Pursuit Of Jade’s Zhang Linghe and why women want an ‘unmanly man’

His character is supportive and expressive, yet never threatened by female capability. No wonder women around the world declare they will gladly ‘slaughter pigs to feed him’

- Karen Tee

Forget Zhang Linghe’s face for a moment.

Yes, the star of the Netflix Chinese hit drama, Pursuit Of Jade, is handsome enough to crash social media algorithms. His appearances attract screaming crowds, fan edits flood TikTok and Instagram, and a recent public appearance in China had to be cancelled after overwhelming crowds caused a glass door to be smashed and created safety concerns.

But his striking looks are only part of the story. The real reason women around the world are swooning over Zhang — or more precisely, Xie Zheng, the character he plays in Pursuit Of Jade — is that he represents a new ideal of masculinity, one that feels far more relevant to modern relationships than the dominant male archetypes of the past.

For decades, popular culture sold women a familiar fantasy. The ideal man was powerful, wealthy, emotionally distant and ultimately in charge. Whether he was a prince, general, a chaebol scion of Asian dramas or James Bond, his role was to rescue, protect and provide.

Pursuit Of Jade turns that formula on its head.

In the show, Xie Zheng is portrayed as capable and eventually revealed to possess considerable power — as a marquis in disguise. Yet what makes him attractive is not his status or any form of dominance, but his willingness to act as an equal partner in a relationship.

Instead he is attentive, fiercely loyal, emotionally expressive and unafraid of expressing his vulnerability. The character, who initially hides behind a fake identity, even agrees early in the series to marry into the female lead’s family to help save her household from predatory relatives.