#xiaozhan

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In the dry, comfortable southern night of late autumn, the shadows of trees swayed gently in the residential area, creating a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere. Suddenly, a tightly closed door burst open, and two men hurried out, pushing a bucket of “snow”, enveloped in a cloud of white mist. Along with the mist, several others emerged from the crack in the door, seeking some fresh air in the night.

Inside the photography studio, the white mist lingered, enveloping the “snow”. A leather sofa lay nestled within the “snow”, and a winter was being constructed. Before this, it was summer; long water pipes meandered up the walls, climbing to the skylight of the set, where rain fell. Before that, ginkgo leaves fluttered down, it was autumn. Before that, apricot blossoms filled the air, it was spring.

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The four seasons pass by in this way. But upon closer inspection, one discovers that the seasons are out of order.

#01 Chaotic, Vast

As Xiao Zhan stood waiting, he looked at the two trapezoidal spaces in the studio, constructed from wide wooden planks and encompassing the four seasons, and found them fascinating. “It’s like the spaces are displaced, as if we’re trapped in between some kind of spatial layers.”

The chaotic, ever-changing time, the distorted and superimposed spaces, this was the time and space he entered after becoming an actor. Therefore, he had to learn the skill of navigating through it all, shivering while performing in the sweltering heat and sweating profusely in the dead of winter. And a character’s fate would be unpredictable; sometimes the ending would arrive before the beginning.

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He learned quite well. The shoot took place in the warm, pleasant south, where he was well-dressed. Five days later, when he answered the interview call, he was already in Jinzhou, Liaoning. They finished work at 7.30pm, the temperature had dropped to -1°C, and he was so cold he could barely open his mouth, yet he remained talkative. “Knowing what kind of state I should be in in what situation and what kind of work, I’m already very comfortable with it.” The transitions are very smooth.

When one’s ability to travel is sufficiently mastered, time and space may no longer be limitations, no longer linear or singular, allowing one to briefly enter an open space on a conscious level. Creation then becomes a game of how to capture and piece together time and space. In late January 2024, heavy snow fell in northern Zhejiang. Xiao Zhan had only recently joined the drama group of “Legend of Zang Hai”. The notice for that day originally stated “day off”, but when he opened his eyes and saw the snow scene outside, his mind raced through the script, and he immediately texted the director: “Director, we should be filming today, right? This snow, if we don’t film, it would be a waste, wouldn’t it?” The director replied that he thought so too.

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They hit it off immediately, set up the scene, changed clothes, and quickly adjusted the characters to their near-final state. In the end, “Legend of Zang Hai” presented a famous scene in the snow, after Zang Hai avenged his great enemy and reclaimed what belonged to his family, he walked alone in the snow, calm and lonely.

“But there are still times when I feel completely lost.” Xiao Zhan smiled, recalling the filming of “SPYING” in Shanghai this August. Wearing a thick coat, he could not convince his body that it was autumn or winter. After all, the seasons remained unchanged no matter what. “Summer is that stuffy, humid air; the wonderful thing about autumn is that it has a slightly cool air that you can breathe in; as for winter, it’s so cold that it can instantly wake you up.”

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He used to think his personality was more like autumn, and for a time he especially liked winter. But now, he thought: “All four seasons are fine. A person’s personality and their state of life are fluid.”

Looking back, what truly anchored his career in time and space were his works — 2018, 27 years old, not long after his debut, “Oh! My Emperor”; 2019, 28 years old, gaining widespread attention, “The Untamed”; 2021, his first stage play, 30 years old, “A Dream Like a Dream”; 2022, a time when he particularly loved winter, 31 years old, filming “Where Dreams Begin / The Youth Memories”; 2023-2024, often spending months immersed in a single role and film crew, 32 and 33 years old, “Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants”, “Legend of Zang Hai”, “Gezhi Town”; 2025, currently, 34 years old, “SPYING”, “A Small Town Remedy”…

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#02 The Character’s, Mine

“Do you think this is a good thing? An actor always portrays a character who is very smart and shrewd. Do you think he is creating something?” Xiao Zhan asked curiously.

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At first, he did not realize that the characters he played in recent years unconsciously shared a common trait: Zang Hai in “Legend of Zang Hai”, who stayed hidden for ten years to avenge his family, then plotted step by step, finally achieving his goal; Ren Shaobai in “SPYING”, who becomes dignified and righteous after putting on glasses, seeing the world and people’s hearts clearly; Liu Zhengliang in “A Small Town Remedy”, a genius doctor; and Mo Dexian in “Gezhi Town”, who transformed from a refuge into a rebel through wisdom. Intelligent, resourceful, and strategic.

He was indeed efficient and dedicated in his work. When filming “SPYING”, he would switch to another personality as soon as he put on his glasses, just like turning on a switch. When filming “Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants”, he challenged himself by memorizing lines in Mongolian. “You give an instruction, and your body, brain, and emotions will do it. I think humans are actually very sophisticated artificial intelligence machines.”

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“But to be honest, I’m quite scared.” He did not consider himself to be a smart person; he had never been one to take shortcuts or follow the “effective” paths others talk about. He did not want to be stupid, but he was not exactly smart either. His portrayal in dramas were decent, at best a case of hard work compensating for shortcomings.

He also struggled to make long-term plans for himself. At work, he often faced career paths for 1, 2, or even 5 years down the road, and he would be completely lost. “Well, the thing I can guarantee is that I’ll do my best in the present, but I don’t think too far ahead.”

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And just like when he was interviewed a year and a half ago, Xiao Zhan was still worried that his sensitivity was fading. This might be due to aging, “I wouldn’t have thought about such a problem when I was in my twenties”; or it might be due to work fatigue, “I’m so tired, forget it, I won’t amplify my sensitivity today,” let it dissipate.

Most people would face this situation sooner or later. He could not say whether it was necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, because sometimes when he thought about it again, “If it doesn’t drain any of your passion and energy, it might not be a good job, right? It doesn’t make you feel pain or frustration, which is also quite scary. I think sometimes life, or fate, these arrangements are all for a reason; it won’t always be smooth sailing, nor will it be particularly disastrous.”

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Compared to so-called intelligence, in an industry and era of increasing uncertainty and rapid change, he felt he is closer to being pragmatic. “If you do your current job well, you can have a stable situation. But if you are overly ambitious — this is true in any industry — and can’t even do your current job well, you will be unemployed after a year.”

He watched dramas, read scripts, and treated each encounter with people and characters as a new journey; he met with crew members, created mind maps, and listened to podcasts that told stories of strangers during each trip. Listening to podcasts had been a long-standing habit of his, and the people and events from afar were all related to him. “They are real, and whether it’s anger, pain, or sweetness, it all touches me deeply.”

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He seemed forever curious about another life, forever wondering — what is a dream, what is my greatest fear, what is a dream, what is my greatest desire?

But life did not present the answers to us directly.

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Since last year, he has realized that one change in himself is acceptance. “Accept yourself, and then accept some people and things, some outcomes, some things you want to control but are powerless to change.” His tone became calm. “It’s not a big deal.”

#03 The Cruel, The Endearing

The world is cruel. This was Xiao Zhan’s view on the essence of life.

“This world has a beautiful side, but beneath its beautiful exterior lies a cruel essence. Because in a sufficiently long period of time and space, everyone is equally insignificant.” This is the inevitability of history, the inevitable course of humanity.

At the end of 2024, Xiao Zhan released his first solo album, “WM”, which records his humility and self-examination, his thoughts and doubts about others and the world.

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The first song in the album “WM”, titled “Anonymous” was actually created back in 2022. At that time, he was filming in Beijing, and because he was playing a child from the military courtyard and had to speak Beijing dialect, he had a strange feeling: although he was an outsider, he had briefly settled down in a foreign land. But as soon as he returned to his accommodation and saw many people going to and from work, and a few people coming out to hail taxis, he was pulled out from that feeling of settling down. He thought that all foreigners are the same, “wandering in a strange city”.

Over the next two or three years, various feelings frequently surfaced, which he wrote down. “Go Ahead” represented continuous exploration, while “Life of Us” leaned more towards philosophical introspection. As he hoped, the album was like a diary, laying bare many of his innermost thoughts.

Within the inevitability of insignificance and limitation, something else slowly emerged: “Human emotions are incredibly powerful, incredibly strong, and incredibly unpredictable.” These emotions made humanity seem quite endearing.

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“So it comes back to a very practical issue, which is choosing roles. I always say that the role must first move me.” Xiao Zhan is currently filming “A Small Town Remedy” in Jinzhou. After reading the first five episodes, he felt a deep empathy for Liu Zhengliang. And as Liu Zhengliang began to experience various stories and reflect on different kinds of family, friendship, and love, he also unconsciously underwent a change.

Xiao Zhan’s parents often bickered over trivial matters — “Today I didn’t lift the curtain for you when I went out, or I didn’t hold the door for you, and the door bounced back and hit you. And then they brought up things from many years ago because of such a small thing. It sounds a bit absurd, but that’s the truth, and it’s quite funny.” — Bickering was not enough; the two of them would argue in front of him, demanding his judgment, and the argument would last for two or three hours.

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“A few years ago, I would get really angry. Why argue over such a small thing? Can’t you two just get along peacefully?” But now he had accepted it and found it quite interesting. “It’s their way, a way of proving their feelings. Now I actually enjoy it. Let me be the judge. Okay, I’ll give you a good evaluation, hahaha.”

He also mentioned an idea, “If possible, I’d like to follow a stranger for a day and see what their day would be like.”

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But how would he put it into practice?

A sly laugh came from the other end of the phone: “Maybe one day in the future, during the next interview, I’ll tell you that I’ve already done it.”

Acting as Dexian, Tracing the Origins of the Character

In the early part of the film, Mo Dexian seems to revolve solely around his own “little family”, constantly trying to appease his elderly great-grandfather before turning around to discipline his mischievous son. In his spare time, he tries to listen to the radio and uses his mechanic skills to repair various tools. Xiao Zhan sees Mo Dexian as an unconventional hero; he’s “eccentric”, “haphazard”, and sometimes a rambling “talker”, experiencing struggle and growth under external stimuli.

Xiao Zhan admitted that working with director Kong Sheng and screenwriter Lan Xiaolong, and playing the unique character Mo Dexian, initially made him so nervous that he suffered from insomnia. To prepare for the role of Dexian well, Xiao Zhan’s primary focus wasn’t on the acting style, but rather on returning to the character’s “origin”—

Global Times: You once said that working with director Kong Sheng and screenwriter Lan Xiaolong was a “dream come true”. How did you feel when you learned you would be participating in “Gezhi Town”?

Xiao Zhan: My first feeling was disbelief, followed by nervousness, because I knew that the story and characters written by screenwriter Lan Xiaolong were very challenging for actors. This nervousness continued after reading the script. The film is called “Gezhi Town”, and I played a significant role as De Xian. In the early stages of filming, I was under so much pressure that I had insomnia, spending my nights thinking about how to make everyone understand, accept, and like this character. But later on, I stopped thinking about these things.

The film set we were shooting on seemed to have a “barrier” that automatically shut out outside noise once you entered. I barely looked at my phone on set; I just sat there, looked at the surrounding mountains and houses, and then at the crew and actors, and my state of mind instantly changed. It was a magical state.

Global Times: What kind of struggle did the character De Xian go through from forbearance to rebellion?

Xiao Zhan: I don’t know everyone’s specific feelings after watching the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw this character. Dexian is not a hero in the conventional sense, in the early stages, he only wanted to protect his “little family”, and only later did he want to protect the “greater family”. The most important preparation I did for this character was to trace his experiences before the film’s story, to understand why he became what everyone calls “neurotic”, and why he had such neurotic and haphazard thinking.

He went through a period of struggle and growth. At the beginning of the film, Dexian and his great-grandfather fled Nanjing, witnessing the Mo family go from four generations to just two persons. He must have felt heartache and rebellion, but on that escape ship, his heart was numb. To put it selfishly, he only wanted to survive with his great-grandfather. It wasn’t until the invasion of Gezhi Town that he began to awaken and choose to fight back. As for the details, many people have asked me how the expressions and reactions in the film were designed, they were simply very genuine, spontaneous reactions in real time.

Global Times: What was it like playing a father and the pillar of the family?

Xiao Zhan: When I was first told I was going to play a father, I wondered, “How do I get along with my child? How do I get along with my wife? How do I protect this family?” But when filming actually started, I felt an invisible energy within me, and I unconsciously had the responsibility and commitment a father should have, and in times of crisis, I would instinctively take certain actions.

Just like my family and I, we often worry about “planning for the eventual difficulties”. He is the same way when he has free time. Although they have lived a peaceful life in Gezhi Town for three years, he still listens to the radio. He has never forgotten that the outside world is still in danger, so he makes a lot of preparations and transforms the tools in his house into weapons that can be used to defend against enemies at any time.

“Building a Bridge Between Fathers of That Era and Fathers of Today”

After the release of “Gezhi Town”, behind-the-scenes footage of Mo Dexian standing on a mountaintop and shouting, venting his emotions sparked discussion on social media, with netizens commenting that peaceful life is hard-won. During filming, Xiao Zhan was actually surrounded by towering buildings and modern overpasses, but he needed to portray Dexian’s repressed and painful state of mind under the shadow of war. This strong “time-space intersection” made it difficult for him to break out of character for a long time after filming.

Currently, social media platforms are rife with detailed interpretations of “Gezhi Town”, highlighting the film’s dark humor and the struggles of ordinary people, leaving a lingering emotional impact on viewers. Xiao Zhan, after watching the film, also gained a new understanding of the work, recalling in an interview a conversation at the premiere that moved him to tears—

Global Times: When filming scenes on a mountain side, there was a modern view in the distance. What were you thinking at the time? Which scenes left you feeling heavy-hearted after filming?

Xiao Zhan: I remember Lan Xiaolong saying that scene brought tears to his eyes. During filming, I also felt a sense of “time travel”, but as an actor, I need to completely believe in the current situation, and what I was seeing were very prosperous and modern high-rise buildings, so my feelings at the time were very complicated. After filming, my deepest feeling was that the life that seems so ordinary to us now was unattainable for people in that era. It was really not easy.

There were so many scenes that deeply moved me. The scene where I pulled the flagpole with Ogawara (played by Yin Zheng) left me in a daze long after filming, still immersed in the story. The final conversation with Xiao Yan (played by Peng Yuchang) in the ruins also left me feeling very heavy.

Global Times: What were your thoughts after seeing the finished film for the first time? How do you understand the meaning of the phrase “Dezian Jin Zhi / Gezhi Town”?

Xiao Zhan: On 5 December, an hour before the film’s press conference in Yichang, I watched the entire film for the first time. Before, when I watched my own performances, I couldn’t help but think, “How was my acting? This scene seems a bit lacking; I wish I could have acted like that in that scene…” But while watching “Gezhi Town”, I completely forgot about those things. I shed tears several times during the film, and I also laughed out loud, my feelings after watching it were very complex.

At first, I thought “Dexian Jin Zhi / Gezhi Town” simply meant meticulous creations belonging to Dexian. But when I sat in the movie theater and saw the film, already edited and set to music, on the screen, I had a new feeling. “Dexian / Leisure” actually represents the yearning of millions of people for a peaceful life, while “Jin Zhi / Meticulous Creations” represents the resilience that people develop in the face of adversity.

Global Times: You were moved to tears by the audience’s comments at the premiere. Which comments impressed you the most?

Xiao Zhan: I’ve seen many audience interpretations, including many angles we hadn’t considered during the creative process. They were really good, and I could feel how much everyone loved this film. As one of the actors, I’m very grateful and content.

The audience member who moved me at the premiere was also a father, he came to see the film with his wife and child. I clearly remember why I was moved — we, a group of people living in the present, are telling a story from that era, I portrayed a father and husband from that time, and I’m building an invisible bridge between myself and a father and husband in the present, allowing us to connect and communicate. This audience member found something moving in the story, and I feel that this work expresses the values ​​we want to convey.

“Whether You Want to Do Well or Not is a Matter of Attitude”

Why was Xiao Zhan chosen to play Mo Dexian? Hou Hongliang, the executive producer of “Gezhi Town”, stated in an interview that he saw in Xiao Zhan an actor’s attitude of stepping out of his “comfort zone”. Xiao Zhan was grateful for this praise, but in his view, he never thought about “stepping out” or “going anywhere”, only about doing his best in every job with the most positive attitude.

In 2025, Xiao Zhan will be meeting audiences with several works. In this interview, which is nearing the end of the year, when asked about his summary of 2025, Xiao Zhan somewhat shyly said that he is “very afraid of summarizing and making expectations”……

Global Times: What were your takeaways and insights from working with director Kong Sheng’s team this time?

Xiao Zhan: I think the director is incredibly talented. He’s responsible, insightful, and very efficient, giving the actors a tremendous sense of security. He has a very precise understanding of each scene. Before filming, he’ll gather the actors on set for a rehearsal, clearly explaining the key points he wants to convey, the background of the scene, and what we should be thinking while performing. He’s like a skilled craftsman threading a needle, connecting all the characters in a scene and ensuring no one goes off track.

Global Times: Many people say they see a determination in you to step out of your “comfort zone”. What is your take on that?

Xiao Zhan: To be honest, I have never really known where my comfort zone is. I have never thought about defining a comfort zone or where to go from there. What I care about most is whether the role, the script, and the team can move me and give me the motivation to do it, to be determined to do it. My thinking during filming and work is very simple, I just want to do my best. Whether I can do it is a matter of ability, but whether I want to do it well is a matter of my attitude.

Global Times: 2025 is coming to an end. How would you summarize this year?

Xiao Zhan: Oh dear, I dread year-end summaries and new year-end wishes (laughs). I’ll just use one word — “To be continued”.

Global Times: What would you like to say to those who have always supported you?

Xiao Zhan: I just want to say thank you. Looking back on this journey, nothing can compare to this simple thank you.

(The images in this article are stills from the movie “Gezhi Town”)