The risky, scary business of Chinese entertainment
2025 started with a series of scandals and crises that reminded us that showbiz is a cruel biz. Especially in China.
I've always thought that Chinese people who decide to become an actor or a singer in China are a special kind of crazy.
(Then again, as a Chinese person who decided to be a member of the well-paying (not) writing profession, maybe I shouldn't be the one to talk.)
Chinese parents lecture their kids to get good grades so that they can be doctors, engineers or lawyers. (Or millionaire tycoons.) But most certainly not actors.
Now, I wanted to start the introduction of Chinese dramas into Tai Tales slow and easy. You know, with articles on "how to access Chinese dramas" or a "beginner's guide to Chinese drama genres". Something like that.
But the Chinese entertainment scene kicked off 2025 with events that were very hard to ignore, as if to tell everyone: Wanna be an actor in the hyper-competitive Chinese entertainment industry?
Pain is guaranteed!
Popular actress Zhao Lusi collapses
Zhao Lusi is a very well known, beloved idol actress who is very popular with international viewers. You can find many of her dramas, such as Love Like the Galaxy, The Story of Pearl Girl, Hidden Love and Who Rules the World on Netflix.
Her public persona: A bright, bubbly girl next door.
But in 2024, Zhao Lusi made an effort to "transform" into a more serious actress in looks and drama choice. (Idol actors are not known for their acting abilities, and in a niche that prizes looks and youth over talent, idol actors have to transition to more serious works to last in the industry.)
The effort, some say, was a flop. She gets haunted by plastic surgery rumours, and her acting in The Story of Pearl Girl, where she was supposed to "transform", was panned.
Suddenly, at the end of the year, pictures of her slumped lifelessly in a wheelchair appeared on Chinese social media, and the world melted.
Well, at least it seemed like it to me.
Summarising what happened during this period would probably lengthen this newsletter into a novel, but the tl;dr version of it was that Zhao Lusi revealed that she was beaten and abused by people in the entertainment industry, and this led to her collapse.
But if you feel so inclined, you can read this: Chinese actress Zhao Lusi allegedly berated by manager for being ‘too fat’
The truth remains shrouded. After days of frantic posting from Zhao Lusi's friends, fans, and then herself, the PR machine took over and Zhao Lusi has disappeared from the trending searches, hopefully finally recovering in peace.
Rookie actor annihilates career by shooting off on the Internet
Just when you think things have calmed down, another C-ent scandal rocks Chinese socials. And this one caught everyone by surprise.
Li Mingde is a rookie actor who was slowly rising to fame after starring in popular dramas such as The Hope.
Until he declared war on the Chinese entertainment industry.
Again, it is one of those scandals that, if I list out exactly what happened, would fill a novel.
But the short synopsis is: Li claims that he was mistreated by the production crew of The Triple Echo of Time (三人行) and heavily implied that a more senior actor, Ma Tianyu, was a diva on set that got him fired.
After posting a "goodbye" letter to the production crew, Li went on a commenting and posting spree on Weibo (China's Twitter) that can be described as, well, unhinged.
(If you want a more fleshed out account, you can read this: Chinese Actor Marcus Li Mingde Slams the Entertainment Industry with Explosive Allegations, Countered by His New Drama, but seriously, even this article couldn't cover everything Li said or did.)
Initially, Li got a lot of sympathy from Chinese netizens. Here's a fellow who is like them, fighting against unfair and abusive bosses ... and then he began to act erratically, leaving strange and rude comments to everyone including fans. Nobody was spared.
And to add fuel to the fire, the crew of The Triple Echo of Time began posting their version of the story; the director even claimed that Li told him that he was mentally ill.
Ma Tianyu, meanwhile, has wisely kept quiet despite being the centre of the storm.
After a few days of this, the tide has turned against Li, the "champion of the working class". Most have come to regard him as a money-grabbing attention seeker, especially after he earned a lot of money live-streaming on Douyin during this "hot" period. (Some say he was gifted RMB10mil, some say it's less than RMB100,000 ... still, it's more than a year's salary for most.)
After all these shenanigans, it is safe to say that Li Mingde's acting career is deader than the dodo. (At least the dodo could be possibly be resurrected by DNA technology one day; I doubt Li Mingde would be that lucky.)
Last time I checked, Li has announced his "retirement" from acting.
And, he may be bankrupt soon due to the various lawsuits surely coming his way. (I was about to send this newsletter when Ma Tianyu's studio posted on Weibo that they're suing Li Mingde.)
Who is the wronged party here? I don't know, really. Both sides are probably sharing some truth, but not the entire truth, that much is certain!
I'm more sympathetic than most, I suppose. I can’t help but think that Li Mingde is having a very public mental breakdown, possibly even a manic episode, in front of millions of people.
Would a sane person ruin their life so thoroughly and publicly? Or is this the actions of a man driven mad by the pressures of the industry?
But Netizens are fickle; they're already bored with Li Mingde because another event involving yet another actor has quickly caught their attention....
Actor becomes victim of human trafficking
Xing Xing is an actor nowhere close to Li Mingde's status; he's a working-class actor who mostly plays support roles.
And as an actor who barely earns enough to support himself, he has to grab any opportunity to act. And one such opportunity appeared in Thailand. He travels to Thailand ... only to disappear near the Myanmar border.
Weibo exploded when his girlfriend wrote a post begging for help and publicity about his disappearance. The post was picked up by many popular actors, including Gong Jun, and the story went viral.
For days, I and millions of people in China, were glued to our smartphones, refreshing our screens for any new news of Xing Xing. By then, it had overshadowed Li Mingde's persistent and erratic displays of narcissism. (Li Mingde, however, reposted about Xing Xing, which I thought was a good use of his virality).
Due to the location where he disappeared, Xing Xing was strongly suspected to have been trafficked into Myanmar by a cyber scam ring.
Mere days after his girlfriend's post, a picture of Xing Xing surfaced on Weibo. He is now bald, haggard, and wearing badly matching clothes. He later revealed that he was shaved bald (so that he can be easily identified if he escaped) and forced to work in a building with other Chinese prisoners.
Perhaps due to the language divide between Thailand and China, there was a lot of delay and misinformation flying around Weibo. But then again, it's probably Weibo being Weibo.
Still, due to the power of social media, and due to this happening during a critical period when Chinese tourists would visit Thailand, the Thai PM personally took action.
And to my immense relief (and I'm sure of many Chinese people), he was rescued from his captors.
As I write this, he is still in Thailand, though it is said that he will be allowed to return to China anytime soon.
You can read this to find out more: Missing Chinese actor found in Myanmar, Thai authorities say
If there's one thing you can learn from this issue is that the Chinese entertainment industry is insanely competitive ... like many other industries in China.
China produces about 1,000 dramas a year and Chinese actors feed the machine by shooting multiple dramas a year. While American or European dramas have seasons of 12 episodes each, Chinese dramas can have up to 40 episodes, and all these episodes are aired within a month!
This is an especially cruel industry with brutal working hours and whose "top dogs" hold the fate of actors in their hands.
Actors' livelihoods and reputations can be crushed overnight by a wrong post on social media, or by "marketing accounts" that relentlessly spread gossip and rumours on social media.
The Chinese government and an unforgiving public adds even more fire to the job as they can cancel you for any misdeed, be it not paying your taxes or taking a photo in front of the wrong shrine.
Still, many try because the rewards are mind boggling. (Popular actors are often paid millions per drama.)
Actors who survive and get to the top, are not just resilient but well-connected and favoured.
Sadly, it is not always the talented that make it.
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Whoa, that trafficking story is wild! Also this was such a good write up—you’d kill it writing a gossip column for the c-drama industry haha!