The Golden Hairpin is a television series directed by Lin Yufen. Adapted from a novel of the same name, it starred Yang Zi & Kris Wu. This series is produced by New Classic Media (Xinli) and Tencent. From the start, between the drama team, production company or the platform, no one announced who was the first billing among the two lead even though the novel was clearly a female centric one. There was a big fight between the two lead's fandom about this. They started filming in December 2019 in Hengdian.
Then the pandemic happened. The filming was stopped and started again in March 2020. All the cast and crew worked very hard. They used to start before dawn and finished late at night. Yang Zi got sick and went to a hospital in Beijing. She went back after seeing the doctor and started working again. But yxhs spread rumor that she left the crew and is enjoying vacation and the drama team can't film because the female lead isn't there. It was a very messy situation. Then Yang Zi posted photos from the filming site to debunk the rumors. It was proved that the rumor yxhs spread were false. No one spoke up for her. Then new rumors surfaced about yin yang contract. Yin yang contract means the production company signed two different contract with the leads. Gave them two different script. The drama team, tencent and xinli kept their silence. Again Yang Zi spoke up. She told the drama team to respect the contract. CCTV supported her. Still tencent and xinli were silent. Then they finished filming in July 2020. Yang Zi also finished her dubbing.
Kris Wu was accused of raping minors in 2021 the same year the drama was supposed to air and was proven guilty. He was arrested and sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment. Later he was also convicted for tax evasion. With how strict the chinese government are with problematic artists, all the hope for the drama to release was gone.
Lost You Forever starring Yang Zi released on tencent. It became an explosive hit. Tencent and Xinli decided to reshoot the scenes of the male lead with a new actor. They chose Peng Guanying. Yang Zi cooperated. And the drama was reshot. Apparently they will use face swapping technique and reduce unnecessary scenes. In 2025, Flourished Peony (ongoing drama) starring Yang Zi premiered on Mango, the platform with the least amount of user. Even with all the setbacks, Flourished peony topped various data chart and tv ratings and currently on it's way to becoming an explosive hit drama if it already hasn't become one. Tencent can't tolerate this. They are spreading news on the internet that they will air the golden hairpin in early February, which is next month. It's not confirmed yet.
