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Production companies expect high viewership from fans, which incentivises advertisers and brands to pay celebrities for influence rather than talent. Photo: Handout

Actress Zheng Shuang pay scandal reignites debate over massive fees received by Chinese influencers in a country where many struggle

  • China’s entertainment industry is under fire over massive and potentially illegal payments to untalented influencers who many say can’t act
  • Some allegedly don’t even bother to learn their lines, saying random words and numbers then voicing over the take in post production
This week, one figure has dominated Chinese social media discussions with her 160 million yuan payday. The payment of US$24.6 million to actress Zheng Shuang for one TV show, according to her former partner, has infuriated many.

Stunned by the stark contrast with the average income of 32,189 yuan (US$4,971), the Chinese public struggled to understand why the figure was so high; she could buy a house after working for two days while it took others 30 years. A white collar worker‘s annual salary could not match what she makes in a single hour.

Since then, Chinese tax authorities have opened an investigation into possible tax evasion by the star and the film and TV authorities declared they will enforce restrictions on excessively high payments in the industry.

The last time the industry received this much attention was in 2018, when former television host Cui Yongyuan exposed actress Fan Bingbing had received 60 million yuan (US$9.3 million) for one show but disguised it as 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) with dual contracts.

China’s National Radio and Television Administration released new rules in 2018, saying celebrities invited to appear in movies and TV shows should not be paid more than 40 per cent of production cost, with the main actors paid less than 70 per cent of the total cost.

A popular media headline at the time declared optimistically that: “The era of the 100-million-yuan salary was ending”.

Low talent, high payments

Fan Bingbing attends the opening ceremony and premiere of Standing Tall during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2015. Photo: WireImage

Fan and Zheng are not the only celebrities receiving huge payments. In recent years, it has become a common practice in the entertainment world.

For example, one of China’s most popular actresses, Yang Mi, could not even negotiate a price back in 2006 on the TV show The Legend of the Condor Heroes. But by 2018, when she starred in Negotiator, she received 860,000 yuan (US$132,880) per episode, the Chinese People magazine reported.

Even after Chinese authorities restricted celebrities‘ pay in 2018, there are ways around the regulations.

Industry insiders have revealed that one common way is to register companies for celebrities in regions that have beneficial tax policies. One popular destination was Khorgos in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which offers tax exemption for five years and half taxation for the following five years.

Another common tactic is using dual contracts, a private one for the actor with the real payment and the other for reporting to tax authorities.

Chinese actress Yang Mi has been controversial before. Earlier this year she deleted a photo she shared online of her trying to copy the 'cartoon waist' body shape craze sweeping China. Photo: Handout

Insiders say the reason behind such massive payments isn’t the actors’ skills, but rather an immature and distorted market that places value on celebrity rather than talent and skill.

The pursuit of traffic at all costs

The high salary is an inducement for celebrities who attract customers, and in recent years, the entire film and TV industry has obsessively chased viewer numbers, a Beijing-based producer told the South China Morning Post.

Around 2015, with the rising popularity of reality shows and “fandom culture”, the idea of “high traffic” was introduced into Chinese entertainment industry, the producer said.

Wang Hailin, a famous playwright who had previously worked with Zheng Shuang, said on Weibo that the trend is also partly created by internet companies entering the industry.

In the past few years, tech giants including Tencent and Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, purchased and produced shows on their video platforms and fought for users and subscription.

The result was the birth of a “traffic industry”.

Kris Wu can’t act, say critics, who feel influencers are trashing the quality of China’s film and TV industry. Photo: Handout

The tech platforms judged scripts solely on popularity, overlooking quality; they often chose scripts adapted from books that already had a large existing fan base, calling them “Big IP” works. Then, they choose “traffic stars”, who could generate discussion online to drive up exposure for a forthcoming TV show.

“The mode means de-professionalisation. The stars have traffic but can’t act, such as Lu Han, Huang Zitao, or Kris Wu, and they’re often trained in idol groups,” Wang said.

In turn, the production companies expect high viewership from fans, which incentivises advertisers and brands to pay.

Sometimes, even the online discussion and heat is made up, Wang said. Data can be bought or faked, clicks and shares can be from the fans only, not the general public.

A race to the bottom

As a direct result of these structural changes, a large percentage of a production’s cost is used to hire “traffic stars” and show quality is lowered to accommodate their lack of acting talent.

The “traffic stars‘’ have come under fire for a lack of diligence and acting ability while receiving exorbitant pay cheques. Jin Xing, a former dancer and now talk show host, recently blasted the industry after learning that some actors don’t bother to memorise their lines. They would count numbers out loud like saying one through seven on set, and rely on post-film production to do voice-overs.

Celebrity Angelababy had to be photoshopped into several scenes in one film because she missed shoots. Photo: Handout
Celebrity Angelababy has been repeatedly bombarded by the public for her performance in 2017 drama, General and I. In the show, many of her scenes were photoshopped in post-production, because she missed out being on set on some days due to her busy schedule.

As this phenomenon continues, it leaves little room for small production companies, who do not have enough funding to hire big names. As a result the market is dominated by “traffic stars” like Zheng, while little-known actors have almost no opportunity to build their careers.

Talent at the end of the tunnel?

Some in the business have begun to realise the trend is unsustainable and is killing the industry, the Beijing producer said, and are taking actions against it.

In 2018 a group of video platforms and film companies including Youku and iQiyi issued a joint statement saying an actor should not get paid more than 50 million yuan (US$ 7.7 million) per show.

Companies and shows that are focused on presenting good stories are also getting recognition from the public, such as Daylight Entertainment, with almost every single one of its shows celebrated by viewers. Some of its classic dramas, including Nirvana in Fire and recent production Mining Town, were rated as high as 9.4 on Douban.

“These years, we offer some celebrities skyrocketing payment, to shoot cultural rubbish, let shitty shows earn big bucks, while quality content is getting no return,” Wang said.

“Our country is rich, but quality cultural content extremely lacks money ... If there‘s nothing wrong with the government, with the society, or with the industry, then it must be me.”

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