Leading actresses Zhao Wei and Zheng Shuang are the latest victims of China’s ongoing crackdown on the entertainment industry and the excesses of celebrity fan culture.
On Thursday, all entries about Zhao on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo were erased, her name was taken from film and TV show credits and all video involving her was removed from major streaming services like Tencent Video and iQiyi, including film, TV, chat show appearances and more.
Zhao, commonly known as Vicky or Vicki Zhao, is a prominent actress who has appeared in films such as My Fair Princess, Shaolin Soccer and Lost in Hong Kong. She is also the Chinese face of the Italian fashion business Fendi.
The Chinese state daily, The Global Times, said that no official justification for the removal of Zhao’s name and work from the Internet had been given, but it did resurrect prior charges of financial misconduct and a number of other controversies. Due to difficulties and irregularities relating to a failed takeover effort in 2016, the Shanghai Stock Exchange prohibited Zhao and her husband Huang Youlong from functioning as listed company executives for five years in 2018.
Zhao and her husband were early investors in Alibaba Pictures Group, purchasing a $400 million stake in 2015. Zhao is a personal friend of Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Once China’s highest-profile billionaire, Ma’s star has dimmed after spectacularly falling out of favor with Beijing.
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Zhao’s downfall comes only weeks after the actor Zhang Zhehan, a professional and business acquaintance of hers, was similarly banned and purged from the Internet after photos of him at Japan’s notorious Yasukuni Shrine to war dead appeared.
Shanghai tax authorities penalised actress Zheng Shuang $46.1 million for tax evasion on Friday.
Zheng, the star of the blockbuster series Meteor Shower and a well-known figure, was punished for failing to declare revenue earned while filming a TV series between 2019 and 2020.
According to the AFP, China’s state broadcasting regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, reaffirmed that tax evasion is treated with ‘zero tolerance.’ The regulator took the show down from streaming services and warned production companies not to work with Zheng again.
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