Where is Fan Bingbing?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
Fan Bingbing in May at Cannes with other female superstars, a month before she disappeared.
We've mentioned this frightening story twice before in news roundups but since it's making another round through more mainstream websites today -- it takes the big ones time with the foreign superstars -- we should update you.
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing (I Am Not Madame Bovary, X-Men Days of Future Past), who we always love covering in her Cannes appearances, is STILL missing. The media started suspecting that she'd vanished in July since she isn't exactly shy about public appearances, red carpets and the like...
The disappearance happened before what should have been a very big year in her life. She was set to start filming 355 which was announced at Cannes, and would surely have boosted her profile in English language cinema, and she'd also recently become engaged to actor Chen Li.
Earlier this summer there were reports that she was being investigated for tax fraud since she pulls down huge amounts of money -- she even made the top five of Forbes list of highest paid actresses a few years ago.
The story becomes more alarming the longer it continues. Her young brother Fan Chengcheng (who is apparently a reality TV star?) reportedly wept during a fan appearance recently but did not mention his sister directly. We're going on three months now with no word on her whereabouts. Apparently her disappearance is now being blamed on the NSC a government "anti-corruption" task force in China which practices "enforced disappearances." China has had many issues with human rights abuses, but generally governments don't like to broadcast flagrant violations and it's hard to get more high profile than beautiful globally famous actresses who also double as spokespersons for luxury brands and the likes.
That this could happen to someone so famous is scary scary stuff. We pray she reemerges soon.
Reader Comments (14)
I've only seen her in X-Men: Days of Future Past and enjoyed her on the red carpet. I really hope nothing bad is happening to her.
Thanks for highlighting this. It's disturbing that she can't even release a statement saying where she is and that she is fine (we hope).
Scientology got her!
Yes, this is a very worrying story. Hope she is safe wherever she is and that she turns up soon.
Geez, being the most famous woman in the world won't even protect you.
Isn't China also refusing to screen "Crazy, Rich Asians"? I thought they were in the modern world. I co-sign that they need to let Fan talk to TV media so people in her country and on the planet know she is okay.
Never seen her in like anything but boy isn’t she beautiful on those red carpets...
China is a communist country that is only notionally “modern.” Some free(r) market principles have been implemented, beginning in the late ‘70s (following the Cultural Revolution), but actual reform crested with the Tiannemen Square massacre in ‘89. So, no, the Chinese government is decidedly not in the modern world when it comes to human rights and personal liberties. Bingbing Fan’s presumed “house arrest” is par for the course.
I’ve read Hong Kong celebrity news and she said she’s doing fine. Now of course, that might not even be her...China has also tightened control on what kind of shows are “appropriate” for television 😔.
As an Asian Ch.. I find the western way o addressing Ch stars w no Christian names confusing.. Fan is surname (family name) n Bingbing is given name, so if the media sticks to surname 1st ,follows by given name, why did Li (surname) Chen (given name) becomes Chen Li? which cld be a totally diff person to a confused reader 😂
I wish the western media cld make up its mind to stop the confusion. Its Lee Ang, Gong Li, Fan Bingbing n Zhang Ziyi when our local English medias address the stars.
In Chinese culture, the surname (family name) alws come before the given name. Unless, thr's a Christian name, then it will usually be before the surname.
Claran -- like many things you can blame IMDb for confusing everyone. Just as they often list movies by the wrong year (in terms of when they actually came out) they often ignore protocol and switch the chinese names. For instance they list Gong Li as "Li Gong" even though she was popular in America as Gong Li as one of the top arthouse stars of the 1990s. Why confuse everyone now? The same thing happened with Zhang Ziyi who got famous as Zhang Ziyi and then everyone tried to make Ziyi Zhang happen after the fact.
If I know the star, I know the right order but in the case of Chen Li, I hadn't hurt of him so I just looked him up on IMDb and did it the way they do it (which is the wrong way I guess)
Where is she?!?
who is she
@Nat,, thx for the clarification. I'm not pointing fingers at any particular media but u r rite.. IMDB shld standardise how to adress Ch stars w no Christian names in western media 😀