My capital is quite large.

Chapter 250 Korean Wave

April has arrived in the blink of an eye, and the Chinese entertainment industry has ushered in an unprecedented era of empty nest syndrome.

No one expected that the four leading actresses who dominated the Chinese entertainment industry's traffic for five years would collectively announce their retirement in the same month.

Yang Mi and Liu Yifei studied their textbooks day and night to keep up with the promise that drove everyone crazy.

Meanwhile, Liu Shishi, who lives on the tenth floor, and Tang Yan, who lives on the ninth floor, also spread the word that they were going to "go to Hong Kong for further studies" and announced a complete work stoppage while heavily pregnant.

The absence of the four top celebrities turned the latest Weibo poll for the four most popular young actresses into an absurd and surreal spectacle.

The day the list was released, even entertainment reporters were stunned.

The person who was parachuted in to become the new top star is actually Zhao Liying, who has a round face!

Li Xin, who had been a highly senior member of Haofeng and ranked only below the Great Tang Poet Immortal, was extremely frustrated this time.

She thought that once her seniors left, the position of the eldest sister would naturally be hers. However, in terms of fan support and casual viewership data, she was unable to surpass this rising star and ended up in second place!

What netizens found even more unbelievable were the third and fourth place rankings.

Third place goes to Fan Xiaopang, who has returned to the top four.

This is the first time in several years that an artist from outside Haofeng Film and Television has appeared in the top four positions.

The most surprising result was fourth place – Song Qian!

This girl, who was the leader of a girl group in South Korea but remained in an awkward, lukewarm situation in the Chinese entertainment industry, actually surpassed the leading ladies of various companies and rose to become one of the new "Four Little Flowers"!

"What makes Song Qian so special? What representative works has she acted in?" Fans online were extremely jealous.

Although Song Qian's success today is inseparable from Yang Mi's support and encouragement.

But the biggest reason was the "Korean Wave" that was sweeping through the entire Chinese entertainment industry at that time!

The impact of the Korean wave is even more blatant in the list of the "Top Four Male Stars".

Luha remained firmly in first place, while the other man's data was close behind, almost neck and neck with Luha, forming a fierce battle between the two kings.

Li Moufeng, due to his repeated performances linked with that man, hyped up the brotherhood and bromance on Weibo, draining the wallets of female fans. His votes even surpassed Yang Yang's, securing him third place!

Looking at the top four male stars, three of them bear a strong Korean wave label.

Some industry insiders privately joked: "It's fortunate that Weibo has a rule against voting for purely foreign artists, otherwise, the top four spots would probably be completely dominated by those Korean oppas!"

……

The immense popularity of the Korean Wave is also reflected in the competition among major companies.

Having tasted success, Tencent Penguin Pictures announced a strategic partnership with South Korea's three major television networks this year, launching no fewer than ten S-level Sino-Korean co-productions starring Korean stars, driving up the salaries of those Korean oppas to the sky.

What's strange is that Haofeng Films, which clearly has deep cooperative relationships with Samsung, SK Hynix, and even SM Entertainment, is a company that...

Aside from "Diamond Lover," a drama that was filmed before Tang Yan officially announced her departure for a study tour, she hasn't started a second new drama with a Korean star this year, and the only co-star she's paired with is the already washed-up Rain.

In response to this unusually cold reception, Haofeng's official press release was written in a grand and respectable tone: "Haofeng Group is committed to supporting the local film and television industry, providing more outstanding young domestic actors with opportunities on the big screen and on stage."

But in some people's eyes, this is just Li Feng being stubborn. Many media outlets under Tencent have issued press releases mocking Li Feng for not having the money to compete with Tencent for Korean stars.

Until that afternoon.

Li Feng, who rarely inquires about the daily details of the film and television department, unusually came to the film research and development conference room in the building for a meeting.

"President Li." Old Han sat at the lower end, looking somewhat uneasy and unwilling.

"Tencent Video's daily active users have been increasing rapidly recently thanks to those new Korean dramas. And now they're following the trend all over the world, saying they want to do co-productions with Korean stars."

Old Han cautiously suggested, "Shouldn't we go with the flow and produce a couple more dramas co-produced with Korean stars? If we miss this opportunity, Tencent will beat us to it in the lower-tier market."

Old Han is genuinely worried about the company's financial report; these days, Korean stars are a guarantee of high viewership ratings.

"Should we just follow the trend and support those Korean bastards?" Li Feng replied calmly.

"Old Han, is your vision limited to just the profits of the next six months?"

He knew that the more rampant the Korean wave was now, the more devastating the consequences would be when it crashed down in the future!

The missile incident that caused the relationship between the University of Tokyo and South Korea to freeze will erupt no later than the year after next!

When the time comes, a single government decree will be issued, and all Korean stars, Korean dramas, and even Sino-Korean co-productions will face the catastrophic disaster of being unconditionally banned across the entire internet!

Tencent is spending huge sums of money to buy those Korean wave projects. By the year after next, all these big-budget S-level dramas will become unbearable junk assets!

How could Li Feng possibly throw his money into this doomed pit?

"Starting tomorrow, we'll begin the clearance sale!" Li Feng's voice was firm and unquestionable.

"Sell me the permanent online streaming and distribution rights to those two Korean dramas held by iQiyi and Bilibili—'My Love from the Star' and 'The Heirs'!"

"ah?!"

Old Han was so shocked that he stood up from his chair, his face full of disbelief.

"Mr. Li! Sell them?! These two dramas are currently our video platform's biggest cash cow and traffic driver! In the lower-tier markets, their daily viewership is astronomical! If we just sell them like this, aren't we handing over our territory to Tencent and Youku?!"

Old Han even wondered if the boss had been overexerting himself lately and was losing his mind.

"It's precisely because they're currently the most popular that their premium is so high!"

Li Feng sneered: "Go spread the word in the market! Say that iQiyi, due to a strategic transformation, is willing to sell the exclusive online streaming rights to these two phenomenal dramas!"

"Tencent, Youku, Sohu... whoever pays the most, we'll sell to them!"

......

The news that Haofeng Pictures was going to sell the online rights to the two phenomenal hit dramas, "My Love from the Star" and "The Heirs," exploded like a bombshell the next morning, sending shockwaves through the entire Asia-Pacific entertainment capital circle.

The external reaction was extremely strong. On major financial forums and online communities, countless seasoned investors and analysts were frantically analyzing the situation:

"What's going on? Has Boss Lee fallen out with Samsung and SM? Or has he had some unpleasantness with the Korean side?"

"I see through it but won't say it out loud. Actually, if you look closely at Haofeng's actions over the past few years, it seems that the big boss doesn't really like the Korean wave. Even with Han Geng, who was bought back at a high price, and Lu Han and that man, the top resources they received within the company were far less than those of the local Yang Yang. As for Song Qian, she's had it even worse. For the past few years, she's been stuck in various supporting roles. It was only last year that she finally managed to land two leading roles."

For a time, discussions about "Li Feng disliking Korean stars" arose on various social media platforms.

Some netizens were just about to use "LF" or "Boss Li" as code to chat about this gossip on Weibo, but their posts were physically deleted by the system before they even lasted a second.

Are you kidding me? Discussing the big boss in your own online forum? Even if you use pinyin, Haofeng Network Data Center's algorithm can censor you in minutes.