Huayu Entertainment Starts with Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu

2011 was the eve of the era of internet traffic.

The entire dregs of the fan culture are not yet fully mature and have begun to take shape.

The Legend of Chu and Han openly criticizes The Legend of Hongmen Banquet, especially Jiang Yang, Ming Han and Feng Shaofeng. How can fans tolerate this?

"Are you crazy? Who would dare to stage an accident for you, some nobody?"

"Exactly, he's obviously handsome, while that other guy's muscles are so ugly."

"I will protect the best Eighth Prince!"

The Eighth Prince is a role played by Feng Shaofeng in "Palace," and he hasn't finished reaping the benefits yet.

The fans' outburst further escalated the public opinion.

Jiang Yang wasn't afraid of them making a scene; he was only afraid they wouldn't make a scene or wouldn't make a scene big enough. It seems that the fighting power of the star-chasing girls in 2011 is still quite good.

However, the fan community is far from having absolute power at this point.

The righteous onlookers in the front row began to speak out.

"To be fair, judging from appearance alone, Xiang Yu in 'The Legend of Chu and Han' is indeed superior. It's hard to imagine that the real Xiang Yu looks like Feng Shaofeng."

"Hilarious! Can you imagine yourself as Liu Bang, the Heavenly King of Changli?"

Different types cannot be directly compared...

After a flurry of chatter, by the time "The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen" and Feng Shaofeng realized what was happening, they had already suffered a great loss.

They have a weakness.

That is, when the controversy arose, "The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen" had already been released.

It's a terrible movie, that's a done deal.

The Legend of Chu and Han is still being filmed, and apart from a few behind-the-scenes clips, the audience doesn't know how the portrayal of Xiang Yu will actually go.

But you, Xiang Yu, have truly shown us what you're made of.

Pooh!

Even dogs spit at it when they pass by.

It's not that Feng Shaofeng acted particularly badly, but rather that he was particularly mediocre and equally bad in a bad movie, with no outstanding performance whatsoever.

In other words, he bore the brunt of the negative reviews for bad movies.

Feng Shaofeng is now very wronged. Is it my fault that "The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen" turned out to be a bad movie?

If it's not your fault, whose fault is it?

The audience definitely won't buy it. If the movie is a hit, the actors benefit the most. If the movie is bad, how can they escape taking the blame? At the very least, it's because they had poor judgment in choosing the script.

Now that the controversy has arisen about whether Feng Shaofeng is suitable to play Xiang Yu, his "dark history" has also been dug up.

What dark history does he have?

"Palace" (宫).

This drama was both incredibly popular and incredibly bad. It was rushed out of production just to steal the spotlight from "Scarlet Heart" by using the example of a time-traveling woman participating in the struggle for the throne.

Both the brat and Yang Mi have a grudge against Tang Ren, so this time it's a matter of settling scores and getting revenge.

Feng Shaofeng was just lucky; he was fortunate to have met such a lucky person.

The term "little fresh meat" didn't exist back then, but his acting style in "Palace" was clearly that of a typical "little fresh meat," and he didn't have a very good public image.

Guess what?

Feng Shaofeng can't even be considered a young heartthrob, because he was born in 78 and was already 33 when he became famous.

What's more terrifying than young heartthrobs are older heartthrobs...

What do you mean by "pigeon"? Call me uncle!

Feng Shaofeng thought that his popularity would easily crush Jiang Yang, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, but things didn't go as planned.

The failure of "The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen" brought him a lot of ridicule.

Or perhaps it's a backlash caused by the soaring popularity during the "Palace" period; if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight.

It was Jiang Yang who put him in the spotlight.

Regardless of whether Feng Shaofeng gets criticized, Jiang Yang definitely can't compete with him in terms of fans.

Therefore, this time the materials were released by the production team of "Legend of Chu and Han", which was a rough cut of the Battle of Dongjun that was filmed earlier.

When this clip was shown, discerning viewers were stunned.

"Holy crap, is this real footage?"

"It was filmed in one continuous shot, with no signs of editing!"

"Special effects, right?"

"How much did it cost to create such realistic special effects?"

"I don't believe it, that's Gao Xixi!"

After the preceding build-up, Jiang Yang's performance in the war scenes instantly exploded.

When Gao Xixi saw the effect, it was even better than expected. So he stopped hiding it and personally responded to gain a lot of attention.

"Our 'Legend of Chu and Han' is absolutely filmed on location, without any computer-generated special effects."

"As for Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King, I carefully selected him from tens of thousands of candidates. He was outstanding in every aspect."

"Please stay tuned, we definitely won't let the audience down."

The old man seemed to have completely forgotten about He Rundong.

Anyway, he's finding Jiang Yang more and more pleasing to the eye these days.

Haven't you heard what netizens are saying?

"When I saw that Gao Xixi was the director of 'Legend of Chu and Han,' I had already given up all hope, after all, I was too deeply poisoned by 'New Three Kingdoms.'"

"But seeing this clip sparked my interest again."

"We don't need fabricated love stories; we just want to see a real Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu!"

Jiang Yang was finally served.

When the initial public opinion was just beginning to circulate, although he was one of the parties involved, the focus was entirely on Feng Shaofeng because he was not a big name.

Now, through a stunning war drama, they've transformed the negative traffic from their rivals into popularity for themselves.

The war of words began to turn around.

"Was Xiang Yu's disheveled hair in 'The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen' for real? What's the difference between that hairstyle of ancient nobles and running naked in the street?"

"Forget the hairstyles, what part of it is historically accurate? The funniest thing is the UFO-shaped hat!"

"Li Ren-gang's three dramas featuring the UFO hat are complete!"

Are Jiang Yang's fans capable of beating Feng Shaofeng?

You're overthinking it. How many fans can a show have before it even airs? To put it bluntly, it's Feng Shaofeng's haters who are making their move.

These people may not be professional haters; they just can't stand the young heartthrob image represented by Feng Shaofeng. What are you so arrogant about, you actor who became famous for a terrible drama?

It's all about praising one while putting down another, and Jiang Yang became a positive example.

Look at them, look at their physique and skills, covered in mud and stained with blood, that's what fighting is all about.

In contrast, in "The Legend of the Feast at Hongmen," the clothes are so clean they look brand new, and the armor is so shiny it could be used as a mirror; there's no need to watch any further.

Then came "The Legend of Chu and Han," where the villain was thoroughly beaten when he was down.

Gao Xixi urged the production team to release more news and behind-the-scenes footage, saying how hard Jiang Yang worked, filming with only half his body exposed in the dead of winter, and how dedicated he was.

And most importantly, he's really fierce!

Thus, the fledgling Jiang Yang was strongly associated with the film and television image of Xiang Yu.

When Feng Shaofeng's side looked at the situation, they found that there were relatively few cases of "malicious extortion" in the industry, and they couldn't come up with a good solution for the time being.

Given the current unfavorable public opinion, it's best to play it safe.

In any case, I never showed up at all.

Play dead, pretend nothing happened.

Only a small group of fanatical fans continued their clamor, even issuing personal threats against Jiang Yang, which netizens naturally mocked mercilessly.

The more excited they seemed, as if their tails had been stepped on, the more they seemed to be giving Jiang Yang an assist.

"If Xiang Yu didn't look like this, that would be his fault!"