Billionaire Actress Zhao Wei Erased From History

CREDIT: Reuters

Despite having millions of fans and being worth billions of dollars, Beijing has almost completely erased Zhao Wei from history, and without explanation.

Zhao's internet existence has been scrubbed in its entirety.

Serials and chat shows featuring Zhao have been removed from all Chinese online streaming sites, and her name has been taken off the online credits for the movies she has appeared in. 

Any discussions about why she is being erased have been censored on social media.

She first rose to prominence in the late 1990s in China's most successful TV series My Fair Princess. She then transitioned from A-List actress to director, pop singer and businesswoman.

She saw success under Chairman Deng Xiaoping's policy of "opening up" China and embracing private enterprise incentives.

Although, under Xi Jinping, her business empire struck trouble. She was accused of being unpatriotic because she hired a Taiwanese actor to play a leading role in a 2016 film. Beijing overturned the choice.

Her business acquisitions began attracting close regulatory and taxation scrutiny soon after. A public relations agency she owns became entangled in a nationalistic scandal last month. The reason being one of the clients, actor Zhang Zhehan, took a selfie when visiting Japan's Yasukuni war dead shrine.  

CREDIT: Todd Williamson/Getty Images

Reports then started emerging that Zhao had fled the country on a private jet. It was reported that she was spotted at Bordeaux airport in France. She and her husband own a vineyard there.

She has now become the highest-profile victim of the Chinese Communist Party suppression targeting celebrities and billionaires.

Beijing has become worried about personality cults, At least ones that aren't revolved around Xi Jinping.

"Xi Jinping thought" is a new compulsory teaching at schools. "Xi Jinping urges" is featured in almost every state-controlled news report.

Celebrities still remain much more popular on social media. Celebrity fan culture is not considered a Chinese characteristic according to Xi Jinping.

There have recently been a set of instructions issued by Beijing's Cyberspace Administration agency. They are supposedly aimed at "rectifying issues" within fan communities.

The purpose was to establish "political and ideological safety in the cyberspace as well as creating a clean internet."

In accordance, celebrities are no longer able to be ranked by popularity, talent agencies must submit themselves to Communist Part oversight, and fan clubs have to be licenced and officially authorised.

Any disagreements between fans of high-profile celebrities must immediately be censored.

This crackdown follows a publication of policy guideline, Implementation Outline for the Establishment of a Rule of Law-Based Society. It mandates establishing "moral norms" or "legal norms."

CREDIT: Unimedia Images/REX/Shutterstock