“Luoyang” Accused of Design Plagiarism

By hailey December 3, 2021

Starring Huang Xuan (黃軒) and Wang Yibo (王一博), historical detective drama Luoyang <風起洛陽> has been a top trending drama since its premiere on December 1. Although Luoyang is praised for its high production value, accusations arose that the drama plagiarized their props. Luoyang’s production team immediately apologized on their official social media platform, which aroused heated discussions online.

In the first episode, there is a scene where Wang Yibo and Song Yi’s (宋軼) characters are getting married. Song Yi is holding a red bridal fan, in which a design blogger by the name of Jia Ran (佳冉) accused the team of plagiarizing the design. Jia Ran wrote, “The work has been plagiarized to the point where people are desensitized. In the past, there were a lot of imitations flooding shopping websites, but now it is hitting television shows as well. When will this end?”

In response to these accusations, the production team of Luoyang admitted to their negligence, and stated that they have already apologized to Jia Ran as well as viewers. When they were making the fan prop, they did a lot of research online and found a design that “was in wide circulation,” without realizing it was an original design. The crew apologized for their mistake.

Given the apology, Jia Ran responded, “I feel the production team’s sincere apology. Rather than feeling upset, I want to focus on my growth for the future.”