People's Daily Blasts Taiwan's Rejection of a Mainland Star's Fan-Meeting Visa

A fan meeting that never got a date has become the week's cross-strait political flashpoint. Zhang Linghe, the mainland actor whose costume drama "Zhuyu" has become an unlikely hit in Taiwan, applied to visit the island for audience meet-and-greets — and the Taiwanese authorities said no. On Thursday, People's Daily answered with one of its signature "Sharp Commentary" editorials, headlined with a jeer: blocking Zhang Linghe from Taiwan, it asked, what exactly is the Democratic Progressive Party afraid of?

The editorial's case rests on a cultural fact Beijing finds convenient and Taipei finds awkward. "Zhuyu" and other mainland dramas are drawing large Taiwanese audiences this year, and an offline exhibition tied to the show saw its reservation system emptied "in seconds," the newspaper noted. Taiwanese fans had been openly hoping Zhang would come. To Beijing, refusing entry to a television star whose crime is popularity is proof of insecurity; to the DPP government, which has long screened mainland cultural presence on the island, it is routine border control. The editorial dismissed that framing and stacked up its evidence: a Zhang Xue sports motorcycle, Taiwan's first, was seized by a joint inspection in August after enthusiasts spent a month and a half shipping it over in parts to assemble themselves — prompting the founder to vow, "if the bike isn't returned, I'll send another, until reunification." People can't visit, bikes can't enter, the argument ran, and even a singer saying "I am Chinese" draws attack.

That last item is the reason this story feels familiar to the site's readers. Jay Chou was called a "Chinese singer" by a host at a Shanghai event, endorsed the clip himself, and spent the following week as the subject of a cross-strait argument — first when green-camp commentators in Taiwan sneered, then when Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office put its weight behind him. When a mainland actor's fan meeting got turned away, People's Daily reached for the singer's case immediately, and the pairing is the point: two entertainers, two scenes of ordinary fandom, one political verdict.

Beijing's official line was already on record. At a press briefing on October 21, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhang Han called mainland artists' performances in Taiwan a people-to-people exchange both sides welcome, and said the DPP's refusal "runs counter to the wishes of the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots" — a comment that has its own Zhihu question running hot. On Weibo, users backed the actor in mostly strident terms. "This wave, we absolutely back Zhang Linghe," one wrote; "if they won't let Chinese people in, that's on them." The editorial itself quoted, approvingly, an online wisecrack that captures the mood on the mainland side: "The mainland is creating good stories; Taiwan is making itself the joke."

What an outside reader should take from the exchange is how completely entertainment now carries the cross-strait argument. The editorial's own arithmetic makes the point: it cites a 24.9 percent year-on-year rise in Taiwan visits to the mainland in the first half of this year, even as Taipei keeps its group-tour ban in place and its orange travel advisory for mainland trips — restrictions the editorial reads as fear. Its closing logic is a wager: ban the actor and the drama still streams, seize the motorcycle and riders still want one, mock the singer and his songs still play.

Whether the fan meeting finds a later date is unresolved. What is not in dispute is the audience: Taiwan's viewers have kept "Zhuyu" on their screens — and in Beijing's telling, that is precisely the problem.