In August 2025, mainland Chinese actor Yang Yang, who rose to fame with the idol drama “Love O2O”, has recently gained popularity once again with the series “Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain”. When asked about his two-year hiatus, Yang Yang explained, “During that time, maybe people didn’t like me too much, so I chose to stay out of the public eye.” Speaking about the increased attention as an actor, he hesitated at one point.
On August 12th, in a rare interview, Yang Yang opened up about the journey he took after facing controversy and disappearing for two years following his role as “Song Yan” in “My Fireworks in the Human World”. His statement, “During that time, maybe people didn’t like me too much, so I chose to stay out of the public eye,” reveals the soberness and restraint that top actors face when dealing with public opinion storms.
In 2023, Yang Yang was thrust into the spotlight with his portrayal of fire station chief Song Yan in “My Fireworks in the Human World”. Criticism arose for a scene involving flirting with a fire extinguisher, leading to reprimand from the fire department, and his sleeping posture in the drama was questioned by medical experts for its potential neck injury. From performance style to plot logic, netizens flooded with criticisms, even spawning labels like “greasy”, causing his popularity to plummet.
In addition to the crackdown on the entertainment industry by authorities, many frontline artists dissolved their related companies, with over 700 artists deregistering within a year. The company jointly owned by Yang Yang and his father Yang Guoping also underwent business changes from “active” to “deregistered”, sparking widespread concern. Many netizens expressed worries saying “Hope nothing happens to Yang Yang.”
Faced with a tsunami of public opinion, Yang Yang chose not to clash head-on but instead opted for a “disappearance” tactic – reducing exposure, halting variety shows, declining commercial activities, and even maintaining a low profile on social media platforms.
Yang Yang denied claims of “retiring” or taking a “break”. He stated that the so-called “disappearance” was actually a combination of hiatus between projects and voluntary settling down. During that time, his lead roles in “Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain” and “Rain Poem” were yet to be aired, and he purposely avoided the public eye to concentrate on character development, aiming to prove himself through his work rather than relying on publicity.
Recently, in order to portray the character “Han Li” who rises from an ordinary person to a practitioner in “Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain”, Yang Yang lost 15-20 kg. Showing his natural complexion, he deliberately tanned his skin and refused a stunt double, personally performing high-risk action scenes. During filming, his old leg injury (acetabular impact syndrome) recurred, but he persisted in wire stunts for 3 hours to deliver fluid martial arts movements.
When asked how to face challenges in real life, Yang Yang expressed that actors receive more attention, then hesitated saying, “Actually, in these two years, I have not appeared in front of the audience much… because… ah…”
His once confident tone paused, even fell silent briefly, and Yang Yang laughed, saying to the crew, “It’s okay to talk about it, face it bravely, right?”
Yang Yang confessed, “Actually in these two years, I haven’t been appearing in the audience’s view often because some roles back then didn’t resonate well with them, and I felt that during that period, people didn’t like me too much, so I chose to stay out and focus on trying other roles sincerely, and portraying them well.”
At the age of 33, with an 18-year career, Yang Yang likened his acting journey to a “wave”, believing that life cannot always be at its peak and exploring different perspectives is equally important.
After the interview segment was released, many fans commented that the seemingly casual statement of “If people don’t like me, I’ll make fewer appearances” carries a profound sense of self-awareness. Yang Yang’s brief response surged to the top 5 trending topics within 24 hours, with over 300 million views.