Fan Bingbing, the "Jennifer Lawrence of China", is missing!

it seems really stupid to be sneaky about your taxes when you live in, you know, China. Just sayin.

She's on the roof with Bai Ling

Crazy Missing Asian

Her name is fan bingbing? So her first name is Bingbing?

If she's the Jennifer Lawrence of China, then her name should be Fun Bang Bang.

She's gorgeous. Stunning

They'll never find the body

R4 That's correct. She has a brother named Fan Chengcheng

The Chinese government refuses to comment on whether or not she's in custody.

The fuckers definitely have her

Kim Jong probably kidnapped her. Maybe Trump can negotiate for her release and the Chinese will be so grateful they'll balance the trade deficit.

ha r2! I thought that too.

She's okay. She's just having a moment.

She's fine, she's hanging out with Shelly Miscavige!

If this was an American actress, the tabs would send reporters to check all the fashionable rehab facilities.

What do they mean she's the "Jennifer Lawrence of China"?

Did Fan also get very famous very quickly as a quasi-relatable, bro-type, embarrassingly goofy (in the 'oops-I-farted' kind of way) star, and then face popular backlash due to over-exposure and allegations of insincerity?

Was she also embroiled in a fappening-style sex photo leak scandal?

Or is the comparison more along salary lines - did Fan also get paid $20 million a film?

Yawn, it's funny how people here act like Jennifer Lawrence is the devil or something, they'll trash her in a thread that's not even about her

R15 No, she's a glamorous, icy, regal type, surprisingly feminist for a Chinese woman. She was quoted saying things like, I enjoy having power, I like becoming not just an actress but a decision-maker, etc.

OP so does that mean she's a classless, trashy cum dump? J.Law has cum dump mouth.

Come back Fan Bing Bing! We love you!

r18 probably sucks off random guys in restrooms but still accuses women of being cum dumps

Not too smart of her r17, insinuating she's a powerful chick that has money, the tax man will come after that.

Whoa r20, why so angry? Lawrence is a bitch. She threw shade at our LiLo.

R21 She is one of the highest paid actresses in China, everyone knows she has money.

Hi, Lilo at R22!

Got nothing better to do on a Friday night than slag Lawrence, huh?

I was going to be so disappointed if I didn't a comment like that r2.

R16, no one is “acting like Lawrence is the Devil or smthg”. Your own exaggeration is bizarre. What exactly in R15’s post do you disagree with?

A valid question was asked - why the comparison with J. Lawrence (and not say Emma Stone or Amy Adams)? Like it or not, but Lawrence has a very specific ‘goofy’ trademark PR image (which she herself fostered).

I read about this a month ago. She hasnt been seen in public since early July and hasnt posted anything on social media (normally very active) since late July.

r6 = Alan Dershowitz

I assume they wouldn't kill her (would they?) So is she just imprisoned secretly?

She's a red-carpet queen. I know you bitches remember her at the 2015 Met Gala.

Did her family report her as missing?

Or maybe she’s off somewhere for personal reasons. Could be a savvy PR move. Or a career break (rehab, secret pregnancy, etc.)

[quote]Or maybe she’s off somewhere for personal reasons. Could be a savvy PR move. Or a career break (rehab, secret pregnancy, etc.)

Gurl, please. It is China. The Chinese government clearly took issue with her for who knows why and made her disappear. You can't cross the Chinese government.

Her name is funny. Who the eff names their child fan bingbing, even my phone did not recognize the name. Chinese people are weird hell Asians in general.

Guess they’re finally learning a few tricks from the Pentagon and the CIA, R31.

Labor camp.

She's famous enough that if the Chinese government disappeared her, they may very well release her after they've given her a period of "reeducation" and confiscated her fortune. Or they may just count on the public's short memories.

The article really does sound like she's been declared an Unperson.

R5, the Jennifer Lawrence of China is actually Fun Gangbang.

Seriously, didn't Bae Ling also have problems with the govt after "Red Corner"? Problems that eventually led her to a roof of a rehab in Malibu?

Was Fan Bingbing into Le-Vel?

If so, I’d cast suspicion on the fiancé

She's transitioning. Please respect her privacy.

Maybe she’s just on a slow boat from China.

I live in Taiwan. Cheating on taxes is a national pastime over here, second only to Mahjong. But you do have to expect consequences if you cross the wrong person and they make your malfeasance public. Thus the vital importance of greasing all the wheels and maintaining smooth interpersonal relationships.

In the mainland, the media is government controlled, and actors only make the big league with the government's stamp of approval. If you bite the hand that feeds you, they will come down on you, especially if it gets out in public.

Local tabloids are saying she was first restricted from leaving the country, then arrested and imprisoned for tax evasion and no one's heard from her since. No comment from her fiance, which is pretty telling that this was an arrest.

BTW, Fan is pronounced 'fahn' and Bingbing is probably a diminutive or stage name.

Link below if you read Chinese. Ignore the prison photo, it's apparently been making the internet rounds but word is it's a past still.

This article says the boyfriend is missin too.

They're both gay and bearding for each other

R26

Young pretty big name female movie star. Like Jennifer Lawrence / on the same fame level in China as Lawrence in the US. It’s really not that hard to grasp. No one is claiming they are identical. Also doesn’t matter if you personally hate Lawrence.

I saw comments of people saying they don't care that she has been disappeared because she committed a crime (tax evasion). But we only have the Chinese government's word for it that she did that. Now they are talking about "purifying" the entertainment business in China. Soon they will have their ranking system for morality which is in the beta stages all ready to roll. Some posters were being glib in the thread about the persecution of Muslim Uighurs, but all this re-education and putting cameras in people's living rooms will not stop at religious/ethnic minorities. Anyone who crosses the regime for any reason will be a target.

China is fucked up. Happy I don't live there.

I'm a big, big fan of Fan Bingbing.

China has no respect for the concept of human rights. That is why their rise as a dominant global power is honestly problematic from a western perspective, but they are too economically important for anyone to challenge them on it.

[quote] What do they mean she's the "Jennifer Lawrence of China"?

She's a somewhat pretty, popular, uninteresting actress like Jennifer Lawrence. That's what.

Maybe some govt official wanted to fuck her but she refused and they made up a some charge and threw her in jail.

For sure she fucked to get where she is.

How much is she worth?

Former UN Human Rights Commisioner, Mary Robinson, blasted China about their Human Rights record and she did it in Beijing! It was great

And then she was fired.

If its tax evasion, why the big mystery? Most governments make a big show out of arresting a celebrity for tax evasion (especially the U.S.) to serve as an example to others not to try the same thing. What purpose does it serve China to keep it secret?

Do any of you actually read articles or are you too dim to be able to read past the headline? Tax evasion is a big deal in any country. She's being accused of having to contracts for her acting roles. One that she is actually paid and another at a lower amount that she submits for tax purposes. She's prob being held in prison like every other country that arrests people for tax evasion...Sophia Loren comes to mind.

[quote] She was quoted saying things like, I enjoy having power, I like becoming not just an actress but a decision-maker, etc

My kinda gal!

Christ, please don't go around calling other people dim r53.

One, let's acknowledge the report about possible tax evasion comes from the Chinese government.

Two, more importantly, it isn't like she was arrested as a matter of record. Whatever did happen to her is being kept in utter secrecy and not being acknowledged by the Chinese government.

Your attempt to pretend this is standard operating procedure is silly.

Did someone bang bang Bingbing?

There's some bang bang agenda involved somewhere im sure.

i bet they took her away, made a video of her naked or in some compromising position and then they will lord it over her head for the rest of her life if she doesn't do what they say. She's probably being fucked by all the govt officials now...

[quote] She's being accused of having to contracts

Oh my.

R55, it is standard operating procedure in THEIR country. You may not agree with it and you don't have to.

R60 Yes, she's hardly the first celebrity to get caught doing dodgy stuff. China does not care if you are a celebrity. Precisely because she's famous, they will hold her and create a media blackout to isolate her during the investigation. They won't let her go until she spills everything. Then, they will issue an official statement with her punishment (most likely blacklisting for a number of years if this is serious). If she can weasel/pay her way out without punishment, she will have to post a public apology and stay out of the limelight for a while until people forget all this.

it's weird people would pull that shit in China though...she should have known better. She flew too close to the sun.

SHe's much prettier than Jennifer Lawrence and I bet she doesn't piss herself and belch in public.

She's fine! She sends her love!

Glam:

Stan Bing Bong Sum Ting Wong

Didn't Gong Li serve some prison time in China for tax evasion?

Lawrence stan @ R44, where did I write that “I personally hate Lawrence”? Go on, show me. I wrote that she has a trademark goofy style (which she herself admits) - does that count as “hate” now? No need to act so triggered.

I’d probably compare Fan more with Natalie Portman - they’re both around the same age (36-37) and are known for a more elegant public image. They have also both been in the movie industry for a very long time - 17+ years. Fan is almost a decade older than Lawrence (who is 28). So it’s fair to point out that the comparison is weird.

CDAN claims Fan Bingbing is holed away at her married lover's vacation home. That's IF you believe CDAN.

You're slipping, DL.

[quote] I live in Taiwan. Cheating on taxes is a national pastime over here.

Where is it not a national pastime?

I would have bet all the tea in China that this was going to devolve into JLaw nudes and not Chinese Tax law!

OMG for a moment i thought this was Tony Blair's mistress, but that's Li Bingbing

this is really one ugly dress ... it looks like it was made from industrial sraps ..

I remember there were BIs about this months ago (before I realized she'd actually disappeared).

IIR, the story was that she was involved with a bigwig Chinese sugar daddy and things went south when she had a disagreement with him about sleeping with some other political/ financial Asian bigwigs. It was something about that whole 1MDB scandal, too -- but it got too complicated for me to care.

Anyway, China is a cesspool of corruption from top to bottom, and she, like every actress who had a chance at any kind of international career, was certainly involved with one or multiple powerful men on her way up. As r41 pointed out, tax evasion is a way of life in East Asia, and no way would they have arrested her just for that: ostensible "tax evasion" is just one pretense for cracking down on someone. If it had actually had anything to do with tax evasion and making an example of her (or if it had been for any reason that was actually related to lawbreaking), they would have paraded her on a "walk of shame" in front of the media and made her exercise public self-criticism. The last thing they would have done is "disappeared" her.

Anything that is the "something," of "something" is never that "thing."

Fan Bingbing sounds like a racist western Asian caricature!

[quote] tax evasion is a way of life in East Asia

And in Monaco - for all clever Europeans who are running from Mr. Taxman.

She's fine, she sends her love

Has anyone checked the roof?

I'm guessing R49 is right. Just look at how fucked up and abusive guys like Weinstein and Les Moonves here, now imagine them with super secret government powers. She said no to the wrong creep on a power trip.

Or maybe she ‘accidentally’ fell off a boat, just like me.

yes, I totally believe these actresses have to whore themselves out to govt officials. I think there were rumors that Zhang Ziyi was too.

So when will she escape to America?!

...as soon as she finds a way to move all her (untaxed?) millions to a US bank account and invest them into a ‘laundry’ business.

I wonder what kind of film career she could have in the States. Asian-American leading actresses aren’t in demand here at all. I can’t even name 10.

She’d have better chances at a US acting career if she were black.

There a current opening on The Talk, R86.

Ha! Julie Chen is a chatty New Yorker though, she was born there. Whereas Fan can barely speak English (video below).

But I’d love to watch The Talk with Fan narrating everything in her heavy Chinese accent. Or maybe she can speak in Mandarin and they’ll just add subtitles.

China ‘has jailed top actress Fan Bingbing for tax evasion’

I like her. She’s very beautiful

What did her hired tax accountant say?

I’m scared of China. They offer no human rights. They will take over the world in the next 20 years and with Russia, all gays will be jailed or discreetly executed

Yes, R90, she’s very poised and seems well-mannered.

I wonder if she did her taxes herself or if she had some shady accountancy firm do it (and screw it up).

R92, she wasn’t jailed for being gay (unless you know smthg that we don’t). She was jailed for tax evasion. Just like e.g. Wesley Snipes or Lauryn Hill - they all served jail time.

Look to Korea

Has Lucy Liu commented?

Forgot to attach the video of Fan where she seems quite well-mannered:

China government is dangerous. I think the tax invasion crime was just an excuse. Men with power wanted to sleep with her and she refused. They jailed her as long as they want as a punishment until she agrees to give up her pussy

It makes no sense to "disappear" her for tax evasion. I mean collecting back taxes and fines from her can't rate in a country that has corrupt billionaires out the wazoo, the most value they could gain from nailing her is in publicity - let the public know that if you don't pay your taxes then you're gonna do time, no matter who you are. And yet, they've kept this totally quiet.

So either she pissed off someone in power, or she's involved in something more serious than tax evasion. If she was involved with one of the oligarchs it's possible that the latter is true, but really, I'd put money on the former.

Did Fan also blame it all on ‘black slavery’ like Lauryn Hill when the latter was sentenced to Federal prison for not declaring or paying $500,000 in tax?

“During her trial, Hill was ordered by the judge in Newark, New Jersey to undergo counselling because of her conspiracy theories - including that artists are being oppressed by a plot involving the military and media.

Hill pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion last year. Her lawyers said she had paid more than $970,000 of an outstanding tax bill which amounted to more than $2m.”

I guess she'll be sportin' orange at the next Met gala.

Hang on, folks. I'll get her released. I'm going to the White House to flash my tits at Trump.

I wouldn't be shocked if the tax evasion wasn't even real and the government took issue with her for some other reason.

Also wouldn't be shocked if government officials were forcing her to have sex with them as a way of "repentance" for her "crimes".

Yeah, that #oscarssowhite campaign really chapped my hide....I think there was one Asian male and female actor who had won an Oscar during its whole history- and they were supporting roles.

r104's reply was for r86

R105 Just percentagewise, the US has a lot more black people than we have Asian people. It’s certanly not an excuse or a reason not to cast a talented actor in any role, and upon reflection it seems correct to say that Asian-descended actors haven’t been nominated for many (any?) Oscars? At the same time, ethnically Asian people make up four percent of the population and so one wouldn’t expect Asian people to be much more than four percent of the people onscreen.

Well, that seemed reasonable until I thought about it and realized 1.4 percent of Americans are Jewish and probably at least 40 percent of people in front of and behind cameras in Hollywood are Jewish.

Bitch is ruining my spy franchise!

[quote]Yeah, that #oscarssowhite campaign really chapped my hide....I think there was one Asian male and female actor who had won an Oscar during its whole history- and they were supporting roles

The hashtag was #oscarssowhite not #oscarsnotblackenough, despite the creator of the tag being black. It was to spotlight how few quality roles actors of color get period.

[quote]It makes no sense to "disappear" her for tax evasion. I mean collecting back taxes and fines from her can't rate in a country that has corrupt billionaires out the wazoo, the most value they could gain from nailing her is in publicity - let the public know that if you don't pay your taxes then you're gonna do time, no matter who you are.

The government has scrubbed Weibo forums about it but this has been percolating for some time. The Chinese government has tried to tamp down on box office fraud and ying yang contracts so going after Bingbing, the highest paid actress in China makes complete sense. They don't have to advertise what they've done, the fact that she has "disappeared' works well enough to frighten those who are inclined to participate in fraud.

It doesn’t seem like she was “disappeared”. Sources are reporting she was indicted and sentenced - she didn’t just disappear - she’s in jail. Not every court trial is televised live to the whole nation like O.J.Simpson’s trial.

She could only “disappear” if her family reported her as “missing”. Well did they?

And the other question is: Did she herself want her prison sentence to get media attention? Did she want all her fans to know she’s in jail for fraud and dodging tax?

oh maybe her family members got in trouble (offended someone high up) and she was ordered to sleep with govt officials to pay for their misdeeds and she refused. They then found out she was dodging taxes and threw her in jail.

R99, it's well known that Lauryn Hill has psych issues. Besides, this thread isn't about her.

I don't get the posters trying to pretend this is normal. If she committed a crime then why the secrecy? Again, I am so grateful I don't live in China. I hope I never live to see the day the Chinese rule over the world.

I keep thinking of this children's poem.

[quote]All through China arose a cry: “Some one has stolen out Dilliki Di!”

She's fine and sends her love.

Tax evasion is just an excuse, it's probably the Chinese government reminding her where she comes from and to cover up those titties more.

Where is that graph from, R106? Since when did the Black population of the U.S. go from 12% to 22%?

r108/109, it doesn't make any difference how "official" the campaign to stamp out tax evasion (ha!) is, as was pointed out above, going after a well-known personality makes no sense unless you're going to publicize it A LOT. No matter how well-paid Fan may have been, there are certainly much bigger (mostly male) fish among the tax evaders who have cost the taxman a lot more.

So locking her up would only have made sense if they were going to parade her around to make an example of her. Which they haven't done -- quite the opposite, in fact. So it makes sense that there's something else going on, and it most likely has to do with politics and sex.

Gotta love it when Natalie Portman stans like turd at r68 accuse others of being stans!

Well, at least she didn’t have to go down on Harvey Weinstein(unlike Jennifer Lawrence). I’m sure even the worst of the Chinese sugar daddies weren’t as bad as him.

She probably did do tax evasion. I'd wager most of the government officials and celebrities there (and here) do it too though.

She just pissed somebody off that was meant to be hiding it, so the question is how. Ended a relationship, didn't want to start one, did business with a rival, got too old, didn't pay somebody back? Now China's government is trying to make an example out of her. Release no information and let rumors run wild so the people get more scared.

R120 I think I read a while back, someone in the industry ratted an actress out about having fake contracts on social media because they were in dispute over something else. Not sure if it was Fan Bingbing or not. That's the thing... you don't want to make a public scene that draws the government's attention to you. Once the claim of wrongdoing is out there, it also forces the government to do something because of the public uproar.

Basically some guy was pissed off with a movie she was making and released one of her contracts for a movie she made which was not the contract she gave to the government for her taxes. They're making an example of her.

A hundred million miracles keep happening every day!

R118 lacks reading comprehension skills. No one cares about N. Portman. The point is that saying that Fan is the Lawrence of China is like saying Hugh Grant is the Chris Hemsworth of Britain.

[quote] I hope I never live to see the day the Chinese rule over the world.

Fools like you are actually the reason why China became a dominant world power. You buy cheap crap or ‘high-end products’ from big US / European companies who moved their factories to China to cut costs. You’re basically supporting & bankrolling China and its economic growth to world dominant status. And then you turn around and wring your hands about it, as if you had no clue where all the consumer crap that you purchased was manufactured. It’s often stated right there on the back: “Made in China”.

...types r125 into his Chinese made iphone.

I try not to buy made in china. quite impossible but I try.

Bing Bing is a popular name for Chinese girls - it means ‘ice/冰‘。

R125 The ones who make the bulk of the profits from the China trade (Chinese labor producing for American brands) are the American corporations and one percenters.

I am Janet Jackson, NOT Fan Bingbing.

R126 lacks reading comprehension. The point is when I buy Chinese crap (or European crap that uses Chinese spare parts inside) - I don’t then go on DL and pretend be morally outraged or gobsmacked about China’s rise as a global economic power. Just like when I buy crap from Amazon - I don’t then go pearl-clutching about Jeff Bezos becoming a scary billionaire. It’s called ‘cause and effect’. I understand my consumer habits - and their direct effect. And I don’t pretend like I’m not part of the equation like some naïve people above.

R129 - a US / European company might make the bulk of the profit - but the rest of the profit still goes to China. And China’s savvy business model is to make profit not from one single US-Chinese manufacturing company, but from many hundreds. They take a small profit cut from each one - but those ‘small cuts’ and kick-backs become a big fortune once added up. The Chinese rely not on % of profit - but on volume.

That’s how dollar stores work too. They don’t make a big profit from each $1 product / transaction - the margin is too low. But their business model is to make a big profit instead from the sheer volume of sales.

The Bingbing has hit the fan!

Save Bingbing!

serves her right. You do the crime, you do the time!

Knowing what a country China is...she still did it. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's OK! Let's hope everyone jumps off a cliff so we can be rid of the stupid ones.

[Quote] Knowing what a country China is...she still did it. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's OK! Let's hope everyone jumps off a cliff so we can be rid of the stupid ones.

Did someone mention my name?

This is one for the datalounge detective agency! Do you think she was murdered by a soft butch sous chef?

There was nothing soft about that sous chef.

R139 yeah except her gunt.

She is always stylish but her name is funny as hell.

Did anyone ask lil Kim, aka Rocketman?

Does Pastor Davey have an alibi?

uuuuuu

No it's not normal for the Chinese government to engage in this kind of behavior for simple tax fraud. Some of you would make great meatloafs. You can't have an authoritarian government without useful idiots willing to explain away the things before their very eyes.

In cases where the Chinese gov't accuses someone of tax fraud, especially someone wealthy and powerful, they make a huge public display of it. Xi eats that shit up; he has built his entire image on going after the rich and powerful that are corrupt or not helping their government by paying taxes. IT's literally all they talk about on the news over there when discussing the government at all.

They do not secret these people away for months and then refuse to admit they even have them. What point would that serve? They do that to political enemies. I'm not sure who she pissed off or how she did it but someone very influential in the Chinese government wanted her gone, so she was taken. She will be released only when they are 100% confident she will say whatever the Chinese government wants her to and nothing else.

I hope this is a lesson to other wealthy young idols in China. You need to get the hell out or at least get dual citizenship with America. The Chinese government can not be trusted

I imagine she is in prison, hard labor. Why didn't they just take the money out of her bank accounts?

R147 It's clearly not about the money. The Chinese government would happily admit jailing someone for that. They want her "re-educated"

NO -let the Chinese stay in China and work to fix their system

R149 as soon as they try to "fix their system" they disappear on dubious charges. It's not feasible to expect them to fix it. The larger populace has to wake up and they are heading in the opposite direction

Fan Bingbing was accused of tax fraud publicly, by a well known TV personality. There's no way she can make this go away.

I was shocked to read how low the tax rate has been until now: "The new tax rate is 42%, significantly higher than the previous rates, which range from 6.7% to 10% depending on where a celebrity’s company is located."

R151 Then why won't the Chinese government even acknowledge they are holding her? Prosecuting someone for tax fraud is fairly simple

You in trouble, gurl.

Fan Bingbing go bye-bye.

Jennifer Lawrence? The government can keep her

Did Woody Allen get his hands on her? How old is she?

[quote]r36 the Jennifer Lawrence of China is actually Fun Gangbang.

I thought it was [italic]Bang-the-Fun-Bags [/italic] (?)

Fan Bingbing = Bangbang Fanning?

If she had a child, might she name it Dingdong Bingbing?

I'm sorry, I just can't stop, even if my contributions aren't that stellar. But I just can't get her name out of my mind now!

Q: will we be seeing Lucy Lui in [italic]Fatal Bang Bang: The Fan Bingbing Story [/italic]....Only On Lifetime.

[quote] I hope this is a lesson to other wealthy young idols in China. You need to get the hell out or at least get dual citizenship with America.

Don't worry. The "young idols of China" are doing quite well: stashing all their $$$ millions in London by buying up a big chunk of the housing market - and driving up all the house prices, so that regular folks can't even afford a studio here anymore.

Her friends are in trouble as well.

[quote] Then why won't the Chinese government even acknowledge they are holding her?

They did:

[quote] "State-run Chinese publication, Securities Daily, officially confirmed that Fan was arrested ... Fan signed 2 contracts for the same project — one worth $2 million, while the other was worth $10 million, according to Taiwan News. The first contract was the only one [declared] to China’s tax authorities [so that] the actress could pocket the second contract [which was 5 times bigger in profit than her tax declaration] tax free."

They ate her. The Chinese will eat anything. Number 3 on menu: Garlic actress with broccoli.

Her beauty is her best also worst enemy. It gave her fame and wealth but also atracts perverts with power who wanted to sleep with her and got rejection

She is now combo number 4

You're thinking of what they would do to her in North Korea, not China. In China they'll just use her up.

I'm sure I saw her at Panda Express the other day

R164, so you have irrefutable proof that she never broke any tax laws? Interesting - please share.

I guess singer Lauryn Hill was also sent to prison by a 'pervert' judge for being 'too beautiful' (rather than for US tax fraud).

R168 tax fraud was just an excuse.

Lauryn H is in US, a totally different place on earth and she was not, has never been and will never be considered beautiful by anyone on earth

Oh quit with the baseless generalisations and 'us vs them' rhetoric, R169. I grew up with Hill's music (90s) and always regarded her as good-looking.

I always thought Lauryn Hill was a cunt. Didn't she say something fairly homophobic years ago? And equating her tax fraud with slavery is laughable?

Sweet n sour bingbing

R170 only you darling regarded her as good looking. Only you in this cold hearted world, no one else did does and will

R173, different strokes for different folks. But pretending to speak on behalf of the entire world is a slightly worrying sign of schizophrenia.

Lauryn Hill was a beautiful young woman, r169. I've seen the pictures of her with clownish makeup, so I know her time has passed. But,

Let's Bringbring Fan justice.

Free Bingbing!

She is starved and raped in the prison

She should have used the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to stash all her untaxed profit instead. Like all the smart celebs.

Just avoid Panama - it now has a bad rep because of the Panama Papers exposé and ensuing tax scandal.

[quote]r172 Sweet n sour bingbing

Bingbing extra!

Limited supply.

r179 I thought they put it in Switzerland now, and used freeport art to evade taxes.

I'm behind the times with my money laundering references. Of course, I'm old enough to remember BCCI, so maybe that's it.

I also always considered Lauryn was attractive. Not a model or anything but attractive to the average person.

Tax fraud is RAMPANT in China. Most do it. The Chinese government actually lets it go for quite a while sometimes so they have an easy excuse to arrest an influential money and seize their wealth when they choose to

Please, r182 -- as if you'd have to be an actual tax cheater to be arrested on tax fraud charges in China or Russia. They arrest anyone they want, and serve up selected "facts" to justify it afterwards.

Opaque, complex and contradictory laws are a feature, not a bug, in countries like that, because it's literally impossible for anyone to comply with every regulation, thus providing a pretext for cracking down on anyone the government chooses, anytime.

R182 and R183, don’t be naïve. Tax fraud is rampant everywhere. Especially among the super rich like Fan. We just call it “tax optimisation”, but it’s basically the same thing. The rich don’t want to pay taxes like ordinary stupid schmucks.

And if anyone thinks European tax laws are straightforward - think again. In law school we studied how local Parliament makes tax laws intentionally very wishy-washy and incomprehensible to a lay person - so that the tax officers alone have ‘discretion’ and ‘wiggle room’ as to what counts as “legal tax avoidance” and “illegal tax evasion”. In Britain they mostly stopped organising jury trials for tax fraud cases - because regular lay jury members couldn’t even follow the tax court proceedings (the law was too complicated and intricate for them to understand). Now tax fraud cases mostly go to a specialist judge.

Anyway, I hope that Fan emigrates to Monaco. She’ll be in good company there.

Who's the naive one, r184, believing that Fan was was actually spirited away for tax reasons? Or more likely, you're not naive at all, but one of the "whataboutist" trolls triggered by the mention of Russia...

Of course tax avoidance (legal and illegal) is rampant everywhere, and tax law is complex in all countries, but your attempts to equate the prosecution of tax offenders -- selective as it may be -- in Western countries with the arbitrary incarceration of personae non gratae under the barest pretext of law-breaking in places like Russia and China are absurd.

What would you know about tax law in all countries? Please.

[quote]I'm sure I saw her at Panda Express the other day

In line or on the menu?

With six you get Bingbing

They should just recast any of her outstanding parts with Li Bingbing; she's much prettier and just had a worldwide hit with The Meg.

Fan is MUCH prettier than Li

R190 completely agree. Fan is by far the much prettier one

Did they find her yet?

[bold] REDRUM !

REDRUM !

If she wasn't in "Crazy Rich Asians," we really don't care.

Classy

Sexy

Seductive

Does she have an endorsed product, The Bingbing Ben Wa?

R198 yes but only normal everyday merchandise like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Mercedes, Vogue, BMW etc the most expensive things that you can think of.

R185, you’re the weird whataboutist troll here. You don’t even stop a minute to learn anything about Fan’s bio - instead you immediately jump to vague conspiracy theories and turn her incident into knee-jerk generalisations about the Chinese (while blindly praising your own tax authorities).

Now back to the actual case: Is Fan some leading anti-establishment critic or bra-burning political activist? No, she’s a cutesy, mousy, soft-spoken celeb who is more focused on her fashion shoe collection than on politics. She’s not a controversial public figure. No one needed to ‘re-educate’ her. She’s not Rosa Parks or MLK. She’s not even an outspoken loudmouth like JLaw. She’s about as apolitical as Blake Lively or Taylor Swift.

R200 I'm not R185 but you are the one who hasn't "stopped for a minute to learn anything"

Fan actually has been relatively outspoken about modernizing China's perception of women in a few interviews over the last few years of her career. Especially after "I am not Madame Bovary" came out in 2016 and was a huge hit. The whole movie is a social critique of archaic and absurd Chinese laws around marriage. (It's also a damn good movie if you like foreign films)

Her statements would seem pretty mild in America but the Chinese government is extremely sensitive to any critique of it's culture, especially by other Chinese people

R201, oh please. “I Am Not Madame Bovary” had an official release in China’s cinemas and even won many official Chinese awards. If it were some ‘revolutionary’ or ‘socially dangerous’ movie that caused grave concern for the “extremely sensitive” Establishment - then that movie would never even see the light of day. No cinema in China would ever release or promote it, and no film committee in China would dare give it any official award.

And if you ponder the film, it’s not just a “critique” - it’s also an ‘educational’ film about how trying to side-step Chinese law (for the purpose of an illegal property scam and avoiding China’s 1-child policy) can get one into even bigger trouble. The main protagonist attempts the property scam - and ends up with nothing. So makes perfect sense why Chinese censors greenlighted it and why China’s Film Association heaped awards on it - because it’s a social morality tale.

Well, Fan clearly has some obsessive fans (pun intended, I'll see myself out) -- we have at least two people posting overtime on this thread. If you ignore r201 and r202, two thirds of the thread disappear.

I haven't figured out which one of them is being paid by the Chinese government. Or maybe it's just one obsessive troll talking to himself on two separate devices? One good conspiracy theory deserves another, after all...

R203 you just have to know everything 🤨

I thought only teenagers have that kind of attitude but I guess I was wrong

Fan Bingbing Faces $70M Fine For Tax Evasion, Chinese Government Says

$70M?! She's that rich?

R206 Forbes thinks she's worth around $100M. Obviously the Chinese government is making an example out of her and she probably won't get her freedom back until she pays it off.

Is she going to be poor now? Or will the government give her an installment plan, which she will have to work for years to pay off! But ordinary Chinese love this kind of comeuppance for the rich/greedy story. It's a win-win for the government.

Fan Bingbing Apologizes For Tax Evasion: “I Am Deeply Ashamed”

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing has apologized for evading taxes, saying she is “deeply ashamed” and “totally accepts” the tax authorities’ $70 million fine. Bingbing broke her silence Wednesday on microblogging site Weibo and reported by several media outlets, with a confirmation with the financial accusations against her as well as an apology to “society, my friends, the public, and the country’s tax authority.” She said she had “endured an unprecedented amount of pain, undergoing deep self-reflection and introspection….I beg for everyone’s forgiveness!”

She's back! China's Jennifer Lawrence is back!

In a country where you're not the property of the state and where you must say what they want you to say on pain of imprisonment and death, she would most likely have gotten fines and spoken through a lawyer or not at all. In a country unlike China, she could appeal, work out a payment plan, etc. If she is even guilty to the extent the totalitarian regime says she is, she might get a prison sentence as well. In China all bets are off. What a hideous country.

Fan Byebye

Maybe a billionaire boyfriend will pay that off. I think I recall reading she was a pass around for the billionaire set in China but I could be mistaken.

She's been reeducated. I'm very skeptical she's guilty rather than China being mad. The network that "broke" the tax evasion story is state run

Everything in China is state-run.

R215 LOL Never been to China, have you?

[quote] In a country unlike China, she could appeal, work out a payment plan, etc. If she is even guilty to the extent the totalitarian regime says she is, she might get a prison sentence as well ... In China all bets are off. What a hideous country.

R211, in a "country unlike China" - her ass could easily be put in a minimum-security US prison, just like it happened to Lauryn Hill. Why wasn't Lauryn encouraged to "appeal" the harsh sentence? Why didn't the Connecticut authorities work out "a payment plan" with her, in lieu of prison? They showed her no leniency whatsoever - just threw her ass in prison. And after she served her prison sentence, they put her under house arrest on top of that as well. And all these harsh measures over ca. $1 - 2.3 million in unpaid taxes. It wasn't even that big of a sum.

Hill even paid back most of the taxes - to avoid prison and reach a settlement. But they threw her in prison anyway. "What a hideous country" indeed.

[quote] Hill’s lawyers sought probation, arguing that the singer’s charity work, family circumstances and the fact that she had paid back the taxes ought to merit consideration for leniency. At the sentencing hearing, Hill described her situation for failing to pay taxes during a period in which she’d left the music industry in an effort to protect herself and her children.

[quote] Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser noted Hill’s creative talent and charity work on behalf of impoverished children, but called Hill’s explanation for her actions “a parade of excuses centering around her feeling put-upon.” After Hill is released from prison, she will be on parole for 1 year, spending the first 3 months under house arrest.

R217 Don't be dense. Hill was charged in a public court where the government had to present evidence. She went to jail after a public sentencing and could easily have appealed if he wanted to.

She didn't disappear for most of a year with the government refusing to acknowledge they even have her

Yeah, r217, don't attempt to compare the US to China when it comes to intimidation, "reeducation," prison sentences...you basically forfeit your rights as a human as well as a citizen. I would add to what r218 said--nor did Hill have to beg forgiveness to the nation, or indeed, have to say anything.

Hill has no real career after her scandal. Fan Bingbing is not going to have jail time apparently, which some Chinese are angry about saying the government is giving her a pass. Her future career will depend on her PR work and public acceptance of her apology. Lesser Chinese actors have been blacklisted and boycotted for way less. She will have to lay low for a year at least.

R217, why do you think Hill should have been treated leniently?

Sure, she was famous, but to get special treatment from the IRS you need to owe a lot more than a million or two! Owe them a billion and they'll kiss your ass and beg for more.

Tax evasion? How deplorable of her! At least she got her comeuppance. Unlike a certain someone featured today in the NYT.

^Yep.

Fan Bingbing's fine. She sends her love. Now she just needs to set up a gofundme account.

[quote] Hill … could easily have appealed if he wanted to.

R218, Lauryn Hill is not a “he”. The fact that you don’t know this basic fact means you don’t know anything about her case and trial. She could not have “easily appealed” – she plead guilty to cooperate with the tax authorities and to ask for leniency in return. If she had not plead guilty, it’s likely they’d convict her anyway and throw her in prison for even longer. But the Catch-22 is: when you plead guilty, even if you withdraw your plea post-sentencing (e.g. if you think the sentence is unfairly harsh) – it’s then almost impossible to get an appeal in practice.

As an aside: even if she plead “not guilty” and then requested an appeal - many such appeal requests are still deemed without merit and easily denied. And some plea deals require the defendant to completely waive the right to appeal.

Also, any attempt at an appeal in her case would have been worthless, given her prison sentence. She was sentenced to 3 months in prison – whereas a decision whether (or not) to even allow a hearing for an appeal can take many months, even years sometimes. And that’s just for the ‘pre-decision’ on whether (or not) to permit the hearing at all, not even getting to the appeal itself. So by the time she’d get the decision on whether the hearing is allowed or denied (many months later), she would have likely already served her sentence in full.

So, even if Hill were innocent, the appeal system would have failed to help her in this case. The most important damage which she’d want to prevent (false incarceration for months) would have already been done and irreversible.

r225, comparing Hill's experience in any way to Bingbing's plight in China is pretty ludicrous. That's the point.

R226, what's "ludicrous" is that you immediately decry her "plight" - i.e. automatic, knee-jerk assumption that she is a 'poor victim' and hasn't put herself in that position via possible personal greed.

R226 Fan Bingbing will still have a career. That's the difference.

[quote] Yeah, [R217], don't attempt to compare the US to China when it comes to intimidation, "reeducation," prison sentences

R219, please don’t butt into a debate if you can’t even follow and read a basic thread. My reply was to R211 who was specifically making that comparison (“In a country unlike China, she could appeal, work out a payment plan, etc.”). What country do you think he meant – Nepal? Of course it was the US or countries with a similar prison sentencing framework. I replied regarding that framework. And then you pop up and start lecturing me about not making comparisons! Either direct your complaint to R211 or, better yet, don’t try to tell people what to do in general.

[quote] nor did Hill have to beg forgiveness to the nation, or indeed, have to say anything.

Hill didn’t beg for forgiveness because, unlike Fan, Hill was sent to federal prison. Hill was also basically semi-retired by that point, so she didn’t need to salvage her public image after that criminal fraud scandal via any fake ‘I’m sowwy’ PR – her career was dead anyway. Whereas Fan is still making money based on her rapport with fans, so with or without the authorities, she’d still need to issue a PR statement appeasing her fans after the fraud scandal to fix her reputation. Because if she loses her fan base, she’s over.

Hill’s career was stagnant, but as far as (active) big US stars go, they routinely have to make public apologies and “beg forgiveness before the nation”. Because otherwise they can be blacklisted and never work again. The authorities don’t even have to lift a finger because the angry mob does it for them: with death threats, harassment, boycotts and firings. E.g. Kathy Griffin was investigated by the secret services after her parody video and then begged the whole nation for forgiveness.

Regarding Hill’s case, when she dared to raise concerns that she was getting worse treatment because she was black – the judge slapped her with additional sanctions after that speech, ordering her to undergo “counseling”. There’s your “re-education” – if a person simply espouses views that a judge doesn’t like to hear, the judge will force mandatory “therapy” on them, to subdue those views.

Oh, just noticed that R211 and R217 are the same poster. In that case, R217, direct your strange complaint to yourself. You make comparisons and then chide other posters for replying to your own comparisons. Bizarre.

so where the fuck did she get all the money? What kind of business was she in besides movies? was she highest paid actress in china?

70 million, does that include fine? or is that the amt she was supposed to have paid?

How long has she been acting?

^^Correction: R211 and R219 are the same poster. In that case, R219, direct your strange complaint to yourself. You make comparisons and then chide other posters for replying to your own comparisons.

R231 Fan Bingbing is 37 and has been acting on TV/movies for 20+ years. I think she has her own production company. She's more a boss lady than a damsel, which is probably why she dared to evade taxes and thought she could get away with it.

Oh, dear. r230/r232--talk about talking to yourself. Take your meds.

r227--I wasn't suggesting Bingbing was a poor victim by using the word "plight." If you look up the word, you would see it means "a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation." I think that accurately describes Bingbing's present condition.

As for the ranting r229--let me make it really simple for you: I'm saying China treats its people not like people but like its property to do with what it wants. The rights of people don't exist over the state. Clearly you feel Lauryn Hill was railroaded and you're attempting and failing to draw a comparison to the plights of both these women when Bingbing is in a far worse situation because it's the Chinese government she's dealing with. Do you understand now?

As for r228--you think Bingbing will have a career after tangling with the Chinese government? I wouldn't be too sure of that. You really seem to have a benign sense of how China operates.

As for Kathy Griffin, r229, she did something deliberately provocative--holding up a replica of the bloodied head of a sitting president. I hate Trump but it's no surprise that the Secret Service stepped in because that is something it always does in a case like that, . Death threats through social media and otherwise are also part of the hazards of being well known and doing something that was pretty reckless on her part. But the government didn't come in and make her disappear for months, and her apology was something she felt she needed to do save face and calm the waters. Again, a very false equivalency to compare the plight of the two.

R225 stop being an insufferable twat. Obviously the he was a typo. I use "she" and "her" in other parts of that same post. You're being the most annoying kind of troll

Agreed, r236. And a stupid troll at that. r218/r230/r232 can pick up on one typo you made and mock you, and then proceeds to embarrass himself by repeating his own mistake in two posts.

^Haha--correction, not r218 as stated above. We all mistakes, especially with Datalounge's format, but at least I didn't make the same mistake twice, as did r230/r232.

R234 We shall see how Fan Bingbing fares. You seem to think the Chinese government is out to get everybody, but it has turned a blind eye to these shenanigans in the entertainment industry for years. Fan just got caught because someone in the industry got mad at her and exposed her shady business practice on social media. With no jail time, the government is giving her a way to salvage herself. It will take time and she certainly cannot make any more missteps. What she needs to be scared of is the public backlash. While she does have a lot of die-hard fans, there is a core of resentment against the 1% and celebrity culture in China that has been simmering and they might drag them any of her future ventures.

No, r239, I didn't say "the Chinese government is out to get everybody." I'm saying the Chinese government is a totalitarian regime that does it wants to its people, at any time, for whatever it decides it wants to do, and its citizens don't have any say in the matter. As for what she actually did or did not do, and how the Chinese people respond to the 1% in their country, is speculative.

Maybe now I need to figure out a way to pay less taxes. I hear wealthy Americans always get away with it.

R240 The Chinese government is fine. It sends its love.

Oh dear, R238/R237/R234 fell on his own double-edged sword, mixing up posts himself – while indignantly chastising others about the very same thing. How deeply ironic.

And I didn’t “make the same mistake in two posts” – do learn to count. I personally corrected cross-references in one post.

Originally I actually gave you (at R211/ R219) the benefit of the doubt: because I didn’t think a poster could make a blatant comparison (“In a country unlike China, she could appeal”) and then immediately contradict himself, lecturing others not to analyse your own comparison (“Don’t attempt to compare”). Naturally, I assumed it was just 2 different posters with opposing views – but it turns out it was just one hypocritical or schizophrenic poster (you), who doesn’t practise what he preaches. You espouse one set of rules for yourself (launching comparisons) and a different set of rules for everyone else (comparisons unacceptable). So kindly take your own meds.

My ‘mockery’ was directed at the fact that R218 called me “dense”, while making silly errors and (most importantly) completely clueless and wrong assertions about Hill’s case, erroneously claiming she could “easily appeal” when she obviously couldn’t. R211, you were actually the first poster who made that incorrect claim and then R218 / R236 parroted the same error. Your collective behaviour of repeating incorrect assumptions is indeed “annoying trolling”.

[quote] I wasn't suggesting Bingbing was a poor victim by using the word "plight." If you look up the word, you would see it means "a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation." I think that accurately describes Bingbing's present condition.

That is a disingenuous claim, R234. “Plight” has a common connotation of being associated with victims of life events, suffering unfairly or excessively (i.e. events that they were not responsible for or don’t really deserve). You wouldn’t say, for example, “the ‘plight’ of a murderer convicted for killing someone under the influence of drugs”. Technically, the “present condition” such a convicted murderer finds himself in can be described as “dangerous, difficult and unfortunate” (if only he had not taken drugs, he wouldn't have killed in a drug haze) – but that doesn’t mean it’s “plight”.

[quote] you're attempting and failing to draw a comparison to the plights of both these women when Bingbing is in a far worse situation because it's the Chinese government she's dealing with. Do you understand now?

No, I understand that being sent to federal prison followed by house arrest (while you also have 5 kids to raise & feed) and then being hit with “therapy” sanctions for simply speaking your mind (about racial prejudice in the economic system) is a very bad situation. And I also understand that black celebs get hit with criminal tax convictions more often than their counterparts and often get a rough deal.

However, I’m not claiming that Hill was innocent of her tax crime. I simply question the sentence she was hit with (federal prison, even though she paid it back in full earlier and cooperated). And I definitely do not agree with the brain-picking “therapy” order imposed on her.

I’m not going to indulge in your ‘whose suffering is greater’ game. I’ll leave that up to you.

[quote] As for Kathy Griffin … she did something deliberately provocative … I hate Trump but it's no surprise that the Secret Service stepped in because that is something it always does in a case like that.

No, the Secret Service’s investigation was a complete circus, R234. Do you really think they thought some popular jovial female comedian was an ACTUAL threat to the POTUS? What would she do – storm the White House, dig a tunnel under it and behead him with a Harakiri sword? Come on now. She was NOT a credible threat. That investigation served only one purpose – to intimidate and censor her (as a public warning to everyone else). Her joke was definitely in bad taste, but it didn’t merit any serious investigation and the authorities thereby putting pressure on her.

[quote] her apology was something she felt she needed to do save face and calm the waters. Again, a very false equivalency to compare the plight of the two.

So you’re claiming that, under no circumstance, would Fan herself issue a PR statement to save face and “calm the waters” / calm down her angry-mob audience? Her double-pay contracts, which were published earlier by a TV star feuding with Fan, caused outrage among many Chinese people. As you said yourself, that’s the hazard of the profession. So, what, she’d tell everyone to f*** off? Or avoid the public’s questions, acting like she has even more to hide? In that case, she’d alienate her own fanbase.

[quote] But the government didn't come in and make her disappear for months

You don’t seem to know how arrests and investigations often actually happen. It varies by jurisdiction, but the police are generally under no obligation to issue a public media statement that they’ve arrested someone and holding them in custody. The suspect can usually notify their family, but whether the family decides to share that publicly with the whole world is up to them:

[quote] The National Crime Agency: The NCA has today set out its position on publicising arrests. “We consider publishing the details of arrests … on a case by case basis, but it is not appropriate or practical to publicise every one. Decisions involve multiple considerations, for example balancing … the need to preserve operational integrity.”

[quote] The Guardian: “Research, carried out over several years, has revealed forces are not disclosing 99% of crimes to the media. When they do release information, it's often only as a last resort when all other inquiries have been exhausted … All too often journalists are being kept in the dark about crimes that the public should be told about … Simon O'Neill, editor of the Oxford Mail and a former crime reporter, has a similar problem with Thames Valley police. He says: "There is a control freak culture with regard to issuing information about crime to the press and public.”

r243/r244/r245, you really have nothing better to do, do you? Clearly you don't with these endless diatribes.

I'll make this quick: yes, I made a mistake, as you did twice (yes, twice--unless you count posting essentially the same message twice NOT a mistake). I readily admitted my mistake, right off the bat, because who cares? If you weren't such a blowhard, I wouldn't care that you did as well.

Regarding comparisons: I'm remarking on how a similar crime is treated in China as opposed to the US is very different. The rule of law in China doesn't exist the way in the U.S. and Europe, and elsewhere.

As for the definition of "plight": what I stated was directly out of the dictionary. Do invest in one. It doesn't necessarily mean victimization, nor did I mean it to be with my use of it.

And Kathy Griffin? Well, clearly, since you're not from the U.S., you have no idea how the Secret Service works. It in fact can and will investigate anything it considers to be a threat or a possible threat. It certainly means to be intimidating. It doesn't matter if Griffin seriously meant actual harm. No one really thought she was. The Secret Service doesn't bother to split hairs in that way.

As for Fan herself, everything you float about her situation, her motivations, and everything else, are mere conjecture.

Many Chinese celebs have gotten away with it for years because they greased the right hands along the way. They paid off someone to look the other way, they gave govt officials all kinds of "discounts", on real estate deals etc...Nobody gets away with cheating the Chinese govt. Don't be so fucking stupid.

I assume, r247, you're directing that at the Lauryn Hill freak at r243/r244/r245, to name just a few of his endless ranting posts, who goes on about the horrible injustices suffered by Hill. I've said all along the Chinese government will go after one of its citizens anytime it wants.

Look, Lauren Hill Obsessive Fanboy, if the court ordered Hill to get therapy in a way that's unusual in tax evasion cases, that's because the woman is batshit crazy.

Fan BingBing should come to America. Our original Jennifer Lawrence is all played out.

[quote] you really have nothing better to do, do you? Clearly you don't with these endless diatribes … As for Fan herself, everything you float about her situation, her motivations, and everything else, are mere conjecture.

R246, there you go again with your hypocritical lecturing. You write your own “diatribes” and freely engage in various unsubstantiated “conjectures” (“In China they’ll use her up!”, “Bingbing’s plight!”) – and then cry foul, accusing others of doing the same. You’re very stubborn and keep posting and posting “endlessly” – but then you turn around and decry others for posting too.

You completely lack any self-awareness in debates. Everything you do is apparently ‘acceptable’ – and if people merely disagree with you on certain subjects, everything they do is automatically ‘unacceptable’.

[quote] I made a mistake, as you did twice (yes, twice--unless you count posting essentially the same message twice NOT a mistake. I readily admitted my mistake, right off the bat

It seems you can’t count. I made an error with cross-references in one post – I spotted it myself immediately, acknowledged it and corrected it – by simply reposting that message (with correct cross-references this time). That self-declared, self-amended correction was made ca. 9 HOURS before you even replied. You then belatedly started laughing about it – and then made a cross-reference blunder yourself. Cosmic irony, I say.

[quote] Regarding comparisons: I'm remarking on how a similar crime is treated in China as opposed to the US is very different. The rule of law…

Your sentence structure is a bit confusing. I’ll assume you mean similar crimes are treated differently in China and the US. The irony is that there are actually some striking similarities in criminal sentencing between the US and China (compared to, say, Europe) – both have the death penalty (which is taboo and an absolute breach of human rights in Europe), both allow indefinite detention without trial in certain circumstances (which was ruled to be a violation of human rights in many EU countries), etc, etc.

So what one would perceive as the “rule of law” e.g. in the US is actually an abysmal series of violations of basic human rights from the perspective of many European states (incl. privatised prisons, politically nominated partisan non-impartial judges, etc).

China definitely has an abysmal record of handling political dissidents, etc. But that is unlikely to be relevant here: Fan is not known to be an outspoken political opponent and even her most experimental film role was lavished with state awards.

Fan Bingbing -- there's an opening on "The Talk" with your name on it!

[quote] As for the definition of "plight": what I stated was directly out of the dictionary. Do invest in one. It doesn't necessarily mean victimization, nor did I mean it to be with my use of it.

R246, you are misreading your own touted dictionary definition. Read it again. The key in that definition is that it must be an “unfortunate situation”. So, as already mentioned, it hinges on your perspective on her innocence / victimhood:

If you assume she is innocent / a victim, her conviction is an “unfortunate situation” (“plight”).

If you assume she is guilty of carrying out tax evasion due to personal greed – then the police stopping her is not an “unfortunate situation” (not “plight”), but on the contrary very “fortunate”. Because it means she didn’t get away with a crime.

So, yes, you are declaring her innocence or victimhood by repeatedly now referring to her “plight”. And that’s fine, you’re entitled to your assumptions – but I don’t understand why you’re backing away from your own words, and trying to dance around them.

As an example, I dare you to say: “the plight of the Nazis at the Nuremberg trial”. After all, applying your beloved dictionary definition, it was a very “difficult, dangerous and unfortunate situation” for them, from their POV. So it must be "plight", right?

Except it's not about the defendants' POV (b/c almost every defendant, even a murderer, will obviously think their own situation is “unfortunate” / “plight”). Rather, it’s about each commentator's individual POV / take on the situation, which was e.g. that the Nuremberg convictions were not “unfortunate” – but well-deserved comeuppance for intentional violations, and therefore not "plight".

[quote] And Kathy Griffin? Well, clearly, since you're not from the U.S., you have no idea how the Secret Service works. It in fact can and will investigate anything it considers to be a threat or a possible threat. It certainly means to be intimidating. It doesn't matter if Griffin seriously meant actual harm. No one really thought she was. The Secret Service doesn't bother to split hairs in that way.

There you go with the knee-jerk assumptions again. If a person is not from the US you immediately assume they never lived, studied and worked there for years? You are hopeless. Your clue should have been that I know more about the US appeals framework than you do.

And life in the US has nothing to do with knowledge about the Secret Service’s (internal) processes and decisions. Are you claiming you worked for them or had constant run-ins with them?

I didn’t say they “can’t or won’t investigate a possible threat” – I said that a well-known professional comedian obviously isn’t a credible “possible threat”. And the spurious investigation was likely meant to censor her, not just intimidate. Ironically, they don’t even have the staff or resources to investigate every macabre / RIP joke about Trump made online among the 300+ million US population, not even talking about the rest of the globe.

Some are reporting she was detained in a luxury holiday resort for the past months during the investigation. Did she have to pay the bill for that, too?

So she's released statements, but has she actually been SEEN? Any pics? I mean recent, like past 2 days.

“In China they’ll use her up!”, “Bingbing’s plight!” Everything you do is apparently ‘acceptable’ everything they do is automatically ‘unacceptable’.

You write in quotes and half quotes, but I didn't say what you write in either quotes or half quotes.

"both have the death penalty"

The death penalty varies from state to state. There is no national death penalty in the United States.

"both allow indefinite detention without trial in certain circumstances"

No, that's simply not true. I live in the U.S. You do not. What you say is not true.

I didn’t say they “can’t or won’t investigate a possible threat”

You put that in quotes as if I said that. You do realize when you put things in quotes you're quoting someone, don't you? Those are not my words, those are yours pretending to quote me.

You also realize no one cares, including me?

I was right. You have no life. I'm sorry for you.

Now I feel bad. I feel I haven't done enough. You have NHS in your country. Is there no one you can talk to about your mental problems? A counselor? It's not right you go on a site like Datalounge unsupervised and blather on when you can seek therapy probably at a very reduced price.

[quote] You write in quotes and half quotes, but I didn't say what you write in either quotes.

Oh dear, R256 is now pretending to suffer from acute memory loss / amnesia, and denies writing his own posts.

“In China they’ll just use her up” – you wrote that at R166.

“Bingbing’s plight” – you wrote that at R226.

And with every post you make, you prove my 2nd point. You draw comparisons, make claims about other parts of the world 'where you don’t live' and keep posting and posting “endlessly” – and then turn around and hypocritically accuse others of doing such things. You’re either a garden-variety hypocrite or a person suffering from schizophrenia who always disregards what he himself writes. At this point it must be the latter.

[quote] The death penalty varies from state to state. There is no national death penalty in the United States.

The point was that the death penalty exists in the US – and that it is a violation of basic human rights by European standards. No international observer cares about each country's local subdivision into sub-states, local district boundaries, etc. All the states add up to one country, so anything that happens in a number of those states means that it happens in the country itself.

When a person gets killed by death penalty in the US – are you seriously going to tell his family that his death didn’t count as a death in the US by capital punishment, just because it was on a local level?

It’s like thinking that Spain doesn’t have the Corrida (legal bullfighting), just because one of its sub-states (Catalonia) banned it on a local level. Variation on sub-federal level doesn’t mean that Spain as a country doesn’t have the Corrida.

[quote] "both allow indefinite detention without trial in certain circumstances". No, that's simply not true. I live in the U.S. You do not. What you say is not true.

R256, you don’t seem to know your own current laws:

[quote] "In the US, indefinite detention has been used to hold terror suspects … According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Section 412 of the Patriot Act permits indefinite detention of immigrants; one of the most highly publicized cases has been that of Jose Padilla, a US citizen whose ultimate prosecution and conviction in the US have been highly controversial [he was denied the right to an attorney for almost 1.5 years, and was held without charges for ca. 4 years]. The indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has been called a violation of international law by the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Human Rights Watch.”

[quote] “The new indefinite detention provision of the [National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)] was decried as a "historic assault on American liberty.” The ACLU stated that "[the President’s] action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law.” ”

[quote] “Under Section 1021… anyone who [is accused of committing] a “belligerent act,” can be detained indefinitely, without charges or trial.” This provision applies, inter alia, to non-naturalised US residents / immigrants.

[quote] I didn’t say they “can’t or won’t investigate a possible threat” You put that in quotes as if I said that.

Fair point about formatting. However, you originally chided me, implying that *I* suggested it, which is not what my post was about. You claimed: “you have no idea how the Secret Service works. It [bold]in fact[/bold] can and will investigate anything it considers to be a threat or a possible threat.” There was no point to your criticism. Because I never suggested that they can’t / won’t investigate a possible threat – I said that Griffin as a comedian obviously WASN’T a possible threat and that the investigation was spurious, i.e. served a completely different purpose. It was pure circus to censor her via intimidation.

[quote] You have no life. I'm sorry for you.

Says a poster who’s been posting on an anonymous gossip board “endlessly” himself. How ironic. Do look into a mirror sometime. You lack all self-awareness. Funnily, that never stops you from moralising and thinking that you’re above others.

[quote] You have NHS in your country … mental problems ... It's not right you go on a site like Datalounge unsupervised and blather on when you can seek therapy probably at a very reduced price.

Using your own logic, why are you “blathering” incorrect information about a country that you don’t even "live in".

Probably because you don’t have anything like the NHS, so there’s no free "therapy" to help you with your "mental problems". I pity your “plight”.

By "endless diatribes" I mean your very, very long posts, often at least two or three in a row. So, first: Americans in general absolutely do not suffer indefinite detention. A few have, yes--generally terrorists but not just--and it's made public by the ACLU and it's a scandal, but it isn't a matter of course--as in China, which is my point all along, even though you seem to equate China with the U.S.

My other point was that it didn't matter that Kathy Griffin was just a comedian. She appeared in a photograph made public by her holding up a mock severed head of a sitting president. That is the kind of thing the Secret Service jumps on. It wasn't at all a circus--for instance, they didn't arrest her or indefinitely detain her, as they did Bingbing (by the way--THAT was indefinite detention of a citizen).

As for capital punishment, my point stands--there is no national law and it does vary from state to state, as I said. That also is a highly controversial thing, but what I said was true. They're also convicted violent criminals, again with the shocking exception of a few in Texas, etc. I am against the death penalty, btw and it doesn't occur in the state I live. What capital punishment has to do with Bingbing I have no idea.

And forgive me for not remembering literally a few words I typed, one post of which was way back in mid-September!

You really have to be right all the time, don't you? Even when you're not or when there's no point you twist it to make it look like you're right. I'm guessing you're single. Again, honey, NHS is your friend. Seek therapy. As for me, I have great insurance and I don't pay anything for it, thanks for asking. Now, I'm done with you. I actually do have a life and here in the U.S. it's morning, and I'm going to go out and live it. When I come back, I won't see any more posts from you because I'm blocking you, so don't bother--or go ahead, it's all the same to me, because I won't see them. Give my regards to your royal family.

According to gossips, she's busy gathering cash to pay that $100+ million fine. Some say she has net worth of around $200+ million, but it's still a chore to turn that into cash.

Well, she will just whore herself out to some billionaire. She will be married to one soon. And he will pay her debts.

R263 She already has a rich bf/fiancé, another popular Chinese actor. He's standing by her, and supposedly is helping her with part of the fine.

Gals like her don't waste their marital chances on fellow actors, R264, not at her age anyway!

Bet you ten bucks she marries a billionaire soon.

R265 She's 37, way too old for Chinese billionaires anyway.

Who did she piss off?

Fan Bingbing tax evasion scandal: four luxury brands caught up in the Chinese actress’ fall from grace

R268 The rat race is on for who will replace her and get those endorsement deals.

[quote] By "endless diatribes" I mean your very, very long posts, often at least two or three in a row.

Ha, funny. Says the poster who himself writes long posts and is all over this thread. The irony must be lost on you, R261. No need to police other people’s post length. If you hadn’t originally posted so many uninformed misconceptions – I wouldn’t write detailed explanations. If you don’t like the format – feel free to switch to Twitter.

[quote] “So, first: Americans in general absolutely do not suffer indefinite detention. A few have, yes--generally terrorists”

No one was talking about “Americans”. The cited US laws apply to everyone who is simply resident or present in the US (immigrants) and those brought over against their will (various suspects)

So feel free to take comfort in knowing that “Americans” are generally not subject to those harsh arrest & custody laws (like the NDAA) – but everyone else who's in the US and its jurisdiction and happens to lack citizenship is. I.e., if you’re American – you can have a right to a trial and an attorney, even if you’re a suspect under the NDAA. But if you’re e.g. a non-naturalised longtime immigrant resident in the US – you don’t have those basic court protections under that same law. It’s arbitrary and unequal arrest & custody treatment, which is against your proclaimed “rule of law”.

As for them being “generally terrorists” – no, that’s your uninformed assumption. Statistically, the vast majority of the many hundreds of suspects who were detained indefinitely for years (even over a decade), without trial or access to an attorney, were not in fact charged with anything upon their final release. So they were not “generally terrorists”. They were accused as such by the state, but generally released after many years of detainment without the accusation ever materialising into actual charges.

[quote] Kathy Griffin … That is the kind of thing the Secret Service jumps on. It wasn't at all a circus--for instance, they didn't arrest her or indefinitely detain her

No, R261, the purpose of any Secret Service investigation is to uncover credible threats to national leaders. If she was not a credible threat (and, as you claim yourself, ‘no one really thought she seriously meant actual harm’) – then launching a serious investigation into a bad-taste joke was POINTLESS. Unless of course one considers the alternative, undeclared purpose of the investigation – which was to punish her for her non-criminal antics via intimidation. The police didn’t arrest her because she didn’t break the law. If you’re content with the SS running around after well-known comedians for macabre jokes (and wasting tax dollars on such quasi-censorship investigations), then have it your way.

[quote] Bingbing (by the way--THAT was indefinite detention of a citizen)

That was not indefinite detention. She was reportedly arrested, held in custody and charged over criminal tax offences. It seems they agreed a payment plan so she can avoid a prison sentence.

Actual indefinite detention is where you’re being held for an excessively long period without even being told what the formal charges against you are and without any resolution, like a trial or a pre-trial settlement. As mentioned above, look at Padilla’s case as an example: almost 4 years of detainment without even being formally charged.

[quote] As for capital punishment, my point stands--there is no national law and it does vary from state to state ... They're also convicted violent criminals, again with the shocking exception of a few in Texas, etc. I am against the death penalty, btw and it doesn't occur in the state I live. What capital punishment has to do with Bingbing I have no idea.

Your “point” is beside the point. No one cares about the state you live in, R261. The original comment was about the existence of capital punishment in a country, not about your regional sub-unit. There’s no national law prohibiting it either, which effectively translates to silent endorsement on the federal level.

And you have a short memory - you yourself brought up “the rule of law” in the US. The rule of law doesn’t mean what you assume it means. It’s about, inter alia, consistency in the application of laws to everyone. But, based on the prime example of capital punishment (which decides the most basic human right to life), if you silently allow such punishment (there’s no federal prohibition on it) and then inconsistently apply it state to state (and even district county to county actually, depending on each county’s DA’s discretionary power and personal agenda) – that’s a violation of “the rule of law”.

So your point about variation in the law actually works against you. Because it’s completely inequitable that if you’re sentenced (for the exact same crime) in one sub-state (or district’s county even) – you’ll be killed by the state, and if you’re sentenced in another sub-state (or county) – you’ll live. Such drastic arbitrary discrepancy in punishment (on an essential life-or-death matter) is against “the rule of law”.

Btw, it doesn’t matter if you “live” in e.g. TX or not. Capital punishment doesn’t hinge on residence – it hinges on whichever state’s DA decides to charge you for a crime over which he has jurisdiction.

As for your defensive retort that the killed convicts were “violent criminals” – this doesn’t sound reconciled with your own assertion that you’re “against the death penalty”. Either you’re for the death penalty for certain crimes and criminals or you’re against it regardless of their nature. There’s no in-between.

[quote] forgive me for not remembering literally a few words I typed, one post of which was way back in mid-September!

You’re referring to those posts as if you made them half a year ago, R261. September is not “way back”. Your posts were only 1-2 weeks ago. Short memory. But, of course, I forgive you.

[quote] You really have to be right all the time, don't you? Even when you're not or when there's no point you twist it to make it look like you're right.

Very funny. Says the person who wanted to have the last word and upper hand in a minor debate, by implying that his assumptions prevail over others and then immediately blocking the debate in order to pompously end it on his own self-righteous post. The same poster who keeps himself twisting basic dictionary definitions by using and then denying the obvious meaning of words (“plight”) and moving goal posts on legal analysis (e.g. instead of simply referring to laws present in a country, you twist it into a formalistic and unnecessary federal vs state debate).

[quote] I'm guessing you're single. Again, honey, NHS is your friend. Seek therapy. As for me, I have great insurance and I don't pay anything for it, thanks for asking. Now, I'm done with you. I actually do have a life … I'm going to go out and live it. When I come back…

You have an unhealthy, obsessive preoccupation with my personal life. And no one was asking you about your “insurance”, you strange blowhard.

You over-share about your own private life (defensively trying to prove smthg about your life – even though no one’s interested), and then start fantasizing and making assumptions about mine. Please don’t project your own insecurities and problems on me.

I hope your insurance covers “therapy” for your bizarre, hypocritical, over-emotional mental processes (triggered by a minor debate that didn't even warrant it). Have a good weekend.

Look at that, China has seized the head of interpol. You China trolls going to say he was actually guilty and China is just doing it's job again? Can't tell if you trolls are just uninformed about the world or stupid

The troll with no life and nothing to do is back! r270/r271/r272/r273

I only blocked one troll and they do multiple posts so I assume it must be her.

R274 The Head of Interpol is a Chinese Communist official who used to arrest other citizens of his country the same way. I would say he got his just dessert!

R277 Im inclined to agree, but it's hard to argue China is just doing normal enforcement of it's laws like the Xi loving troll here keeps saying

R278 The law is mostly used against people who cause a scene/scandal like Fan Bingbing, and out of favor party officials. But Chinese people love to see the rich and mighty get taken down a peg, so it's also good for PR. In fact, many are complaining about Fan Bingbing getting away without prison time. The official line is first time tax evaders who agree to pay fines and back taxes are exempt from going to prison.

Fan Bingbing was photographed in Beijing. Her new movie Air Strike originally scheduled to premiere next week has been canceled and won't be shown in China.

Fun Bang Bang, LOL

[quote] Air Strike originally scheduled to premiere next week has been canceled and won't be shown in China.

Odd, I thought she apologized and was now redeemed.

With Six You get Egg Roll. With tax fraud you get audit

[quote]so where the fuck did she get all the money? What kind of business was she in besides movies? was she highest paid actress in china?

Yes, she is the highest paid actress in China.

She also made a fortune as a brand name ambassador for multiple luxury brands including Mont Blanc and Chopard.

She's been pulling in the equivalent of roughly $50 million a year for a few years now.

Fuck you, R32

r32 has mistaken Datalounge for 4chan, where mentally challenged souls such as he can feel much more at home.

R286 Unfortunately, DL is VERY anti-Asian. One can't post about any Asian or piece of Asian entertainment on here without the mockery and dismissals and slurs flying fast. No other race is as openly despised on here. If they were, you'd be red-tagged and blocked.

Of course now I'll be referred to as a "rice queen" or some such just because I'm not a racist piece of shit.

Well, r287, it just goes to show the mos can be just as trashy and stupid as their straight counterparts.

R288 Gays are the most bigoted people on the planet.