In Depth: Actress Fan Bingbing’s Long Road Back From Tax Scandal

Fan Bingbing, once China’s top celebrity and most bankable film star, experienced a dramatic fall from grace in 2018 due to a high-profile tax evasion scandal. The incident led to an enormous penalty, effectively erasing her presence from Chinese public life and deeply impacting the nation’s entertainment industry. However, six years on, Fan has begun quietly reconstructing her career—not within China, where she remains persona non grata, but through international projects and accolades [para. 1].

In October 2025, Fan’s leading role in the Malaysian film “Mother Bhumi,” directed by Chong Keat Aun, marked a significant step in her international comeback. The film was selected for the main competition at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival and received eight nominations at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Fan. This recognition stands as the highest-profile endorsement of Fan’s career rebuilding efforts and underscores her transformation from scandal-hit actress to award-nominated performer on the global stage [para. 2][para. 3].

Fan’s downfall began in 2018 when she was implicated in a “yin-yang contract” scheme—dual contracts used to evade taxes on lucrative film earnings. Subsequent government investigations resulted in Fan and her companies being fined a staggering 884 million yuan ($129 million) in back taxes and penalties. The penalty was so severe that she publicly apologized, disappeared from view, and was forced to “overcome all difficulties to raise funds” to pay the debt. The scandal rocked China’s film industry, triggering a government crackdown on excessive pay and tax evasion, causing a mass exodus of capital and a dramatic slowdown in production [para. 4][para. 5][para. 6][para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10][para. 11][para. 12][para. 13][para. 14][para. 15][para. 16][para. 17][para. 18][para. 19][para. 20][para. 21].

In recent years, Fan has focused on reviving her image and business interests outside of China. In 2024, she was honored with the title of “datuk” by the state of Malacca in Malaysia and appointed as Malacca’s tourism ambassador. Malaysian tourism officials attribute a surge in Chinese visitors—from over 200,000 in 2023 to about 660,000 in 2024—to her influence. Fan also celebrated the launch of her Fan Beauty cosmetics line in the major Malaysian retail chain Watsons, reinforcing her commercial appeal in Southeast Asia [para. 5][para. 6].

Throughout her career, Fan Bingbing was a dominant force in both artistic and commercial domains. She became a household name playing Jinsuo in “My Fair Princess” and achieved A-list status with Feng Xiaogang’s 2004 film “Cell Phone.” Her performances brought numerous awards, both domestically and internationally, and she was a fixture on global red carpets, topping the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list from 2013 to 2017 and serving as a juror at Cannes [para. 7][para. 8][para. 9].

Her commercial clout extended to lucrative brand ambassadorships for L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton, and Moët & Chandon, and her own studio produced record-shattering television hits. Fan’s ventures into capital markets drew government scrutiny and foreshadowed the turbulence of her later scandal [para. 10][para. 11][para. 12].

Though shut out of China’s film industry, Fan’s international star continues to rise. She is slated to serve as a juror at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2025, following the appearance of her comeback film “Green Night” at Berlin in 2023. Meanwhile, Fan Beauty has reentered the Chinese market since 2021, hinting at a cautious domestic return [para. 6][para. 22].

In summary, Fan Bingbing’s story is one of relentless reinvention: from dominance at home, through scandal and exile, to carefully managed international recovery and renewed acclaim [para. 1][para. 2][para. 3][para. 4][para. 5][para. 6][para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10][para. 11][para. 12][para. 13][para. 14][para. 15][para. 16][para. 17][para. 18][para. 19][para. 20][para. 21][para. 22].