Feng Shaofeng's "Up Close" Interview

Back in October, FSF appeared was interviewed on "Up Close". The host, Li Jing, also co-hosted FengMi's ChaoJi (Super Access) Interview back in March as well as their recent appearance at the "I Do" event (more to come on that later). I actually finished the subs for this one awhile ago but ended up getting distracted by all the recent FengMi news so didn't get around to this one till now. Sorry!

I would like to thank Mr. "slow-talker" Feng Shaofeng for taking his time answering questions and thus making it a lot easier for me to translate & sub his interviews--as opposed to "machine-gun"-Yang Mi whose interviews take forever to get through... (If you missed that reference, be sure to check out the comments I added under the previous "Oct-Nov Megapost"--I also added some screencaps of FSF's "slow talking" video so check that out too if you haven't already! )

Once again, I find FSF adorable when he's answering questions related to Yang Mi--he gets all flustered/embarrassed so easily! In fact I am tempted to go on a squee-fest about practically every single thing he says during that segment but I'll let you guys just watch it yourself (I do have a few added notes to expand on some of it though):

Note #1 @ 3:06:

LJ: So the two of you acting a "first-time romance", could the two of you really find that feeling of "being in love for the first time"?

FSF: I think we did, I guess. Because I--I, me and her--when we act opposite each other...we will have...some very...very intense/strong...some very stimulating/exhilarating, interactions in acting.

Actually FSF actually previously said back in May, during the "Symphony of Fate" press conference, that whenever he and Yang Mi looked at each other (while filming the drama, of course...) they both had the feeling of "falling in love for the first time".

Note #2 @ 9:49:

LJ: Have you never asked her? For example, "Yang Mi, just joking with you...in real life, do you think that the two of us could become a couple?"

FSF: Too embarrassed to say *that* type of thing.

This actually blatantly contradicts what Yang Mi said in her "The Story Behind" interview back in March--she said that FSF would sometimes joke with her, "everyone says we should be together, so how about we..." only to be cut off by her! Plus, he's even blatantly made that type of joke publicly on his weibo, back in February! (This was a few days after "Gong" had started airing in China and the FengMi rumours really started to get going.)

First, YM posted up a pic that she took of the two of them, and joked about all the dating rumours about the two of them (I think she was trying to say the rumours are false?)...

YM: Hey, that person--are there people saying we're dating? Haha, how come I don't know about this?

FSF: Really? ...is that true...how about let's just date then...looking at the picture we really do quite have a "husband-and-wife" look. :) Why don't you think about it a bit...)

Note #3 @ 10:44:

QiXi (07/07 on the Lunar Calendar), which in this year took place on Aug. 06, is the traditional "Chinese Valentine's Day". Let's take a look at FengMi's weibo posts on this special day...

Aug 06, 12:51 PM: FSF posts a pic of himself with his good friend Raymond Lam, as the two hadn't seen each other in awhile and just happened to both be in Wuhan the day before QiXi, so they met up for karaoke and drinks.

Aug 06, 12:54 PM: YM makes a cryptic and rather sad but very sweet post: "Some words are said too much as filming dialogue, so I cannot bring myself to say them in real life. If they are said out loud, even I myself feel they are not genuine. Thinking this way it is indeed quite tragic, used up all my feelings and tears only for the viewers' enjoyment. But to the person I truly care about, I am too scared to even open my mouth."

Aug 06, 1:07 PM: FSF makes his 2nd QiXi post: "On this type of day, I really want to say something to another most important person. Actually the more you care [about someone], the more there really is no need to say anything, often it is all teasing/bullying. Alright then, I wish everyone a happy holiday!"

FSF's second post and YM's post are vague enough so no one can really specifically pinpoint who they're directed to--but, it seems obvious that they are linked, especially considering FSF's post came only 13 min after YM's. Factor in the time for him to type up the post and sit on it for a bit to make sure it's suitably vague, and it pretty much came right after. Furthermore, the phrase he used for "teasing/bullying" is exactly the same phrase used during FengMi's ChaoJi interview (where he had a silly grin while saying YM always "teases/bullies" him). Seriously though, if these two posts are really meant for one another, how much sweeter can they get--YM basically said he is the person she "truly cares about" and FSF did her one better, saying she is "the MOST important person!" (On top of that, even if you look at it from a completely unbiased view, it certainly seems like both of them have a "significant other"...)

Funnily enough, both FSF and YM were asked about these weibo posts in separate interviews shortly after. Yang Mi decided to play dumb, pretending to forget about even having made such a post. Meanwhile, FSF first replies that his post was about Raymond Lam (also "playing dumb" by referring to his first QiXi post), then later--after it's clear the media aren't fooled--he replies that the post was meant for his fans who always support him...in the "Up Close" interview, he's changed his tune once again, saying that it was meant for himself.

(Huh, don't know about you guys but the wording of his post really doesn't seem to make sense to me that it was for his fans or himself...)

Note #4 @ 12:13:

FSF: (on his attitude towards romance) Actually, right now I think the more it is "mild/calm/steady", the more it is "lasting".

In fact, Yang Mi has made similar comments about her attitude towards love and marriage--that she wishes for something "ping dan" (calm/steady) and "lasting". ^_^

Note #5 @ 12:29:

There is a considerable amount of backstory to this simple weibo post--I'll start from the beginning so please bear with me!

520 (i.e. May 20th) is another special "holiday for romance" in China. This stems from the fact that "520" in Chinese sounds very similar to the phrase for "I love you". Thus, it has been dubbed "biao bai ri" (i.e. "day for love confessions"). In particular, the time of 13:14 on this day is especially significant because "1314" in Chinese sounds very similar to the phrase for "a whole lifetime and forever". Therefore, when put together the full date/time of 5.20.13:14 sounds like "I love you for a whole lifetime and forever".

The day before, Yang Mi made 3 posts on her weibo--here are the latter two:

Her first post (the bottom one) is irrelevant to 520 but take note of the cat picture! ^_^ The second one says: "Happy 520, be content/happy~~~hurry, go confess your love~~~><"

If she was hoping to get something special from a special someone...well, let's just say FSF certainly didn't disappoint! He must have been waiting in front of his computer for the special moment because on exactly 13:14 of this date, he wrote the following weibo:

FSF: "Stupid woman, 520. Be content, be happy/joyful!"

Note: "stupid woman" is a term of endearment that 8th prince used to call Qingchuan in "Gong". Also note that the cat picture was directly taken from YM's weibo the day before...and that while YM posted "520 kuaile, xingfu" at the beginning of her post the day before, FSF posted "xingfu, kuaile"--i.e. same words but reversed. Leaving no doubt in anyone's mind who this post was meant for! XD (I personally think he made this more obvious perhaps due to the fact that in his previous Feb. 14 Valentine's Day post, he was extremely vague and the media went on to make up stories about a "secret girlfriend" of his. This led FSF to angrily refute these rumours days later along with a declaration that his Valentine's Day post was meant for "Qingchuan"... )

Cue excited screaming by FengMi fans all across the country. In fact, many FengMi fans were so touched by this weibo that they came up with the idea of making 1314520 comments on this post by the time it was Yang Mi's birthday (since 5201314 comments was a bit out of reach...while 1314520 is just reversed and means "A whole lifetime and forever, I love you"). What is also worthy of note is that many people thought this goal was impossible (over a million comments??) and in fact leading up to YM's birthday it definitely seemed out of reach. But then, on Aug. 09 (about one month before YM's birthday of Sep. 12), FSF makes another (rather ambiguous) weibo post:

FSF: Today I accidentally discovered, that a certain one of my weibo posts unbelievably has 800,000+ comments...what has happened here, thank you to everyone's love and support! Thank you

One look and all the FengMi shippers knew exactly which post he was talking about (his 520 post had some 800,000+ comments at that point). Spurred on by FSF's words, the FengMi fans redoubled their efforts and went on to add comments at a blistering pace and made an additional 500,000 some comments within the next month to successfully reach the goal before YM's birthday!

Now before I go into YM's response to this special bday gift, I have to do a bit of background on the "chao liu ying yu" (CLYY) weibo. This weibo is extremely popular and everyday posts English quotes along with the Chinese translation and a picture (many of the quotes are "love/romance" related). YM and FSF (as well as both their agents, and many others) both follow this weibo--in fact, Yang Mi in particular often reposts these quotes on her weibo (FSF has also been known to do so every so often). Once the goal of 1314520 comments was reached, FengMi shippers started anxiously wondering just how they could bring this to FengMi's attention (as it was a 4-month-old weibo post by that point). Some people came up with the idea of getting CLYY to post about it because they knew Yang Mi reads that weibo. Well, the idea worked because at exactly 0:00 on Sep. 12, the CLYY weibo broke their tradition of only posting English quotes and did a special post to wish YM happy birthday:

CLYY: Happy birthday! @YangMi Please take note of the number of comments under the following weibo. Anyway, this is a very special/love-filled birthday present, many fans private-messaged me saying they hope you can see their well-wishes, many people like you a lot, they are very thoughtful/dedicated. Please be happy.

Fans were in for even more of a shock when, 24 minutes later, YM herself replied to this post to express her gratitude! O_o

YM: Thank you everyone

(Note: it seems that she went and deleted this comment later on--perhaps an extra precaution to not be too obvious--however, it is definitely real as I personally went to check the truthfulness of this at the time. Even though her comment is quite incognito (buried under thousands of others), it's still quite easy to find if you know what you're looking for. Therefore, I can see why she went back and deleted it later on to avoid having the media hound her about it...the way poor FSF gets interrogated about his weibo posts in this interview!)

Whew...ok, done with the backstory! Now let's get back to the "Up Close" interview, during which Li Jing forces FSF to comment on his 520 weibo. Faced with being unable to deny that his post was meant for Yang Mi, and also not wanting to admit to anything (as silence would be pretty much equivalent to admission in this case), FSF replies (rather ingeniously, I think) that he indeed was once a "FengMi shipper" himself (!!!) but that it was in the past--because he couldn't differentiate his onscreen character from real life, and that now he realizes they are not actually suitable for each other.

Ummm, surrrreeeeeee FSF. He actually sounds pretty convincing but there are some pretty big gaping holes in this excuse. First of all, the post was made in May 20. At that time he was right in the middle of filming "White Vengeance" opposite Liu Yifei (and he had said himself that he really forced himself to get extremely in-character/immersed in the filming for that movie as it was one of his most challenging and ambitious roles to date). Yet, he wants us to believe that he (an actor with 10+ years of acting experience) still can't get out of character from roles that he had played from months ago?? (Yeah, can you blame me for being skeptical...) Furthermore, if he really doesn't feel the same way as he did on May 20...what's with his later posts as recently as Aug. 06 and Aug. 09? (Well, you can probably argue that those are too vague really to use as any evidence...)

Other general commentary on this interview:

Again, I won't squee about all the cute moments in this interview but let's all "awww" at the fact that FSF just said he "will forever love Yang Mi in filming"...and that he also loves Yang Mi outside filming...but it's a "friend" type of love. Bwahaha. (Your lying skills still need some improvement, FSF! Good lord, the host just asked whether or not either of them ever liked each other a teensy bit--then, after being all speechless/flustered for awhile, he just outright states that he "loves" her both in and out of filming--just in different ways. )

And then, again without much prompting from the host, he goes right out and says that he thinks he and Yang Mi were just born to be an onscreen couple. O_o !!! (Seriously FSF, tone it down a little...this is totally undoing your attempt to deny the rumours during the 520 segment!)

He also mentions YM again later in the interview (during a completely unrelated segment)--FSF talks about how he had an extremely strict/formal upbringing where manners/etiquette were very important. It sounds totally opposite to YM's family, who were super casual, joked around with each other, etc. FSF's mom would actually be super strict on him with even using chopsticks the proper way as a kid! O_o Previously he's also said that she had extremely high standards (i.e. you know, one of those Asian parents that expect you to get 100% on every exam; she also told him he was absolutely not allowed to date until university!). I think I read somewhere that his father was very disapproving of his choice to enter the entertainment industry and he finally relented, but only after FSF promised to keep his family completely out of media attention--which, he's impressively lived up to! Despite acting for over 10 years and being so high-profile now, no one has a clue about the truth to his family background (even though rumours are rampant about his family being very rich etc)...FSF basically shuts down the media completely every time they bring up the subject and refutes all the rumours. While YM's parents didn't really make her learn anything extra and only sent her to a few acting classes as a little kid, FSF's parents sent him to do various extracurricular training (there are some cute pics of a little FSF playing the violin). No wonder FSF is so gentlemanly and polite towards everyone!

Ummm...anyways, I kind of went off on a tangent, but at one point FSF says his mother is super strict on proper etiquette--for example, she won't let him make any "mouth smacking" noises while eating; then he says, Yang Mi would sometimes do that and he would tell her not to, LOL.

Anyways, now aside from FengMi reminding me of Huang Rong/Guo Jing, now they kind of remind me of my other favourite couple of all-time, Xiao Yanzi/5th prince from HZGG...you know, the whole family background thing and personalities??? With XYZ/YM being mischievous/feisty and 5th prince/FSF being sweet and somehow both childishly cute and manly at the same time? (No? Well, I do realize I am now in so deep I kind of sound crazy! )