Sichuan Fine Arts Institute photo: Sina Weibo

 
Fans of Chinese actor and singer Xiao Zhan have been criticized for disturbing public order and defacing a campus’s graffiti wall after they gathered outside of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province to celebrate their idol’s 29-year-old birthday on Monday night.

The back-and-force between Xiao’s fans and critics also became a hot topic on Chinese social media on Tuesday. The hashtags “Xiao Zhan’s fans” and “Sichuan Fine Arts Institute” had attracted 330 million and 400 million views, respectively, on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Tuesday morning.

Some netizens who claimed to be students at the school complained on Sina Weibo that the noise of the crowd gathered in front of their campus disturbed their ability to rest during the National Day holiday. Others posted that fans scrawled Xiao Zhan’s name on their school’s graffiti wall, saying it ruined the beauty of the students’ art works on the wall. 

Media reports said that a drone performance was scheduled to be held on a street next to the campus of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute at 9 pm on Monday, which attracted thousands of fans for the birthday celebration. However, the show was canceled due to rainy weather. 
One photo that has gone viral on Sina Weibo shows a mass of people standing in front of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute without maintaining social distance.

However, some fans clarified that they left after finding out the drone show was canceled, and that the graffiti wall had also been painted with the names of various artists a few years ago.

The official account of Xiao’s fan club has not made any statement about the accusations as of press time.

Chinese actors Xiao Zhan (right) and Wang Yibo (left) Photo: VCG

 
The 29-year-old star gained high popularity after starring in the hit drama The Untamed with star Wang Yibo. He also played the role of a delivery man in the anti-pandemic TV drama Heroes in Harm’s Way.

Global Times