Yang Mi

[mango_cake]

Yup, here's the screenshot her fans got--YM joked it was an early birthday present for her: (note: this time she did "steal" the screenshot from one of the YM-only fan weibos. XD)



I'm really quite shocked at how many new followers YM gets every day! Wasn't it only a month ago (or less) that it was at 8 million? O_o

patricia, the largest following is Yao Chen at around 11.6 million followers:



The top 10 are: Yao Chen, Little S, Cai Kang Yong, Xie Na, Yang Mi (#5), Vicki Zhao, He Ling, Li Bingbing, Chen Kun, and Huang Jian Xiang.

It's quite impressive though, YM keeps rising--I remember when I first started following the weibos back in June-ish, she was still near the bottom of the top 10; now she's at #5. The number of comments she gets for each post is also insane...


Edit: Just checked, she hit 8 million on Aug. 17th, now on Sep. 05 it's at 9 million. O_o

[patricia n]

Why is little s popular? Who is yao chen. Wow..i dont know anyobe in the top 5 except for yangmi. I only know that little s is barbie hsu sister.

[mango_cake]

Little bit of a detour into the rest of the Asian entertainment industry...

Why is little s popular? Who is yao chen. Wow..i dont know anyobe in the top 5 except for yangmi. I only know that little s is barbie hsu sister.

Yeah not all the people in the top 10 are actors/actresses so that's probably why you haven't heard of them, hehe.

Yao Chen is an extremely famous actress in China right now though (but little known outside of China I think--as generally only actors/actresses in wuxia and idol dramas are popular outside of China). I personally have only seen Yao Chen in parts of "Wulin Waizhuan", a type of "wuxia parody/comedy" series that was immensely popular in China a few years ago. However Yao Chen didn't actually get famous from that series...I'm not too sure myself what propelled her into fame really. But she has been in several popular movies and definitely has excellent acting chops (I hear); awhile ago there was a big commotion in the media due to her divorce from her husband of many years (there were rumours that he had an affair with another actress...anyways it sounded pretty messy...).

I dunno why Little S is that popular either...but doesn't she host a lot of talkshows etc in Taiwan? #3 is Kevin Tsai--he collaborated with YM for her Lux commercial/mini-movie with Yuan Hong and is another popular talkshow host-type celebrity in Taiwan. Xie Na and He Ling (just below YM but was above her until just recently) are the two hosts of Hunan TV's Happy Camp (which YM appeared on twice) so they are definitely very popular too. As for the #10 guy...err, yeah I honestly don't know who he is...

Yang Mi is the youngest in the top 10 (in fact other than her and Xie Na, who was born in 1981, everyone else is pre-80s). However, there are also a number of celebs who do not have a Sina weibo--e.g. Liu Yifei only has a weibo on Sohu but the number of fans she has there would definitely put her in the top 10 as well. Zhou Xun also doesn't have a Sina weibo either I don't think...

But yeah based on that list, there are 5 actors in the top 10 and 3 of them are in Hua Pi 2!!! Plus the other 2 of the cast (Zhou Xun/FSF) are super popular as well...so there are pretty high expectations for it to perform well. Personally I love all 5 main actors of the HP2 cast so I can't wait for that movie!

[kinchowong]

9048620粉丝 Congrats to Yang Mi for passing 9 million followers! I'm proud ^^

omg.. last week i check it was 8 400 000 something like that.. and i was wait and take a screen shot when it reach 8 888 888
gezz its 9m today already?.. so i missed it.. wait for 9 999 999 now.. and MY GOD shes in top 5 already. when i follow her not long ago.. she only have 4000000+.. if the number keep going up like that.. she will be top one in no time.. maybe before end of the year she will sit on the top 1 seat.

[mango_cake]

omg.. last week i check it was 8 400 000 something like that.. and i was wait and take a screen shot when it reach 8 888 888
gezz its 9m today already?.. so i missed it.. wait for 9 999 999 now.. and MY GOD shes in top 5 already. when i follow her not long ago.. she only have 4000000+.. if the number keep going up like that.. she will be top one in no time.. maybe before end of the year she will sit on the top 1 seat.

Lol, kinchowong the FengMi and Yang Mi fans are waayyyy ahead of ya! You really think they'd let the chance to capture "8888888" go?? (After all 8 is the super lucky number in China, not to mention it represents "8th prince"...)

Here you go:



I actually have no idea why her followers have increased this much in the past few weeks! It's definitely not usually at this crazy rate. I mean, she doesn't really have any new projects that came out (Gong has been on repeat on various TV stations but that hasn't changed since February; JCSS is re-airing but that only just happened in the last 2-3 days; the big DMGD thing was quite awhile ago...) The only thing I can think of is the LeTV and HuaBiao awards shows she attended in this time period, and the "Story Behind" interview that was recently aired (almost done translating btw will probably update tomorrow)...but I wouldn't think they'd have such a big impact!

Edit: btw in case anyone's curious: translation of the post that's captured on that "8888888" pic: Yang Mi reposted someone else's weibo and added "So touching..." The other weibo says: "At 24 I started dating/romancing you, at 26 I married you, at 28 had a child, at 29 our child called us "Dad" and "Mom". At 33 we passed the "7-year-itch", at 40 the passion fades yet we are still in love. At 50 our child finds their own love. At 60 we vacation together, at 70 we have grandkids, at 76 is our golden anniversary. At 80 I am no longer scared of death, because you are here. On the last day of my life, I hope that I will leave first or that I will leave with you together."

(Of course FengMi fans half-jokingly speculated it's a reference to her & FSF since she was 24 during this past year...so maybe she will get married at 26? Hehe, j/k...it is most likely pure coincidence, but I personally found the weibo quite sweet/touching as well so I thought I'd share.)

[patricia n]

wow, that is a rather rapid rise in her followers. could be that the story behind interview truly enlightened some of her mild haters or those neutral towards her or maybe even some fsf fans who didn't care for her previously. or maybe now that she is on the rise, some people finally took notice of her. at any rate, i'm happy for her. i'm very interested in seeing her 2012 projects as long as they are not horror movies.

[mango_cake]

wow, that is a rather rapid rise in her followers. could be that the story behind interview truly enlightened some of her mild haters or those neutral towards her or maybe even some fsf fans who didn't care for her previously. or maybe now that she is on the rise, some people finally took notice of her. at any rate, i'm happy for her. i'm very interested in seeing her 2012 projects as long as they are not horror movies.

Maybe...although she still has a lot of anti-fans, so-to-speak...but I guess that comes with fame/popularity. e.g. awhile ago I saw a poll of "which actress do you most dislike?" and guess who was in the lead... A lot of people also leave some really nasty comments on her weibo, which I think is crossing the line--everyone has celebs they dislike but why would you personally go comment on their semi-private space and post such mean stuff??? Makes me hope YM doesn't read the replies to her weibo...but I know she's said that she tries to look at at least some of them because a lot of her fans do leave her messages there.

Anyways I completed the translations for "The Story Behind" interview, finally. Sorry for the long delay! I also added a lot of background info to provide some context for some of the stuff discussed in that interview (including 2 related videos), so check out the updated descriptions if you're interested!

Link to Part 1 of "The Story Behind" interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQPdu5pLmPY

Link to translated Beijing Love Story BTS frozen lake filming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3HQNjBdVs4 (I previously provided the link here but it wasn't on YT; so I added the captions to it now; since the host asks YM about it during the "Story Behind" interview)

For all FengMi fans: I subbed the FSF phone call from March (previously JoleCole provided translations of it), plus added a section at the end, of YM/FSF talking about it when asked at the HFCQ press conference! Very cute! ^_^ See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1x363_wQEs

P.S. another FengMi tidbit: someone just posted on the Baidu forum an interview with FSF from 2008 (that would've been even before CP3, so really YM's only famous drama at the time was ROCH!). The host asks him about his previous projects and when she brought up director Xu An's TV movie, he said "yes, DHTHK, it was with 'little Yang Mi' ". (Like he was remembering fondly back to a cute little sister LOL.) Awwww...he was smiling too (well we know he had a pretty good impression of her)--makes more sense that he recommended her for Yu Zheng's "Suo Qing Qiu" soon after. He seemed so much more relaxed and comfortable in that interview too, I was surprised...I guess he really needed an adjustment period after the media craziness due to Gong.

[patricia n]

Thanks for al of your hard work in translating this. I am very impressed by ym drive to perform well and succeed in the entertainment industry. She seems so composed and her answers are so eloquent compared to many of her peers. Ntw, i thouh she looks really beautiful in the story behind. Love her minimal makeup and loose hair do. Kinda sad that she jas so mamy haters bit that is true that it is the price to pay for popularity. Although i cannot explain why she would top the most jated actress chart. I usually dislike popular artists who i think has undeserved fame because of lack of talent (charmaine sheh or lyf). Could it be that these are fans of other artists of her generation who just prefer their favorite to ne the most popular?

[xiaolong]

Oh no!
于正1978 [新浪个人认证] ：白天跟@白冰 念我#笑傲江湖#剧本里某人对令狐冲的一句话，忽然感触良多，比写的时候还感触：我不会陪你到老，陪你到老 的一定是个傻女人，让你看着她的脸变皱，看着她牙齿脱落，而我要你永远记住我最美好的一面，为此我宁愿忍受 一生的孤独！（猜猜谁说的？等我慢慢笑熬浆糊）明天北京见！

This is the ONE TIME we want Yu Zheng to cast YM as the No. 1 lead in his drama (his SPW adaptation), and he casts Bai Bing instead? I guess she's under Yu Zheng's management. So it looks like rumours might be true - Bai Bing as RYY and Mickey He as LHC

I'm not sure if we can still hope he will change his lead casting.

[Tam_Nguyen]

What?! Bai Bing as Ren Ying Ying?! D:
well....I didn't really like her in the Myth....but maybe she will be good as RYY.......still I want Yang Mi! D:

[Ren Ying Ying]

This is the ONE TIME we want Yu Zheng to cast YM as the No. 1 lead in his drama (his SPW adaptation), and he casts Bai Bing instead? I guess she's under Yu Zheng's management. So it looks like rumours might be true - Bai Bing as RYY and Mickey He as LHC

I'm not sure if we can still hope he will change his lead casting.

If he's casting Mickey He was LHC, then you'd better pray that he DOESN'T cast YM as RYY

I'm already getting "thunderstruck" by that line of his...

[patricia n]

funny...am i the only one who doesn't find bai bing attractive? her face looks oily to me based on the myth promo pix that i've seen. i have not seen the myth but i do find the korean actress who plays the princess in the movie version oh so much prettier than bai bing (they do not look alike). oh well, if mickey he is lead (nothing against him...i sort of feel bad for the guy since he is hard working and seems very down to earth...and has a nice little body on him) they i don't want ym as lead. but perhaps this will be a good break through role for mickey.

[xiaolong]

Now I'm not sure I want to watch this new SPW adaptation. I never found YZ's choice of male leads appealing in any way. TBH, his most appealing male lead is FSF in Gong and Four Women Conflict, but other than him, none have impressed ever me. Even Sammul Chan in MRXJ was just mediocre to me. I never found it a pity that Mickey He was seldom (if ever) No. 1 male lead in YZ's productions, unlike YH whom I always felt deserved much better treatment by TR. I do appreciate Mickey as a typical hard-working actor who's serious about his craft, but he doesn't have the X-factor to take on such a charismatic lead character like LHC, much less paired with a top talent like YM.

OK, maybe Mickey does have a nice body, but his height isn't impressive.

[mango_cake]

...If Mickey and Bai Bing are leading this production that is made by Yu Zheng I am definitely not watching. >_< What a waste of potential. Bai Bing looks decent to me--pretty but in a rather generic way (nothing especially striking or standout about her features). I haven't seen her act yet (the bits of "the Myth" and HLM I watched were both before her character appeared) but so far she doesn't really appeal to me much...As for Mickey, it's funny, I had a pretty good impression of him after MRXJ but that got ruined after Gong.

Oh well, I honestly don't really have any hope at all of YM being in XAJH (and yeah, if she's going to be opposite Mickey again then forget it). Actually the wuxia character I've always really wanted to YM to play (and even more so now) is Huang Rong...not just because HR is my favourite wuxia heroine but because they really have quite similar personalities! Highly unlikely to happen too though... *sigh*

Thanks for al of your hard work in translating this. I am very impressed by ym drive to perform well and succeed in the entertainment industry. She seems so composed and her answers are so eloquent compared to many of her peers. Ntw, i thouh she looks really beautiful in the story behind. Love her minimal makeup and loose hair do. Kinda sad that she jas so mamy haters bit that is true that it is the price to pay for popularity. Although i cannot explain why she would top the most jated actress chart. I usually dislike popular artists who i think has undeserved fame because of lack of talent (charmaine sheh or lyf). Could it be that these are fans of other artists of her generation who just prefer their favorite to ne the most popular?

Well, the poll I mentioned was in the rather trashy "tabloid" forum so I wouldn't take it too seriously--that place is full of people who like to hate on popular/successful celebrities and get jealous easily. So pretty much YM is hated for 1) being so famous right now and 2) there is a portion who perhaps base their opinion on the nasty rumours about her and don't know the full story, and 3) there's always been a group who hated her since the blacklisting in 2009. In the much more reasonable movies forum, Yang Mi seems to be very well-liked since they actually do look at acting ability/star power etc. It's just sad that a minority of haters keep stirring up things. But this is not limited to YM--all the big-name actresses have had to go through a similar process with a lot of rumours and anti-fans. I think actresses have it especially bad--there doesn't seem to be the same hate and jealousy for many actors.

To be honest I think it is just really hard to make it in the cut-throat, competitive Chinese entertainment industry. I was recently reading a post that someone made in the Baidu movie forum on the first generation of "Dan actresses" (Vicki, Zhou Xun, Zhang Ziyi, Xu Jinglei), detailing the hardships they had to go through before solidifying their positions as A-list actresses. e.g. Vicki, although she became insanely popular after HZGG, after that she had to suffer through years of rumours, being typecast, having poor box office results, etc...before finally being recognized as a top-tier actress. (In comparison, at least YM has been generally recognized as having good acting talent and hasn't been typecast--due to her having taken on a variety of roles prior to becoming famous due to Gong--and her first major movie was a smash success--although of course this wouldn't be possible without all her previous hard work.) Even now I see a lot of Vicki, FBB, etc. haters so it's just something actresses have to get used to I guess.

[patricia n]

i've just googled bai bing. she is rather pretty; unfortunately, she looks like a less attractive version of gao yuan yuan from some angles and i guess that korean actress from others. if her acting chops are good then she can do rather well in the role as ryy, but i also don't see her appeal. maybe she might be charismatic. perhaps i should give her a chance.

i agree, yu zheng does a rather decent job with finding female leads but he really doesn't care about his male leads. i guess if yu zheng was a woman, he would invest more efforts into find suitable actors and actresses for his series.

[Ren Ying Ying]

i agree, yu zheng does a rather decent job with finding female leads but he really doesn't care about his male leads. i guess if yu zheng was a woman, he would invest more efforts into find suitable actors and actresses for his series.

you mean karen and yuzheng should just get married

i think the joke lately is that they have a secret crush on each other since they can't seem to stay away from each other's productions...

[snowyjasmine]

Oh well, I honestly don't really have any hope at all of YM being in XAJH (and yeah, if she's going to be opposite Mickey again then forget it). Actually the wuxia character I've always really wanted to YM to play (and even more so now) is Huang Rong...not just because HR is my favourite wuxia heroine but because they really have quite similar personalities! Highly unlikely to happen too though... *sigh*

Goodness yes! I think that is the role that I would want YM to play more than anyone else! She'd be perfect *sigh* I also used to entertain the notion of her as Zhao Min from HSDS

[C-luv-H]

This is lame, i want HG to be LHC.... Yu zheng is really irrating me now how dare he stiil all the good drama..... he can go and

[mango_cake]

you mean karen and yuzheng should just get married

i think the joke lately is that they have a secret crush on each other since they can't seem to stay away from each other's productions...

Bwahahahaha...seriously what is going on. But yeah they should just collaborate and then they can make up for each other's weaknesses/combine their strengths.

Goodness yes! I think that is the role that I would want YM to play more than anyone else! She'd be perfect *sigh* I also used to entertain the notion of her as Zhao Min from HSDS

I know right?? Yang Mi has that "gu ling jing guai" aura, she's spunky and feisty, she's got the intelligence that is rather clever/sly in nature, is quite headstrong and a bit rebellious...even has that sort of "dark" streak in her (e.g. when she was little she would "punish" the "bad" kids in her class with clever little tactics, "bullying" her friends teasingly, etc).

Zhao Min would've been cool too but I'm glad Ady got that role.

[mango_cake]

Two new "commercials" that Yang Mi recently filmed have been released--this is for a charity event where several celebrities donated items. Everyone who donates money has a chance to win an item; proceeds go towards helping fund tuition for university students that cannot afford school.

Yang Mi decided to donate a lovely painting that was specially painted for her Wang Zhao Jun filming--apparently it's the one that was "ruined" by other concubines in the palace to avoid letting Wang Zhao Jun be picked by the emperor (therefore there is a purposefully added "flaw" on her face). Yang Mi says that the painting has been hung for many years in her house (ever since WZJ filming) and it is especially significant for her since Wang Zhaojun was her first true TV drama where she was the lead. There are some (I believe) never-before-seen BTS of Wang Zhao Jun in the commercial as well.

Report where Yang Mi presents the WZJ painting; includes a bit of WZJ filming BTS

Second commercial (just Yang Mi, no Wang Zhaojun scenes)