The careers and then of this four stars caught the attention of the public.
“Traffic star” emerged in 2015 as the title the media and fans favorably gave to Li Yifeng, Yang Yang, Kris Wu and Lu Han. The title indicated the four young and famous stars with the largest fan bases at the time. With exceptional reputation and considerable influences, these four male idols were able to sweep through the Chinese showbiz. Chinese netizens even passed around the saying: “More than half of the resources in Cbiz is in the hands of the four “traffic stars”. Despite their glorious past, major shifts have happened in the course of their career.
Li Yifeng
Whereas Li Yifeng joined showbiz as a singer, in 2007, the singer at the time stepped into filming with works such as “Prince of Tennis”, “Sunny Happiness” and “The Return of A Princess”. In 2014, the singer-actor made a big explosion with the television series “Swords of Legends”, elevating his name to stardom. Since then, the actor grew in popularity with “Legend of Fragrance”, “Sparrow”, “Daomu Biji”, “Noble Aspirations”. The Li actor also expanded into big-budget movie projects such as “Mr. Six”, “Guilty of Mind” and “Animal World”. Thanks to his growing presence, the actor was able to take him prestigious awards from big to small such as “Best Actor” Award with “Noble Aspirations” and at the 2017 Huading Awards and “Best Actor” from the 2018 China TV Golden Eagle Awards for “Sparrow”.
The actor was highly regarded for his handsome look, impressive height and flexible acting performances. Apart from his successful career, the actor’s personal life also gained attention. Whereas he never made public his dating life, the media was somewhat positive that the actor once dated Lee Da Hae. In 2012, the pair co-starred in “Love Actually” and feelings bloomed between them.
In 2014, the actor was vague about his relationship with Lee Da Hae in “Happy Camp”. He shared that he went back to Korea to patch up his relationship but did not succeed. The actor did not reveal his “Korean girlfriend”. In 2015 Li Yifeng was said to have gone to Seoul to attend the birthday of the actress.
At the same time, the male idol was also caught in several dating rumors with other famous faces in Cbiz. He was suspected to be the third wheel in the marriage of Yang Mi and Hawick Lau, was involved in relationship scandals of Wu Xin, Chun Li, Yoona and Li Qin. Much as the actor tried to deny the rumors and settle things smoothly, Li Yifeng still carried the label of a player.
However, the actor’s glory vanished when Li Yifeng was entangled in prostitution scandal. On the 10th of September, Beijing police announced officially with direct mention of Li Yifeng as involved in soliciting prostittues. In their official Weibo page, the police confirmed that Li Yifeng admitted to the charges and was detained and to be fined according to the law. After the news, images of the actor was deleted from social media channels on the spot.
MangoTV and Tencent video quickly pulled out his name from television projects where he played the lead, namely “Swords of Legends”, “Noble Aspirations”, “Sparrow” and “Fearless Whispers”. The organizers of “Huading Awards” decided to revoke his title of “Best Actor” from 2017 and 2015.
Fashion brands raced to terminate contracts with him. Four days after the scandal, Yifeng’s Douyin account was non-existent. From an A-list star of China, Li Yifeng’s career disappeared after one day.
His name gradually vanished from the information page, his official website and brands’ posts and personal weibo account also disappeared without a trace. Prada and Panerai also ended contracts with actors previously embroiled in prostitution scandal.
Wu Yifan
In 2012, Wu Yifan debuted with the popular group EXO in Korea under the stage name Kris Wu. Thanks to his handsome face and aloof temperament, the idol quickly garnered an extremely large number of fans. However, less than two years later, Wu Yifan suddenly filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment, unilaterally canceling the contract. The court rule against his favor, leading to the idol having to continue sharing a percentage of the profit with SM until 2021. Leaving EXO, Kris Wu returned to his hometown to work under the stage name Wu Yifan.
After returning to China, with the readily available popularity from his times with EXO, Wu Yifan’s artistic journey was extremely favorable. The actor continuously released music projects and all achieved many formidable successes, namely “July”, “Deserve”, “Like That”, “Big Bowl, Thick Noodle”. In addition, he also entered the film industry and had the opportunity to work with big names in the industry such as Xu Jinglei, Stephen Chow, Tsui Hark and Guan Hu.
At the same time, the actor was also featured in a series of box-office hits such as: “Mr. Six”, “Never Gone” and “L.O.R.D”. However, his acting ability was not highly appreciated and garnered only few accomplishments. Nevertheless, he was a commercially valued name in the Chinese entertainment industry, often sought after by leading brands and major magazines.
However, no one could have expected that Wu Yifan’s glorious career would end in July 2021. From the beloved male god in the “Four Great Traffic” of the Chinese screen, now the former EXO member has been imprisoned for being accused of rape by Du Meihu. His scandal was even related to more than 24 victims who are Chinese social media hot influencers. Not only in China, Wu Yifan also committed crimes in the US when a witness in Los Angeles sought a lawyer to accuse the rapper of intoxicating and raping the person.
On the evening of July 31, 2021, the Beijing police proceeded with the investigation and arrested Wu Yifan on suspicion of rape. Immediately, this information caused a stir in the media, hotsearch “Wu Yifan” on Weibo reached a record of 70 million views.
After that, countless brands turned their back on Kris Wu. He was faced with an enormous sum of compensation. Since then, Kris Wu was detained and is waiting for the final judgment of the court. However, his career for many years has been completely destroyed, irretrievably. Many people believe that this is also the end of a golden age of one of the “Four Great Flows”.
A written decision was issued to request the units to suspend cooperation with artist Wu Yifan. In just a few short days, the male singer was turned away by 15 brands simultaneously and completely wiped out on Chinese social networking platforms. Wu Yifan’s career officially collapsed due to overstepping the law.
Luhan
Along with Kris Wu, Luhan is also a member of EXO with cult followers. However, in October 2014, Luhan filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment to terminate his contract, bring up health problems and accusing the company of discriminating against him compared to Korean members. Soon after, he also returned to China and continued his artistic activities.
When he was active in the popular group EXO, Luhan used to be the most popular member with a large fan base. With his scholarly appearance and harmonious facial features, he is also known as “a handsome man more beautiful than flowers”.
With a certain reputation and fan base since he was in the EXO group, Luhan’s heat immediately swept the Chinese entertainment world and became the most prominent name in the “Four Great Traffic”. The male idol focuses on developing both film and television in parallel. He has appeared in notable works such as: “Second 20s”, “The Witness”, “Fighter of the Destiny”, “Cross Fire”. Besides being the face attracting ratings for reality shows and dramas, Lu Han also made a variety of achievements in the field of music.
Luhan’s career “flies like a kite in the wind” but has gradually declined since the former EXO member publicly announced his love affair with Guan Xiaotong. In 2017, Luhan surprised the public when he suddenly announced that he was dating actress Guan Xiaotong. At that time, this love affair was not supported by fans and caused the male idol to lose a large number of fans. Since then, Luhan’s career and reputation have also been severely affected.
So far, Luhan has gradually regained the sympathy of the public because he dared to come out and openly showed his love. At the same time, the actor turned to acting, composing music and participating in TV shows. Much as he has received many achievements and awards, he has not returned to the peak of his career as before.
Yang Yang
Yang Yang was once considered the “the god of youth” that dominates every girl’s heart not only in China but also throughout Asia. In 2007, the actor was on his way to acting as the main character Jia Baoyu in “The Dream of Red Mansions”.
But it was not until returning to the TV series “Love O2O” that Yang Yang made a big splash. This is also a stepping stone for the actor to reach the top “Four Great Traffic” of Cbiz.
Not only in the television department, Yang Yang also continued his acting career with many popular movie projects/ At the same time, the actor. is also gradually transforming into the capable actor ranking, taking on diverse roles and no longer being stereotyped as before. Besides,Yang Yang also actively participated in TV shows, big projects and became an influential face in the Chinese entertainment industry.
As the leading name in Cbiz, Yang Yang has been caught up in rumors of dating many actresses but never admitted it. Most notably was his relationship with actress Qiao Xin. In 2019, the two were caught traveling together, wearing couple clothes, causing dating suspicions. The case reached a climax when a Weibo account believed to be Qiao Xin’s private account posted many articles expressing affection for Yang Yang. However, instead of denying it, the actor always kept a quiet attitude and waited for the matter to gradually subside.
Source: Sina, Weibo
