Canon Compliant 01: Distant Similarity

Talking to a Shipper of Pu Yixing and Guo Wentao (Part 2)

Hi there.^¹ Welcome to the inaugural issue of Canon Compliant, the talk-show segment of Active Faults where I speak to a fan about their experience. This is the second part of my conversation with Abby, a shipper of “Nanbei” about the reality stars Pu Yixing and Guo Wentao as well as their fandoms.

See part 1 here:

Em: What do you find most fascinating about Nanbei? 

A: Those “impurities” we talked about last time, the shippers, are anomalies anyway. As far as I know, it is the only popular male-male pairing in neiyu where the two men are concurrently in long-term heterosexual relationships with female partners, and have been in them since they’ve entered the public’s eyes. But people ship hard, nonetheless. 

Em: [punching table] THIS is what I’ve been thinking too. All kinds of fans of Pu and Guo knew about the “sister-in-laws”, “嫂子”, since day 1. 

Let me introduce them briefly. Guo and his wife, Jiajia, were school friends at PKU. Holding a PhD degree in biology, she is now…an influencer on Weibo, Xiaohongshu and Douyin with over 1.5 million followers across those platforms, doing a lot of paid advertisements. Many suspect, on solid grounds, that she is monetising her relationship with Guo (their wedding photoshoot in France was sponsored). 

Pu has dated his girlfriend, Mi, for possibly around 5-6 years. She was, not so coincidentally, also a Weibo influencer, writer and commentator before a bianzhi controversy in 2021. After her failure to secure the government-backed, Iron Rice Bowl teaching job with a series of perks and stability, Mi wrote an accusatory post insinuating that No.1 was a Raddish who cheated. Her passive-aggressive tone angered the net, which prompted people to track down that No.1 was actually a 乡村教师, a well-respected teacher nobly devoting their life to rural education who conscientiously prepared for the exams. After getting cancelled, Mi laid low and is now Pu’s full-time assistant and manager. 

I’m so intrigued. How are the solo stans and especially Nanbei shippers perceiving and engaging with their partners? 

A: From what I’ve been seeing, people are generally desensitised and treat them with indifference, since the partners were always there. There are also two camps: the “good” shippers and the “bad” shippers. The former “respects” the in-laws, hereby shipping Nanbei as friends having a naive, platonic bond. The latter is not so vanilla. But at the same time, there’s also a widespread, implicit consensus that the partners are inconsequential because they do not pose a threat. Ironically, their real-life relationships feel fake and unshippable in comparison to Nanbei.

Some say that Guo Wentao’s discomfort with Jiajia (in their wedding vlogs, of all videos) is conspicuous, which I somewhat agree. Their smiles feel strained. On the other hand, Mi is widely deemed unattractive, both physically and in terms of reputation. Both Jiajia and Mi were profiting off of their love lives, which gives off publicity stunt vibes. Both Jiajia and Mi have been caught “clocking in” (营业, active promotion/marketing of a celebrity) with wife/girlfriend content immediately after Nanbei “sold” a big one. It has been interpreted as a reinforcement of status and a reassertion of “sovereignty” over their partners, a sign that they feel threatened by Nanbei and not the other way around. There’s a popular conspiracy theory that associates Mi’s presence on set and a total lack of on-camera interaction between Nanbei. I see where the fans are coming from and feel like that’s so sketchy. They say that she’s overseeing, policing and controlling the extent to which they sell. 

Em: Wow. Fans would think it confirms a real danger, which is Nanbei, that potentially risks the disintegration of their actual relationships. 

A: Yeah. Since Pu’s house-falling and the brutal fallout of 409, people feel less and less of a need to respect all four of them. Thus born the numerous Amoral Fans (缺德粉) who call them a happy family of 4, “四口之家”. It’s been a recent discovery for me too: there is Found-A-Phone Literature of their 4-people group chat made by shippers.

Em: [stunned into silence] What the f*ck?

A: They have their respective persona in these stories based on fake chat histories. Jiajia, the calm and calculating businesswoman, only cares about her and Guo’s image which will make their relationship profitable. Mi is…always losing her mind and being embarrassingly possessive. Nanbei are openly unfaithful. Everything is obviously just jokes, but it’s still insane. ²