I have mentioned BDY before in previous posts, which I thought was enough information for most fans. But it would seem that black PR and antis continue to attack Zhang Zhehan and his family from this angle, and that is not acceptable.
The junzhe fandom claim to miss him, passionately demand ‘justice’ for him, but they continue to act as antis, and create an unending stream of malicious rumors about his family.
Instead of showing any support for the comeback he has announced, these antis have not stopped their mission to try to cut off support of Bao Deng Yuan by spreading unfounded rumors about this Tea Brand.
How a legitimate business, becomes hounded as a target in a conspiracy to fuel the delusions of a ‘CP fandom’, in order to ‘prove’ that Zhang mama ‘will not benefit’ from ‘any of the tea sales’; their fandom should not be supporting it; and anything related to Bao Deng Yuan Tea House is ‘sus and fake’ – namely the July appearance of Zhang Zhehan, his mother, his family and friends at BDY Tea House. They viciously attack the character of ‘Aunt Chen’ and now include someone they claim is her daughter. How much extra pressure is ZZH facing because he is unable to stop these acts?
Why must the victim and his family be the ones who have to ‘prove themselves’ to these people time and again? How much information have to be provided in order to convince these ‘fans’ led astray by black PR, and what is that balance between public knowledge and invasion of privacy with this kind of extensive ‘exposure’?
Bao Deng Yuan started as a retirement hobby of Zhang mama.
It is her dream project in her old age, to achieve something to rival the young generation.
She too have not stopped learning, and decided to embark on her own journey to bring China’s tea culture to more people. She shared that she did not know a thing about drinking teas ( see blog post Dec 16 2020) , and learnt along the way. Contrast this to other CN celebrities’ and their families’ choice of F&B businesses such as bubble-teas or hotpot franchises, isn’t her big dream rather admirable?
And Zhang mama actually patented her own design this year – a ‘chocolate heart’ tea-cake.
BAO DENG YUAN
Zhang mama owns 75% of BDY company 勐海宝登源茶业有限公司.
Bao Deng Yuan is a 微商 – their model : business to customer.
Bao Deng Yuan started selling teas from 2016. ( see their Oct 2021 statement below )
This company have their own licensed factory in Yunnan directly supplying some of their teas, but they also source teas from different parts of China to create new blends of teas.
Antis are misleading their followers that BDY is only a supplier of tea leaves, when in fact they are a Tea brand with registered trademark, who happens to also operate a factory to produce some of their teas.
This is clear as the Food manufacturing license ( until 2025 ) has a different validity period compared to the BDY business license ( until 2067 ) to sell teas.
Dec 2020 – Bao Deng Yuan opens the Shen Zhen Teashop 宝登源普洱茶 【 深圳南山诗远店】.
Zhang mama wrote a blog post Dec 15 and it was in the old BDY wechat account ( see below ** ) as well as her own meipian account ( way back in 2020 before black PR spread a narrative in 2022 that her meipian was ‘taken over’).
** DEC 16 2020
Zhang mama wrote in BDY’s blog, that Bao Deng Yuan finally managed to have a physical tea shop in Shen Zhen named 诗远茶店. At the end of the blog, a Mdm Chen 陈女士 is named as the contact person managing the store. Bao Deng Yuan’s registration also used this physical address in the records. In her post, you can get a measure of her passion for tea, and the happiness and pride she felt with the opening of this store.
Antis have always tried to cut the connections of this physical store with Zhang mama, but the fact is, BDY appear to be their family-run business. Fan accounts of meeting Zhang mama there are often shared, but she is not the ‘store-keeper’. The family pet cat, CCO Kele, grew up playing in that store. Antis and ‘junzhe fandom’ have especially hated on Aunt Chen since she was the first person to share Zhang San Jian‘s weixin blog with fans back in January. The Shenzhen teastore was also devoid of CP fandom elements, and only displayed Zhang Zhehan and Haizhe items.
By attacking her character, they attempt to cast doubt on the identity of ZSJ himself in order to strengthen their conspiracies.
From the old weixin account ( Full essay here )
DEC 20 2020
In the only other BDY post, she wrote about her love for music, but she proudly plugs photos of her son Zhang Zhehan.
That wechat account only has 2 posts, perhaps because Zhang mama already has her Meipian blog. Both blog posts from the BDY blog are also on Zhang mama’s Meipian account.
Late Oct 2021, Bao Deng Yuan launched Taobao/Tmall store. 宝登源旗舰店
International fans now had a way to purchase teas as most do not have the capability of purchasing from the wechat store.
Antis became desperate and started spreading rumors about their tea quality. Black PR and water armies circulated a customer chat screenshot with an inexperienced CS officer.
BDY immediately issued clarification and provided various proof of lab tests for their product quality, as well as promise to educate their Customer service to improve their knowledge of teas in order to answer more in-depth questions.
OCT 31 2021 Bao Deng Yuan Statement on BDY wechat account as well as their new Tmall store.
This is to address how the antis are making false reports and leaving malicious reviews of their products.
NOV 25 2021 Bao Deng Yuan Statement
At around the time Mr Li Xue Zheng appeared to speak up for Zhang Zhe han, Bao Deng Yuan’s business account shown in an app 启信宝 displayed erroneous information which is suspected to have been maliciously altered. BDY reacted quickly after being informed of this, contacted Qixinbao’s customer service warning them of litigation, who immediately rectified the incorrect information.
Bao Deng Yuan’s douyin account targeted by water army and affected posting plans.
APRIL 2022 Old Teashop closed notice.
MAY 8 2022 Grand Opening of new Tea House.
AUG 2022 Zhang mama and Aunt Chen went to Yunnan on a work-trip – a car drive is shared on Kele’s DY account on July31 ( Zhang mama blogs about this trip here 云南行 )
Zhang Zhehan and his pals went along to Yunnan for his cycling trip as well.
Kele’s DY showed him enjoying a staycation at a (presumed relative’s) house.
AUG 12 – 14 2022 Bao Deng Yuan held a Bi-Annual Meeting and Training at the Tea House ( ref to blog post from official BDY account here Zhang mama appears in blog post released on Aug 24 ) Whether its coincidence to avoid opening to public on ‘that’ particular weekend out of fear of harassment, we can’t say.
I do not claim to understand how businesses is conducted in China, and Bao Deng Yuan might have encountered the usual start-up issues about how to market itself effectively and identifying its target market. Since it had begun towards ‘serious’ tea drinking enthusiasts, it appears to lean towards the older generation in both the packaging as well as tea selections. There was an anecdote from a Haizhe, whose father-in-law had been drinking BDY before she even knew about it.
As Zhang Zhehan’s fans are definitely a different demographic, in a few months time, BDY has successfully pivoted very quickly and added more products suitable for the younger office-going crowd. Tea-bags products are quickly added to their tea selections, injecting modern and youthful packaging, with tea blends more suited to the youthful palate.
The social media choices for marketing :
Weibo account has no marketing at the moment, only a verified official account.
There are two Supertopics on weibo.
宝登源超话
宝登源诗韵茶舍超话
宝登源官方账号 and 宝登源茶业 wechat accounts are both registered to the parent company
勐海宝登源茶业有限公司
The subsidiaries/franchise included Aunt Chen’s 宝登源商城 all have green registered trademark under Bao Deng Yuan brand.
Official account as well as 茶业 accounts all publish posts about the Tea House, new tea selections, new tea wares.
宝登源茶具官方公众号 is registered to ( franchise ) company 深圳市圆梦启航茶叶有限责任公司 under Aunt Chen, it is now renamed to 宝登源商城 and the account for the old Shenzhen teashop is now closed.
Douyin channels for verified BDY account show teas, new products and the CCO Kele has his own cat-doting following : 30 000 followers is pretty impressive, for a little cat.
A relatively new 小红书 account created in August, to promote the brand on more platforms.
Visiting the Bao Deng Yuan weibo SuperTopics, we can also see fans sharing photos of their gatherings during weekends with friends and family. It would appear that for now, the Teahouse may be working on a reservations-type of operations.
If the Tea House is actually busy on weekends, are the antis going to have a problem with this as well?
Bao Deng Yuan Tea House’s review on 大众点评 was suspended for unknown reasons.
Even as OP said in her replies that she does not know why, as the guidelines was very long and the reason is not stated, but some junzhe fans are only too ready to slander the Tea House. Seeing this kind of behavior, how are they any different from the antis who slandered ZZH last year?
Worth noting there is a remark on the site that BDY Tea House is third on the sales chart in the Shen Zhen Bao An District. We all know whose fav number that is.
Black PR keeps their followers very updated on ‘negative’ news to reinforce their constructed image of Aunt Chen. A 900 RMB fine for unspecific ad issues is gleefully reported, when in reality the amount fined showed its not a serious case. She is only the person in charge since she is the company rep, but who made the problem is not clear either. But antis will be antis.
I include two examples, one of which is Deng Lun’s Hotpot shop fined 400 yuan for ‘ 4 acrylic signs damaging city’s aesthetics’ and Sony’s 1 million yuan fine, for ‘undermining national dignity’.
In mid October, Bao Deng Yuan was ranked 5th on Douyin charts 收藏榜 for being the most-favorited Tea House. No doubt this is thanks to the efforts of passionate social media savvy fans.
For pricing, its worth noting that No.1 has average spending of 145yuan compared to BDY at 121yuan. And with exception of No.2 every Tea House averages at more than 100yuan.
As far as we can see, Bao Deng Yuan is doing its best to establish its brand. And along the way, especially after 813, its been attacked relentlessly by antis and black PR. Its fast growth has not been without pain and struggles.
Meantime, we only have very best wishes for the Bao Deng Yuan Tea House to have booming business and become a wonderful place where beautiful memories are made with every gathering of like-minded people.
Perhaps since things are how they are this year, Bao Deng Yuan made it a point to celebrate 511 and shout out their love for Zhang Zhehan, just because.
Even if the world turns its back on Zhang Zhehan, we can count on Bao Deng Yuan to always have his back.
Bao Deng Yuan official wechat has posted consistently meaningful quotes from/for Zhang Zhehan in their blog, giving his voice an outlet before he became more confident with his own IG.
In the recent unfortunate incident where 武大师 misspoke about ZZH’s intentions for a comeback, which led to some panicked fan reactions, Bao Deng Yuan immediately issued a reassuring message to clarify the situation with a simple, strong message :
He is passionate about the arts, born for the stage, in order to realize this dream, he has been working hard! Listen to him, believe in him, look at him!
Zhang Zhehan has never demanded his fans to buy BDY tea which is very understandable given the delicate circumstances. Even before 813, he had only mentioned in interviews how his mother always sent him teas, but never elaborated further.
ZZH had written a poem in one of his ZSJ essays, where he gives a subtle nod towards his mother’s brand, by showing a hot cup of osmanthus black tea, with the message tag to 静待花开 – to be patient and wait for blooms.
In fact post-813 fans first heard about BDY becos of antis who had been making negative reports on the quality of their tea. After that, it was purely the decision of fans, with the hopes that we can help him indirectly by supporting his mother’s brand.
So why are antis so desperate to stop this? Simple truth is, they want to prevent his comeback. In fact, they have been so afraid that ever since ZZH’s IG released his comeback news, his team’s weibo account 洪荒剧场 account was immediately mass-reported and is now gone. Out of all the blue V accounts that reposts high res photos of Zhang Zhe han, only one account remains.
#洪荒剧场音乐台# hashtag is also removed by weibo.
The day Zhang Zhehan can make himself heard again on CN platforms without being muted or suppressed like he is now, that is when officially there will be more pressure to get his case heard. And the people who had conspired to make 813 happen definitely don’t want that to happen.
I am sorry how long this post is.
This is the reason I decided to write this very long post.
Black PR operates on their mantra: ‘Zhang mama is the ‘bottom-line’, ‘off-limits’; but they have set out to destroy the reputation and image of Bao Deng Yuan 宝登源 – which is her precious brand, now also one of the main pillars of support for her son.
Black PR accounts continue to target ZZH’s family, his Aunt Chen by means of spreading misinformation about the BDY taobao store and BDY Tea House. It has gone on for months, and has literally ‘reached new heights’.
Its actually very ‘logical‘ why ZSJ had made his ‘debut’ on Aunt Chen’s company’s wechat account, which is their ‘own’ family. Zhang mama’s second letter 我不敢老去 was also shared from there. His mother still needs to answer to the other stakes holder of the BDY parent company, and these are their ‘personal’ matters. So its responsible of them not to use the official BDY account to share ZSJ, even though on hindsight, these antis would not have been able to cast doubt in this way.
Isn’t it crazy…
How fast the night changes?
( And these changes already happened before he returned to IG
but right after ZSJ ‘showed himself’ on the Great wall in his Mar 3 post)
Note how QV emphasizes that ‘the company zzm owns 0% in‘ before freely accusing the teaware pricing to be ‘highway robbery’. As one of the followers pointed out, the 55 yuan base price is only the starting price. However she had deliberately chosen to contrast the pricing this way even using the coupon discount price as comparison, deliberately leading her followers into a discussion to continue to talk bad of BDY. She should be well aware the registered brand is still Zhang mama’s brand, and these product is sold in the wechat store, not the Taobao store.
By spreading comments about how overpriced, or ‘suspicious’ the tea house is, these black PR are actually openly slandering Zhang mama while pretending on one hand to be supportive and respectful.
Back in April, these black PR accounts claimed that Zhang mama has ‘fallen out’ with Aunt Chen and ‘kicked them out’ of the Shenzhen apartment.
Flora used a negative way to describe the living arrangements, and said Aunt Chen and the cat were “squatting”.
” we were afraid people would say bad things about his mother, but now she’s kicked them out.” And what kind of ‘bad things’ would ‘people’ be saying about Zhang mama, if she was living with her relatives and a pet cat? None of their followers seemed to question this line of thought.
Since Flora’s April posts, Zhang mama and Aunt Chen, have opened the new Bao Deng Yuan Tea House in May, went to Yunnan in July and had their bi-annual meeting in August.
During the October National Day golden week holiday, both brought Kele out to watch the festivities, as seen in Kele’s DY video.
Even as of today, Aunt Chen still posts DY videos about Kele in the very same Shenzhen apartment. But of course the antis had forgotten what their story was. and so had their followers.
Why won’t the black PR on Twitter back down, and continue to smear Bao Deng Yuan Tea house’s reputation? What stakes are in it for them? They have to cut ties of ZZH, Zhang mama with ‘the Chens’ because everything is connected. In their weak narrative, the ‘Chens’ hired body doubles of ZZH, Zhang mama, Xiaoyu, and a big group of fake fans to show Zhang Zhehan out in public.
They cannot let it be acknowledged in their fandom that what they have been telling their followers, are all lies and they have been leading those followers to continue to cyberbully and abuse Zhang Zhehan and his family post-813, for free.
ZZH as Zhang San Jian had made his writing debut via the 圆梦 Yuan Meng’s wechat 宝登源茶具 account, and Zhang Zhe han had appeared at the Tea House in July, in the safe space provide by his family. In order to ‘prove’ that this event did not happen, they follow up with their ‘debunks’ with body doubles. Just a few days ago, they started on the Tea House itself, claiming it is ‘sus’ and ‘problematic’.
There were better lit photographs of the Tea House appearance, but of course these black PR accounts chose the back lit ones where their followers cannot recognize Zhang Zhehan. Their dark intentions could not be clearer.
In their own words back in March, the anti QV stated that Aunt Chen’s company is a BDY franchise. And they also mentioned the existence of other physical franchise stores, where Flora even noted that Zhang Zhehan paid visits to these stores before.
I don’t know if franchises work differently for these antis, but if a Subway franchisee sells sandwiches, they get their supplies from the head company, pay fees, and there is normally profit sharing depending on how the contracts are drawn. And yes, their sandwiches are called Subway.
But watch this anti QV repeatedly mention the numbers 0%, ‘no ownership’ over the months and guides her followers to that conclusion. And she calls the BDY 茶具 account of Aunt Chen’s company ‘secret’, to make it look untrustworthy, when it is just a normal wechat account of an affiliated franchise as she herself admits more than once. She also mentions the word ‘cult’ to describe the fans buying from the teashop. And the one single voice of reason who brings up the franchising fees, QV and her followers completely ignored.
QV’s ‘evidence’ just shows goes to show close the Zhangs and Chens are.
The way QV emphasizes that Zhang mama has ‘no ownership’ of the company representing the Taobao store, leading her followers to come to the mistaken conclusion on their own that there is ‘no connection to ZZH and Zhang mama anymore’. There is definitely still a franchise relation since this store is selling Bao Deng Yuan trademarked range of products but none of them seem to consider it.
Her co-conspirator Flora also claims that the newer tea-cakes are not supplied by the Yunnan tea factory, but this can only show that Bao Deng Yuan has diversified their tea suppliers since they also sell different tea types from different regions of China, or it could be a simple solution to a demand-supply issue.
In fact, in the photo Flora showed, the tea shop that this tea-cake is manufactured for, seems to be another unrelated Bao Deng Yuan (福安) franchise which has a Fujian address. Flora should be aware of different franchises since she herself posted how Zhang Zhehan has visited different BDY physical stores in the past. But she probably thinks her followers will not question her.
So this anti Flora also acknowledged that Zhang Zhehan had visited Aunt Chen’s Shenzhen tea store before in Feb 2021.
Even if it is unclear exactly how BDY products are developed and shared among the different stores, how can these antis argue that the products sold are not BDY’s tea when the teas itself is still carrying the trademarked Bao Deng Yuan’s brand? The new blends of teabags by Aunt Chen’s 圆梦 are also available for sale in the BDY official wechat store.
To quote their favorite phrase : Is this logical? If KFC changed its chicken supply, are they not still selling KFC fried chicken?
These antis probably quickly referred to this zhihu conspiracy article by another CN anti who posted about this supplier ‘change’ back in September, when she did not even notice the Bao Deng Yuan store was not Aunt Chen’s. Such are the similar tactics of antis all over.
” 传说中zzh家的宝登源茶叶店究竟是谁在经营？“
Using ‘stores ownership’ as their ‘evidence’, black PR mislead their followers to forget that the Tea brand itself is still Bao Deng Yuan, even if the other companies selling the tea like the Taobao/天猫 Tmall stores now have different ownership ( Chen Ah Yi ). How this particular family choose to run their business and minimize risks should be at their own discretion, and these black PR are now using this family’s pains to their own advantage.
Since Zhang mama is the Bao Deng Yuan parent company, and as these antis have admitted, Aunt Chen’s registered company is a franchise. They may be their own company, but they are very closely affiliated with the main brand itself. This is definitely not illegal.
Black PR latest attack : ‘Something is sus with the BDY Tea House‘
‘Why is it always not open?’ ‘ Why is it in an office building?’
After the anti QV had showed off her flight-checking capabilities for Zhang Zhehan’s Yunnan trip, she once again, brags that ‘the beauty of China is that I don’t have to go myself, I can hire someone to go for me.’
Which since she is an anti, can be read as : I can get to anyone in the Bao Deng Yuan Tea House if I wanted, even if I am not in China. Just as they have threatened before to throw someone into China’s political prison, they now say : I can ‘hire a group of different people’… Her behavior is rather mafia-like, who operates on intimidation into silence and inject fear.
Bao Deng Yuan has never been secretive about where the new location is. That is their ‘angle’, to be a teahouse hidden among offices. Whether this business decision is a sound one or not, it is not something these antis should be gloating about if their weekday foot traffic is not as good as they had hoped.
On wechat, the official account is still registered under 勐海宝登源茶业有限公司 and every post on all 3 wechat accounts about the new teas, tea house, tea sets are officially registered to the Bao Deng Yuan brand.
Funny how the anti Flora is questioning how BDY is trying to make itself stand out among other teahouses, at the same time they are busy mocking their business strategy to provide a respite for the office dwellers. We won’t know if it will be a success or failure, but their ‘concern’ is merely their way to lead their followers into a thought pattern to distrust the Tea House and the BDY brand.
BDY’s Tea House concept is likely to be shared co-working space, while introducing the art and culture of Chinese teas to office workers. In fact, they also have a conference room for holding meetings.
In the wechat auto-message, they state that the Tea House is suitable for tea gatherings, exhibitions, reception for VIPs, business meetings. This shows that their business model is not aiming to be like a Starbucks for the time being.
Bao Deng Yuan official account’s blog introduces the new Tea House in several posts.
If there was no business relations, why would they do this?
这里有一间隐藏在高楼间的茶舍，带你暂别烦嚣寻找宁静
宝登源官方账号 2022-05-14
There is a tea house hidden in between the buildings, letting you find peace and tranquility in the hustle and bustle.
This anti QV has also not described which of the 15 days she had sent her ‘hired help’ to ‘check out the store’. There are still districts in Shen Zhen with heavier Covid regulations over the past months, so this method of hers to ‘test’ the business is already unfair to the shop. And only 5 months into its opening, only time can tell if this dream space will work out for this brand or not.
Their business decision to not have it in a shopping mall or a hotel, that is up to the business owners and certainly not these antis.
If 813 had not happened, and Zhang Zhehan’s career had not been de-railed, perhaps this Tea brand may have been able to reach even greater new heights. The difficult business decision between a more secure location instead of a more open one in a shopping mall, where it might be more difficult to do crowd control on who enters the shop, may have also been a factor in their decision. Seeing how even a location where its decidedly more secure does not prevent stalkerish behavior exhibited by antis such as this QV 姑奶奶 proves that their measures are definitely needed. Zhang Zhehan’s family have now become known online due to extensive doxxing by antis, so their personal safety is important.
For ‘fans’ to make such comparisons and mocking a new business seems insensitive and cruel. However these antis are practically gloating at their ‘poor business’ and even hint of criminal acts in their discussions.
Unless faced by courier shipping delays due to Covid regulations , both the Bao Deng Yuan wechat or Taobao store in-stock items have consistently met orders with near ‘next-day dispatch’ efficiency. Whether the Tea House is open for business daily or not, is clearly not affecting their main business of selling teas or teawares.
Remember, they are ranked third in sales in that Shen Zhen district, according to the review website.
Black PR is utilizing the same tactic to smear EhzZ as well, by putting up another target like its owned by ‘the Chens’ and ‘Xie Yihua’ who only had copyright over a logo design and very small stake in the company.
These antis always start with the standardized basic conspiracy : ‘someone else has taken control’. Followed up by explaining away public appearances as ‘replaced by deep-fake or body doubles.’ They do not offer any explanation as to the whereabouts of the actual people, and does not seem very concerned about their well-being, beyond their rhetoric to ‘stop buying’.
By doing so, they also get their followers to hate, heap abuse and smear both brands by claiming that ‘Zhang Zhehan’ or ‘Zhang mama’ won’t be ‘getting a cent’.
The choice to ‘support’ a brand or not, as always ‘buying within our means’ is heavily emphasized in Haizhe fandom. “按需购买”
Even if we cannot financially support it, and one may not feel like verbally endorsing it if one has not been able to know how the tea is for yourselves, but as decent human beings, the very basic thing is not to join in smearing a brand and spreading malicious rumors.
So who are the actual ‘sus’ ones?
Not Bao Deng Yuan.
What we all can’t doubt, is Zhang mama’s love for her son. Her grit and determination to overcome obstacles, to help him realize his dreams.
Antis are aware of this bond, which is why they are cutting the ZMM-BDY connection by linking ZSJ with Aunt Chen instead.
Flora, does it feel good to keep denying the existence of Zhang Zhehan while you pretend to be fighting for ‘his procedural justice’, kicking him when he is down?
Does it feel good to throw rocks at the defenseless?
Zhang mama, Aunt Chen and her family have been constantly cyberbullied and slandered, and now you won’t even let them operate their legitimate business in peace.
Does it feel good to rob ZZH of his voice, keep him silenced so you and your fandom can continue to say whatever you please?
Can’t wait for these black PR accounts, deluded junzhe accounts to be gone.
Can’t wait for Zhang Zhehan’s comeback.
Zhang Zhehan 