EXO's Lay Zhang stars in 'Crime Crackdown' as fans wait for more Chinese dramas starring him
EXO and their Chinese sub-unit have gone through a lot of ups and downs. Starting with 4 members from China, EXO began as a 12 member group. With three out of the four members leaving EXO, the only Chinese member to stay with EXO is Lay (Lay Zhang) also known as Zhang Yixing. He is not only a singer, songwriter, and producer but also a phenomenal dancer and actor. If all that was not a lot, Lay also is the publicity ambassador for the Communist Youth League of China.
After a lot of back and forth due to the tumultuous relationship between South Korea and China, Lay was finally able to perform with EXO. He was previously seen with 9 EXO members in ‘Tempo’. In 2021, he was seen making a comeback, joining EXO in their special album, ‘Don’t Fight The Feeling’, where Lay was seen in the music video with the other members of EXO, barring the group's leader Suho and vocalist Chen - who are both currently serving their mandatory military enlistment.
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Lay Zhang as an actor
Aside from his performance as a dance show captain, singer and performer, the last few years saw Lay in a lot of Chinese variety shows as well as movies and dramas. He was last seen in the 2018 movie, ‘The Island’, after which he was said to star in a South Korean-Chinese movie, ‘Unexpected Love’, whose release has been postponed due to tension between the two countries over the THAAD missile system.
As an actor, he has also starred in 'Ex-Files 2' (2015), 'The Mystic Nine; (2016), 'Kung Fu Yoga' (2017), 'The Island' (2018), 'The Golden Eyes' (2019), and 'Empress of the Ming' (2019).
The year 2021 marks a big win for fans of Lay as he is all set to star in not one but three Chinese dramas. It has been reported that he will be seen in ‘Faith Makes Great’, ‘Challenges at Midlife’ and ‘Crime Crackdown.’ Out of these three, ‘Crime Crackdown’ has already released 12 out of 28 episodes starting August 9, 2021. The released episodes and the upcoming ones are available for streaming on Tencent Video’s official website.
About 'Crime Crackdown'
In the drama, Lay plays a frontline police officer, Li Cheng Yang, who is faced with oppression and framed by evil forces on all sides. It becomes too much for him when even his boss, the chief of public security, goes against him to prevent him from investigating further into the matter. He is framed and imprisoned. Under the command and leadership of the Chinese political commissar and the Central Supervision Group, Li Cheng Yang regains his freedom and joins forces with various departments of the Public Prosecution and Justice Department. Together with Lin Hao (Lay) and He Yong, Li Cheng Yang tries to wipe out the two evil groups in Zhongjiang City and bring the corrupt government officials to justice.
