Hey y'all, you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.

So today we're giving you a very special bonus episode from our friends over at the NPR

podcast Rough Translation.

As you have probably already figured out here on this show we are very much into pop culture.

But usually we talk about American pop culture.

But this bonus episode today from Rough Translation, it takes a look at popular culture outside

of the US.

It is a story all about a Chinese pop superstar and passionate fans and censorship.

That is all I can say for now.

I will let Rough Translation take you from here.

Enjoy.

You're listening to Rough Translation from NPR.

I'm Gregory Warner.

There's a kind of rise and fall celebrity story that we're all now familiar with where

someone super famous who can do no wrong suddenly does something or tweets something and

they go down fast in a social media pile on.

Today we have a story from NPR's Beijing correspondent Emily Fang where you have the same arc, the

same rise and fall.

Except the celebrity question a boy band star turned actor, he did not do or say anything.

The first that I heard of Xiao Zhan was the beginning of the end of his career.

This is when the coronavirus pandemic really started to get bad in China.

More people were getting sick, people were starting to die in large numbers.

...