Days earlier, Zheng Shuang’s ex-husband alleged that she had received 160 million yuan for her latest TV project, even though her contract stipulated less than a third of this amount.
A Chinese actor who became embroiled in a surrogacy scandal earlier this year is now being investigated following her former partner’s allegations of contract fraud.
Zheng Shuang, known for her roles in shows like “Meteor Shower” and “Love O2O,” acknowledged the investigation for so-called yin yang contracts — whereby actors agree to a modest salary on paper to avoid scrutiny from the authorities but get paid far more under the table — in a post Thursday on microblogging platform Weibo.
“The tax department is in the process of verifying my contract, personal taxes, and all relevant financial documents,” the actor wrote in her brief post. “I will cooperate with the investigation and accept its findings, which will be made public.”
Days earlier, Zheng’s former partner Zhang Heng had posted a five-minute video on Weibo supposedly detailing how Zheng and her family had received 160 million yuan ($24.7 million) for a 77-day shoot for the unreleased TV show “Qiannü Youhun,” or “A Chinese Ghost Story” — amounting to 2.08 million yuan per day — even though the contract she had signed stipulated a salary of 48 million yuan.
Yin yang contracts first gained national media attention in May 2018, when actor Fan Bingbing — at the time, one of China’s biggest and most recognizable stars — was accused of fraud by a well-known former TV presenter. Aside from issuing an apology in October, Fan disappeared from the public eye for nearly a year, during which time her productions were canceled and she was given the lowest possible score on a semi-official “social responsibility assessment” of Chinese celebrities. Continue to read the full article here
– This article originally appeared on Sixth Tone.
