Although Nirvana in Fire 2 wasn't the ratings hit that it should have been (yes, I'm biased), it was still heavily discussed online by those who loved it. Though there were still a good chunk of people who felt that Liu Hao Ran was too young - the Chinese audience is way too used to seeing thirty year olds play twenty year olds - his performance as Xiao Ping Jing was largely praised. In late January (right as NiF2 was finishing its run), there was a discussion topic in the NiF2 group on Douban that basically asked: Which other Chinese actor could have successfully pulled off the role of Xiao Ping Jing? 

This is Part 2 of the Men's Uno interview from January 2018. Most of the questions here focus on how Liu Hao Ran views himself as an actor, his thoughts towards performance, and some of the more personal parts about him. Part 1 can be found here.

In January 2018, Liu Hao Ran was featured on the cover of Men's Uno and was also interviewed at length about where he is in his career and how his road has been different from most of his peers. It's an extremely in-depth and interesting read. I am splitting this interview into two parts as it also includes a lengthy intro by the interviewer and there are a lot of questions asked. 

A couple of interesting things that I wanted to point out - the author says in the beginning that despite all of Liu Hao Ran's accomplishments, he's not as popular as those who choose to star in idol dramas. That was in January (though the interview probably took place in December) - and about a month later in February, Liu Hao Ran's popularity and public recognition skyrocketed to a new level. The way the media introduces Liu Hao Ran now is someone who both has liu liang (popularity) and talent - so it's funny how things changed in such a short amount of time. Also, I'm not sure if the interviewer was trying to bait LHR into criticizing idol actors/dramas or if she just feels really strongly about it, but she kept bringing it up - thankfully, he handled it pretty well.

Liu Hao Ran's star is rising faster than he can age, but it's not just because his popularity and public recognition are at an all time high. In an era where most of the popular male actors under 30 have been criticized extensively for relying more on their looks and fans than focusing on developing their acting, Liu Hao Ran's much more traditional approach has been refreshing. It's gotten to the point where Liu Hao Ran's name will be brought up without being asked - he's become an industry darling of sorts. So we thought it would be fun to share a compilation of what prominent people within the C-ent industry - fellow actors, MCs, producers, authors, and directors, etc. - have said about Liu Hao Ran. Most of these are from the past year, if not the past six months.