on the light rail, and he would also get a copy habitually. He would first read social news usually, from top to bottom, sometimes, he had not arrived at his stop after reading the entire newspaper, and he would go back to the front page and read from the beginning again.

That was also the era of pen pals. In school, teachers would encourage students to make pen pals – perhaps to train essay composition ability, he also made one, sending each other letters, talking about weather, sunlight and Chongqing’s rain. But there were only 2 rounds of letters. However, he still remembered how he was anticipating his letter. After sending the letter, after a week, he would come to the communication room in school, checking the class letterbox. Flipping up his hand, opening the cover, looking for the letter that writes “Xiao Zhan” from the thick stack of envelopes.

Time moves forward in some kind of order like flowing water. Middle school. High school. University. When taking the entrance exams for universities, he wrote down art related ambitions, his results were way head of Chongqing’s score line, and he could also participate in the entrance examinations in other schools in the whole country. The teacher asked Xiao Zhan, are you sure you want to pick Chongqing? Why don’t you go out and try, such as to Beijing or to Zhejiang, have a look at China Academy of Art.

He said he did not want to. Xiao Zhan was very clear, Chongqing was quite fine. He loved Chongqing too much. If he were not an actor, he would not need to go so many places, he might have stayed here all the time. But, he also thought now, everything is unknown, if there was a parallel world, he might not be in Chongqing long ago. It was not that he deliberately wanted to leave, nor deliberately wanted to stay, it was just that he did not have a clear destination, he did not have to be at somewhere.

Deep blue jacket – TOD’S Deep blue long pants – TOD’S 

Now he has already forgotten the name of the road on his way to work. His friend recommended him, he posted his resume, passed his interview. That design company was in an industrial park in Chongqing, he also could not remember if it was the second or third storey. After walking in, there were rows and rows of workstations, the company was not big, about 10 people or so. Work started at 9am, knocking off at 6pm, clocking twice a day. He set off from home, riding on public transport, passing a bridge. He sat if there were seats, if not he stood. Sometimes it was jammed, sometimes it did not. During work meetings, he would sit by the sides – like almost everyone else, he wanted to sit on the seat furthest away from the boss. His work comprised of image construction and drawing. They wore earphones and drew while listening to music. The entire atmosphere of the company was duller, the dark industrial style, with the air conditioner making muffled sounds indoors. If it was an overcast rainy day, the room would be even darker. He did not smoke, sat near a colleague who smoked at his seat, there would be some smoke in the air once in a while, but he felt that was inconsequential. Sometimes, if the client wanted something urgently, they would spend the night working overtime. When he left in the morning, his head would feel a bit heavy, Xiao Zhan would walk into the nearby convenience store, just buying some snacks.

If it was raining when they knocked off, then it would be a little frustrating. Xiao Zhan had to walk up a hill to take public transport, and the rain will flow down the road while he was walking up towards it, as good as walking up against the flow, just a few steps, his shoes would be completely wet. He was already tired, and his whole body would be sticky from the rain, and now his shoes were filled with water, he would wait for public transport in frustration. There were a lot of people knocking off, he might not be able to get on the first transport, so he had to continue standing, waiting for the next one again.

When he got his salary, he would give a portion to his parents and leave some for himself. He did not smoke, drink, at most he went to KTV with his friends, rarely visited the malls. When the season changed and he really needed clothes, he would then think of buying a couple. He always maintained this habit – buy only what he lacked, and he would buy directly, never going to the mall first.

4. Face and Drama

Now, after waking up, Xiao Zhan would stand in front of the mirror. In the mirror, his hair was messy, sometimes his face would be slightly swollen. He thought, if someone saw him in this state, what would they think? He had to be responsible for his image. As an artist, he rightfully had to care about his image. He loved to eat bread, but carbohydrates causes edema, he would have single eyelids when filming drama. So he had to control his cravings. There was one drama, he had to eat skewers of meat in the scene, so he went hungry first for a while. There was one period of time he would not drink water after 6pm. There was a while, he was thinner than his usual weight by 20 catty (12kg). But he felt that there was nothing to say about these, these were just work needs.

His face makes him seem younger. A lot of people who met him would ask him how old he was. He liked to pretend that he had been through a lot and say 30 plus. But people would just feel that this person just looks like he’s 20 plus. He would say thank you. But looking younger is not always something good. When he had to portray a role of someone who had a certain age, looking younger was an obstacle in crafting the character. Once, he met some of the older actors in the drama, he observed their expressions, their facial movements. He noticed that the edge of a person’s lips would turn downwards as they grew older, he also learned to turn the edge of his lips down. And he had to learn the gaze – he usually looks at something in focus, looks in concentration, those were the gaze of a youth, he went on to observe the older actors, and discovered that they squinted as they looked at people, out of focus, not caring and not trying hard, he learned those, looked at himself in the mirror again, and it seemed like he finally looked a little like it. Of course, he was not simply pursing the sense of age, but because the story required it, he wanted to sculpt his character more fully, so that audiences will not feel out of character.

He started body building, training muscles deliberately, at the end of 2020. He used to jog habitually, but because he had to act as someone physically strong in a drama, he started body building, and this habit remained until now. Now, even when in the makeup room, he would also look for time to do some high efficiency training movements, or jog. But as always, there were always some voices who worry that he would destroy the image he once had. He also did not want to draw his hair longer, and also did not want to have bangs during styling. His team would always tell him, listen to everyone’s voices, you looked better that way. Sometimes, he would deliberately make himself more rough on purpose, and there would indeed be people who would be angry – and many people would be angry, some times there would be voices telling him, you don’t want to train – this face is his, but there are countless people looking, countless people giving requests, this face, the face in the mirror, Xiao Zhan looked at it, sometimes he would think that it belonged to him, but it also seemed to belong to other people.

Would it be an obstacle in his acting career being considered good-looking? Someone had asked him that more than once. This might be the same dilemma for good-looking celebrities. He would think so too. But he could not do anything deliberately. Everything had to depend on the script, on the plot and on the needs of the character. If he were to portray a youth in an urban drama, he thought, being ugly on purpose was not correct too. If the story is worthwhile and needed him to change this face, then he also had enough passion and willingness to change for the role. This face could help him, but he also knew that he had to put in more effort sometimes.

Now, he thought, perhaps it was more important to find the balance. Those who like him, some would always stay on, and some will leave. He is just walking forward step by step, just like climbing a hill as a child, with this ever-changing face of Xiao Zhan.

Brown hooded sweater – TOD’S Brown long pants – TOD’S

When reading the script, Xiao Zhan would always have some little thoughts – if he were an audience now, looking from the third party perspective, this story, could this script move him, could he empathize with the character, he was very afraid to become a wandering spirit in the scene, just standing there reciting lines. He knew that empty recitation of lines had no meaning. In an ancient period drama that was full of emotions, those days, he was always analyzing how to speak, such that the audiences’ hearts would wrench for him. The best classes were of course acting with better actors. He was not afraid that audiences saying that he was not as good as these veteran actors. He was more concerned about whether he had improved in the drama, and if he had learned new things.

When he first started acting, Xiao Zhan did what the director told him to do. But actually until now, he still did not know whether which expression or action of his was considered “good” on the camera – he truly did not know where the standard was, and no one discussed such questions with him – what kind of face is correct? Those so-called actor face, movie face, model face, idol face, these mysterious words, what were the differences between them? His criterion for judging was very simple, that is just to look at the picture itself, and see if that face in the scene could move himself.

Now, Xiao Zhan would have dreams when arriving at a new drama group. He would frequently dream of the director looking for him, telling him how to perform a scene. “But I can’t even remember the lines” – he would think so in a panic in the dream, then he would wake up suddenly in a fright. He would be unable to sleep, so he got off the bed, came to the table, holding a pen to mark on the script, searching for those unreasonable places, and continued to memorize his lines.

One of the ways to relieve stress was to run. Now it was not as convenient as before to run, there was always someone following. In 2016, he had just debuted and lived at Yuelianghe, and in order to look photogenic, he would always run along the small river next to it. Later on, there was a drama and he went to Zhejiang Xiangshan. Every night, as long as there were no night scenes, he would go jogging. It was very hot in the summer, and Xiangshan then was empty and faraway, there were some vast and endless farmlands – it was unlike the Xiangshan he visited a few years later, it had completely turned into a bustling scene – there were wheat fields, rice fields in the countryside, especially beautiful. After dark, he ran along the concrete road at the edge of the fields. There were often big cars driving on the road. For safety, he would turn on the flash of his mobile phone so that passing cars could see the light and notice the people. Sometimes he would run alone, sometimes he would run with other actors. After running for a while, his body would be soaking wet, but it was very comfortable, it was hot and cool at the same time. Sometimes as he ran, it would start raining – Xiao Zhan was just Xiao Zhan at this time, he felt – during this moment, he completely belonged to himself.

I am the rift between that person that I want to become And that person that other people make me to be 

Since his debut, from his first drama until now, Xiao Zhan’s every character had not repeated. Every time, when receiving a new script, be it him or his team, they would always ask, are you really accepting this character? Confirming that you want to film this drama? They would repeatedly screen, repeatedly reconsider, hoping that there would be new improvements in each role, and every role would also be different from Xiao Zhan.

What he himself thought of it. There did not seem to be an easy answer. Filming dramas, filming commercials, some public events, besides these, Xiao Zhan would stay alone most of the time. On the set, Xiao Zhan would be like a bat burrowing back into its cave, he would burrow into his hotel room, and stayed inside as long as he could; usually, he would stay at home, of course, except for the driver who picks him up to work, few people knew where he stayed – it was like a habit, and more like an instinct – he estimated that even if he switched to a different career, he would still not like sitting in a café or a bar. He did not like to go to crowded places before, so his current job is surprisingly suitable for him – after knocking off he could stay alone, watching dramas by himself, playing games by himself, doing push-ups and things he wanted to do.

Deep blue jacket – TOD’S 

There were many problems that could be understood when alone – of course there were those you could not understand, Xiao Zhan’s method was to not think about them for the time being. He had to solve problems himself, he rarely took the initiative to tell others. Confiding to others was phrase far away from him. His friends would tell him, if he was under pressure, he should tell others, confide, and vent. He disagreed. If the problem could be resolved, then he could understand it, those that could not be resolved would only increase troubles by speaking out. He would rather try to do something new. This could be considered as his experience. People are constantly encountering new problems, and when new matters meet new problems, then the old problems would be forgotten, and at this time, the answers would become obvious: this proved that the previous problem was not so important. Even if those important problems were forgotten, they would resurface in some quiet dead of night – like a huge wave crashing over a lone lost ship, at this moment, Xiao Zhan felt that there was still no solution.

The problem was not about confiding, he thought. Even if he told a hundred people, the problem would still exist there, unresolved, and it would float back in the middle of the night.

He had been like this since his university days, because he did not confide and he was unwilling to express, he became someone who gave others a sense of security instead, he would be caught by his friends, his role was a living listening ear. But, on the one hand, in order to help his friends, he would always listen; and then forget after listening, on the other hand, he had to block these off as much as possible, when someone wanted to confide in him he would first ask: “Are you saying something related to me? If it’s not related to me then don’t say it, I really don’t want to hear it.” He felt that it was difficult to keep secrets for others, so he tried his best not to listen to other people’s privacy – there was a risk in listening, if the secret was revealed, then he would become a suspect, he did not want to be a suspect, and even more so he did not want to have to prove his integrity to his friends later on: “I did not say that, I did not betray you.” That would be ridiculous, he thought.

Now, he spends very little time alone. When it was extravagant, he could get 3 days in a row. During this time, he and his staff tried to not communicate with each other as much as possible, each working on their own matters, leaving space – so that he could return to his small universe, this was a habit at first, then it became tacit understanding, and now it became a fact. Once in a while they would encounter a little trouble at work, Xiao Zhan would be able to draw some energy from his body and firmly control the matter. There was an event, it was a rare accident, it was time to go onstage, but they were still on the way, after getting out of the car, Xiao Zhan rushed to the stage, the host was improvising, filling in the time sentence by sentence. Walking onto the stage, Xiao Zhan remembered, his heart was still pounding wildly, he suppressed it first, then sent the words out of his mouth. But no one saw any flaws – his control was too good, too steady, and like many times before, the staff was sure that he really had a small universe with him.

“I’m going to leave” – sometimes, maybe he was a little tired, or he wanted to relieve stress suddenly, he would crack such a joke – just a joke, but with a serious expression. What is he going to do after leaving? Maybe he will be a florist, or open an art gallery, he said. Going anywhere would be fine – as long as he is alone, back to the factory district of his childhood, the viewing stands of Datianwan, or the public bus to People’s Liberation Monument. He could also run back to the door that could not be opened in the fifth storey, or back to his job as a designer. If he continued running, he would back to that hill in his childhood. The hill used to be so far, so tall, but as time went on, the hill was no longer far, and no longer as tall. A lot of people know that his name is Xiao Zhan, but that hill continued to be without a name.

But, if he were to really leave, He probably might not. He is just here, Now is his most appropriate place – Between that person he wants to be and that person people expect him to be, Within this rift, he continuously moves forward.

[lgcmanager]

TYPE ZERO MISSION 014

SCHEDULE TYPE: TRIMESTER ( PART 1 OUT OF 2 ) SCHEDULE RESTRICTIONS: cannot be paired with another trimester schedule, unless stated otherwise. for reference as to whether your muse is eligible for this event, please click over HERE.

with all of the TYPE ZERO members present in the meeting room, BOMIN arrives with a stack of papers in his hands. after the brief greetings, the manager began the meeting, “let’s get started with this, shall we?”

TYPE ZERO FANMEETING TOUR – ZENITH OF ITS GLORY

“i mentioned before, there will be a fanmeeting for TYPE ZERO. however, due to the unexpected circumstances, this fanmeeting will actually become more of a fanmeeting tour around CHINA. there’s a lot for us to do but luckily with all of you spending some bit of time on workshops and practices, this should make everything somewhat easier.” BOMIN states as he hands each member the files. “i’ll send digital copies of that via e-mail too so that in case any of you lose your files, you know where to get them.”

here is the set list for the fanmeeting tour:

WORMHOLE: THE NEW TRACK ( HYOSEOP, BAEKHYUN, KAI )

SPRAY

VCR *

RANDOM PLAY DANCE ( with LGC songs )

ANY SONG ( ORIGINALLY BY DBSD’S SEOHAN / HYOSEOP’S SOLO STAGE )

ROSES ( PARKER’S SOLO STAGE )

VCR *

LATE NIGHT ( ORIGINALLY BY LOCO & GRAY / KAI’S SOLO STAGE )

DIVE ( ORIGINALLY BY JINYOUNG / BAEKHYUN’S SOLO STAGE )

DIAMONDS ONLY

ACTION FIGURE

GOOD BOY GONE BAD

MENT & GIFT RAFFLE

BROKEN LOVE

LIKE A MOVIE

TURN BACK TIME ( CHINESE VER. )

VCR *

BEFORE THE DAWN

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COMEBACK [ ONLY ON JULY 14 ]

KICK IT ( FINALE )

THUNDEROUS ( ENCORE )

* = for the VCRs, the TYPE ZERO members will be filming beforehand either scenes for the fanmeeting theme ( type zero’s highlights, both in the project origin lore and as a group ) or speeches the members have towards their fans, ZENITHS. for additional context, “ZENITH OF ITS GLORY” is derived from their fandom name ( ZENITH ) along with the “young” in younggong ( type zero’s continent in the project origin universe ), which means “glory”.

and here are the dates and locations for this tour:

SHANGHAI: MAY 25 & 26

NANJING: MAY 31

CHANGSHA: JUNE 2

TIANJIN: JUNE 6

NANNING: JUNE 9

CHONGQING: JUNE 22

GUANGZHOU: JUNE 27

LUOYANG: JUNE 29

BEIJING: JULY 1 & 4

HONG KONG: JULY 11 & 12

MACAU: JULY 13 & 14

in between preparing for the fanmeeting tour, the TYPE ZERO members will be given a chance to create small personalized gifts ( eg. signed merchandise, thank you letters from the members, etc. ) for the fans. the gifts will be given during the gift raffle segment and since there are 15 stops, the members will make 3 gifts each ( with the inclusion of DAEHO, who will be present during the fanmeeting tour and leave after the tour has been completed ).

TYPE ZERO COMEBACK & SKILLS TO WORK ON

“and i know that we’re going to be busy for the tour but TYPE ZERO will be having a comeback around AUGUST. it’s going to be a short comeback because everyone will be preparing for the family concert this year, but i’m expecting all of you to keep working on your skills in the meantime.” BOMIN advised to the members, hoping that they would continue to work on what was recommended to them previously.

as a reminder, these were the skills that the coaches have asked the members to work on ( depending on the skills distributed during Q1 from various events/opportunities, they may or may not be asked to work on the same skills. skill is arranged based on most to least priority ):

HYOSEOP: MANDARIN, DANCING, SINGING

KAI: SINGING, RAPPING, PERFORMANCE

BAEKHYUN: ENGLISH, DANCING, PERFORMANCE

PARKER: PERFORMANCE

the track list for their comeback will be revealed later this term. since DAEHO will be leaving after the tour, TYPE ZERO will continue their comeback with 4 members and the leader position will temporarily be given to BAEKHYUN, but for the fanmeeting tour, most of the talking will be assigned to PARKER due to language fluency.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS

TZ FANMEETING: write a 300+ word solo or a 4 replies thread ( 2 posts per mun; 8 lines minimum ) about the preparation, rehearsals, or performances for +7 POINTS TO ASSIGNED SKILLS ( please refer to the section above ) and +5 NOTORIETY ! ** can be done up to two times **

COMEBACK PREPARATION: write a 300+ word solo regarding preparing for the comeback or continue a thread ( non-event or past event is acceptable ) with a TYPE ZERO member that started in Q1 ( JANUARY 8-APRIL 6 ) by writing an additional 4 replies for +10 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE !

FANMEETING GIFT: write a 300+ word solo about your muse personalizing and decorating the gifts that will be given during the gift raffle for +8 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE and +3 NOTORIETY !

SOLO STAGES: write a 300+ word headcanon post talking about the details of your muse’s solo stage. the post must focus more on how you would imagine the stage to look like ( eg. outfits, hairstyling, makeup, props [ if any ], lighting effects, etc. ). completing this will reward you +7 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE and +3 NOTORIETY ! ** for everyone except PARKER **

make sure to use the hashtag lgc:typezeromission for the task. you have until JUNE 29, 2024 at 11:59PM EDT to complete the requirements and validate your points. please submit the following form ONCE on the points blog.

MUSE NAME ∙ TYPE ZERO MISSION 014 - TZ FANMEETING: +7 ( any of the assigned skills; please refer to the ‘skills to work on’ section ), +5 notoriety [ LINK ] ** can be done up to two times ** - COMEBACK PREPARATION: +10 ( skill points distribution ) [ LINK ] - FANMEETING GIFT: +8 ( skill points distribution ), +3 notoriety [ LINK ] - SOLO STAGES: +7 ( skill points distribution ), +3 notoriety [ LINK ]