Love O2O returned to the Youku platform on September 24 under another title, A Smile Is All It Takes, with a change impossible to ignore: Zheng Shuang’s face was replaced by AI with that of actress Wang Zhuyue.
The original performance remains intact, frame by frame. Only the lead actress’s face changed.
The series surpassed 8.8 billion views during its original run, according to MyDramaList. But in 2021, Chinese authorities labeled Zheng an actress with misconduct following a series of scandals that included a conviction for tax evasion.
She was banned from the industry, and the series disappeared from platforms. She was also embroiled in controversy over surrogacy, a practice prohibited in China, where she wanted to put her children up for adoption after her relationship with her partner ended.
Is this the new way of banning someone who causes controversy because of their actions?
