Zhang Linghe

Zhang Linghe was born Zhang Jiawei on 30 December 1997 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.

Zhang studied at Jiangsu Tianyi High School.^[2] In 2016, he was admitted to Nanjing Normal University where he majored in electrical engineering. During his time there, he joined the Aerospace Society because of his interest in physics.^[3]

In 2020, he made his television debut in the costume romance drama Maiden Holmes and also starred in the youth romance drama Sparkle Love. The following year, he appeared in the urban romance drama Love Crossed and the youth school drama Flourish in Time.

In 2022, he portrayed Chang Heng, the god of war in the costume fairy tale drama Love Between Fairy and Devil, which gained him recognition.^[4]

In 2023, he achieved breakout success after starring as Gong Ziyu in the historical drama My Journey To You and Xie Wei in costume romance drama Story of Kunning Palace.^[5]

In 2025, Zhang gained popularity internationally after starring as He Suye, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in modern romance drama The Best Thing.^[6] In July 2025, Zhang starred as Jiang Qiaoxi in youth romance drama Our Generation.^[7][8]

In March 2026, Zhang starred as Xie Zheng in historical romance drama Pursuit of Jade. The series recorded heat indexes exceeding 31,000 on Tencent and 10,000 on iQIYI within one week of its broadcast, and debuted at number six on Netflix's Global Top 10 Non-English Shows chart.^[9][10] Media outlets and viewers commented on his appearance and performance as a marquis disguised as an injured scholar.^[11][12]

In March 2026, Zhang starred in Pursuit of Jade alongside Tian Xiwei. During a promotional appearance on Hello Saturday [zh], Zhang and Tian drew portraits of each other. Zhang joked that Tian's stylized drawing of him looked as if the person depicted had been "born in Southeast Asia," and also compared it to Chinese comedian Yang Di [zh].^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]} Clips of the segment circulated online, drawing criticism from Southeast Asian viewers who interpreted the remark as stereotypical.^{[13][14][16][17][18]} Zhang later issued an apology in both Chinese and English.^{[13][14][16][17][18]} He stated that he did not intend to offend anyone and expressed appreciation for the support from fans in Southeast Asia.^{[13][14][16][17][18]}