Profiles

Yao Ming named mainland No.1 celebrity

(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-10 15:26

HONG KONG (AP) _ NBA star Yao Ming topped Forbes magazine's annual Chinese mainland celebrity rankings for the second consecutive year, but "Memoirs of a Geisha" star Zhang Ziyi dropped a spot to No. 3.

Houston Rocket center Yao Ming

She was replaced by actress Zhou Xun, the star of the musical movie "Perhaps Love."

Director Zhang Yimou and pop diva Faye Wong dropped out of the top 10 after relatively low-profile years in 2005.

Li Yuchun, winner of China's successful "Super Girls" singing contest in 2005 - the Chinese equivalent of "American Idol" - cracked the top 10, landing at No. 6.

Famed art-house director Chen Kaige was a big mover, rocketing from outside the top 100 to No. 8, thanks to the buildup for his new epic mythology flick "The Promise."

The Forbes annual ranking, posted on its Web site Friday, is based on income and media exposure within Chinese mainland.

Rounding out the top 10 are singer-actress Zhao Wei, at No. 4, Olympic gold medalist hurdler Liu Xiang at No. 5 and actress Fan Bingbing at No. 7. In ninth and tenth place were singer Sun Nan and actress Li Bingbing respectively.

Actress Zhang's co-star in "Memoirs of a Geisha," Gong Li, was No. 13. English Premier League soccer player Sun Jihai was ranked No. 23.

According to Forbes, Yao raked in 170 million Chinese yuan (US$21.1 million; euro17.7 million) in 2005. He was showed on Chinese TV 228 times, mentioned in newspapers 8,050 times and made four magazine covers. Yao was searched on the Internet nearly 4 million times.

Yao's consolidation of his No. 1 spot was helped by his new deal with the Houston Rockets. The center signed a five-year contract worth more than US$75 million (euro63 million) in September.

Yao is a huge source of national pride after breaking into the upper echelons of a sport mainly dominated by foreigners.