Chinese social media has been caught up in an intense comparison between Bai Lu and Tian Xiwei following two consecutive events in Thailand. While Bai Lu’s fan meeting was canceled shortly before it was scheduled to take place due to security concerns, Tian Xiwei made a high-profile appearance in Bangkok, where she was warmly welcomed by large numbers of fans as soon as she arrived at the airport. The stark contrast quickly became a major topic of discussion, even sparking arguments between some fans of the two actresses.
Specifically, Bai Lu was scheduled to hold her MEET & LOVE BAILU SPECIAL FANMEETING at ICONSIAM HALL in Bangkok on October 25, 2026. The event was part of the WeSpark project, included in WeTV’s promotional campaign featuring Bai Lu as its Global Ambassador. Fans from various places had already made plans to travel to Thailand, booking flights and hotels to meet their idol.
However, on October 19, the actress’s studio unexpectedly announced the cancellation after consulting with the platform and assessing recent security risk warnings. Before that, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand had issued a safety advisory following a series of cases involving Chinese nationals who went missing, fell victim to scams, or were forcibly taken to areas along the Thailand-Myanmar border. Notably, the warning also mentioned fake filming and performance invitations targeting people working in the entertainment industry.
Before making the final decision to cancel, Bai Lu’s team had opened a free ticket refund program and pledged to cover actual losses related to flight and hotel bookings for eligible fans. Following the official announcement, the actress and her studio also apologized and continued implementing compensation arrangements for additional expenses.
Meanwhile, on November 5, Tian Xiwei still traveled to Bangkok to attend the iQIYI iJOY TH 2027 event. The actress arrived in Thailand as iQIYI International’s Global Ambassador, appeared at ICONSIAM HALL, and held a fan interaction session with local supporters. Despite arriving at the airport relatively late, Tian Xiwei still caused a huge commotion as Thai fans gathered around her. Photos and videos of the smiling actress waving to fans, accepting flowers, and interacting with the crowd were quickly shared across Thai social media. She continued to receive an enthusiastic welcome at the event. Local media noted that this marked her first official meeting with Thai fans in her capacity as iQIYI’s Global Ambassador.
Tian Xiwei’s popularity in Thailand did not come out of nowhere. 2026 has been an exceptionally successful year for the actress, with three of her dramas making an impact across three major Chinese streaming platforms. Pursuit of Jade, in which she stars alongside Zhang Linghe, gave her career a major boost, recording a popularity index of over 10,000 on iQIYI and 30,000 on Tencent Video. Born with Luck subsequently continued to perform well on iQIYI, while Where the Mask Ends surpassed a popularity score of 10,000 on Youku just 48 hours after its premiere and was also released on Netflix. With this string of achievements, Tian Xiwei is currently one of the most consistently successful post-1995-generation actresses on Chinese screens this year.
The controversy grew even louder when some accounts believed to belong to Bai Lu’s fans repeatedly targeted Tian Xiwei following her trip to Thailand. Rather than acknowledging that the two events were fundamentally different, these accounts compared their respective scales, questioned the number of fans who had gathered to welcome Tian Xiwei at the airport, and even suggested that the images of the actress receiving an enthusiastic reception were merely intended to generate publicity. Some posts also focused on the fact that Bai Lu had to cancel her schedule while Tian Xiwei was still able to travel to Thailand, turning the difference between their schedules into a competition over which actress was more successful.
This behavior gave netizens even more reason to mock Bai Lu’s fandom. Ironically, rather than damaging Tian Xiwei’s reputation, attacks from some overly aggressive fans only dragged Bai Lu’s name into the controversy and made her a target of ridicule. Many netizens argued that a fandom’s attempts to prove its idol is just as successful as someone else by putting down the competition are more likely to backfire. Bai Lu herself was not responsible for starting the dispute, yet her name was pulled into the online war simply because some fans were determined to prove their idol’s superiority.
Nevertheless, many people believe comparing the two events in this way is unfair. Bai Lu’s fan meeting was a separately ticketed event intended for direct interaction with fans and was scheduled to take place amid security warnings. By contrast, Tian Xiwei’s appearance was part of an international promotional event organized by a major platform, with a different reception format and audience arrangement. The cancellation of an event for safety reasons should never be used as a measure of an artist’s popularity, just as it does not diminish the affection Thai fans have shown Tian Xiwei.
Sources: kenh14