Fan Bingbing Wins Best Actress at Taiwanese Film Festival
Her Award Speech Deleted from SNS Immediately...Chinese Portals Remain Silent
Under Censorship Since 2018 "Tax Evasion Scandal"
Chinese top star Fan Bingbing, who disappeared from the public eye to the extent that rumors of her disappearance spread after her tax evasion controversy, recently won the Best Actress Award at a film festival in Taiwan. However, on the Chinese internet, she remains effectively "missing." News of her award has been repeatedly deleted from Chinese social media, showing that the authorities' efforts to erase Fan Bingbing are still ongoing.
From Tax Evasion Controversy and Death Rumors to Winning Best Actress
On November 22, Fan Bingbing won the Best Actress Award for the film "Green Mother" (地母) at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards held at the Taipei Music Center in Taiwan. In "Green Mother," directed by Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun, Fan Bingbing played a resilient woman raising her children alone after losing her husband in rural Malaysia in the 1990s, earning critical acclaim for her performance.
Fan Bingbing did not attend the awards ceremony due to personal reasons. Instead, around 3 a.m. the following day, she posted on her Weibo account, saying, "I replied to over 600 congratulatory messages. I feel happy and bewildered."
Her "Thank You for the Best Actress Award" Post Deleted Immediately...Related Posts Also Disappear
However, the post was deleted immediately. Fan Bingbing's agency also posted, "Congratulations on winning the Best Actress Award" on Weibo, but this post was also deleted. On major Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, posts related to Fan Bingbing's award were continuously removed, and even on portal sites, related posts disappeared.
Chinese netizens reacted by saying, "The effort to erase Fan Bingbing is frightening," "It seems someone is just waiting for her to post so they can delete it," "How is censorship getting even stricter?" and "There are forces behind the scenes controlling the Chinese entertainment industry."
Fan Bingbing began to gain recognition in 1998 with the drama "My Fair Princess" and rose to become one of China's leading actresses. She also tried to break into Hollywood, appearing in films such as "Iron Man 3" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past."
However, in 2018, she suddenly disappeared from public view for four months due to a "tax evasion scandal," shocking fans worldwide. After Chinese authorities launched a large-scale tax investigation into Fan Bingbing, she vanished, and rumors began to circulate about her seeking asylum, being detained, or even dying.
Several months later, the Chinese tax authorities imposed a massive fine of 880 million yuan (about 181.2 billion won) on Fan Bingbing, along with other severe sanctions. Fan Bingbing had to withdraw from projects she was filming at the time, and her subsequent career also faced significant difficulties.
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