On July 10th, the mainland China’s “Notice on Standardizing the Signatures of Actors in TV Dramas (Web Dramas)” officially took effect. Actors in TV dramas are now required to use their legal names in stroke order, bidding farewell to stage names. If using a stage name, it must be annotated in the format of “legal name (stage name)”. Meng Ziyi was dubbed as the “first person to be affected by the new rules” due to the stroke count of his legal name.
On June 12th, the China Television Drama Production Industry Association and three other institutions jointly released the “Notice on Standardizing the Signatures of Actors in TV Dramas (Web Dramas)”, requiring that starting from July 10th, domestic TV drama series will adopt unified sorting based on surname stroke order, simplify titles into three categories, and enforce the use of real names. The aim is to “eliminate chaos in signature placements from the source”.
Even though the official deadline of July 10th had not yet arrived, some promotional materials from production companies had already arranged actor lists according to the new regulations regarding using artists’ real names and stroke count order.
For example, in the promotion of the drama “Blooming Flowers”, both lead actors have surnames with 7 strokes. Meng Ziyi, originally positioned as the absolute female lead in the drama, was “demoted” due to the total stroke count of his legal name being lower than the male lead, He Yuduo. This move sparked dissatisfaction among fans, dubbing Meng Ziyi as the “first person affected by the new rules”.
However, while TV dramas still have the distinction of possessing the ability to “carry a story”, fans can still measure an actor’s influence in their hearts. On the other hand, the naming and ranking during major events have become a chaotic stew in the arena of fame and fortune. For instance, every time official posters for major events are released, the positioning of which star is closer to the center, who secures the coveted center position (C position), and even who cannot be placed side by side with whom, has become a nightmare for the promotional team.
On June 23rd, Tencent Video announced the list of attendees for the “2026 Tencent Video Annual Release” event. Following the new regulations, the list revealed the real names of many artists, with their names arranged according to surname stroke order.
After the new regulations were announced, audiences may rediscover a group of familiar actors: Sun Li (Sun Li), Xiao Zan (Xiao Zhan), Zhang Xiaotong (Zhang Jiayi), An Feng (Liu Yifei), Ren Zhimo (Ren Suxi), Zhang Jiawei (Zhang Linghe), Bai Mengyan (Bai Lu), Ren Guochao (Ren Jialun), Sun Fanqing (Song Zuer), Li Xue (Li Yitong), Liu Yuan (Liu Haoran), Feng Wei (Feng Shaofeng), Huang Yi (Hai Qing), Fu Shiqi (Cheng Yi), Yang Huixiang (Cheng Lei), Dilireba (Dilireba), Gulnazar (Gulnazar), Fei Xia (Lin Yun), Zhang Yan (Zhang Xinyu), and so on.