Xie Yang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Xie Yang (谢扬)
Alias(es)	Xie Show-off; Xie Saobang; President Xie 3 122 222
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Hometown	A remote village in Fushi County, Longdu City 3
Affiliation	ByteDance; Douyin Technology 603 616
Occupation/Role	Vice President of ByteDance; Chairman and President of Douyin Technology 589 603
Status	Active 616
First Appearance	Chapter 3

Background / History

Xie Yang grew up in a poor family in rural Fushi County. His older brother, Xie Fei, had worked as a civil servant for several years and helped ease the family's financial situation. During high school, Xie Yang wore hand-me-down clothes from his brother, including an ill-fitting suit, leather shoes, and a cheap imitation watch. 3

He was academically capable: his middle-school entrance score ranked within Longdu's top 200, earning him a place in the experimental class. However, he became absorbed in novels and internet cafés, frequently skipping sleep for overnight gaming sessions and eventually entering the liberal-arts stream. Even while copying homework and sleeping through lessons, he could still maintain scores sufficient for a second-tier university. 39

Xie Yang initially dreamed of becoming a county official, but exposure to the success of Legend of the Abyss changed his ambition. Rather than merely playing games, he decided he wanted to make games that others would play. 3 45

He improved his college-entrance-exam results through intermittent but serious study in his final month of high school, enrolling in Hangdian University to study accounting. He soon found accounting uninteresting, skipped classes to work at Tao Chenggang's company, and taught himself basic Java and C programming. 88 122 123

In December, Xie Yang took a leave of absence from Hangdian University and travelled to Beijing to join Chen Guiliang's company. He began as an intern earning 1,200 yuan per month, determined to learn whatever work the company needed. 122 123

Appearance

In high school, Xie Yang was about 1.7 meters tall and dressed in worn, inherited clothing. He cultivated a deliberately fashionable image despite his poverty. 3

• Wore his middle-parted hair long enough to cover one eye, tucking it behind his ear around teachers to evade school rules. 3
• Habitually blew at and flicked his fringe aside when trying to look cool, the origin of his “Xie Show-off” nickname. 3 5
• Had acne during high school; it had faded by his early ByteDance years. 123 492
• Later traded the long fringe for a buzz cut and developed a more mature, masculine appearance. 492
• Became visibly overweight by the later years of his career. 603

Personality

Xie Yang was initially vain, impulsive, and eager for attention. He loved boasting about his looks and romantic prospects, even when his confidence was not matched by success. His theatrical hair tosses, open admiration for pretty girls, and need to save face made him an easy target for his friends' teasing. 3 5 10

Despite his frivolous side, he is loyal to Chen Guiliang and highly receptive to growth. He became increasingly serious after witnessing the private server business, then showed persistence in teaching himself technical, marketing, communications, management, and executive skills. 45 124 443

Success briefly made him arrogant toward relatives, subordinates, and old classmates. After Xie Fei criticized him for forgetting the luck and support behind his rise, Xie Yang reflected on his behavior and deliberately became more disciplined and self-controlled. 289

He remains proud and enjoys recognition, but later handles flattery more steadily than before. He is also capable of acknowledging his limits, including his ordinary appearance and lack of formal academic credentials. 365 492

Abilities & Skills

Community Marketing and Viral Promotion

Xie Yang proved especially adept at turning online communities into promotional channels. As moderator of the Sanguosha Tieba, he studied major forums, tracked their activity, and designed crossover content to draw fans from other communities. 124

• Created parody Sanguosha hero cards for characters from Chinese Paladin, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, basketball, literature, and other popular subjects. 124
• Cross-posted content to active Tieba communities and used staff accounts to stimulate early discussion. 124
• Helped push the Sanguosha Tieba past 10,000 registered users ahead of schedule. 124
• Shifted his focus from programming to communication studies after discovering his strength in online promotion. 124

Competitive Intelligence and Public-Opinion Operations

Xie Yang is skilled at investigating competitors through publicly available online information and identifying opportunities for pressure campaigns. 147

• Connected 5Q Campus Network to Qianxiang Interactive through company addresses and promotional patterns. 147
• Identified 5Q's perceived association with Dudu Accelerator, rogue software known for difficult removal and bundled installations. 147
• Proposed and organized a coordinated troll campaign on university BBS forums before real-name registration could enable an effective response. 147
• His operation sharply reduced 5Q's activity while increasing Xiaonei registrations, earning him stock-option-pool participation and a five-digit QQ number. 147 148

Business Development and Operations

Xie Yang developed from an entry-level promoter into a core executive trusted with ByteDance's platform growth and external partnerships. 131 199

• Managed promotion for both Sanguosha and Xiaonei as a full-time employee. 131
• Led early Kaixin Network celebrity recruitment, including outreach at Hengdian and other studio bases. 199
• Worked with Chen Guiliang on Zhang Liangying's low-cost three-year Kaixin Network endorsement agreement. 185
• Proposed developing a “Wit Worker” freelance-work platform, prompting Chen Guiliang to contact its prospective founder. 227
• Coordinated university, school, academic, athlete, and Olympic-related activities during Xiaonei and Hainai's expansion. 365
• Later handled negotiations concerning TikTok's United States operations. 612 616

Self-Education and Management

Xie Yang began with only several months of programming self-study and could initially complete only simple tasks. He consistently compensated for his lack of formal qualifications by learning on the job. 122 123

• Learned Java and C with guidance from company experts. 123
• Studied communications after work and later added management reading. 124 131
• Enrolled in Peking University's EMBA program while serving as a ByteDance executive. 443
• Advises junior colleagues to observe, act, think, summarize, and report in order to improve through practical work. 449

Career and Major Arcs

Arc	Chapters	Role and outcome
Abyss Private Server	34–48	Assisted Chen Guiliang with promotional writing, forum monitoring, and launch operations for Legend of the Abyss. The project convinced him that creating games was more meaningful than merely playing them. 34 39 45
Leaving Hangdian University	122–123	Abandoned accounting studies, left Hangdian University, and travelled to Beijing to join Chen Guiliang's startup as an intern. 122 123
Sanguosha Tieba Campaign	124–131	Managed the fledgling Sanguosha Tieba, created crossover parody content, and established himself as a valuable marketing employee. 124 131
Xiaonei–5Q Conflict	147–148	Investigated 5Q Campus Network's connections, directed a public-opinion attack, and received options-related recognition for the result. 147 148
Kaixin Network and Mobile Weibo	183–199	Took on increasingly professional work across celebrity recruitment, Weibo activation, endorsements, and platform growth. 183 185 199
ByteDance Executive	222–256	Became a senior executive with stock options and sufficient income to purchase a Capital City home. 222 256
Vice President of ByteDance	589–590	Returned to his high school as ByteDance's vice president, donated 200,000 yuan to the school, and was recognized by local leaders and alumni. 589 590
Douyin Technology Leadership	603–616	Became Chairman and President of Douyin Technology while continuing to represent ByteDance in high-stakes TikTok negotiations with the United States. 603 616

Relationships

• Chen Guiliang — High-school friend, longtime boss, and benefactor. Xie Yang followed him from the Legend of the Abyss project to ByteDance, eventually becoming one of his most trusted executives. 39 122 183 616
• Xie Fei — Older brother and civil servant. His income helped the family when Xie Yang was young; later, his blunt criticism helped Xie Yang confront his arrogance. 3 289
• Tao Chenggang — Early mentor and employer at Hundred Refinements Network Technology Company. Xie Yang learned programming and performed odd jobs at Tao's company before moving to Beijing. 122
• Wu Meng — Former high-school classmate and friend who welcomed him upon his arrival at Peking University and encouraged him to audit classes. 122 123
• Zhou Jing — Xie Yang's long-term high-school crush. He confessed at the graduation farewell, but later learned that she had a boyfriend. 5 84 289
• Qin Shanshan — Old classmate whom Xie Yang helped relocate to the Capital City and connect with Chen Guiliang. Their later interactions suggest mutual interest. 443 584
• Bian Guanyue — Chen Guiliang's classmate and friend. She praised Xie Yang's investigation of 5Q Campus Network, comparing him to Sherlock Holmes. 147

Trivia

• Xie Yang's “Xie Show-off” nickname was already used by classmates during high school. 3
• He was one of only two students at school who knew about Chen Guiliang's private-server project before its launch; the other was Tao Xue. 39
• In the original timeline recalled by Chen Guiliang, Xie Yang stopped gaming during university, supported himself through work, entered a 985 graduate school, passed the civil-service examination, and became a county magistrate by age forty. 7
• Though he once imagined himself winning Zhou Jing over with a luxury car, he later concluded that what he missed was largely his youth rather than Zhou Jing herself. 289 578
• He donated 200,000 yuan to No. 2 High School during its 60th-anniversary celebration. 590