The8

Xu Minghao, known by his stage name The8, is a dancer and vocalist of SEVENTEEN and one of two Chinese members in the group. Born on November 7, 1997, in Anshan, Liaoning, China, he was an accomplished b-boy before joining Pledis Entertainment's Chinese trainee program, having won breakdancing competitions in China. He moved to South Korea to join the SEVENTEEN training system and debuted with the group in May 2015.

The8's dance style is genuinely distinctive within K-pop's performance landscape. His breakdancing foundation — built through years of competitive b-boying before his idol career — gives his movement a raw, powerful quality that differs fundamentally from the idol-trained dance backgrounds of his Performance Unit colleagues. When he incorporates breaking elements into SEVENTEEN's choreography, the result adds an authentic street-dance dimension that elevates the group's overall performance range.

Beyond dance, The8 has cultivated a reputation as one of K-pop's most artistically interesting idols. His social media presence is filled with visual art, experimental photography, and creative projects that reveal a thoughtful, aesthetically sophisticated personality. His fashion choices are consistently avant-garde — pushing boundaries in an industry that often favors safer, trend-following looks — and have earned him recognition as one of K-pop's most stylistically adventurous members.

The8 has also developed a solo career in China under his real name Xu Minghao, releasing music that explores more experimental and personal creative directions than SEVENTEEN's group output typically allows. Together with Jun, he serves as SEVENTEEN's primary connection to their substantial Chinese fanbase, navigating the unique position of being a Chinese idol within one of Korea's biggest musical exports.