Twin blossom of both art and physical elegance.
Lit. "two blossoming flowers."
This is a currently viral meme about Chinese actor Zhang Jinlai, stage name Liu Xiao Ling Tong (lit. Six years old child Jr.), known for his portrayal of Sun Wukong in China Central TV's 1986-2000 series Journey to the West.
Zhang is one of the older generation of actors, and his family is famous for their various stage portrayals of Sun Wukong in Shaoxing opera. He started his training at age 6, and adopted the stage name of his father Liu Ling Tong (lit. Six years old child) when he debuted. Zhang's portrayal of Sun Wukong in 86's Journey to the West was exceptional and was highly regarded by fans of both the TV series and the original literature, and was never surpassed by any subsequent performances. For most Chinese netizens growing up in the 90s and 2000s, Zhang is basically Sun Wukong incarnate.
Unfortunately, Zhang's conduct is not nearly as exceptional as his performance. During the airing of 86's Journey to the West, Zhang and several other crew members secretly cast out their series director Yang Jie, and went to an open stage performance in Singapore under a misappropriated official title. He never admitted this publicly and never made any apology to Yang. When Yang passed away on 2017, Zhang attended her funeral, and had the audacity to advertise his new Sun Wukong project right on the spot. This event is known as the "Funeral Advertisement".
Zhang is exceptionally hypocritical and arrogant as well. He openly mocked Stephen Chow's portrayal of Sun Wukong in A Chinese Odyssey many times, to the point of openly attacking Chow and the director of A Chinese Odyssey, demanding that they "openly apologize to all Chinese audiences" for their "wrongful portrayal". Dragon Ball is one of his other constant victims. He also openly compared himself to the author of Journey to the West Wu Cheng‘en (1506-1582), announcing that he is "the one and only person who knows Wu the best". This caused him to direct and star in a critically panned TV series Wu Cheng'en and Journey to the West filled with historical errors and outrageous fabrications; write a horribly abridged version of the original Journey to the West novel, with his own name under the "author" title; and eventually, hang his own enlarged photo on the front door of Wu's museum. Zhang openly attacked almost every existing Journey to the West game IP on the market, accusing them of being "morally bankrupt" for profiting from Journey to the West; yet in a not so surprising turn, he himself also endorsed several shitty mobile/browser Journey to the West games, profiting just like everyone else.
Eventually, a netizen took some of his strange behaviors and came up with a mocking meme. Zhang has the habit of connecting everything he sees on weibo to himself and his future project of portraying Sun Wukong, no matter how far a stretch it seems. The meme reflects this behavior, and goes like this:
I was surprised to know [insert event here]. Speaking of [details regarding to the event], it reminds me of [similar details regarding to Journey to the West]. On the second half of this year, a new Journey to the West series joint-invested by Chinese and US funds will begin filming. I will continue to portray Sun Wukong in this project, and I will use him to create a brand new television idol filled with positive energy. It will be a twin blossom of both art and physical elegance, and a promotion of Chinese culture. Please support me.
Any event goes, no matter how far a stretch it seems, just like Zhang's odd behavior. This meme fed into people's long time sense of discontent toward Zhang, and went viral in the blink of an eye.
tl;dr A meme that mocks a washed-up, narcissistic, hypocritical Chinese actor who shills his allegedly superior Journey to the West products with every chance he gets.
e.g.
I was surprised to know that Shangguan Feiying puts both English and Chinese text in her memoticons. Speaking of both English and Chinese text in memoticons, it reminds me of Journey to the West, which has both English and Chinese versions. On the second half of this year, a new Journey to the West series joint-invested by Chinese and US funds will begin filming. I will continue to portray Sun Wukong in this project, and I will use him to create a brand new television idol filled with positive energy. It will be a twin blossom of both art and physical elegance, and a promotion of Chinese culture. Please support me.
