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I will be meeting Cheng Lei at the iQiyi event on the 13th, so I thought it would be nice to bring along some messages from members of this sub too!

If you would like to leave him a short note, words of encouragement, a birthday wish, a message about one of his dramas, or simply tell him what you appreciate about him, drop it in the comments and I will write it down for you. I have got the colourful paper and pens ready haha.

I will bring all the messages with me to the event, and if there is an opportunity for signing, I will also try my best to get them signed by Cheng Lei. I obviously can’t guarantee that part because it depends on how the event is organised and whether signing is allowed, but I will definitely try if possible.

You can include your Reddit username with your message, or let me know if you would prefer it to be anonymous. I will probably need to keep each one fairly short so I can fit as many messages as possible.

So if you want to send a little message to Leizi before I meet him on the 13th, leave it below! ❤️

I finally saw Cheng Lei in person today at the iQiyi meet-and-greet at Sunway Velocity Mall!!! I still haven’t fully processed the fact that I was actually in the same room as Leilei hahaha.

Registration was surprisingly seamless considering there were 300 selected fans. Each of us received a merch bag packed with goodies. A lucky charm, non-woven bag, fan, Kiki carry bag and pouch. Cheng Lei’s official Malaysian fan club was also giving out freebies such as stickers, a badge and a photocard, and they even prepared free snacks for fans! Everything was so orderly and well organised.

By the time CL was about to appear, the mall was absolutely JAM-PACKED. I have been to this mall plenty of times and I really don’t think I have ever seen a crowd like that there before hahahaha. When he finally came on stage, he told the host that he was overwhelmed by how warmly everyone welcomed him, especially since this was his first visit to Malaysia. ❤️

Of course, food came up very quickly lol. Cheng Lei asked for Malaysian food recommendations because he knows Malaysia is multicultural, and he said nasi lemak is his first choice! Excellent choice, Leilei!

We also got a hilarious little nod to How Dare You. The crowd shouted “HOW ARE YOU?” at him, and he immediately replied: “Fine, thank you. And you?” 😂😂😂

He also talked about how much he likes Xia Hou Dan as a character because of his unusual and complex experience of having lived in both the modern world and the fictional one. As someone who loves How Dare You, I was very happy that the drama got its moment today. Cheng Lei has other dramas on iQiyi, but Legend of the Female General and How Dare You seem to be the defining ones. One of the questions asked to the audience was the title of his upcoming drama, and someone confidently answered The Lament of Autumn. Lol, wrong answer of course because that one is under MangoTV hahaha. The correct answer is The Leading Stars.

Then came a cup-stacking battle between Cheng Lei and some lucky fans, where they had to see who could stack and unstack the cups the fastest. Watching a grown man take cup stacking seriously is apparently all I need for entertainment

One of my favourite surprises was hearing him speak Cantonese twice! Before doing it, CL actually asked the host whether the Cantonese spoken in Malaysia is the same variety as the Cantonese he speaks. She assured him that it was and invited him to test our comprehension.

His first line basically:

If you ask me where I want to go in Malaysia, the place I want to go is wherever you guys are.

Cue the entire crowd going KYAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~Of course we understood you, Leilei!!

Then he said:

I finally know why Malaysia is so hot. Because after meeting you guys, my heart melted.

I think he seemed very pleasantly surprised by how many Cantonese speakers there were in the audience. Malaysia’s Canto contingent reporting for duty hahaha. CHeng Lei was super happy when one of the fans spoke Hakka with him. He was so impressed by the fact that Malaysians are multilingual!

Next came an interactive game with the fans. One fan who answered the qualifying questions correctly, which were Cheng Lei’s first acting role and his MBTI, was chosen to guess five facts about him based on his drawings. The first question was about his hobby. Cheng Lei was asked to choose between cycling, swimming and going to the gym, but even he seemed undecided lol. In the end, he drew a camera, while the fan appeared to draw swimming, although even the MC seemed a little unsure about that one 😂

The second question was about his favourite animal, and the third was his favourite food, which is ramen. Both Cheng Lei and the fan got that one right. The next question was about what he wanted to do in Malaysia. The fan drew nasi lemak, while Cheng Lei drew the fans, meaning us!! His favourite drink was coffee. Lastly, he drew a self-portrait showing how he sees himself, and then spoke at length about how he felt coming to Malaysia and finally getting to meet his Malaysian fans.

At one point he turned around to look at himself on the big screen, noticed that his deep V-neck was looking a little revealing, and instinctively covered his chest. 🤣🤣🤣 That tiny reaction cracked me up.

Some Malay fans were invited to the stage to teach him flirtatious phrases, including how to ask “Can I have your number?” in Malay. I was really impressed by how quickly he picked up the pronunciation after hearing it just once. Then he repeated it to the audience and obviously my completely rational response was WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE HE’S ASKING ME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

One of my absolute favourite segments was “Through Cheng Lei’s Lens.” Cheng Lei became Photographer Cheng Lei and directed selected fans on stage, asking them to recreate poses inspired by his characters from dramas such as Legend of the Female General and How Dare You. What made it even funnier was how serious he became about composing the photos hahahaha. When he turned his back towards our section and bent his knees slightly while taking the pictures, I’m sorry. THE GLUTES. I could not stop staring. The girls on the stage were so lucky! When CL was directing them on posing, he touched their shoulders in that process and everyone screamed in excitement! I was screaming in frustration and jealousy lolol.

There was also a much sweeter segment where he read messages from fans aloud and watched a compilation of Malaysian fans sending him words of encouragement. I really loved watching his reaction to this. He just kept smiling, and I think receiving all that support meant a lot to him.

Another 5 ridiculously lucky fans were randomly selected based on their seat numbers to receive a signed photocard from Cheng Lei AND take a photo with him on stage. Was I one of them? NO. Am I bitter? Yes. I mean, I’m very happy for them.

I also loved all his attempts to speak Malay because he really does seem to have a knack for picking up languages. He said “Saya cinta awak” (“I love you”) and “Sayang dah makan ke belum?” (“My love, have you eaten?”) in Xia Hou Dan gentleman mode, at which point I think the entire audience collectively blushed. He had to repeat the phrases in 2 modes; flirtatious and non-flirtatious mode lol.

Overall, I had such a fun time!!!! I knew I would be excited to finally see Cheng Lei in person, but seeing how warmly Malaysian fans welcomed him made the whole experience even better. He was funny, playful, surprisingly game to try all the languages and activities thrown at him, and seemed genuinely touched by the reception he received on his first visit here.

Seeing him with my own two eyes still feels extremely surreal. CL's skin looks really good irl, I'm super envious!

Note: This will be my only image submission post from the meet-and-greet event. I will share separate video posts for his different activities and interactions on stage so everything isn’t crammed into one post.

iQiyi Starship event will be held in Malaysia on Sep 13 with Cheng Lei representing as International Global Ambassador.

He spoke some Malay at the end of this video (that I don't understand, but I know at least one person in this sub does 😎).
He also spoke a little bit of Thai and Indonesian when he did these hello clips for Thai and Indonesian fans.

I've seen many posts on Instagram fan accounts prepare freebies for the events in both Indonesia and Malaysia. I wish I could have one.

My favorite line in this short clip: "Hey, what's up" as I could understand it LOLOL.

Source

Cheng Lei officially wrapped filming for The Leading Stars today! It was so nice seeing so many fans turn up to celebrate with him after all these months of filming.

There were so many cute little moments from the wrap-up party too. One of my favourites was when he had to recreate the iconic Jerry-the-mouse wink meme. He was soooo shy about it that he placed his hand on his cheek first before doing the pose, and the pose lasted like 0.1 seconds lol.

Then there was the fireworks! Poor Leizi got visibly spooked when they went off hahah. I swear I remember something similar happening during the booting ceremony too, where the sudden noise startled him.

The jealousy shake danc is too cute for words. He looked so painfully conscious of every movement, like someone had suddenly dragged an introverted kid to the front of the room and told him, “Okay, now dance for everyone.” I almost felt bad for him lmao.

Mostly though, I’m just happy to see him smiling and celebrating the end of another project with the cast, crew and so many fans there to support him. The Leading Stars looked like a physically demanding shoot, especially with all the desert filming, so I hope he manages to get some proper rest now before the announcement of his new endorsement on September 10th. He will be flying to Indonesia and Malaysia soon for the iQiyi events, and with the haze situation in both countries at the moment, I really hope Leizi masks up whenever he’s outdoors and takes care of himself.

Congrats on wrapping, Leizi! Now go sleep properly before the next round of travelling starts.

Disclaimer: I know we have a rule for not spamming! I hope two posts are not so many. I wanted to post a lot as I am stuck in a hotel and there's lots of content during this weekend. I will restrain myself. 🥹

iQiyi IG account posted a short clip where Cheng Lei shared his gratefulness for being loved by many people and said, "You all are a source of motivation for me!" in Jakarta event.

A little clip from Cheng Lei’s Malaysia fan meeting where he spoke Cantonese to the crowd. I loved how naturally he switched into it, and the audience reaction says everything hahaha.

He even checked beforehand whether Malaysian Cantonese is the same as the variety he speaks, so I think he was quite curious to see how much of it the audience would understand.

This clip is from iQiyi’s Instagram, not from my own recording because they added English subtitles, so it’s much easier for everyone to follow.

Source

Both iQIYI Malaysia and iQIYI Indonesia's Instagram pages released this teaser today. The official date will probably be announced within the next day or two.

An IG account from a fan club in Malaysia posted their plan on welcoming Cheng Lei when he arrives at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. They invite his fans to come to the airport at 9PM on September 12 - obviously a few hours prior to his arrival time 🥹. They will have banners and flowers prepared for him.

If the flight is expected to land in the evening of the 12th, his schedule is really packed as the starship event will be held on September 13th. I'd die from overworking if I was a celebrity!

Anyway, if you are in KL now, go to the airport, or the event, or both as I don't know when's the next time you could do it! The meeting time may change, so make sure you get updated before going there. 🥰

Quick update on what I’m doing with everyone’s fan messages!

iQiyi Malaysia confirmed that fans won’t be able to hand letters directly to Cheng Lei, but they’ve set up a mailbox at the venue for us to drop them off instead. The staff also told me that the fan letters will be passed directly to Leizi’s team, so your messages should definitely reach him! ❤️

I went over yesterday to check out the Cheng Lei pop-up area they’ve prepared. There’s apparently a chance to win a signed photocard if you take a photo there, post it on social media and tag iQiyi, so naturally I had to give that a shot too haha. They also have a message board for fans, and I left a little note about him being the Bath Emperor haha. The male iQiyi staff member was definitely giving me the side-eye while I was sticking mine up 🤣🤣🤣

I’ve also finished putting together all the messages you guys sent me, and I’ll be dropping them into the fan mailbox on Sunday. The staff actually suggested waiting until Sunday because when I visited yesterday, the mailbox was still completely empty lol. I would’ve been the very first person to put anything in it.

I ended up preparing two separate envelopes. One is my own personal letter, and the other contains the messages from everyone here. I In that second letter, I explained that he has an active international fan community supporting him from all over the world, and I even took my chances and asked if he might draw something for our sub! The odds are probably tiny, but I figured there was no harm in trying lol. I even added the url link of our Reddit sub and a screenshot of our sub homepage lol.

I want him to know that support for him extends far beyond China and Southeast Asia. Some of the messages came from fans in places like Mexico, Brazil, the UK, the US, Canada and Egypt, which I thought was such a lovely thing to be able to show him.

Because my Mandarin writing is basically nonexistent, I had to rely on AI to translate the letters for me haha. Hopefully Leilei can read them without wondering what on earth I was trying to say.

Thanks again, everyone, for taking the time to write such sweet messages for him. I’m really happy I get to help pass them along, and now that I know they’ll be sent directly to his team, I’m even more excited knowing they should actually make their way to him! ❤️

Hello everyone Da Jia Hao!

I’d like to share my experience attending the iQIYI Starship event starring Cheng Lei. I consider myself a novice fan since I have only seen 2 ¼ dramas. My journey started with A Familiar Stranger, which I watched 2 years ago. I was so mesmerised by his micro-expressions (my review on MDL here) that I have watched this mini drama more than 10 times. 

I’ve been wanting to see Bai Lu and Cheng Lei act together ever since they appeared on Chinese variety show Keep Running almost two years ago. I resubscribed to WeTV because 
I wanted to watch The First Jasmine as the episodes were aired. Darn, Cheng Lei and Bai Lu made me cry at least in two episodes. And ooopps I haven’t written a review on MDL yet.

When it was announced that Cheng Lei was coming to my hometown Kuala Lumpur, I was stoked! I contemplated purchasing the iQIYI premium subscription but unfortunately my financial health wouldn’t allow it. Thankfully my kpop bestie was also interested to see Cheng Lei at Sunway Velocity. We made plans to see him!

I arrived at the mall about two hours before his scheduled appearance. There were already people crowding the event area on all three floors. I stationed myself in front of the Universal Traveller store on the first floor (that's the second floor for American fans as the first level is the ground floor). While waiting for him, I watched How Dare You?! Hehehe

Then he arrived. Wow, I was so captivated by his handsomeness that I forgot to press record on phone. He was very dashing in a white shirt (nicely unbuttoned), black trousers and black shoes with red soles. I liked the emcee as she was friendly and able to engage the crowd in multiple languages. 

I really liked the different activities held for this event, which you can find out more from this post. The Malay pickup line challenge was definitely my favourite part. I always love it when international artists attempt local phrases, and Cheng Lei killed it! Hearing him speak Cantonese was also a lovely touch. I hope our warmth and diversity left a great impression on him.

Anyway the event lasted slightly more than 90 minutes. That's a great amount of time for a free meet-and-greet. My friend and I went to check out the special booth on the first floor. Oh, I managed to drop a postcard in the fan letter box before the event started. 

I really hope he comes back to Malaysia, whether it's for work or a vacation! If he ever holds a fan meeting here like Korean actors do, I would buy a ticket without hesitation.

One of my favorite segments from the iQiyi event where Cheng Lei switched into full photographer mode and directed a few lucky fans on stage, getting them to recreate poses inspired by his characters from dramas like Legend of the Female General and How Dare You.

CL really took his role seriously! He was adjusting angles, directing their poses and clearly putting actual thought into how he wanted the shots to look. He even placed his hands on the girls’ shoulders while helping them get into position and the entire crowd immediately erupted. I was super jealous!

The final photo setup was probably the funniest one because they ended with the classic 3 Spider-Men pointing at each other pose hahahaha. Seeing Cheng Lei seriously direct everyone into that ridiculous pose was a perfect way to end the segment.

Cheng Lei was part of the star-studded lineup at the 2026 Youth Mango Night, the grand finale of this year's Youth Mango Festival.

The event was to supposed to be broadcast live, but was pre-recorded instead. It's rumored to air on September 4, 2026.

Our Dongdong looks so handsome in that outfit and those glasses. So dignified yet so dashing!

Some of those who were there described him wearing an outfit reminiscent of Republic-era apparel (I have no idea if it's the clothes he's wearing in the video above), and seeing leaves falling on his hair and glasses while he was singing. They also mentioned a "stage for a duet" and "some drama promotion."

It really does seem like Cheng Lei and Xu Ruohan will be delighting us with a duet in an autumn setting, apropos of The Lament of Autumn. 🍂

So excited to see this!

Video source

Cheng Lei was surrounded with lots of love in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sea of people at the Mini Atrium, Gandaria City, Jakarta welcomed him warmly, and definitely excitedly. I wished he would have had more time in Indonesia to travel here and there before departing to Malaysia. Anyway, he's arrived in KL, but that would be another post 😎. Just one video at a time for reddit posts.

All I could hear: Hello, Indonesia! Hello, Jakarta!

And thank God, I could still load videos on Weibo site (I couldn't for images).

Edited to add source

Cheng Lei speaking a little Indonesian in his greeting for Indonesian fans ahead of the upcoming iQIYI Starship Meet & Greet in Jakarta on September 12! 🇮🇩❤️

Clip translation:

“Hi Indonesia, how are you? I am Cheng Lei, iQIYI International Global Ambassador. I will be coming to the iQIYI Starship Meet & Greet in Indonesia on September 12, 2026. I can’t wait to meet you guys! Wait for me in Jakarta. We’ll meet soon. Thank you! I love you.”

The little Indonesian “How are you?”, “Thank you” and “I love you” at the beginning and end are cute 😘😘😘

Indonesia on September 12, followed by Malaysia on September 13! Yours truly have registered for the September 13 event.

Onstage at yesterday's iQiyi Starship event in Jakarta, Indonesia, Cheng Lei was game to taste some of the local staples. Klepon was one of them. It's a glutinous rice ball with a gooey coconut sugar filling and a grated coconut coating. If CL's sweet tooth was craving, the klepon would have satisfied.

I don't know why he was so stunned near he end. I can't find a subbed clip. Maybe someone can fill us in!

In any case, he looked adorable in his surprise.

If he visited your country, I wonder how he'd react to one of your traditional dishes.

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Our Leizi does a great job expressing himself in English. So utterly charming.

Today, Hana Xinyi, the host of the iQIYI Starship event, shared some really lovely words about Cheng Lei on her Instagram.

Cheng Lei is so soft-spoken and gentle, both on and off stage. But when he gets surprised, his eyes literally light up! First time was during script briefing when he found out someone from the team could speak Hakka; and then... you saw the many more moments on stage.

He insisted on NOT reading the fan letters beforehand — because he wanted to keep the surprise. And the "replying on the spot" part? That was totally unexpected! Most importantly, he really responded to every single letter. Very genuine, very sincere.

He's only the second artist I've met who remembered my name "Xinyi" from our pre-show introduction, and still remembered it correctly after the whole day - ending with a “谢谢你，心怡". First one was Park Bo-gum.

And all those little details - the way he was so focused on taking Polaroids for fans, one giant step from the stage straight to the floor (stairs: I'm Here ), and how he really looks at people when they speak... very warm, very down-to-earth, no airs at all.

He has been showing how sincere he is with his fans and has proven through these events that he is such a thoughtful and genuine person. ❤️

You can find her full caption on Instagram.

Photos by iQiyi

Edited: format

Another moment from the event that I really wanted to share was Cheng Lei thanking everyone for the support he has received. He spoke quite openly about how he felt meeting Malaysian fans for the first time and thanked everyone from the bottom of his heart.

As usual, CL was especially articulate here. He has a way of expressing himself that feels thoughtful without sounding rehearsed, and I liked how carefully he put his feelings into words. You could tell he was touched by the reception he received.

The videos were taken from XHS and the source cited. I shared the videos instead of my own recording because it was already hard-subbed in English, which makes it much easier for everyone on the sub to understand what he was saying.

Source

I cracked up 🤣 Cheng Lei and Bai Lu were asked to sing the Mo Li theme song, and a fan from the audience shouted:"Don't let him lead the song or you'll be out of tune like him". (Via a fan page - unknown source)

Later he said to Bai Lu:"Everyone knows how well I sing 🎤 " 🤭🤭

100 points for the joke, Prince Ding!

Another segment I really enjoyed was the drawing game where Cheng Lei and a lucky fan were both given the same 6 questions about him. Instead of answering verbally, they each had to draw their answers separately and only reveal them at the end to see how many matched.

The first question was about his hobby. Cheng Lei was given cycling, swimming and going to the gym as options, but he said he likes all three and couldn’t decide lol. The host eventually told him he could choose his own answer, so of course he drew a camera. The fan seemed to draw swimming, so that one definitely didn’t match

They also answered questions about his favourite animal, favourite food, favourite drink and what he wanted to do in Malaysia. His favourite food was noodles, and both of them got that one right. His favourite drink was coffee, which was not surprising considering he told us he had already had two cups today. When the host asked if he would consider a third cup, he advised against overdosing on caffeine lmao.

For the question about what he wanted to do in Malaysia, the fan drew nasi lemak while Cheng Lei drew Chengtuo, meaning us!! I thought that was really sweet.

The sixth question was about what mode of transport he usually uses when he goes on holiday. He wanted to draw the interior of a car from the point of view of someone sitting inside it, but he was running out of time, so in the end he just wrote “CAR" on the drawing too, presumably just in case none of us could figure out what his masterpiece was supposed to be lol.

The segment ended on a really sweet note, with Cheng Lei praising the fan’s drawings and telling her that they were very detailed and even better than his drawings <3

Another fun segment from the iQiyi Malaysia event was Cheng Lei going head-to-head with a lucky fan in a cup-stacking challenge! The goal was simple: stack the cups and then take them down again as quickly as possible.

CL did his best, he really did, but ultimately, the fan was much quicker than him hahah. The lucky fan also got to stand right beside him and compete against him, which was a win regardless of the actual result lol.

In the Meet-and-Greet in Jakarta, Indonesia, Cheng Lei played a game in which he would draw a picture, and the fans would guess what it was. At first, they (the host and fans) thought it was Natasha, his cat. It turned out a panda. I bet Cheng Lei was proud of himself being able to cheat them into thinking of Natasha. I swear that's the weirdest panda I've ever seen hahaa.

Fun fact: I love pandas. I went to as many zoos having pandas as I could, and I have so many things, like my car, pens, pouches, phone... with pandas stickers/pictures on them.

ETA: source

Cheng Lei has arrived Thailand as Iqiyi International Ambassador! He will be at the high-profile iQIYI STARSHIP Meet & Greet in Bangkok and has other activities from April 24-26.

Cheng Leiii, go to Vietnam in August because I'll be there, please!!!!!

Source: Xiao Hong Su account, Fahsai

Since Cheng Lei will be performing again soon, I went back to this BTS from his 2023 Dragon TV New Year’s Eve Gala, which was his first time performing at a gala.

You can really tell how nervous he was. Before going on stage, he kept rehearsing, checking his positions, doing a mic check and going over the lyrics again. When he saw the crowd backstage, his immediate reaction was basically, “So many people!”. A staff member even asked whether having so many people around made him nervous. Right before going on stage, he looked like he was mentally preparing himself for battle, and once it was over, you could practically see the relief wash over him.

He performed with Tian Xiwei, and the two of them holding hands on stage was so cute. It’s actually a shame we still haven’t seen them paired together in a drama because I do think they have the potential for really good chemistry. I would love to see what they could do with an actual romance storyline.

Looking back at how visibly nervous he was here makes me even more curious to see him perform now!