China Celebs
China’s Most-Discussed Love Triangle: Wang Baoqiang, Ma Rong and Song Zhe
The separation between actor Wang Baoqiang and his estranged wife Ma Rong – due to a love affair with Wang’s manager Song Zhe – is a never-ending story.
It was the divorce of the decade. The 2016 split between Chinese movie star Wang Baoqiang and his wife Ma Rong, the mother of his two children, made big news in China after Wang himself exposed that his estranged wife had a secret love affair with his agent Song Zhe (宋喆).
The story unfolded itself on Weibo, as the public posts and comments by both Wang Baoqiang and Ma Rong sparked intense debate. The majority of Weibo’s netizens sided with Wang Baoqiang, saying that Ma Rong only married him for his money.
Wang and Ma in happier times.
The celebrity couple break-up especially drew wide attention because of the general perception many Chinese people have of Wang. Born and raised in a poor family in rural China, Wang fought his way to the top of China’s movie industry, becoming a well-known and respected actor. Rather than seeing him as a successful millionaire, many see the ‘Chinese dream’ in him.
The general support for Wang also means that the majority of Chinese netizens like to see Ma Rong and ex-manager Song Zhe punished for what they did.
Song Zhe Arrested
A year after the initial separation, it seems that the Wang vs Ma divorce drama just has no end to it. On September 12th, Wang’s former agent Song Zhe was arrested in Beijing for embezzlement – a topic that immediately became trending on Chinese social media under the hashtag ‘Song Zhe Arrested’ (#宋喆被抓#).
The direct cause of his arrest is the police report filed by Wang Baoqiang’s studio “Strong Baby” (强宝贝), which accused Song Zhe of abusing his position as studio manager during a four-year period from 2012 to 2016. Song allegedly took money that clients paid for use of the studio for personal use.
After an investigation, Chaoyang police arrested Song Zhe on charges of embezzlement. The case is still ongoing and no further information on court dates have been released.
The majority of Weibo’s netizens, in support of Wang Baoqiang, are celebrating the news of Song Zhe’s arrest. One post, which received over 200,000 likes, said: “This news makes me feel so good! The cheating guy is in prison, when is that sl**t Ma Rong going to be arrested?”
Refusing divorce
Adding to the recent dramatic developments is an exclusive report by Tencent Entertainment News, which states that during Wang Baoqiang and Ma Rong’s second court date regarding their divorce, Ma Rong refuse to sign the divorce papers. During this court hearing, Ma reportedly claimed that she is still in love with Wang Baoqiang, and therefore does not want to divorce.
“Shameless,” “She is only in love with his money,” and “This is the funniest joke of the year, is she crazy?”, typical Weibo comments said.
Despite Ma’s refusal to sign, however, experts say that the marriage can be annulled on the grounds that it is ‘damaged beyond repair.’
What goes around, comes around
While Song Zhe is awaiting his trial in jail, Ma Rong has been restricted to leave the country. According to recent reports, Ma previously attempted to emigrate to Australia using her wealth to obtain a visa through illegal means.
For most people on Weibo, the current messiness in both Songs’s and Ma’s private lives is an issue of ‘what goes around, comes around.’
Under Chinese law, there is no punishment for being the cheater, lover or mistress in a divorce case. However, many say that in its own way, “justice has been served.”
“They deserve what is coming to them,” some said.
By Miranda Barnes & Richard Barnes
Follow @whatsonweibo
©2017 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
China Celebs
Weibo Servers Down After Lu Han Announces New Relationship
A Chinese celebrity’s relationship announcement led to a rare breakdown of Weibo’s servers on Sunday.
“Hi everyone, I want to introduce my girlfriend @GuanXiaoTong to you.” It was this one-sentence message that set Weibo on fire on Sunday, October 8.
The message was posted by Chinese singer and actor Lu Han (鹿晗 1990), who is one of the most popular celebrities on Weibo. Lu currently has 41.2 million followers on his official Weibo account (@M鹿M).
The singer previously had 43 million fans on Weibo, but lost many followers after his relationship announcement. Many fans did not like the idea that their favorite star is no longer single. Lu was formerly a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group EXO and its sub-group EXO-M.
So many people responded to the news of Lu Han’s new girlfriend that some servers of Sina Weibo experienced a rare breakdown. Chinese media report that, according to a statement released by a Weibo Data Assistant, the two-hour network crash was the result of a data surge caused by fans commenting, sharing and liking Lu Han’s update.
By Monday, the public announcement had received 2,4 million comments and nearly 5 million likes.
Guan Xiaotong (关晓彤) is Lu Han’s new girlfriend – and everybody knows it.
Guan Xiaotong is a Chinese actress with more than 20 million fans on her Weibo page.
It is not the first time that a public announcement by a Chinese celebrity causes so much consternation on Weibo. In 2016, Chinese actor Wang Baoqiang announced that he would divorce his wife Ma Rong after she had a secret affair with his own agent. That post became one of the top-trending topics of the year.
A day after Lu Han’s revelation, searches for his name on the Weibo platform were limited and only showed a “we can not display any results for this search” announcement.
By Manya Koetse
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China Arts & Entertainment
Celebrities in Chinese TV Dramas Can No Longer Receive Excessive Salaries
Celebrities in Chinese TV dramas can no longer receive ‘excessive’ salaries, which are considered ‘harmful.’
On September 22, the China Alliance of Radio, Film, and Television (CARFT) issued a statement regarding the pay of actors in Chinese television dramas, Xinhua News reports.
The CARFT, a non-profit organization that works under the government, orders China’s production agencies to limit the expenses for cast salaries to no more than 40% of the total production costs for online/TV drama series. Within this percentage, the salary of the show’s leading actors cannot exceed 70% of the total salary paid to all actors.
The measurement is meant to improve the “healthy and orderly development of the [entertainment] industry.” China produces the largest amount of television dramas in the world.
According to DW News, around 50% to 70% of current total TV drama production investments goes to actors’ salaries; in countries such as the US, Korea, or Japan, this is only 10% to 20%.
In 2016, the lead actors for the 90-episode Chinese TV drama Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, actress Zhou Xun and actor Wallace Huo, each made $22.5 million. The series production costs were $1.35 million per episode.
Chinese actress Angelababy is one of China’s top-earning actresses. She makes around $200,000 for every episode.
It is not the first time the high fees of Chinese actors make headlines. In 2016, The Beijing Review reported that Chinese stars’ salaries were under fire for being excessively high. A member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Sun Baoshu, stated that since casting takes up such a large part of production funds, producers have to cut budgets for things such as scriptwriting, stage setting, and sound recording. This leads to poorer productions, Sun said, harming the development of China’s entertainment market.
On Weibo, many netizens expressed their support for the latest measure, although others said it would be better if authorities would not meddle so much with the entertainment industry. “The higher ups have policies, while the lower downs have their own ways of getting around them” (“上有政策，下有对策”), one user said, meaning that production companies and actors will always find other ways to channel money in the industry.
By Manya Koetse
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©2017 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
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Zarmac
October 5, 2017 at 4:38 am
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