Some Chinese Netizens Call Hua Chengyu’s New Look “Too Effeminate”, Say He Will Lead Youths Astray

After the Chinese government issued a new ruling that basically bans “sissy and effeminate” male celebs, it seems like Chinese netizens have become more vocal when it comes to decrying male celebs who they have arbitrarily deemed as “too effeminate”.

And now, it seems like it’s Chinese singer Hua Chenyu’s turn to fall into their crosshairs.

Recently, the 32-year-old singer unveiled his new look on Weibo, revealing that he’d grown out his hair and dyed it blond. Apart from that, the singer appeared to have gotten three tattoos of different flowers on his chest, behind his ear, and on his left forearm.

The singer is often referred to as 'Hua Hua' or 'flower flower' by his fans, as the pinyin for his surname Hua (华) is similar to the pinyin for flower (花).

Yay or nay?

His post quickly went viral, and has since amassed 707,000 comments, with a large number praising his new look.

However, a vocal minority has been hogging all the attention.

According to reports, the singer’s new look has attracted a fair number of detractors, who fear that Chenyu is a negative influence on impressionable youths.

An entertainment blogger with 2.88mil followers on Weibo even went as far as to criticise the singer, writing: “If you have tattoos, you’ll run into trouble if you were to become a civil servant or a soldier, basically all the jobs that your parents would deem ‘proper’ would no longer be possible for you… having a child out of wedlock…is just… those who know would know. But then again, Hua Chenyu’s fans probably don’t hold any proper jobs anyway,” the blogger wrote.

In 2021, it was revealed that Chenyu and Chinese singer Zhang Bichen, 32, have a two-year-old daughter together. The couple used to date, but broke up in late 2018, and are now co-parenting their child together.

It's not that deep, seriously

The entertainment blogger’s post ignited a debate among netizens.

There were those who agreed wholeheartedly with the blogger’s words. A netizen commented: “ I’ve never liked him, he always has too much make-up on,” while another wrote: “He’s too effeminate”.

“This will impact our youths significantly, what are the officials in-charge of the entertainment industry doing? Didn’t they say they were launching Operation Qinglang?" a netizen questioned.

“I really can’t seem to appreciate [his style]. It feels like he’s mentally unsound,” another netizen wrote.

Seriously?!

Oh-so-controversial

However, there were those who spoke up in support of Chenyu as well.

Many questioned if there was even a link between Chenyu’s tattoos and the occupation of his fans, while others commented that the controversy over his new look is way too overblown.

“It’s already 2022, are there still people who think that being a civil servant is the only ‘proper’ job? Are there still people who think that men must be “ masculine” [in order to be] a “real man”?” one netizen wrote.

Apart from launching Operation Qinglang to ban bad behaviour on the internet as well as the cultural and entertainment sectors in 2021, the Chinese government has long had restrictions in place to regulate the portrayal of tattoos in the media. As a result, a number of television networks will choose to cover up or censor any tattoos that might be visible.

Photos: Hua Chenyu/Weibo, 贼叉/Weibo