Shen Xiao Hai

[AnalyticChick]

First off - in other things that will be the death of me, these drool worthy pictures are WONDERFUL.

Also, are these some new pics I spy at the site? Most of the candid ones seem to be taken with a digital camera. Did he just give someone a camera and ask them to follow him around.
Hey, I wouldn't mind that job...

Couple of things I noticed while going through the pics:
1) Dude's done a ton of costume stuff. Do you know what the ones of him in green cooking are from? The ones directly before the HGZ set. I know he has long hair in NR, so that isn't it. Fuo Tiao Qian perhaps?

2) Ning Wang still doesn't do it for me. I don't know why as he can pull off long hair. Still, the set from Smart Kid don't elict the same visceral glee as some of his other sets.

Also, I always thought his name meant "Small Sea", but apparently not. Since we are really into learning obscure characters in my Chinese class, his "xiao3", actually means to know, be aware of.

Also (rapidly running out of also's here), I was looking at his most recent letter to his fans. Surprisingly, I can understand the basic gist. Unsurprisingly, he seems like a really sweet and nice human being.

Shoot, I was meaning to answer your question about SXH's performance in WYN, but have been utterly sidetracked by the site. So I will get back to you later this afternnon after finishing my homework.

[strawberry]

Lady zhuge,

For your sake, I hope Shen Xiao Hai is not a smoker....

[Lady Zhuge]

Lady zhuge,

For your sake, I hope Shen Xiao Hai is not a smoker....

I'm pretty sure that he isn't. I mean, just check out his perfect pearly whites, for one thing.

[AnalyticChick]

Sigh. So instead of doing REAL Chinese homework, I instead decided to review my reading skills and translate, or rather attempt to translate SXH's 10/1/04 message to his fans. The original text is from his website. My "translation" is below.


Dear Xiao Hai Fans:

Hello everybody! This is Xiao Hai.

I am currently at (?) filming <<Shang Dao>>, shooting is (still?) very hectic, thus I can only find time to rest when (the crew? cast?) is eating, and come online to visit everybody. Although (? it's a belated?) holiday greeting, but I still have to say "Here's wishing every Xiao Hai fan a happy Zhong Qiu holiday!"

I am very grateful to everyone for their support, although I don't often have time to go online, but whenever I have downtime, I will always open my diary? to go online. Every time I open up the Yahoo (inbox? Definitely something box), and see (? every?) enthusiastic and (? yang2 something) fan letter, it's as if there is a (? something having to do with warmth, probably) in my heart, no matter how tiring the shoot becomes, if I have your support and (?probably encouragement), I feel immediately re-energized [literal translation], and can approach my work with revitalized spirits again. Some fans will even often send (?I really don't know what he is talking about right about here) to me, other fans send (?something) to bring up some (? happy? amusing? things? to wish me good health?), I will look at each piece individually, I am very grateful to all of you, (?Probably something about when he gets a chance) I will respond to every one of my fans, and will take time out in the future to reply to my letters.

Today is Independence Day, hope everyone is in good spirits, and has a happy long weekend!


The good thing about focusing on learning Chinese is that a lot of things can be justified as "doing homework"

[Lady Zhuge]

Weiyi, I really can't afford to let you die. Then I would really be talking to myself in alot of these threads.

Those might be new pics if you haven't visited Xiao Hai's site as religiously as I normally do.

I doubt such a modest person like Xiao Hai would actually ask someone to follow him around with a camera. I don't think he even has to. They wouldn't even have to pay me to...

Yeah, the pics of him you're referring to are from FTQ. I wish he'd do more of this:

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And OMG, I love this expression:

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The character 'xiao' ( 晓 ) seems to be quite a popular in celebrity names. Just off the top of my head, there's Shen Xiao Hai, Huang Xiao Ming, Liu Xiao Qing...

Yep, Xiao Hai is a very nice and humble guy in real life by all accounts.

Well, I was just typing the above up when I noticed that you've made another new post. There's nothing better than applying and practicing what you're learning by using it on something as interesting as Xiao Hai ge ge's news.

[AnalyticChick]

Originally I wanted to just sneak in here real quiet like and rectify what I had said previously about his name and such. Because there's this "何晓新" character that just showed up in my Chinese textbook (second grade, second semester if you are wondering). So I ask my dad and apparently, as Lady Zhuge says, it is a popular character for names in general. Also, he told me it is more aptly used to describe the dawn, or the sunrise.

The character 'xiao' ( 晓 ) seems to be quite a popular in celebrity names. Just off the top of my head, there's Shen Xiao Hai, Huang Xiao Ming, Liu Xiao Qing...

Obviously, I had ALWAYS thought that HXM and LXQ's middle character was "little". Yeah - being illiterate sucks.

[strawberry]

HXM's xiao is xiao as in understand...xiao de....

btw, since we are on the topic of smokers...do you all think that HXM could be a smoker?

I read somewhere that Zhao wei does smoke too..her teeth's pretty white ....I was so shocked which prompted my thread on female actresses who smoke.

Lady zhuge - good for you that u have faith in Shen Xiao Hai that he does not...stained teeth though is 1 safe give-away of smoking but it does not mean that as long as they have got unstained, white teeth means they do not smoke ...see for Zhao wei (of course, it could be a rumour) at least, you have 1 'evidence' in SXH's favour

[Lady Zhuge]

Oh I know that teeth alone do not prove if someone smokes or not. I have other points in favor of my belief that Xiao Hai does not smoke, so he's "innocent" 'til proven guilty. See, you read somewhere that Zhao Wei smokes (and, as you said, it could just be a rumor). I've never read anywhere that Xiao Hai smokes in real life and I've asked quite a few of his long(er) time fans and all of them say that he doesn't. Plus I've seen many candid photos of him behind-the-scenes in which he is eating, laughing, sleeping, etc., but never smoking. Now if he does smoke, I would think that he would to relieve the stress of shooting during off time, but there's been no evidence of that, not even a pack of cigarettes in the background anywhere.

[AnalyticChick]

btw, since we are on the topic of smokers...do you all think that HXM could be a smoker?

Well, according to a new survey- "Adopting a westernized lifestyle has spelled disaster for many people in China, where 60 percent of men smoke cigarettes"

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=5972

As HXM and SXH are, unsurprisingly, Chinese men, they've got a slight statistical probability that they do in fact smoke. However, this may be counterbalanced by the fact that they are actors and so have to preserve a public persona.

Plus I've seen many candid photos of him behind-the-scenes in which he is eating, laughing, sleeping, etc., but never smoking.

...Playing with dogs, playing with children, playing the guitar, waving a fan around, making phone calls, mugging for the camera, staring off into the distance, being really hot - you name it, it's probably on his site!

...but there's been no evidence of that, not even a pack of cigarettes in the background anywhere.

But dude does have a pretty messy room.
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[Lady Zhuge]

But dude does have a pretty messy room.

If he had a clean one, he would be too perfect and no one is perfect.

Really though, he's probably so busy filming that he doesn't want to spend his few down times on cleaning or organizing a temporary abode.

[Lady Zhuge]

Well, according to a new survey- "Adopting a westernized lifestyle has spelled disaster for many people in China, where 60 percent of men smoke cigarettes"

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=5972

As HXM and SXH are, unsurprisingly, Chinese men, they've got a slight statistical probability that they do in fact smoke. However, this may be counterbalanced by the fact that they are actors and so have to preserve a public persona.

Yeah, so on average, 6 out of 10 men in China smoke. Xiao Hai ge ge is most likely one of the 4 out of the 10 that don't.

Besides the possibility of wanting to preserve a flawless public persona, it may also be that he knows smoking is a nasty habit that would be harmful to his health and thus *gasp* doesn't do it? It's for his sake that I hope he doesn't smoke, not mine. I'm glad to see that he drinks a lot of water. Water is good.

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[AnalyticChick]

I'm glad to see that he drinks a lot of water. Water is good.

...so I will post some more gratuitous pictures of Hai Ge Ge being cute?
Well, this is what this thread is partially about, after all.

Nothing in particular to report. WYN ended (for all intents and purposes) last night and I don't plan on watching anything else until this weekend's XSSJX marathon. So what are all of you watching right now?

[Lady Zhuge]

...so I will post some more gratuitous pictures of Hai Ge Ge being cute?
Well, this is what this thread is partially about, after all.

Uh huh, yeah. I had a feeling I was going to have to explain myself. The water comment was actually in reference to the picture you posted above of him in his room with the water bottle as well as some other pics I saw of him with a water bottle in addition to my wanting to make a point about Xiao Hai ge ge's healthy habits.

Nothing in particular to report. WYN ended (for all intents and purposes) last night and I don't plan on watching anything else until this weekend's XSSJX marathon.

We're still waiting for your analysis of Xiao Hai ge ge's actual performance in WYN...

So what are all of you watching right now?

I'm currently watching B&S (as you know), "Tian Xia Liang Cang", "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" (off and on), and will probably start on something else soon (most likely "Long Piao", "Shao Nian Bao Qing Tian", "Qin Wang Li Shi Min", or "Kang Ding Qing Ge"). What I really should be doing more of is studying for finals, though.

[AnalyticChick]

Uh huh, yeah. I had a feeling I was going to have to explain myself. The water comment was actually in reference to the picture you posted above of him in his room with the water bottle as well as some other pics I saw of him with a water bottle.

...Well, actually it's not a water bottle. He's got a bottle of Suntory Oolong tea in his hand. Judging from the label color, it looks like the regular flavor. Of course, he could be using it to hold water, but as it is the cheapest brand of tea on the market (currently at RMB 2.5 per pop) I doubt he would be reusing the bottle.

Just in case, you know, you cared.

We're still waiting for your analysis of Xiao Hai ge ge's actual performance in WYN...

So you don't just want me to melt into a puddle of goo as expression of how much I adored Hai Ge Ge in this series?

But seriously. After seperating out his performance from my inherent fondness for both the actor and the character, I can say objectively that he did very well. I think the main area in which he excelled was in making LPW's actions and motivations both believable and apparent to the audience. He does a good job portraying the character in scenes ranging from the simple "LPW is happy" to the more complex "LPW is happy and excited in achieving his dreams yet has nascent pangs of regret for what he has done to achieve said success".

However, he could have done better in the transition between what the character is feeling and doing from one part of the show to another. This could be a scripting problem. But I always felt that though LPW was always believable, I wouldn't understand WHY he was suddenly so devious after being innocent for so long, or why he chooses specific moments to whip out the Xu family hate. As I said before, this might be because linking scenes that would show such transition were left on the cutting room floor in favor of more screen time for XWX and WYN.

Also, as a slight deviation from my previous point, he could have weaved together all the disparate facets of LPW's personality in a more coherent fashion. So although I understood that LPW was at the same time innocent, and romantically inclined, and intelligent, and a good businessman, and consumed by hate, the intersection of all these characteristics didn't mesh as much as it could have. Instead of seeing full bodied character, I sometimes felt like LPW just had multiple personalities who would take turns controlling his body.

But even though I have these comments about his performance, it doesn't mean that he didn't transition at all or that LPW was a totally random character jumping from one scene to the next. It's just that those were the areas in which I thought he could have done a better job. Of course, this also implies that I thought he did a flawless job actually portraying the character in all of his scenes.

Oh, and he looked amazingly hot throughout the entire series (well, except when he's crying on the floor...) so that has to count for something, right?

[Lady Zhuge]

Just in case, you know, you cared.

Anything and everything about Xiao Hai ge ge interests me, right down to what kind of tea he drinks (and the fact that it's actually tea and not water...). Those bottles are so misleading.

So you don't just want me to melt into a puddle of goo as expression of how much I adored Hai Ge Ge in this series?

Right, and who's supposed to mop you up afterwards?


Thank you for that very insightful evaluation of Xiao Hai ge ge's performance! I think the "multiple personality" comment goes along with the many inconsistencies you've noted about this series. I mean, if WYN doesn't have a better excuse for not even giving LPW a chance aside from "it's just not possible", why does he need a reason to suddenly go from innocent to devious? It's for this reason that I am more inclined to blame the lackluster script, but I will reserve final judgment for when I actually watch the series.

[AnalyticChick]

Anything and everything about Xiao Hai ge ge interests me, right down to what kind of tea he drinks (and the fact that it's actually tea and not water...). Those bottles are so misleading.

Personally, I'm not that fond of bottled Oolong. Even when they add a ton of sweetener and lemon flavor and whatnot into it, there is always a bitter, medicinal aftertaste. Suntory's tea is probably the worst in that respect.

I haven't seen many people drink bottled water around here. Basically, everyone has a personal water cooler in their house. When out and about, I see a lot of bottled teas and juices being touted about. However, most of the juice is made from concentrate - and tastes it too.

Finally, I am willing to bet money that those spiral bound things you see in the lower right corner of his space heater/hot plate/drawer thingy are the scripts for whatever they are shooting.

Right, and who's supposed to mop you up afterwards?

Well, if I dissolve into liquid in the process of answering a question that you posed me, I would hope that you would do all in your power to restore me to a solid form.
Right?

Thank you for that very insightful evaluation of Xiao Hai ge ge's performance! I think the "multiple personality" comment goes along with the many inconsistencies you've noted about this series. I mean, if WYN doesn't have a better excuse for not even giving LPW a chance aside from "it's just not possible", why does he need a reason to suddenly go from innocent to devious? It's for this reason that I am more inclined to blame the lackluster script, but I will reserve final judgment for when I actually watch the series.

See, I can actually be articulate when the occason calls for it! Instead of, you know, voracious fangirl invectives on how wonderful Hai Ge Ge is. Which he is , but still...

In my experience with drama series, I just don't think that most writers and directors expect anyone to analyze them too carefully. Thus they can get away with skimping on the transitions, which is always the hardest part of any argument. In effect, how and why A becomes B. Or else they can mention it in passing and be confident that in a 40 episode series, no one is going to take any one scene too seriously.

After all, it's the entertainment value that these series strive for. Whether it's the visceral thrill in seeing beautiful people fall in love, evil people get their due, extraordinary heros performing superhuman feats, or a host of other series staples. On one hand, I think most series' internal logic systems are flawed to some degree. On the other, I can understand why perfecting them is not a priority for the show.

[AnalyticChick]

On a completely different subject - I am starting my round of Christmas card writing (since I have to send everything from Shanghai) and that got me thinking. What do we, as the denizens of this thread, think about sending a collective Christmas card to Hai Ge Ge? Just to wish him happy holidays and whatnot.

I mean, he seems to like getting fan mail, and it would be a cute gesture. We could even do the message in both English and Chinese.

So comments? Ideas? What do you guys think?

[alecforever815]

wow weiyi u must really like him, hai gege, u didn't even say liang ge ge before....

christmas card? do it at chinese new yrs, and that reminds me of the time when u wanted to write letters to gl

someone post pics?

[Lady Zhuge]

Weiyi, I'm sure that Xiao Hai ge ge would appreciate some greetings from us. I agree with alecforever815 that Chinese New Year's might be better, though. Do you think that a collective greeting would be convenient, since we're not exactly in the same...vicinity? Also, I don't think he knows English except perhaps the very basics, so to be safe, everything should be written in Chinese.

wow weiyi u must really like him, hai gege, u didn't even say liang ge ge before....

I think I rubbed off on her.

someone post pics?

There are luscious pictures littered throughout this thread, including on this very page, so do take a look.

[Sheng]

Hi, everyone, I am new here. I have been reading this thread for months. I truly enjoy your comments and the picture of SXH. Please count me in when you all want to send him a greeting card to show all the fans he has all over the world. BTW, I am from NY.