Chinese actor Zheng Shuang, known for Love O2O and the remake of the Taiwanese drama Meteor Shower, was fined for tax evasion on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse. The move is being seen as part of China’s increasing scrutiny on celebrities in an attempt to challenge the wealth gap.
Shanghai tax authorities fined Zheng 299 million yuan ($46 million) for tax evasion and undeclared income between 2019 and 2020 while shooting for a TV show.
The drama is question was also reportedly removed from streaming services, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also ordered radio and television broadcasting organisations including video-on-demand networks to not offer Zheng work.
The State Administration also reiterated that it had “zero tolerance” for tax evasion, “yin-yang contracts”, and high pay. Yin-yang contracts are a common tactic used in Chinese showbiz to hid an actor’s real pay by creating two documents of an agreement. One is kept confidential between the two parties and the other is submitted for tax.
State broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday, “For some time now, artistes' moral failures and legal violations, the cultivation of younger idols, and 'chaotic' fandoms have attracted widespread attention in society. We must restore a clean and upright literary and artistic environment to the public."
Any search results for Zhao Wei, a very popular Chinese actor, were censored on video streaming sites on Thursday, and her name was also removed from the credits of some of her shows. It also started trending on social media that the ‘Super Topic’ for several artists including Zhao Whei and Zhend Shuang were shut down. The ‘Super Topic’ feature on Weibo enables users to collect under similar interests.
Zhao was also in the news earlier when she and her husband were banned from trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange due to a takeover bid that failed in 2016.
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