Why the news of Zhou Xun keeps going viral and other facts about her

She started acting at 21

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While many actors start honing their craft young, Zhou Xun only began her career in 1995 at the age of 21. Her debut work was in the comedy movie The Pampered Wife.

She is a Four Dan actress

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Once she began acting, there was no stopping Zhou Xun's meteoric rise. In just five years, she was named one of the Four Dan Actresses alongside Zhang Ziyi, Vicki Zhao Wei and Xu Jinglei. The name was given to them as a testament to their star and commercial power.

Since then, Zhou Xun starred in notable works such as Perhaps Love (2006), Painted Skin (2009) and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (2018). She is also the first Chinese actor to win the "Grand Slam", a title given to someone winning the three biggest film awards - Golden Horse, Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Rooster.

She owns an agency

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The agency K Artists was founded by Chinese actors Chen Kun and Zhou Xun. Taiwanese actress Shu Qi later joined as a co-founder.

She has worked with the UN

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In April 2008, Zhou Xun was appointed as the first National Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China. In that role, she worked to raise awareness of climate change and the things that everyone can do to help the environment. In 2010, Zhou Xun also won the UN Environment Program (UNEP) award for her promotion of a "green lifestyle and environmental sustainability".

She had thought of getting plastic surgery

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Remember the hit series Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace? Because Zhou Xun had to play a 15-year-old for a section of the show, she faced age-shaming criticism from the netizens. She later revealed on the talk show The Readers that the comments had actually affected her. The negativity left her with anxiety and she thought of undergoing plastic surgery as she thought that it would help her feel more confident. She later banished the thought and decided to not give attention to these age-shamers.

She had posted nude for art before

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Nothing escapes the prying eyes of sleuthing netizens. And in 2019, they unearthed paintings of Zhou Xun created by Chinese artist Pan Honghai when she was only 18. The paintings depicted Zhou Xun in various poses. In some of them, she was topless. However, Zhou Xun has never officially confirmed to be the model but the artist did claim that he chose her as a muse because she had the purity of a young Jiangnan girl and was full of artistry.

She's not good at live streaming

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While actors Fan Bingbing and Cecilia Cheung are raking in cash on livestreaming, Zhou Xun had a hard time acclimatising to it. In 2020, she appeared on a live broadcast with online shopping host Wei Ya to promote an electric toothbrush. Zhou Xun's awkwardness was ultimately what viewers were discussing as she appeared stiff, had no rapport with the host and didn't know much about the product she was selling.

She went viral for the wrong reasons

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In November 2021, a video of Zhou Xun went viral. The video was not flattering for the actress though, as she was seen losing her temper and storming off a photoshoot set. Netizens speculated that Zhou Xun got upset as she couldn't leave to meet her guitarist boyfriend Zhuo Ye on time.

She doesn't really care about her star image

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In another viral moment, Zhou Xun was caught doing a sumo squat pose as she attempted to take a group wefie with actors Wang Yibo and Wang Chuanjun and director Cheng Er. Her less-than-glamorous antics caught the fancy of netizens and were said to echo the sentiment that Zhou Xun is a humble person despite her top actress status.

She's been embroiled in multiple romantic scandals

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Zhou Xun is said to be currently dating Zhuo Ye, the guitarist of the Chinese rock band Mosaic, after her marriage with Chinese-American actor Archie Kao ended in December 2020.

Prior to this, Zhou Xun was said to have had an affair with Tony Leung back in 2012 while he was still married to Carina Lau. What made the rumours worst was that while it was happening, Zhou Xun was dating Nicholas Tse.