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Such timing. Just when we were binge-watching his drama series, Chinese actor Xiao Zhan set social media ablaze during Milan Fashion Week (Feb. 25-March 3, 2025) as global ambassador of Gucci and Tod’s—two heritage houses that are Europe’s top luxury brands. He shared the front row in both collections with the brand’s CEOs, and in the case of Tod’s, owner Diego Della Valle, and of course, the icon herself, Anna Wintour.
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His presence was a viral force.
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Even before the Fashion Week started, his portrait was plastered on buses plying the streets of Milan—an image reposted again and again on social media, YouTube. This gathered steam with each update on his arrival in Milan, appearances in his hotel, and attendance in the shows.
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Xiao Zhan (or Sean Xiao) is both an actor and singer (his singles and MVs are chart-toppers), who is one of the hottest entertainment celebrities today, in China and a growing number of countries, owing not only to his body of work, but also because of a fanbase that seems like a force of nature, no better way to describe the community. Cutting across a good geography, from China to other countries as far as Brazil, the fans compose a digital bailiwick for the actor, that sticks to him through thick and thin apparently. The posts and number of views show a fanbase loyalty that attempts to beat whatever odds (notable in today’s pop culture that’s unforgiving of rumors)—perhaps one primary reason behind his number of endorsements. His fanbase (known in English as Little Peter Pans) guarantees the algorithmic buzz, 24/7.
It was quite notable how on the front row in Milan, the photographers asked to get his solo shot, so that he had to slide a seat away from the Anna Wintour, who acknowledged it with a friendly smile.
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Xiao Zhan’s Milan conquest comes on the heels of his blockbuster, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, a martial arts movie based on a famous Chinese novel and directed by leading Chinese director Tsui Hark. Opening in China on Lunar New Year’s day itself and now showing in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, it is, if reports are to be believed, the highest grossing box office martial arts (wuxia) movie in Chinese cinema history. Xiao Zhan learned Mongolian to prepare for it, and obviously buffed up for the lead role of the legendary warrior.
So who is Xiao Zhan, and why his growing global following?
He’s a good actor, to begin with—so natural and nuanced, versatile (from historical or costume period dramas, action fantasy to romcom), and obviously diligent in whatever role.
He’s articulate and forthright in interviews, and can talk insightfully, like he did in the panel interviews with seasoned filmmakers behind Legends.
He has a good singing voice, his releases have been commercial and critical successes (i.e. Made to Love).
He has the legitimate talent his fanbase swears by—a design graduate who worked in design and photography before he became an idol and actor. Not only can he draw and illustrate, he is also shown designing a poster or calendar cover.
Fan posts say he has empathy in his appearances.
And basic—he has the looks.
Long story short, Xiao Zhan, who’s turning 34, relates and connects on so many levels and touch points, especially to this and the NextGen. It doesn’t hurt that his studio seems active and very prolific—he has travel vlogs on places, from his native Chongqing to Switzerland.
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Another basic—he seems like a very hard worker. Streaming platforms carry his works, from Netflix (The Untamed) to WeTV, iQiyi.
He has had an impressive drama list since his debut in 2015 and his breakout role in The Untamed, the action fantasy series (50+) which has gained a cult-status following—to this day, social media posts just won’t stop, especially those that ship him and Wang YiBo, another Chinese top actor, dancer and athlete (he was the torch bearer for China in the recent Paris World Olympics). The fans, it seems, just can’t move on from the bond between the mythical characters of Zhan and YiBo.
Beyond The Untamed, however, are his really good series. The Youth Memories is a landmark role for Xiao Zhan—he plays a young guy who, with school mates and childhood friends, grows up in the military compound, but has to struggle his way into adulthood when his father, a military official, is fallen ill.
This is set in the ‘70s China, which is in the grip of Cultural Revolution. He is a cadre whose life goal is to serve on the war front, which he does and subsequently suffers an injury that leaves him crippled. He overcomes the tragedy, learns to walk again, accepts the loss of his young love only to find his true love. The cadre grows up to become a top businessman in Beijing, his character formed by a series of betrayals, financial setbacks, and the loss of loved ones.
The story spanning three decades is one of history and romance, of gaiety and tragedy, of betrayal and enduring friendship. Xiao Zhan, young as he is, displays the depth to do the story justice, and he brings a mix of naivete, youthful machismo, and vulnerability to the role.
His romcoms are equally good. The Oath of Love puts him in the role of a nerdy physician who accidentally runs into a carefree music student whose father he will soon have to treat after the old man is diagnosed with cancer. She is an only child whose devotion to her father is absolute. How they, as a pair, confront the prospect of death even as they fall in love is what turns this romcom into a touching series. It gives Xiao Zhan every chance to turn on the charm. He can even sing its OST.
Sunshine By Your Side comes closer to home, for Xiao Zhan plays an art designer in this cozy romcom. He’s a 26-year-old working stiff in an advertising agency, who, since adolescence, has been in love with a woman advertising director he accidentally met while watching the street public service video she directed about the hardworking city cleaners. The interviewee happens to be his dad, and he’s ashamed of his dad’s job. Watching the ad video becomes a life-changing moment for this student. He never forgets the director. Fast-forward—he’s now an art designer.
Stood up by a blind date arranged by his mom, in a restaurant, he finds at the next table this director out to get drunk because she’s on the brink of divorce. That’s the first funny encounter between this young guy and this in-demand advertising director. She’s 36!
The romance, between the 36-year-old woman who’s on top of her game, and a 26-year-old who’s a newbie in his career and who lives with his overprotective mom and dad, works and becomes an engaging series because obviously, Xiao Zhan and the female lead Bai Baihe (she’s 41, in real life) are so competently immersed in their roles. Xiao Zhan, many years her junior, plays the young guy with such brash confidence, comedic timing—who with just a gaze, can turn on the sex appeal. He is the aggressive lover, then in the next breath, he is the doted-on only child who’s scared of his mom.
In sum, from acting to music—and looks—that’s how Xiao Zhan is gaining followers worldwide, and his seat on the front row—with the Wintour.
