Fan Bingbing, China's Leading Actress, Has Vanished Amid Tax Scandal

Bingbing is nowhere to be found.

BYKarlton Jahmal
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Fan Bingbing was one of the biggest stars to come out of China in the last decade. According to TIMEthe world-famous actress has gone missing though. You might recognize Bingbing from X-Men: Days of Future Past, where she played the teleporting hero Blink. She was also featured in Iron Man 3. Bingbing is a triple threat, she can act, sing, and model. According to Forbes, Bingbing made $17 million in 2016, making her the world’s fifth-highest paid actress that year. 

July 23 was the last time Bingbing posted on social media, and July 1 is the last time she was seen in public. In May, CCTV reporter Cui Yongyuan released a pair of contracts that allegedly showed Fan double-billing an unidentified production company. In the method, which has been dubbed "Yin and Yang" contracts, actors bill the production company for a lower amount that is reported to tax offices, while the second amount is paid in an "under-the-table" method. Her first bill was for 10 million renminbi ($1.6 million), and then the second was for 50 million renminbi ($7.8 million).

If you were unaware, the Chinese government has methods of "ranking" their residents based on how they interact with the community. It works as a social credit system, where residents are judged based on their lifestyles by the government, and then punished or rewarded for how they rank. Bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, and purchasing too many video games can negatively affect your score, which can lead the government to place a travel ban on you or throttle your internet speed. Ouch. Celebrities have their own social credit ranking, and Bingbing received a score of zero out of 100 in the 2017-2018 China Film and Television Star Social Responsibility Report published recently. Some claim the government is attempting to sink her career. 


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