The Guardian-Chinese film star Fan Bingbing to make comeback after five-year purgatory
October 15, 2024 4 min 721 words
《卫报》报道了中国影星范冰冰在消失五年后的复出。2018年，她因涉嫌重大逃税丑闻而淡出公众视野，税务机关要求她缴纳近9900万英镑的税款。如今，范冰冰将在美国流媒体平台上映一部新电影《绿夜》，这被认为标志着她的回归。然而，专家认为，她不太可能重获以往的名声。报道还提到了中国明星面临的严苛道德标准和政治环境的变化，以及一些其他知名人士受到的类似对待。 评论：该报道虽提及中国明星面临的高标准和复杂政治环境，但基调仍偏负面。报道中，专家断言范冰冰不可能东山再起，而她的新电影在国内鲜被讨论，但并未深挖背后的原因。另外，报道提及的阴阳合同问题，是中国娱乐圈的潜规则，不应仅因一例个案而否定整个行业。此外，报道中国家从未喜欢明星拥有的影响力等表述带有偏见，忽略了中国对艺术和市场的包容。在道德标准方面，中国向来有德艺双馨的要求，但近年来更强调明星的爱国情怀和对党的忠诚，这与西方明星积极参与政治履行社会责任的要求如出一辙。报道应全面看待问题，而非以偏概全。
Fan Bingbing, once one of China’s most famous film stars, is returning to the screen after a more than five-year hiatus following her alleged involvement in a massive tax evasion scandal.
Fan stars in Green Night, a Hong Kong-produced neo-noir thriller set in South Korea, which is released on US streaming services on 18 October. The film has been billed as Fan’s comeback from professional purgatory since she disappeared from public view for nearly a year in 2018. During her year of silence, she was hit with a bill of more than 880m yuan (£99m) by the Chinese tax authorities.
The fact that Fan, who once starred in blockbusters such as the X-Men and Iron Man franchises, is returning to cinema in an edgy, international production, which has received scant discussion in China, reflects the likelihood that her fame will never recover to its former heights, say experts.
“I don’t believe she can come back,” said Sabrina Qiong Yu, a professor of film and Chinese studies at Newcastle University. “Chinese film stars are very vulnerable … the fame they have, it’s something that the state never likes.”
Fan’s fall from grace sent shockwaves through China’s film industry. Her undoing started in May 2018, when a famous TV presenter posted pictures of two contracts online, which appeared to suggest that Fan had used a false contract to underreport her income to the Chinese tax authorities to the tune of several million dollars. Such a practice, known as “yin-yang” contracts, was allegedly widespread in the film industry.
Fan denied wrongdoing and the presenter retracted his claims. But the tax authorities launched an investigation and in October of that year she was ordered to pay 883m yuan in unpaid taxes and related fines. She apologised on social media and said: “Without the good policies of the party and the state, without the love and protection of the people, there would be no Fan Bingbing.”
Since then, Fan’s career has been muted, although she has maintained a presence on social media and developed her e-commerce beauty brand, Fan Beauty.
In recent months, Fan’s posts on Chinese social media feeds have been full of posts about her fashion endeavours and nationalist comments. There is no mention of Green Night in recent posts. On 2 September, the day before the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the second world war, Fan wrote on Weibo: “Remember history, love China, cherish peace, and forge ahead bravely!”
Celebrities in China have long been held to high moral standards and expected to be squeaky clean in their personal lives. But in recent years, as the Chinese Communist party (CCP) has deepened and strengthened its control over all parts of society, stars have been expected to be overtly loyal to the CCP as well.
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has also tightened the party’s control over the mega-rich. After more than a decade of rapid growth and massive wealth accumulation, political leaders have become concerned about elites amassing influence outside the CCP’s control.
The sudden crackdown on a darling of China’s booming film industry shocked observers. But since then, several high-profile wealthy people have received similar treatment. In November 2020, Jack Ma, one of China’s most successful and well-known billionaires, disappeared for three months, after criticising China’s financial regulators. Last year, a billionaire Chinese dealmaker named Bao Fan disappeared.
For celebrities to thrive in China in today’s political environment, they have to be seen to “love the country, love the party”, Yu said. She added that in some instances fans themselves had taken to policing the nationalist credos of high profile figures, without the authorities needing to get involved. In March, the Nobel prize-winning author Mo Yan was attacked by internet users who declared him insufficiently patriotic.
In Green Night, Fan stars as a Chinese immigrant, Jin Xia, who works at South Korea’s Incheon airport. While on duty she encounters a mysterious green-haired girl, who pulls Xia into a world of drug trafficking and lesbian romance, and an escape from Xia’s abusive husband. Such racy themes would be highly unlikely to pass the censorship regime required for films to be released in China.