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| Zhang Linghe’s Studio Finally Releases Pursuit of Jade Performance Report After Five Months |
Zhang Linghe’s studio has finally made its long-hidden performance report for Pursuit of Jade public, nearly five months after the historical drama finished airing. The report, apparently prepared around the time the series wrapped in late March 2026, appeared publicly on 14 August, and the delay has left fans less interested in celebrating the figures than in asking the very reasonable question: why was this sitting quietly in the corner for so long?
The report concerns Pursuit of Jade (《逐玉》), starring Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei, and details a string of strong results recorded during its run. The document had reportedly been completed when the drama concluded, but the original Weibo post was not publicly visible.
The studio changed the post’s visibility, effectively bringing an old piece of good news back into the spotlight several months after the drama had already moved on.
That timing immediately caught the attention of Zhang Linghe’s fans. Normally, a report celebrating a drama’s performance would be the sort of thing a studio would proudly put forward while the show was still fresh, particularly when the numbers make for fairly convincing promotional material. Instead, the figures remained out of public view while the drama completed its run and the entertainment conversation moved elsewhere.
According to the report, Pursuit of Jade reached a peak popularity index of 31,248 on Tencent Video, while its peak score on iQIYI reached 10,604. The figures were presented as making the series the first and only drama to pass the 10,000 mark on both platforms, adding another sizeable achievement to the show's performance record.
The drama also reportedly averaged more than 65 million views per episode across platforms and was described as the highest-rated costume drama on television during the first quarter of 2026.
Its commercial performance was also highlighted, with the production said to have secured more than 120 million yuan in advertising deals before its premiere.
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| Zhang Linghe’s Studio Publishes Pursuit of Jade Numbers Months Later, Leaving Fans Asking Why Now |
Its presence on social media was another part of the report. Pursuit of Jade reportedly appeared on Weibo’s two trending lists 1,876 times during its broadcast and was described as the first drama to exceed 100 million on the Weibo Index.
Taken together, the figures paint a picture of a drama that had considerably more commercial and online traction than the timing of the report’s publication might suggest.
And that is precisely where the fan discussion gets interesting. The disagreement is not really over whether Pursuit of Jade performed well.
The report provides plenty of numbers for fans to point towards. Instead, the frustration centres on why those numbers were not shared when the drama was actually airing or shortly after its finale, when the information could have carried far more weight.
Some Zhang Linghe fans argue that the report could have been useful during the drama’s broadcast, particularly when the actor and the production were receiving criticism online.
From their perspective, making the performance data public at that point could have provided a clearer picture of how the series was actually performing rather than leaving the conversation dominated by individual online arguments.
Others are more puzzled than annoyed. For them, the studio’s decision is simply difficult to understand from a promotional standpoint. If a drama has figures worth celebrating, why keep the celebration in storage for nearly five months? It is rather like buying a birthday cake, putting it in the freezer and finally announcing the party after everyone has gone home.
The timing has also attracted attention because Zhang Linghe’s latest drama, Overdo (《这一秒过火》), has recently become the subject of heated online discussion surrounding its storyline.
That has encouraged some fans to wonder whether the sudden publication of the Pursuit of Jade report is somehow connected to the newer drama.
Some have speculated that the studio could simply be giving Xie Zheng, Zhang Linghe’s character in Pursuit of Jade, a belated farewell, while others have wondered whether the report might help redirect attention towards an older project with more positive performance figures.
However, those ideas remain fan speculation. There is no evidence in the information provided that the studio deliberately released the report to draw attention away from Overdo.
Another explanation circulating among online commentators is that the studio may have chosen not to publish the report earlier because discussion around Zhang Linghe and Pursuit of Jade was already particularly heated.
Releasing a collection of performance figures at that point could have resulted in individual numbers being pulled out of context, argued over or turned into another round of online debate.
That explanation may make sense, but it has not entirely satisfied everyone. Some fans remain convinced that the report would have been more useful when the drama was still part of the daily entertainment conversation. By August, the numbers may still look impressive, but the immediate promotional window has long since closed.
There are also fans taking a much more positive view of the move. For them, the delayed report is still worth celebrating because it puts the achievements of Pursuit of Jade on record and gives Zhang Linghe supporters another reason to look back fondly on the drama.
Rather than seeing the timing as suspicious, they see it as a late but welcome acknowledgement of the series and its cast. The phrase “a knife hidden for four months” has even been used by some fans to describe the situation, reflecting the frustration of having potentially useful performance figures sitting out of public view for so long.
Others have treated the whole episode with considerably more humour, essentially asking why anyone would keep positive results hidden until the moment everyone had already stopped asking about them.
Ultimately, the latest discussion says as much about expectations for an actor’s studio as it does about Pursuit of Jade itself. Fans want timely promotion, clear communication and a sense that strong results will be properly recognised while they still matter.
The report may have arrived late, but its publication has certainly revived interest in the drama and given fans another reason to debate the studio’s decisions.
For Zhang Linghe, the episode also creates an unusual situation in which an old drama has suddenly returned to the conversation just as Overdo is generating its own wave of discussion.