PUBLISHED ONFebruary 05, 2024 1:30 PMByYeo Shu HuiIt was a star-studded night at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) on Jan 27 as multiple Chinese actors graced the 2023 Yuewen Global IP Awards.
The award event, which was held outside China for the first time, celebrates Chinese writers, creators, artists and actors and their works across multiple mediums including animation, video games and television.
Local singer-actress Kit Chan opened the award ceremony by singing her song Zhao Mi live and welcomed audiences and hosts, who are mostly from China and other parts of Asia, to Singapore.
The 51-year-old also presented the first two awards of the night, Potential Actor of Adaptations, which was won by actor Lin Yi and Charming Actress of Adaptations, presented to actress Wang Churan.
Lin Yi, 25, whose notable works include Put Your Head on My Shoulders (2019) and Derailment (2023), expressed his gratitude towards his viewers in his winning speech.
"I look forward to trying out a variety of roles to bring more dramas of excellent quality to the audience," he said.
Churan, who starred in Fireworks of My Heart (2023), also thanked her fans for their "constant companionship and support" and strives to continue starring in good productions for them.
As she just celebrated her 25th birthday a few days prior to the event, the hosts Li Ai and Da Zuo wished her a happy birthday.
Besides Lin Yi and Churan, most of the stars who attended the awards that night received an award.
Actor Lin Gengxin, 35, whose best-known works includes Scarlet Heart (2011) and Princess Agents (2017), received the Trendy Actor of Adaptations award, while actor Zhang Yunlong, 35, brought home the Most Anticipated Actor of Adaptations award.
Yunlong, who is best known for My Roommate is a Detective (2020) and The Furthest Distance (2023), expressed in his speech: "This is my first time in Singapore and it is really beautiful here. I also like the climate very much."
He also hoped that audiences would like his new drama Fox Spirit Matchmaker 2, which he starred in alongside actress Liu Shishi. The drama is expected to air in 2024 on streaming platform iQiyi.
Song Yi, 34, bagged the Popular Actress of Adaptation awards for her performances in multiple dramas adapted from novels, such as Joy of Life (2019), My Heroic Husband (2021) and Destined (2023). The ceremony this year marks her fourth time attending the awards.
One of the highly anticipated moments that night was when actor Dylan Wang won the Outstanding Impact Actor of Adaptations. As he received the award on stage, his fans roared with cheers as they held up banners of his name with purple lighting.
The 25-year-old actor, whose notable works includes Meteor Garden (2018) and Love Between Fairy and Devil (2022), also took the opportunity to promote his new drama Guardians of Dafeng with his co-stars Chen Xiaoyun, Wang Runze and Kang Kang.
Guardians of Dafeng is slated to release on streaming platform WeTV in 2024.
That's not all of Dylan's appearances that night; as fans prepared to leave the ceremony, they were called back to their seats when the hosts announced that Dylan and actress Kitty Zhang would be presenting the last two awards of the night — Outstanding Writer of the Year and Outstanding Influential Works of the Year awards.
But before that, both of them had an interesting exchange onstage which drew cheers from the audience.
Kitty, 36, who is best known for starring in Stephen Chow's movie CJ7 and also won High Quality Actress of Adaptations that night, said to Dylan onstage: "Since we were assigned to present these awards together, we may as well find a chance to work together [in a drama]."
Dylan agreed to the suggestion and asked Kitty to think about what possible characters they could play.
"According to the teleprompter, I am supposed to say that we should work in a business drama as siblings and entrepreneurs working towards our success.
"But I want to act in a romance drama with you," she said, as the fans laughed and roared with cheers.
Dylan played along and requested for scriptwriters and writers present at the event to consider them in their stories, while Kitty laughed and said that she was "just joking".
At the end of the night, as all stars went onstage for one final photo, most fans rushed to the front of the stage, hoping to catch a closer glimpse of Dylan and their favourite stars, as well as to snap a close-up photo of them.
Including this reporter.
You may catch the 2023 Yuewen Global IP Awards on Tencent Video now.
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