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Updated 12:46 AM ET, Sat September 15, 2018
(CNN)Imagine
if one day Jennifer Lawrence was walking the red carpet in Los Angeles
and the next she vanished completely with no word about where she was.
It
might sound ludicrous, or terrifying, but it's the reality in China,
where one of the country's most famous actresses has disappeared without
a trace amid an uproar over tax evasion by celebrities.
Fan
Bingbing, one of China's highest-paid and most bankable stars, has
appeared in both Chinese and Western films, including the
multimillion-dollar X-Men franchise.
Across
the country, her face once adorned thousands of advertisements, her
star power used to sell a galaxy of luxury brands, from Cartier to Louis
Vuitton. She was a regular sight at major award shows and fashion
ceremonies. In 2015, Time Magazine named her China's "most famous
actress."
But the film star
hasn't been seen in public since early June, when, according to a post
on her verified social-media account, she went to visit a children's hospital in Tibet.
In
an article by state media Securities Daily on September 6, which was
later deleted, the publication said Fan had been brought "under control
and about to receive legal judgment."
No official statement has been made as to Fan's whereabouts, or any potential criminal charges against the actress.
However,
in a country where top celebrities are forced to keep an inoffensive
public profile to stay in the Chinese government's good graces, people
have drawn their own conclusions about the actress' location.
"If
you are a billionaire, then that is something that obviously you can
enjoy to a certain extent, but you've got to be very, very wary that you
don't at any stage cross a red line of some sort and fall afoul of the
Chinese Communist Party," Fergus Ryan, a cyber analyst with the
Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told CNN.
In
2011, the country's best-known artist, Ai Weiwei, was detained for
almost three months during which time his whereabouts were unclear. He
was later released after he signed a confession authorities described as
being related to tax evasion.
Fan
Bingbing and Hugh Jackman arrive at the Australian premiere of 'X-Men:
Days of Future Past" on May 16, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia.
Yin yang contracts
Fan's
purported problems began when alleged copies of a film contract she had
signed were leaked onto China's social media in late May.
According to state tabloid Global Times,
she had two different contracts, one for tax purposes saying she was
paid $1.5 million (10 million yuan) and a separate, private contract for
$7.5 million (50 million yuan).
It's a practice known in China as "yin-yang contracts,"
a form of tax evasion where the first, smaller contract is reported to
authorities while the second, larger one is treated as tax-free income.
The man behind the leak, Chinese TV host Cui Yongyuan, apologized in June to Fan for his actions, but the same month the State Administration of Taxation of China urged investigators to look into allegations of yin-yang contracts in the country's film industry.
US
actor Will Smith (L) and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing pose as they
arrive on May 23, 2017 at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Fan's team issued a furious denial at the time but the actress hasn't been seen in public since the dispute.
In
September, China's Peking University released a report, lauded as the
first "in the world" and heavily promoted in Chinese state media, which
ranked the country's stars by their level of "social responsibility."
Fan was ranked last, with a score of 0 out of 100.
A
producer with a major Chinese studio told CNN the practice of having
two contracts, one of them smaller to avoid paying too much tax, was
"universal" in the film industry.
He
said everyone was worried following Fan's disappearance, especially
because "almost every contract has some irregularities" and won't stand
up to a serious audit.
Like other industry insiders CNN spoke to, he declined to be named due to the political sensitivity of the topic.
Scaring celebrities into line
Jonathan
Landreth, former Beijing-based Asia editor for the Hollywood Reporter
and longtime observer of China's entertainment industry, told CNN the
Chinese Communist Party was treading a tricky line, keen to use
high-profile celebrities to sell the "Chinese Dream," but not wanting to
promote the stark income divide.
"Maybe
this is just scaring folk to ... start paying taxes. If someone were to
get busted, then I think it would send a ripple effect to how film
production goes forward in the coming years," Landreth said.
An
executive in a foreign film studio's China office told CNN the lack of
A-list celebrities in China increased the bargaining power and earnings
of a lucky few -- high-profile performers like Fan.
But
while cracking down on them might solve other problems, she said it
wouldn't help address the fundamental lack of talent across the Chinese
film and television industries.
Combined
with strict ideological control, such measures act only to create a
"sad situation" in China's creative industry, she said.
The
controls, though, can only go so far. The Chinese government needs the
high-profile celebrities to help drive commerce, both domestically and
internationally, to promote China, said Landreth.
The
crackdown may in fact be intended to solve a different problem facing
authorities. "It has long been an open secret that a movie budget is a
great place to hide money," said Landreth.
The
Communist Party's leadership may hope that by shining a light on
celebrity tax avoidance, it could deflect attention and avoid closer
public scrutiny of the rumored corruption among top government officials
and their families, Landreth told CNN.
Spreading 'positive energy'
The Chinese Communist Party has long had an uncomfortable relationship with celebrities.
In recent years, state media has called on celebrities to spread "positive energy"
on the internet. The threat of career-ending trouble with authorities
has led the country's stars to pay attention to the party's wishes.
The
result is a celebrity culture that has less in common with the
salacious and controversial Hollywood familiar to the Western world. In
China, celebrities often try to keep their reputations' positive and
inoffensive.
Australian analyst
Ryan said when he lived in China, he worked with the publicity team for
Chinese actress and singer Li Bingbing.
He encouraged Li to become more involved with environmental causes, including the United Nations Environment Program.
But
Ryan said the team would never choose a cause, or take up a fight that
was ahead of what the Communist Party was comfortable with, especially
if it opposed current government policy.
"You
would be foolish to go out ahead of the Chinese Communist Party and the
Chinese authorities on issues and lead the way," he said.
Despite
the speculation and the concern, Ryan said it was possible the
explanation for Fan's disappearance was actually very simple.
"She
possibly did something wrong ... the evidence was put out there for all
to see, I guess, in a way that put the authorities in a position where
they had to come down hard on her," he said.
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