Huayu: Starting with Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu

When the twelfth episode of "Legend of Chu and Han" aired, the scene of the Feast at Hongmen was shown.

Overnight, the entire internet exploded.

The scene where Xiang Yu, played by Chen Mo, and Liu Bang, played by Chen Daomin, confront each other in the military tent has been edited into countless short video versions and spread wildly on all social media platforms.

The most viewed version surpassed 20 million views in three days.

The comments section was so popular that the system started to lag.

"What an amazing pairing! I've watched it seven times, and I discover new details every time."

"Teacher Chen Daomin has played emperors and generals his whole life. I thought no one could perform well in front of him. But Chen Mo not only did not perform well, he even pushed Chen Daomin to a higher level of performance. What do you call that? You call it a worthy opponent."

"I noticed a detail: when Liu Bang stood up to take his leave, his legs bent slightly, as if they had gone numb from sitting for too long. When Xiang Yu saw this, the corner of his mouth curled up. The curve of that mouth... was amazing. It wasn't mockery; it was a confirmation of 'just as I thought.' This kind of detail wasn't acted out; it was the sparks that flew when two people who truly understood acting interacted in front of the camera."

Reviews from professional film critics have also been released one after another.

In a lengthy article, someone wrote: "In the past decade of period dramas, I have never seen a better scene between the two actors. Chen Mo's Xiang Yu and Chen Daomin's Liu Bang are two completely different acting styles, but they collided in this military tent and created a rare chemical reaction. The young tiger and the old fox, the game of strength and wisdom, every line and every look is full of undercurrents."

But what truly propelled "Chen Mo" to the top of the trending searches across the internet was not the Feast at Hongmen.

It is Gaixia.

On the night that episode 36, featuring the scene of Yu Ji committing suicide, aired, four out of the top ten trending topics on blogs were related to Chen Mo.

#ChenMoXiangYu#

#Famous Scenes from the Siege of Gaixia#

#Strong enough to uproot mountains and imposing enough to overwhelm the world#

#ChenMo'sActingStunningAction#

That scene where she "gathered her hair without touching her face" was hailed as a masterpiece by the entire internet.

"He squatted down, reached out and brushed Yu Ji's hair, his fingers stopped next to her cheek for a second, then withdrew, without touching her. It was that 'without touching' that made me cry uncontrollably."

"I watched this scene more than ten times. Xiang Yu didn't shed a single tear, but I, as a viewer, cried more than ten times. That's acting. True acting isn't about how badly you cry, but about the audience crying for you when you're not crying."

"When the four lines 'With strength to uproot mountains and spirit to cover the world' were sung, my cat went quiet. I'm not kidding, it really went quiet. The sound was too loud."

A film critic wrote an analysis article titled "Hair gathered without touching face: Textbook-level emotional restraint".

One passage in the article is particularly insightful: "In most period dramas, the way heroes are portrayed as widowed is through wailing, pounding their chests, and howling to the heavens. This approach isn't wrong, but it's too common, so common that audiences have become immune to it. Chen Mo's Xiang Yu chose a more dangerous and sophisticated path. He used restraint to express his collapse, silence to convey his grief, and the gesture of 'pausing for a second and then withdrawing' his finger to show the last remaining softness of a hegemon in the final moments of his life. This choice requires immense confidence and an extremely precise sense of proportion; too much and it's overdone, too little and it's empty. He precisely hit that perfect point."

This article was shared 80,000 times.

But what truly cemented the name "Chen Mo" in everyone's memory was a brief comment posted on social media by a highly respected veteran director in the industry.

There are only two sentences.

"I haven't seen this level of performance in a TV series for many years. This young man has made me believe in one thing again: good actors are the conscience of this industry."

This comment was reprinted by all media outlets.

The hype lasted for a whole week.

Chen Mo's account gained 1.7 million followers during the broadcast of "Legend of Chu and Han".

From 280,000 to 1,980,000.

The most frequent comment in the comments section is: "Five years ago you called him the 'expressionless general,' five years later you call him the 'tyrant.'"

This sentence was made into an image and went viral on all platforms.

The image on the left is a still from five years ago of Chen Mo in the TV series "Young Huo Qubing," a photo of him looking young and being criticized for his expressionless face.

On the right is his costume photo as Xiang Yu in "The Legend of Chu and Han," with piercing eyes and an aura that seems to swallow the world.

the same person.

Five years have passed.

It's like two people.

But it is indeed the same person.

The most upvoted comment under this picture reads: "Some people spend five years hyping themselves up, appearing on variety shows, and inflating their online presence. He spent five years getting into the Central Academy of Drama, studying acting, and honing his skills. Five years later, it will be clear who is the actor and who is the idol."

Those press releases claiming "Chen Mo got in through connections" that were bought from marketing accounts during the filming phase have now become a joke.

Someone compiled screenshots of those press releases into a collection post titled "The Marketing Accounts That Were Exposed Over the Years."

The most upvoted comment under the post is only one sentence.

"If someone who got in through connections can act like this, then I suggest the entire entertainment industry should use connections."

Ji Yu's fans tried to control the comments section, but they were powerless against the overwhelming positive reviews.

Then something even more ironic happened.

Someone edited together clips from a period drama that Ji Yu had previously filmed with Chen Mo's portrayal of Xiang Yu, creating a comparison video.

The title is simple: "The difference between actors and idols".

The video is three minutes long.

It has been viewed 40 million times.

The comments section was filled with four-character phrases.

The difference in quality is immediately apparent.

Ji Yu's blog comment section was completely flooded.

His fans desperately deleted comments, controlled comments, and reported, but it was like trying to plug a breached dam with their hands; the more they tried to plug it, the bigger the water became.

Sun Zhe sat in his office, staring at the data, his face ashen.

His meticulously planned media campaign crumbled before the power of his genuine works.

Those labels of "backdoor" and "connections" not only failed to hold Chen Mo back, but instead became the best example of "slapping him in the face" after his reputation reversed.

The darker it is, the more it proves you wrong.

The more they are proven wrong, the more satisfied the audience is.

The more enjoyable it is, the more popular Chen Mo becomes.

For the first time, Sun Zhe doubted the methodology he had believed in for more than a decade.

Can public opinion really control everything?

What if you meet someone who lets their work speak for itself?

He thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer.

On the night the finale of "Legend of Chu and Han" aired, Chen Mo sat in his rented room eating noodles as usual.

It's still instant noodles.

It has the flavor of pickled cabbage in an old-fashioned jar.

His earnings for the past two and a half months have been credited to his account. The amount isn't large, but it's significantly more than the original 20,000 yuan in his bank account.

It should be enough for him to last another year or two without any problem.

He could actually move to a better house.

The important thing is to be able to quietly read books, scripts, and think about the characters.

His phone screen was lit up, and the blog notifications showed 99+ new followers. He hadn't checked his follower count on the short video platform for two days and didn't know how much it had increased.

He didn't go to see it.

He was thinking about something else.

The filming of "The Legend of Chu and Han" has been completed.

The character of Xiang Yu is now complete.

what's next?

He needs a new role.

A character completely different from Xiang Yu.

He doesn't want to be typecast.

He doesn't want the audience to only think of "the one who played Xiang Yu" when they mention him.

He wants the audience to know that he can do more than just play Xiang Yu.

He can act in anything.