Xiran Jay Zhao
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xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Xiran Jay Zhao
@xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
29K followers 66 following 520 posts
#1 New-York-Times-Disqualified & Hugo-Award-disqualified author of IRON WIDOW and ZACHARY YING AND THE DRAGON EMPEROR (They/Them)
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xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
A statement. Please read.
It has come to my attention that some very troubling allegations have been made against me. It is my intention for this statement to bring some clarity to the situation. My whereabouts from 9:30AM to 9:37AM CET on October 19th, 2025 are perfectly accounted for. I was with my friend Lune at the Musée de la Révolution française in Vizille, Southern France. It is a 3-hour train ride away from Paris, which is in Northern France. It is not physically possible for me to have crossed the country and back within the span of minutes. I would provide time-stamped photographic evidence of this, but I was so overcome with emotion that I neglected to take any. Sometimes what matters most in life is living in the moment. Some have pointed out that my bookcase in my previous Reel looks different from my usual bookcase. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this that I am declining to reveal for privacy reasons. I am not in hiding. I am not in possession of priceless jewels I am now struggling to think of how to sell without alerting French authorities. My actions online are not an attempt to distract from any crimes. My personal animosity for Mr. Napoleon Bonaparte aside, I would never think to partake in any act of blatant, brilliantly planned and expertly executed theft of his family jewels. I would not know what to do with them. I would be hoping someone in the comments would tell me what to do with them. But I am not asking that because I do not have them. - XJZ 💔
October 20, 2025 at 1:05 AM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
WHO JUST DOES THIS TO SOMEONE 😭 WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM
September 28, 2025 at 8:52 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Born to watch the cave entrance at night, stuck living as a dysfunctional modern human 😔
September 26, 2025 at 10:37 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Anyone know what type of coin this is? It appears to be from Mexico but I have no idea how it could've gotten into my great-great-grandma's possession when she was a peasant in China
September 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Macron needs to be stopped
Macron hugging Zelensky Macron hugging Modi Macron clasping Lula's hand while they look ahead together Macron trying to hug Trudeau
September 21, 2025 at 7:19 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Heavenly Tyrant (2024):
Qin Zheng's face (illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie) edited over a meme of a person captioned as saying "my wife's boyfriend gifted me with 2 gifts today!" while holding a PS5 and a series of ultrasound photos of a baby
September 19, 2025 at 10:06 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Cover of "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This" by Omar El Akkad
September 17, 2025 at 8:33 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Check out the double fangs on my cat wtf
Picture of my cat's mouth showing she has double canines
September 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
the people have spoken
A poll I did on Tumblr asking "Which was the more definitive Gay on Girlboss Violence?" "Joe Exotic vs Carole Baskin" received 25.8% of 1598 votes. "Frederick the Great vs Empress Maria Theresa" received 74.2%.
August 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Why would these shots from Dashcon 2 actually make amazing poster compositions for a French Revolution adaptation
Marie Antoinette looking at her shadow, where her neck is being crossed by a sword Robespierre holding that sword
July 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Crossposted this to Tumblr and got this in the reblogs I'm losing my mind
Tumblr user j-nor reblogging my trans Pitbull dream story with the tags #I cannot for the life of me remember that word he says. The one thats like. His catchphrase #all I can think of is fucking cowabunga
July 24, 2025 at 7:03 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
I am OBSESSED with Napoleon's mom, like imagine skipping out on your son's coronation as self-made emperor because you're mad at his wife and having to be 19th-century photoshopped in and then when asked about him you're like "WELL LET'S HOPE HE LASTS"
On 2 December 1804, when Napoleon was crowned Emperor, Letizia did not attend the coronation ceremony, though she appears in Jacques-Louis David’s famous painting, The Coronation of Napoleon. When congratulated on her son's success, she is said to have replied, « Pourvu que ça dure ! » ("Let’s hope it lasts!").
July 15, 2025 at 6:46 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
GREETINGS FROM THE DASHCON 2 BALL PIT
July 5, 2025 at 1:14 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Yugioh cards are high art sometimes
A card named Anteatereatingant
June 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
She has a problem
My gray cat Kokochin eating my calico cat Temujin's ass Another picture of my gray cat Kokochin eating my calico cat Temujin's ass
June 22, 2025 at 8:04 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
French people when you misgender a door:
A meme of me dressed as Robespierre holding three Yugioh cards in blue, white, and red sleeves respectively that I then turn to reveal as a set of Tragedy with the original OCG guillotine artwork
June 10, 2025 at 7:29 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
???
June 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Why does this meme look like me wtf
June 2, 2025 at 9:06 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Safaa, one of the Palestinians I help fundraise for, crocheted this doll of Zetian from my book Iron Widow 😭
A photo of Zetian in the rubble of Gaza Another photo of Zetian in the rubble of Gaza
June 1, 2025 at 7:04 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Heavenly Tyrant is now out in French (translated by Isabelle Troin!) and I honestly feel like it was MEANT to be read in French
May 31, 2025 at 4:04 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Wtf someone jumped into the pit at the First Emperor's Mausoleum (deliberately, according to witnesses) and broke three 2200-year-old terracotta soldiers
Screenshot of a video of the person on the ground, holding his head. Two terracotta soldiers can be seen knocked over nearby
May 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
THIS IS SO WRONG

📸: Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Photo of a billboard saying "the White Sox proudly congratulate the south side's very own Pope Leo XIV, named the 268th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church"
May 11, 2025 at 11:45 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
Omg one parliament seat in the Canadian election was called by 29 votes and another by 12 VOTES
Screenshot of the Milton East-Halton Hills South riding showing the Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen getting 32,130 votes and the Conservative candidate Parm Gill getting 32,101 votes Screenshot of the Terra Nova - The Peninsulas riding showing the Liberal candidate Anthony Germain getting 19,704 votes and the Conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe getting 19,692 votes
May 4, 2025 at 12:31 AM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
"After all, a society that takes care of its own does not produce children who grow up dreaming of burning it down."

Art by ZakuraRain

Happy International Workers' Day!
A redraw of the "why dis [insert emoji] look so mad" meme but it's Qin Zheng and Zetian from Iron Widow as kids A redraw of the "why dis [insert emoji] look so mad" meme but it's Qin Zheng and Zetian from Iron Widow as adults covered in blood, him holding a sledgehammer and her holding a scythe
May 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
xiranjayzhao.bsky.social
I think it was unintentionally revelatory because the whole protest happens simply because a Palestinian restaurant opened next to a Jewish deli and if you actually look at the protest signs, the Palestine side sounds completely reasonable while the Israel side is like "No terrorist chicken!!"
April 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM