The Tencent Video Star Awards happened in Nanjing, China earlier this week. If you’ve never heard of Tencent and you care about pop culture, you should start getting familiar. Tencent is a major multimedia Chinese conglomerate. It is the world’s biggest gaming company and has a stake in some of the most well-known video games in the gaming space, including Fortnite, League of Legends, and Call of Duty.
In addition to gaming though, Tencent has been investing heavily in Hollywood. The company has a deal with Disney for Star Wars marketing in China and a deal with the NBA to stream and license the league’s content in China. Tencent runs WeChat, “Apple’s biggest threat in China”. Back in 2017, Wired called Tencent the “next Disney”, soon to be a global entertainment juggernaut.
Obviously Tencent produces a lot of Chinese language content. But some of the English-language films you’ve seen or will see are Tencent co-productions. Like Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. And the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick.
The point then, at least for this post, is that if Tencent is having an event, major entertainers in China are going to show up, including Dilireba, the actor considered by many to be one of if not the most beautiful women in East Asia. Over the last few years, Dilireba, born Dilraba Dilmurat, is one of the most popular celebrities in China, with multiple brand partnerships and starring some of the most watched Chinese drama series in the country. Earlier this year, she was the female lead in Eternal Love of Dream which generated a BILLION VIEWS in just one week. As you can see, Dilireba dressed to her status for the red carpet at the event. That is a LOT of dress. And a crown.
I like Dilireba and while I’ve dipped into a couple of her dramas this year (the other being Love Advanced Customisation), the reason I spend more time on Korean and Taiwanese series over Chinese dramas is because…
Chinese dramas are TOO F-CKING LONG. My people do not know how to edit. Some series are over 50 episodes. Rom-coms are regularly 40 or more episodes. This is not necessary! I love the drawn-out angst and make up and break up formula as much as anyone else but nobody needs it to be more than 20 episodes, tops. And even that is a stretch. I’m OK when it’s a historical and/or period piece drama (there’s a Chinese Game of Thrones like every six months, seriously) but the other sh-t is way too much.
Also attached to this post, Victoria Song, also a popular actor in China. She’s the star of Find Yourself, a C-drama I mentioned I was obsessed with back in February. Find Yourself is about a business executive who falls in love with one of the company’s interns. The series is cute and the chemistry between the two leads is hot…but again, that sh-t was 41 episodes! Totally unnecessary.
Anyway, Victoria went with white bustier dress with black trim at the Tencent Awards but can I just show you what she wore to another event back in October because this is how extra a Chinese red carpet can get.
Weirdly, though, as extra as they bring it with the tiaras and the ballgowns, the hair on Chinese red carpets is often NOT extra enough.
