On June 12, Chinese media outlets widely circulated reports claiming that Zhang Linghe and Zhao Lusi were the only mainland Chinese artists nominated at the 2026 Seoul International Drama Awards. The news quickly attracted major attention, with both stars being portrayed as standout representatives of Chinese-language entertainment on the international stage.
According to widely shared posts, among the 352 productions submitted globally, Zhang Linghe was reportedly the only male actor from mainland China, while Zhao Lusi was said to be the only mainland Chinese actress to make the “Best Actor and Best Actress nominee list.” The posts were accompanied by congratulatory messages, leading many viewers to believe these were official nominations from the award ceremony.
However, controversy quickly emerged after the Seoul International Drama Awards organizing committee issued a clarification. According to the organizers, the information previously circulated merely reflected compiled data of submitted entries, not the official list of nominees for the awards.
The organizers emphasized that the official nominations would only be announced after the judging process had been completed. This means the viral claims that Zhang Linghe and Zhao Lusi had already “secured official nominations” were inaccurate and potentially misleading to the public.
In reality, the Seoul International Drama Awards has currently only launched voting for its Asian Star Award category. The award allows audiences to participate in voting for approximately one month, ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on October 8 in Seoul, South Korea.
Notably, this year’s Asian Star Award race features many well-known names from the Chinese entertainment industry, including Yang Yang, Dilraba Dilmurat, Bai Lu, Yang Mi, Cheng Yi, Xu Kai, Gong Jun, Joseph Zeng, alongside dozens of other celebrities.
Among them, both Zhang Linghe and Zhao Lusi are simply included in the voting lineup, rather than having officially secured nominations as initially reported.
This incident once again highlights how unverified information spreading across social media can easily create misunderstandings about artists’ achievements, especially at international award shows that involve multi-stage selection processes. Many observers also pointed out another controversial aspect — both Zhang Linghe and Zhao Lusi likely knew the initial reports were inaccurate but did not publicly correct them, allowing public misunderstanding to grow and fueling belief in what critics described as “exaggerated achievements.”
Netizen reactions included:
- “So they actively submitted applications for the awards and even bought hot searches to brag about being nominated? These two are really in a hurry.”
- “When I saw those posts everywhere, I honestly laughed. Can’t compete domestically, so now they’re chasing overseas awards, hahaha.”
- “Yesterday, fans were even making CapCut edits and flooding TikTok with praise.”
- “I thought they had already won an award, but turns out this is embarrassing.”
- “As long as you’re not embarrassed, someone else will be embarrassed enough to clarify it for you.”
- “Just two days ago, people were loudly pushing the tag ‘the only Chinese actor nominated.’”
- “Zhang Linghe’s fans made me think he had already won something. Now this is awkward.”
- “So they just submitted materials for SDA to review? SDA isn’t even that prestigious, and they’re already acting like they received an official nomination.”
- “This kind of thing is actually common. Chinese entertainment often uses foreign awards to ‘gold plate’ domestic PR. It used to work well, but now information spreads so fast that people can fact-check everything.”
Sources: K14
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