Dai Xiangyu has been unemployed for several years

Former Mediacorp actor Dai Xiangyu, 38, was in town earlier this week to promote his new iQIYI drama Sisterhood. After meeting us at the Marina Bay Sands suite and exchanging pleasantries, the first thing he asks us is, "Did you watch my dramas when you were younger? How old were you then?"To get more news about xiang yu, you can visit shine news official website.

As we try to remember how old we were when Xiangyu appeared in his breakthrough role as Japanese photographer Yamamoto Yousuke in the 2008 hit drama The Little Nyonya, the actor laughs as he continues: "Please don't tell me you were five. Yesterday some people told me they were fans of mine when they were kids - they were five!"
It's then that we realise that Xiangyu was, as young people would say, shocked to find out that the kids who used to be his fans are now in their 20s. He breathes a sigh of relief when we finally answer "12".

It also puts things into perspective - it's been a good 10 years since he last appeared on our screens.

The actor left Mediacorp in 2013 at the height of his popularity, much to the dismay of his fans. Xiangyu later revealed that his decision also came as a surprise to his then manager, and admits that his move back to China was a risky one.
Sisterhood stars Yelena Shaw (肖燕), who plays a Guangdong native who travels to our shores, known as Nanyang, in the 1930s to make a living as a Samsui woman. Xiangyu plays a gangster who falls in love with her.

"I hope people will be inspired by this show to find out more about their roots and how the older generation used to live," says the actor. "As time goes by, we don't know where we come from," he muses.
DAI XIANGYU: I don't. I don't make friends in show business. Even in China, I don't make many friends in this industry.

I think it's interesting - even in China, a lot of my friends are people I met in Singapore. They went to China after working on their careers here, but they're in branding, investment and other things. A lot of them are Singaporeans because they've seen my shows and know who I am.
[We think about the number of people who will watch our shows and what we can bring to them. It's not just about doing a job. I will make suggestions to the director and talk about what could be improved - like how we can make props more period appropriate. Our goal is to give the audience a better show.

Competition in China is very fierce, there are so many shows coming out every year, [and you have to think] how you're going to stand out from the rest.
When I was in Singapore, I felt like I was in a place where I didn't know how to move forward.

One day I told my boss that I was thinking of going back. After that, the media kept pitting me and Elvin Ng against each other. I kept telling Elvin - and the media - "You belong here, I'm going back to China".

At that time, even my manager couldn't understand me. They said: "Why do you want to go? You're going to be a 30-year-old newcomer, why do you have to do that?"

I wanted to see what the world was like [beyond Singapore showbiz]. In Singapore, there are only period dramas and modern dramas, but in China, there are all kinds of historical dramas, and I wanted to try that. I also wanted to take the things I learned [in Singapore] back to China, and I hoped that if I did well in China, I could bring it back to Singapore.