Tom Hiddleston poses with a scepter at the press conference for the release of Thor 2 in Beijing. Jiang Dong / China Daily

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Celebrities meet and greet fans on the red carpet, appear at press conferences amidst thunder and lightning, and make special efforts to show up at important openings in China. Liu Wei looks at Hollywood's star power at work to win the world's largest audience.

He wanted people to kneel before him and shout his name, but the villain was thwarted by The Hulk and slammed onto the ground. For Tom Hiddleston, though, the people were screaming his name without any prompting, unlike his screen villain Loki.

Hiddleston was in Beijing on Oct 11 to promote Thor 2, in which he reprises the role of Loki.

The English actor was surprised by 500 Chinese fans waiting for him outside the press conference, all chanting his name. They had also given him a rousing welcome at the airport the night before.

The 32-year-old Hiddleston has a strong fan base in China, both for his villainous role in The Avengers as well as his portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.

"I don't remember being so popular since I graduated from theater school," he jokes in an interview.

Hiddleston was not the only Hollywood star surprised by the passion of fans in China.

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