K-drama fans in the last year must’ve truly understood first hand the acquisition power of Mainland China in dictating the entertainment outputs of some of it’s neighbors. Folks in Taiwan have known that for decades but it’s taken an unofficial ban on K-dramas in K-pop in the last year due to the THAAD political beef to show how much Hallyu projects succeed thanks to consumption to China. When that avenue is turned off the financial results are not pretty and it’ll be interesting to see if there’s another generation of K-stars who will head to China to expand their market reach.
For the Taiwanese stars, working in China has long been the next step in career evolution but success isn’t always guaranteed. The results are out for the top earning TW-stars in China for 2017 and it remains the stalwarts of the industry. Chen Qiao En leads the pack following by Nicky Wu, Bolin Chen, Wallace Huo, and Joe Cheng rounding out the top five. All are extremely active in filming and/or producing C-dramas and it’s nice to see a lady out earning her male counterparts.
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I'm not surprised. She's a workaholic and most of her dramas have been ratings hit.
I'm surprised Bolin Chen is higher than Wallace Huo.
Me too...
The reason Bolin Chen made more money than Wallace Huo is because Wallace Huo doesn't do that many advertisements. He started to do some since last year or so.
Happy for her. Hope she will do even better next year with her period drama soon to be aired.
Have you noticed that all these successful stars from Taiwan are over 30 years of age? They represent an era when Taiwanese talent was still hotly sought after in China. Now there are no big-name TW (or for that matter Hong Kong) stars still in their 20s, because Chinese audience is clamoring for their own stars, their own stories and their own films/dramas. Taiwanese and Hong Kong entertainment people (stars as well as directors, writers, producers and technical staff) have been the backbone of Chinese movie/TV for the last twenty years, at the price of hollowing out their own local entertainment industry in Taiwan and Hong Kong. But then again, local markets are too small for sustainable development anyway. I hope the Korean showbiz would be wiser. Branching out is good, but you should always stay ahead of the competition.
So true and well said.
There are some young Taiwanese celebrities that are doing quite good in Mainland too like Darren Wang Da Lu and Ouyang Nana. Vivian Song is venturing out as well. They are in their 20s and 10s so there is still time. The HK industry though has run out of young stars since a long time ago.
I feel so sad seeing the decline of HK entertainment industry. I think there could be a number of reasons
- in the 80’s when it was all boom, the production companies were only concerned about profit. They didn’t invest in the next generation of PD, script writers or actors/actresses.
- now money is concentrated on the mainland so even less chance of bringing out new talent
- Cantonese being the main language in HK is being sidelined
- Having one broadcast station kills off any competition
- Even if HK had talent to produce what it wants, it will be suppressed by the almighty powers in China.
It's literally because Hong Kong only has 7 million people. Back when China lacked showbiz infrastructure they were happy to watch HK films but now that the Chinese movie and film infrastructure is established and flourishing the mainland market shifted their attention because they want to see stories that take place in mainland. It is never going to go back the way it was because it doesn't make sense economically.
@Eva.thats a good advice and I don't think Chinese drama producers and product marketers will risk casting Koreans either as actors or spokemodels for a while so they need to concentrate on their industry.
even though thaad is reportedly easing and will be over soon.
I still dont get this THAAD deal, why is China protecting NK? Anyway, I miss Joe Cheng, what is he up to, does he have a new drama or what, not that updated with China ent.
He's current web drama just finished airing its last episode on iQiyi. It's called 'Legend of Heavenly Tear: Phoenix Warrior'. Currently, he's filming a new drama adaptation of a 2003 drama and 1997 film called 'Affair of Half a Lifetime' or 'Eighteen Springs'.