The year 2017 opened with Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers performing at JiangSu Satellite TV New Years Eve Concert 2017《2017江苏卫视跨年演唱会》. They performed the song B.O.Y.S and afterwards they along with their staffs had a new year countdown party and watched the fireworks together. Xiao Zhan recorded his weekly vlogs for his Xiao FeiXia during this time. So in a sense, Xiao Zhan and his Xiao Fei Xia celebrated together.
On Jan 10, Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers did their photoshoot for GQ Magazine.
On Jan 13, it was announced that Xiao Zhan along with his four X-Nine brothers will play supporting roles in the new drama “Fight Break Sphere/Battle Through The Heavens.” This drama stars Leo Wu as male lead. This was also the first drama where Xiao Zhan first worked with Li Qin, who was also playing a supporting role. Up to the present day, Xiao Zhan has worked with Li Qin in four different works: “Fight Break Sphere/Battle Through The Heavens,” “The Wolf”, “Jade Dynasty,” and “Where Dreams Begin/The Youth Memories.”
…their second variety show! This time it was for Happy Camp 《快乐大本营》. All the guys had their fan support set up outside the studio.
Then on Jan 18, while they were still there, Xiao Zhan and his brother rehearsed for the HuNan Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala 2017《湖南卫视小年夜春晚》. And on Jan 20, they performed “Happy New Year” 《新年快乐》at the gala.
The night after they finished recording the gala, Xiao Zhan posted another vlog where he shared how meaningful being in ChangSha was to him. After all, this was where the very first round of auditions for X-Fire happened. He also shared about his experience recording Happy Camp.
The next day, Xiao Zhan flew from ChangSha to KunMing to enter the crew! What crew? The Fight Break Sphere/Battle Through The Heavens crew of course! Xiao Zhan would spend the remainder of January filming on the set of Fight Break Sphere/Battle Through The Heavens, including Chinese New Year. This year, Xiao Zhan was not able to go home for Chinese New Year due to filming.🥺 You can find out more about his days filming in his Weibo updates 2017 page.
February arrived and February 6 was a special day because it marked the opening of Xiao Zhan and Xiao Fei Xia’s secret garden 秘密花园! From here on, Xiao Fei Xia will have a place to share their day with Xiao Zhan, and Xiao Zhan will have a chance to read and interact with Xiao Fei Xia.
Then let’s keep it here, our little secret🤫❤️
~ Xiao Zhan
On Valentines Day, Xiao Zhan and the other older members of X-Nine had to each record their own +15min livestream and interact with their fans. The livestream event was titled “If you have love, just say it”《有爱就说吧》. Xiao Zhan had just gotten off work late at night and so he caught the tail end of Valentines Day to do his livestream. Below is what he posted on his weibo.
I’m coming! On the tail end of Valentines Day you must also be happy!
~ Xiao Zhan
On February 18, X-Nine’s episode of Happy Camp finally aired. Xiao Zhan was too busy and couldn’t watch it, but he shared in his weekly vlog that his mom watched it and said their performance was pretty good.
YES! On March 1, Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers attended their first movie press conference for “Monster Hunt 2.” Also in attendance at the conference was Tony Leung , Chris Li, and Bai Bai He.
This trip back to BeiJing was a jam packed schedule. Right after their movie press conference, the boys had to attend another press conference the next day. This time it was to announce and promote their first X-Nine In One’s Own Name concert!
That same day, right after the press conference ended, Xiao Zhan boarded a plane to return to KunMing to continue filming the drama.
A few days later, Xiao Fei Xia discovered that Xiao Zhan caught the flu. The tight schedule and constant running around must’ve caught up with Zhan Zhan. Despite the fact he was very sick, Xiao Zhan still recorded his weekly vlog for his Xiao Fei Xia:
During March, Xiao Zhan continue to film the drama as well as rehearse for their upcoming concert. On top of that, record variety shows. Hence, on March 13, Xiao Zhan flew back to ChangSha to record Day Day Up variety show with his X-Nine brothers. He was still a bit under the weather but still in good spirits. On March 15, he flew back to BeiJing.
On March 15, they did a photoshoot for CHICTeen Magazine. One of the guys did a short clip behind the scenes.
On March 24, their Day Day Up episode aired. Here, Xiao Zhan talks about his experience filming the opening number for the show.
The countdown to X-Nine’s first concert also started on March 24. Nine more days until X-Nine takes to the stage in ShangHai!
On March 25, Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers did an interview with Yue V list《悦V榜 采访》: Talk show at Tea Wine Club 《茶酒社的相声专场》.
And finally April rolls around and it’s time for X-Nine’s In One’s Own Name concert in ShangHai! On that day, Xiao Zhan posted to his weibo telling his Xiao Fei Xia the concert is only for them.
Right after the concert, Xiao Zhan caught a plane from ShangHai to LiJiang on April 3 to enter a new drama crew: “The Wolf.” On April 9, he posted their opening ceremony. At this point, Xiao Zhan was filming for both “Battle Through The Heavens/Fight Break Sphere” And “The Wolf.” Since his scenes in “Battle Through The Heavens/Fight Break Sphere” were not many and he had already filmed up to the point where his character disappeared, Xiao Zhan can focus on filming “The Wolf.”
On April 13, 2017, Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brother’s interview with Nandu Entertainment Weekly《南都娱乐周刊》launched. It appears they recorded this interview on the same day as their X-Nine In One’s Own Name concert.
On April 19, 2017, Xiao Zhan flew from Shangri-La to KunMing to ShangHai in order to attend Meters/Bonwe’s 22nd Anniversary Celebration Live Broadcast 《美特斯邦威22周年庆直播 》event. While waiting for his flight, he overheard the intercom announcing his flight was delayed and his eyes just bulged. hahaha Poor Zhan Zhan must have been very worried he won’t be able to make it to the event on time!
But as luck would have it, he made it to ShangHai in time as his X-Nine brothers took to the stage. That day Xiao Zhan rushed on stage without makeup nor his hair styled. There just wasn’t enough time. But our Zhan Zhan still looked good, dontcha agree? Watch their event here.
Right after the Meters/Bonwe event, Xiao Zhan and his brothers rushed to their next event: Tiantian Xuan Dou Third Anniversary Ceremony《天天炫斗三周年盛典》. Their newest MV and single also launched at the event.
After recording all the events, Xiao Zhan flew back to Shangri-La the next day, on April 20, 2017, to continue filming “The Wolf.” He did not want to keep the cast and crew waiting for him.
Our Zhan Zhan worked so hard…🥺
Xiao Zhan spent the first two weeks of May knee-deep in filming the drama, “The Wolf,” but he still made time to catch up with his XFX in his weekly vlogs! He did not resurface in-person until May 19 when he flew from LiJiang to GuiYang to join the “Battle Through The Heavens” crew. He filmed in GuiYang until May 23 when he finally flew back to LiJiang to rejoin “The Wolf” crew.
Oh right! Back track a bit here: on May 14, X-Nine’s official weibo shared Mothers’ Day greeting notes written by the boys. This one is Zhan Zhan’s:
Mother’s world is very small,
It is filled with only me.
Time has forced us to grow up,
It has also forced my good mother to grow old.
My mother is a beautiful person,
Please don’t let time hurt her.
— Xiao Zhan
On May 20 (also known as 520 – 五二零 – 我爱你 – I love you), X-Nine’s official weibo posted a mini-documentary of X-Nine’s concert prep along with 520 greetings from the guys.
On May 29, Xiao Zhan came down from the mountains for an evening flight to rejoin the “Battle Through The Heavens” crew. The path of his journey was from Shangri-La to ChengDu to GuiYang. You can track all the times he flew around in 2017 here.
Over on the X-Nine official weibo front, they were just posting more greetings on Dragon Boat Festival, Children’s Day and into June when we have Father’s Day:
Some great news to share around early June! Right after Xiao Zhan finished recording Happy Camp in ChangSha, he flew home to ChongQing on June 9 to visit his family. He spent 6 days in ChongQing before he had to fly back to GuiYang to rejoin the “Battle Through The Heavens” crew.
On June 16, Xiao Zhan’s character, Lin XiuYa, wrapped up! On that same day, Xiao Zhan rushed back to NingBo to join “The Wolf” crew again. There were still many scenes to be filmed for another two to three months.
Finally, it’s 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 Happy July!
On July 8, the Happy Camp episode that Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers recorded in June finally aired. This is another funny episode especially during the game segment at the end. I highly recommend giving it a watch! 😄
On July 18, Xiao Zhan came down from the mountain and flew from NingBo to GuangZhou to meet up with his X-Nine brothers and attend the Asian Golden Melody Awards 2017 《2017亚洲金典大赏》the next day.
And after the event, he flew back to NingBo on July 20 to continue filming “The Wolf.” He would remain in the mountains filming for the remaining half of July and the first half of August.
Oh! By the way! Happy August! Yes, in a blink and a quick swipe, we’ve reached mid 2017! During this period, Zhan Zhan stayed in the mountains filming and had to miss out on joining his X-Nine brothers on the cover of Shining Star新说 magazine, on stage at the Annual Asian New Song Chart 《亚洲新歌榜年度盛典》where the group won Most Popular Group Award 《获得最受欢迎团体奖》, and at the Weibo Fan Festival 2017《2017粉丝嘉年华》. Both of these stages were on Aug 27th.
Back tracking a bit. On August 20, Xiao Zhan participated in Bazaar’s charity event “Draw a Lifeline.” He filmed his segment while still in Shang-ri La filming.
Despite Zhan Zhan missing all the photoshoots and stages in August, he did fly back to Beijing on Aug 25 to film something with X-Nine before flying back to NingBo on the same day. I wonder what they filmed? Hmmm…🤔(Oh well, I guess we will see! Just keep reading!) “The Wolf” 《狼殿下》official weibo shared the first trailer sneak peak of the drama on Aug 27.
And say hello to September!
On Sept 7, It was revealed by “Oh! My Emperor” official weibo that X-Nine will be starring in their own drama. So this must’ve been the recording that Zhan Zhan flew back to BeiJing for that one day to do! Anyways, the drama opening ceremony happened on that same day (Sept 7) and only four of the members participated in it. Zhan Zhan could not be there because he was filming “The Wolf.”
On Sept 17, Xiao Zhan finally wrapped up filming “The Wolf”! It was very emotional for Zhan Zhan to say goodbye to JiChong and hang up his JiChong costume. This was the drama that Zhan Zhan really grew and realized his passion for acting. And it was also a drama that was the most difficult for him at first, trying to figure out this actor path and fighting off self-doubts and insecurities. But he grew. He grew a LOT as an actor because of this drama, the guidance he received from acting teachers, veteran actors, and director and the many character reflection diaries he wrote every night.
On Sept 19, Xiao Zhan flew back to BeiJing looking not so scruffy anymore. 😁 Since “The Wolf” wrapped up, Zhan Zhan must join the “Oh! My Emperor” drama crew right away since his X-Nine brothers had already started filming a week ago. It turns out Xiao Zhan was casted as one of the main roles, so he also had a lot of lines to memorize and scenes to do. As Zhan Zhan revealed in a 2018 interview, the quick transition from one drama project to another was pretty taxing for him at the time, but he learned to adjust himself by taking the time to unwind right after “Oh! My Emperor” wrapped up filming.
September means that X-Nine’s and Xiao Zhan’s 1 year debut anniversary is quickly approaching! X-Nine’s official weibo started the countdown 10 days prior by releasing a vcr clip of each X-Nine member promoting the event and encouraging fans to participate. Here is Xiao Zhan’s vcr:
Finally on Sept 28, it’s Happy Debut Anniversary to the guys in X-Nine! WJJW hired buses to take fans and press to the event venue, which turns out to be the set of Oh! My Emperor. You can watch the entire event + highlights here.
On Oct 4, X-Nine weibo posted for Mid-Autumn Festival, and the next day they posted Xiao Zhan’s 26th birthday. Isn’t Zhan Zhan adorable? 😄
And lo and behold! It’s November!
On Nov 2, Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers filmed a special to promote their new drama. The special was called: Take You On An Exclusive Tour: X-Nine new drama—Oh! My Emperor《带你独家探班》.
On Nov 11, Xiao Zhan was invited to attend Nylon Weekend Ou. Fashion 2018 ss Launch Party by himself.
On Nov 21, it was announced that Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers will be attending the Doki Starlight Awards 2017.
Happy December! The last month of 2017 and here comes all the galas and award events to attend! Aside from attending the Doki Starlight Awards 2017 on Dec 3, there were events for endorsement brand, award ceremonies, etc.
On Dec 22, it’s HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!!! Also on this day Xiao Zhan and his X-Nine brothers appeared in Meters/Bonwe Hot-Blooded Boys event to launch their new camouflage collection.
And on Dec 25, it’s Merry Christmas! 🎅🏻 X-Nine weibo posted such a cute picture of Zhan Zhan, eh? ❤️
On Dec 29, Xiao Zhan flew from BeiJing to GuangZhou to prepare for X-Nine’s performance at Jiangsu Satellite TV New Year’s Eve Concert 2018.
And that is all for 2017! Looking back at it all, it was a crazy busy year for Xiao Zhan: X-Nine launched their first big concert, Xiao Zhan worked on two dramas almost simultaneously; X-Nine recorded a number of variety shows and appeared in a couple of magazine issues; Xiao Zhan got invited to his first solo red carpet event at a fashion show; etc. I guess we can chalk 2017 as a very fulfilling year as Zhan Zhan got adjusted to life in the spotlight. Now, onwards to 2018!