u/TxPep

A few days ago, I made a post about actor cross-over or downgrade (depending on ones POV) going to/from long-form-trad dramas to/from micro-shortverticals.

I mentioned that Zhang Chi 🥰 had been in the very, extremely, hugely, giganto, popular long-form-trad drama "Lost You Forever S1 and S2" in a guest role. Do you remember him there? 🤔. I don't... well, maybe I might if I went back to look through 2790 minutes of video.
^([Not happening even if it is to look for ZC.])
^([Full disclosure, I didn't watch S2 because... yeah.])

According to this TT video description, he had been in the trad-space for three years. His MDL filmography shows a first formal listing in 2022. One ShortVert in 2024. A few Minis mixed in 2024 and 2025. And then his ShortVert breakout fully happened in 2025 and is continuing in 2026. For the only listing in September 2022, all of 2023 and 2024, he only had a main role three times. This doesn't mean that he played the Main Male Lead either, he could have been relegated to 2ML status.

moving on...

My girl u/Icy_Requirement3251 knows I'm afflicted with ZhangChiBrain and is more than happy to feed the beast keep me in mind when a Zhang Chi Short, Reel or TT rolls by her homepage feed.

Well, guess what. Timely doesn't begin to describe this particular video. 😂 She posted a link as a comment earlier, but I thought it needed its own spotlight!

So, you've watched the video by now. Maybe a few times. Night and Day career wise! Right!?!

But really.... which career path would you choose? A third tier trad actor who even one of his fans can't remember seeing —or— a Top-of-the-Hongguo-Ratings List #1 Male Actor for the week of 21 April 2026?

I know which one I would choose.... and it just happens to have Zhang Chi leading the pack. 😘

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※ Source: 🫶🏻 Icy for sharing this TT link.
Click the link and give a little 💕.

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^([Luo Yun Xi and Liu Yu Ning are obviously not in the ShortVertical genre, but when they speak, people listen.... and this issue affects the entertainment industry at large.])

Continuing the conversation of the clash ... mashup of Ai and the Entertainment Industry, no matter the flavor, actors are making public statements. I made a post here citing Luo Yun Xi and iQIYI's CTO here.

Which brings us to this post!

An MDL article posted on 21 April 2026 covering a statement made by Liu Yu Ning is an interesting read.

Liu Yu Ning has the potential to be whacked (or assisted depending on your POV) from both sides, both in the drama and the music space. He is as well-known for being a singer as he is an actor. He's often joked that he's not the prettiest face in the room so he needed to develop another talent that is just as strong or stronger than his acting and has longetivity. Not the support clip I want but it will suffice.

TL;DR: He seems to embrace the Ai situation but with caveats...

※ Some excerpts from the Weibo News Link [Gemi translated]:

Liu Yu Ning: "I personally use a lot of AI software, covering music, film, and other fields. I’ve already completed an entire AI-generated comic series in just one day.

Whether it’s taking jobs away or not is beside the point—this is simply the trend of the times. You can’t stop the future; you can’t keep clinging to old ways. Think about how far AI has come already—if you don’t even know where it will be a year from now, then what’s the next step?

So, since I’m about to take on new projects, I’ll probably need to deliberately avoid tasks that AI can handle. I need to carefully consider what AI is capable of and whether my work might eventually be replaced by it."

※ Okay, I found out I could download the video. So you know what that means! Blame Gemi for any mistranslations. 😁

※ At the MDL link, the comments were pretty ... dynamic! It's a pool that I'm not going to wade in.... but if you have spare time....

※ Conversation and fallout will continue and for probably a good while. It will be interesting to do a 'pulse check' in six months to see how-if the Ai/Entertainment space is duking it 🥊out, or holding hands 🫱🏻‍🫲🏻.

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Info Source links: MDL | Sichuan TV News via Weibo | Weibo Video here, no translation...but I took care of that little issue. 😁

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Just Watch! ... or you can also read...😘...

My foray into the extremely shallow end of the Chinese ShortVertical pool and acquisition of what I call ZhangChiBrain, is a long-short windy path. This is my own short-story of how I became afflicted...and the point of this post/share. Not a TL;DR.

Once upon a time, way back in 2025... I think it was in May, I started watching Chinese ShortVertical dramas.... totally by accident. I can credit YT's algo for fetching me this genre of dramas. [Good Lil' Algo 🐶]

Very shortly thereafter, I fell into a subreddit whose focus was Chinese Short Verticals!

One day, 29 July 2025 to be exact.... was the day a drama dropped, and that u/Yoori_Lee very kindly translated and subtitled. The official MDL title is Desire's Dance, Fate's Chance but this was only posted on MDL after the fact. Yoori gave the drama a working title of Mutual Desire and for me, that will always be the OG title.

Oh my! I was smitten!

At the time, I had not really zeroed in on any one particular actor to squee about... [well, there is Wang Yi Lei... we need to have a talk.] But here was ZC... not my typical face-card type, too skinny, too 🤷🏻‍♀️... but there was that something, that je ne sais quoi that managed to transcend digital pixels even on an itty, bitty phone screen. [Well, make that a Samsung S20something Ultra... so, not so tiny but definitely not computer or TV screen size.]

The next day, I came across a BTS clip from Mutual Desire where Zhang Chi did a quick set of push-ups before jumping into bed to film a shirtless scene. 🥰

The Point: It was him doing this quick pump-up that I often refer to when I say all actors who are going to doff their shirts to do a scene, should follow this routine.

I misplaced that BTS clip but found it again. Translated and captioned the video...because I can. Now, I'm sharing it here. I can never be accused of gatekeeping! 🫰🏻😘

The ZhangChiBrain condition is full-blown. And I'm not looking to be cured. Well.... depending on who the next pretty-faced, skinny dude to roll by... my mind can be changed. 😂 Color me fickle!

Hope you enjoy!

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Some extra stuff down in the Comments:
• The explanation of the name "Qiao".
• Sometimes, still shots are still the best in order to gaze uninterrupted!

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※ Source: DMo
Click the link and give a little 💕.

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📣 We have CShortHaven Discord where you can chat about dramas, actors, and just have fun!
Come check us out! Invite