Dai Xiangyu In The Remake Of The Little Nyonya Looks The Same As He Did In The Original Version 12 Years Ago

Dai Xiangyu — or Dai Yangtian as he was known then — shot to fame back in 2008 when he played dashing Japanese photographer Yamamoto Yousuke in The Little Nyonya. His character married Jeanette Aw's Juxiang and together they had a daughter Yueniang (also played by Jeanette), who is, well, the little Nyonya.

When it was announced in 2018, that China will be remaking the well-loved Mediacorp drama (this time with a S$30mil production budget), it was also revealed that the now China-based DXY would be playing the same role that turned him into a star. But instead of Jeanette, Xiangyu romances 23-year-old Chinese actress Xiao Yan, who was just 11 in 2008, in the remake.

The first episode, which aired on China Central Television on June 28, was met with mixed reviews, with some netizens declaring that the remake will “never be able to surpass the original”.

Interestingly, there was a lot of the buzz on Weibo on Xiangyu, who netizens say doesn’t seem to have aged.

“Wait, you mean his scenes aren’t edited in from 10 years ago? How can he look exactly the same?” marvelled one netizen. True enough, official stills and screen captures from the remake show the now-35-year-old actor looking the same as he did in the original.

In fact, some people even think that DXY looks more youthful now than he did in 2008. Like this netizen who wrote: “Looking at his photos from then and now, I think he actually looks younger now.”

We rest our case.

Photos: Mediacorp, Dai Xiangyu's Weibo, China Central Television