For some child stars, the loss of childhood innocence and privacy is too high a price to pay for fame, and they disappear from public view. For those who survive the pressure and constant public scrutiny, their early debuts give them a head start in an intensely competitive industry. Here are five Chinese child stars who went on to have successful careers. Guan Xiaotong The hugely popular 23-year-old actress (and girlfriend of heartthrob Lu Han) comes from a show business family: her father, Guan Shaozeng, is an actor and her mother, Li Jun, a theatre actress. She first appeared in TV crime drama Yan Hai Chen Fu (2004). It started production in 2001, when Guan was four. In 2005, she got a role in epic fantasy film The Promise , which was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi. Her breakthrough role was as a devoted daughter in the 2014 television series A Servant of Two Masters . The Beijing Film Academy graduate often posts her childhood pictures on her social media. The fact she is easily recognisable even in her old photos makes her one of the few Chinese actresses not plagued by plastic surgery rumours. Yang Zi Yang Zi was only four years old when she was sent to drama training school. She made her acting debut in 2002 period drama Xiaozhuang Mishi . She starred as an academic prodigy in the 2005 series Home with Kids and its sequel Home with Kids 2 (2005), before leaving the series. Years later, Yang said she and her mother had been asked to leave the production because the show’s investor wanted his own daughter to play her character. Despite having few connections in the entertainment world, the Beijing Film Academy graduate was nevertheless able to make it big thanks to her acting talent. Xu Jiao Xu Jiao’s breakthrough role came about when Hong Kong actor-director Stephen Chow Sing-chi chose her to star opposite an alien dog in his 2008 Chinese science-fiction comedy CJ7 . Xu impressed audiences with her acting skills as Chow’s son, and the film catapulted her to stardom overnight – she even won the best new performer award at the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards. She went on to star in Korean sports comedy Mr. Go (2013) and horror film The Strange House (2015). Lin Miaoke Remember the girl who sang – or, more accurately, lip-synched to – a song at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony? Her name is Lin Miaoke and she was picked to do so by filmmaker Zhang Yimou – the chief director of the event. Lin was criticised when it was revealed she wasn’t actually singing, but it wasn’t her fault – and Zhang later said he regretted making her pretend to sing. The controversy did little to stop Lin from pursuing a career in show business, and she has since appeared in multiple television dramas, such as Beauty in North (2009) and Schemes of a Beauty (2010). Lin is currently studying at Nanjing University of the Arts and often posts videos about her life in Nanjing on microblogging platform Weibo. Leo Wu Lei Leo Wu Lei appeared in numerous television commercials before making his big-screen debut as a young Nezha, a mythological Chinese figure who fights his enemies with fire, in The Legend and the Hero (2006). In his teens, he had a role in historical drama series Nirvana in Fire (2015). Wu is, at 20, a big name in show business – he made it on t he 2019 Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.