China completely erased actress from the web
China’s Crackdown on Celebrities Like Zhao Wei Is Growing Increasingly Far-Reaching https://t.co/ArX4uUxlNT
- Variety (@Variety) September 23, 2021
Chinese government’s campaign to tear down fandom and celebrities has resulted in the complete disappearance of beloved actress Zhao Wei from the web.
Zhao has starred many scandals such as wearing a dress that looked like a Japanese flag and becoming unfeasibly wealthy, but that didn’t faze her meteoric rise. Accumulating 86 million Weibo followers, that simply disappeared from public view, but also all her film and TV series have been taken down and her name wiped from the web in a state-mandated directive.
Her wealth and prominence are the reasons for her circumstances, but there’s no official explanation. “Zhao Wei is the poster child for what the Communist Party sees as what’s wrong with celebrity culture in China”, a professor at the University of Southern California in Chinese films and politics tells. “It’s a demonstration that no one, no matter how wealthy or popular, is too big to pursue.”
The goal is to refocus entertainment on “traditional Chinese, revolutionary and socialist culture” and curb worship and dollars spent on stars deemed “vulgar” or “immoral.”
Source 1