Excesses in entertainment industry require swift action

On Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a notice on further regulating the entertainment industry, namely canceling all ranking lists for entertainment stars and forbidding underage persons being organized to support the stars via consumption.

One night before, iqiyi.com, a leading domestic video website, announced it would cancel idol talent shows for the immediate future.

Both of these moves come at the correct time. For too long, the entertainment industry has shocked the public with its madness and lack of respect for rules, of which vote rallying is a typical behavior. The introduction of popular votes was meant initially to grant the public a bigger say in evaluating the talent, as well as grant the participant an opportunity to call for public support. But management companies have engaged in such rampant speculation it became a vicious competition, wasting money and resources.

In May, the competition became so distorted some fan groups reportedly organized people to open milk bottles and pour the milk out just to scan the QR code inside to support their idol. Now, with iqiyi taking the lead in banning all idol talent shows and popular vote campaigns, with more video websites expected to follow, the absurdity will hopefully come to an end.

Chaotic voting campaigns is only the tip of the iceberg that is the entertainment industry. Tax evasion by stars, "cultivating" underaged people into idols, making illicit money and misguiding youngsters, who are yet not mature psychologically, to blindly worship idols and spend money on them.
It should be noted such deeds have been the subject of action in many parts of the world, even South Korea, famous for its entertainment industry. Its Culture and Arts Industry Development Act, passed in 2019, strictly limits the participation of underage persons in the industry, and in the same year its taxation department announced it would probe 122 stars suspected of tax evasion. In January this year, famous actor Jang Geun Suk's mother, also his manager, was sentenced to 30 months in prison with a four-year reprieve plus a 3 billion South Korean won ($257.1 million) fine for tax evasion.

Such verdicts show which problems need solving, and that process is already underway. On Friday morning, the Shanghai Municipal Taxation Administration announced they would fine actress Zheng Shuang for tax evasion by signing false contracts to the tune of 299 million yuan ($46.1 million).

Hopefully that's only the beginning.

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