Chinese authorities are capping the salaries of celebrities, blaming the entertainment industry for encouraging “money worship” and “distorting social values”.
A directive issued to Chinese news organisations earlier this month said: “Content related to tax issues involving people in the film and television industry and ‘yin-yang contracts’ should be held back.”
Chinese regulators have been working on reining in the entertainment and film industry, especially online content.
Tax authorities in Jiangsu province, where Fan runs a film studio, said this month they were investigating tax evasion by “certain film and television professionals as alleged in online discussions”. Wednesday’s directive criticised the use of yin-yang contracts, saying they damage not only the quality of the country’s film industry but encourage China’s youth to “blindly chase stars”.