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| Zhang Linghe Fan Spends Thousands for 30-Second Meeting During Hengdian Filming Trip. (Credits: ChinaPress/RedNote) |
Zhang Linghe may officially be one of the few actors capable of generating airport-level chaos with less than a minute of eye contact. A wealthy Taiwanese influencer based in the United States has gone viral after revealing she spent thousands travelling to China just to catch a 30-second glimpse of the actor during filming in Hengdian. The internet’s reaction has ranged from admiration to financial concern.
The influencer, known online as Amy (Amy北美生存指南), recently shared what she described as a full “star-chasing guide” after flying from North America to Hengdian World Studios, where Zhang Linghe was reportedly filming his latest drama project.
Her detailed breakdown included everything from securing filming schedules to paying people to queue on her behalf. Because apparently in modern celebrity culture, even waiting in line can now be outsourced like premium delivery.
Amy explained that the first step in successfully spotting actors filming in Hengdian involves obtaining what fans call the “big plan” — essentially an internal production schedule listing filming locations and artists’ movements.
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| “Best Experience Ever” — Influencer Reveals Shocking Cost of Seeing Zhang Linghe in Person |
She never clarified exactly how she got hold of the information, which only made viewers even more curious. Once the schedule was confirmed, she immediately booked flights from the United States to China to begin what quickly became less of a holiday and more of a luxury-level tactical operation.
Accommodation turned out to be another challenge. According to Amy, hotel availability in Hengdian can become unpredictable during major productions because fans, media and staff flood the area at the same time.
To avoid missing out, she hired a third party to secure suites for the trip, paying an additional RMB1,500 on top of the hotel cost itself. Somewhere between the flight booking and the emergency room reservation for her wallet, the trip had already become serious.
But the real competition, Amy claimed, was not travel or accommodation. It was positioning.
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| Zhang Linghe Fan Paid Extra for Front-Row Spot After Flying Across Continents to See Actor |
The influencer explained that fans hoping to get the best view of actors often begin queuing the night before filming, sometimes as early as 11pm.
Rather than personally camping outside for hours, Amy hired a professional queuing service to stand in line for her. The service originally covered waiting until 3am, but for extra money, it could continue holding the spot until an hour before Zhang Linghe arrived. In other words, even queueing now comes with DLC upgrades.
Amy also prepared support banners for the actor, including one featuring Zhang Linghe’s real name, Jiawei, alongside the self-aware slogan: “We were never destined to meet, only connected because I spent money.”
The line quickly spread across social media because, frankly, it summarised modern fan culture with frightening accuracy.
After three days of planning, travelling and roughly 12 hours of waiting, Amy finally saw Zhang Linghe in person. Total viewing time? Around 30 seconds.
Yet despite the extremely brief encounter, she insisted the experience was completely worth it. Amy revealed the total cost for the three-person trip came to approximately NT$67,730, or roughly RM8,460 excluding international airfare.
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Split between the group, that worked out to around RM2,820 per person just to experience a few fleeting moments near one of China’s biggest rising actors.
The viral story arrives as Zhang Linghe’s popularity continues climbing rapidly following the massive attention surrounding dramas including Zhu Yu (逐玉) and several upcoming projects currently filming.
His growing influence has transformed filming areas like Hengdian into unofficial tourist hotspots packed with fans hoping for even the briefest celebrity interaction. Some viewers joked online that spotting Zhang Linghe now resembles trying to secure concert tickets during peak internet traffic — emotionally exhausting and financially dangerous.
Netizens across Chinese and Taiwanese social platforms have reacted with a mixture of disbelief, amusement and reluctant understanding. Some users praised Amy’s honesty for openly revealing how expensive organised “star-chasing” has become behind the scenes.
Others questioned whether spending thousands for 30 seconds of visibility was genuinely reasonable, although several fans admitted they would probably do exactly the same for their own favourite celebrity if their bank account allowed it.
A few comments became especially popular online, with users joking that “30 seconds with Zhang Linghe has a higher exchange rate than some currencies” while others called Amy “the final boss of fangirls”. Another viral remark read: “At this point she didn’t attend an event, she launched a military campaign.”
Many fans defended the influencer, arguing that celebrity culture has always involved emotional spending, whether through concerts, merchandise, travel or fan meetings. The only difference now is that social media makes the entire process far more visible.
In Amy’s case, viewers were fascinated not just by the money itself, but by how organised and strategic modern fan culture has quietly become.
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There was also growing discussion about how Hengdian’s filming culture has evolved into its own economy. Between hotels, transport, queuing services, support projects and insider schedule trading, entire side industries now exist around celebrity filming locations. Some users even said that actors probably have no idea how many operations are unfolding around them before they step out of a van for half a minute.
For many viewers, though, the most entertaining part of the story was Amy’s complete lack of regret. Despite the exhaustion, waiting and enormous costs, she looked genuinely thrilled simply knowing she managed to see Zhang Linghe in person. Rational? Maybe not. Relatable to fandom culture? Completely.
So now the internet has one important question left — would you spend that much money just to see your favourite actor for 30 seconds, or are some fans operating on a financial level the rest of us simply cannot comprehend?