In May, Fan Bingbing, one of China鈥檚 most famous actresses, turned heads when she walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival wearing DeBeers jewelry and a mint green gown by the Tunisian fashion designer Ali Karoui.
And then, the 37-year-old A-lister with an estimated net worth of US$40 million, mysteriously disappeared.
Best known internationally for her role as Blink in 2014鈥檚 鈥淴 Men: Days of Future Past,鈥� Fan hasn鈥檛 been seen publicly since July 1, when she visited a children鈥檚 hospital in Tibet. Her absence has also been noted by her 62 million followers on Weibo, China鈥檚 main microblogging service, where her account was last active in late July.
The vanishing of the actress, whose face has adorned advertisements for luxury brands from Cartier to Mercedes-Benz to Moët & Chandon, has fueled a wave of speculation in recent weeks that she ran afoul of Chinese officials amid a government probe into tax compliance in the entertainment industry.
Fan鈥檚 troubles appear to have started back in late May, when Cui Yongyuan, a retired state television anchor, posted two of her alleged contracts for an upcoming film to Weibo. In the contract reported to the tax authorities, Fan鈥檚 salary is listed as $1.6 million. The other appeared to show an actual payment to Fan of $7.8 million.
Yongyuan said this was a clear exhibit of so-called 鈥測in and yang鈥� contracts that are widespread in many industries across China as a way to avoid paying taxes. China鈥檚 Communist Party has recently begun a crackdown on the practice in the entertainment industry and has expressed concern that China鈥檚 elite celebrities are 鈥渇ostering money worship tendencies鈥� and 鈥渄istorting social values.鈥�
Fan鈥檚 production company denies any wrongdoing, according to the Associated Press.
Chinese officials have not said whether Fan is under investigation or commented on her disappearance. In the past, the Communist Party, which possesses ultimate control over what content is released, has blacklisted Chinese celebrities who they believe have broken the law.
The mystery deepened last week, when the state-affiliated think tank Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Beijing Normal University ranked Fan last out of 100 celebrities in their annual 鈥淪ocial Responsibility Report.鈥�
The actress, who was named one of Time magazine鈥檚 100 most influential people in 2017, received the lowest possible score of zero per cent.
With files from The Associated Press
