TW-actor Chris Wu (Wu Kang Ren) has been a fave of mind since he debuted nearly two decades ago and he’s become so established and award winning I would compare him to the TW-ent version of K-ent’s Namgoong Min. In those years he’s worked only in Taiwan but that’s changed now as he signed with a Mainland Chinese agency last week and has started work on a thriller C-drama with female lead Sun Li. C-netizens have always seen Chris Wu as problematic in his political support, i.e. the implication is that he’s Taiwanese centered and could be even Taiwanese independence leaning, he is a Waishengren but grew up in very Taiwanese-centric Kaohsiung. When Chris signed with his new agency on October 1 he posted an innocuous celebration of Chinese people using the phrase 中華 zhong hua rather than 中国 zhong guo (Mainland China) and that has upset C-netizens for him not being clear in his support of Mainland China. Now reportedly his female lead Sun Li is dropping out of the drama because she doesn’t like that he’s not made his stance clear. The situation is still developing but doesn’t bode well if it’s already creating waves not one week into his foray into C-ent.
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Oh well if you’re gonna make money at mainland… follow the rome ways when you’re in rome
To be honest tho, what does taiwanese general citizens stand on benefit if taiwan become true independent country?
Taiwan is already a de facto (true) independent country since WWII. LOL
Totally agree- what do Taiwan citizens even want?
Freedom to elect a representative government, vote on laws, assemble and peacefully protest, access internet books and media that haven’t been censored, travel without restrictions within their home country. Who needs rule of law when you can have the CCP in your life. Lame!
/s (in case that wasn’t absolutely clear)
They already have all that don’t they? They can vote, protest, have their own passport, have their own economy. I don’t understand how being independent would add more value to this. They are already independent
@Yuhui
China launched drills around Taiwan for their "separatist acts", and yet you calling them "already independent"
China does military drills in a full scale replica one Taipei’s presidential district. No one would argue, in good faith, that they are independent now and have no reason to maintain distance from China.
https://thediplomat.com/2015/08/satellite-imagery-from-china-suggests-mock-invasion-of-taiwan/
@OLesya1, the independent status of Taiwan isn't defined by Chinese actions, either diplomatically or militarily. PLA bullying Taiwan or not, Taiwan is a de facto independent country with sovereignty under Taiwanese citizens only. Other people including you, a drama fan nugu, has no say to define the sovereignty of Taiwan.
For hundred years of Taiwanese history, the CCP has never ruled one single inch of the land for one single second. And Chinese people need a visa to enter Taiwan while I don't as a Taiwanese American. You ignoramus tell me Taiwan is not already independent? LMAO.
@Dezzys, how do you guys define "independence" of a country? The points you're based upon are confusing. Taiwan is indeed operated as an independent country with their own culture, market system, political and election systems, as well as military that are COMPLETELY out of hand of Chinese CCP. How is that not an indication that Taiwan is an independent country?
People are making spurious theories about the status quo of Taiwan. It appears so laughable to me as someone of Taiwanese descent. Folks, please do more thorough research and educate yourself about Taiwan as well as cross-strait relationship with China before randomly dropping lines with comical comments. It's very annoying TBH.
@Somebody
Taiwan isn’t part of the UN, and many countries won’t send high level gov officials or diplomats. Taiwanese athletes have to compete as “Chinese Taipei” at the Olympics.
I’m not saying that Taiwan doesn’t operate independently now- I’m saying its independence should be respected and defended and recognized by other counties.
@Yuhyi
This question can ask only person who doesn't know what is it, to live in dictatorship country.
There's very big difference between independent and not independent countries
Or are a brainwashed, comfortably living citizen of a dictatorship country.
Mainland China has a benefiting class of it's system who doesn't perceived or is subjected to repercussions or oppression. Due to money, influence or real communist belief. Who benefits from this system won't see the disadvantages for others and won't have any concern or sympathy for dissidents or other ways of life
@eJc
Brainwashed people the most, as even people from benefiting class can understand the dictatorship of their country if they have a brain and common sense.
People can be from the same mid class, but ones brainwashed while others not, I really don't know how it works.
I really hate this ab Chinese forcing everyone to support their ideology Disgusting,he believes in independent Taiwan so what, get over it,don't want hear his stan just don't ask him.
Well he shouldn't be a sellout and shouldn't work in China then? I support TW independence but if his political stance is unclear his Cdramas will get shelved, who would want to work with him?
@Guest
He shouldn't work in China because he doesn't support their government? I guess you can't separate country and the government. He can love China, but don't need to lick the boost of politics, and their pressure on Taiwan as part of that.
Especially to support a cencurship not to say anything and to be quiet.
China agency and production company of that movie okay to work with him, so right now I don't see the problem
Taiwan #1.
I support sun li. I wouldn’t work with someone who can be cancelled anytime and have my project go to waste.
I get your point. Politics aside, I wouldn't want to spend time on a project that is in high risk to get shelved.
I never thought that I'd see CW working in China. He seemed to be doing pretty well in Taiwan with very good dramas and characters. His popularity skyrocketed even more due to Netflix. His dramas made by Netflix are popular.
There are many Taiwanese actors working in China nowadays. The range of popularity varies from almost unknown to very famous.
The money in mainland China is too good to ignore but the quality of works in Taiwan with Netflix entering the game got so much higher.
Folks, one Taiwanese actor that is a potential ticking bomb is Baron Chen due to have family background which is so more interesting (spoiler: gangster father who murdered people). He is doing supporting roles once or twice a year in big Chinese projects. Hopefully he won't be popular because he will get cancelled for sure.
Well...1 Oct is China's National Day, after all. And from what I heard, the drama initially casted Zhou Yumin (Vic Zhou) when Sun Li agreed to sign on. But Zhou Yumin suddenly got kicked out and Wu Kangren parachuted in.
that put more perspective into it
I wonder why was Vic removed??
Don't know, but I see C-netz saying Vic is more geared towards China while Wu Kangren is not. They said he parachuted in after Sun Li joined, and after that his team acted haughty and demanded to be changed to first billing.
Innocuous? Come on, let's not play games, we are adults here.
October 1st is China's National Day. He knew very well what he was posting.
This isn't about disagreeing with it or not. It's about accepting to work in China and then deciding to throw a nuke at the worst possible moment. If he wants to play those games, then no crying about the consequences and pretending like he didn't know what he was doing. He did it, now he has to deal with it.
Well Chinese celebrities love going to work in Korea and the US and showing their nationalist, so why the F cant he do the same for HIS country, he is doing great in Taiwan and he got the role and wasn't charity, YES he knew what he doing SO WHAT, I think more Taiwanese celebrities should do the same maybe that will hamble the Chinese a little bit?
can you imagine if the US said you had to denounce the CCP if you want to work in Hollywood and be pro-democracy? cnetz would have a field day.
@lol
They do though or do you think there is no reason that even Liu Yifei isn't doing anything there?
It just isn't done directly but through press that simply starts asking questions that no actor who lives in China can answer. Game over.
It's funny to see you all playing dumb.
@Nah the only one playing dumb is you. LYF is making easy money in china, that’s why. and let’s be honest, she’s no oscar worthy actress even if she’s beautiful and is amazing in wuxia. US has a lot of issues of its own, but the one thing that won’t happen is people and their works disappearing from the steaming or internet overnight like in China. don’t get me wrong, it’s their country, you play by their rules. doesn’t mean people can’t find it hypocritical.
Stay in Taiwan, why even venture out when his film is competing for an Oscar nomination. Bring Taiwanese entertainment back to what it once was! Miss those good dramas Taiwan use to produce. Not much excitement in C-ent with all the typecast roles. I think this is a step down for him.
I was surprised he signed to work in mainland...
$$$$$ Money!
According to the CCP central committees' new directives recently, entertainment is one of the focuses they directed to invest in. CCP authority has figured out showbiz is a cheaper and perhaps more efficient way to reach their goals of propaganda. That's why we've seen tons of state propaganda in C dramas and movies. LOL. CCP authority think fans are more stupid than others to be fooled. They will fail. I personally recognize my fave also been used by the CCP for several propaganda agendas. These types of agitprop are easy to tell as long as your brain is already fully developed. LOL
Yes...money is a factor... and CCP controls the media and its direction.
I am surprised to see Chris Wu in China...but he is a good actor...I enjoy a great number of his projects. I wonder what will his journey will be in China.
LOL. He's now just one of those who are considered trying two-timing desperately across the Strait. It's not sitting well on the Taiwanese side. There are already tons of memes mocking him on the Taiwanese social media. Those memes are extremely funny LOL thanks to Taiwanese netizens' humor but also an indication that how his movement to C-ent pisses off the majority of Taiwanese people. People are suggesting Taiwanese government strip these showbiz two timers of their citizen rights including most important access to the prestigious Taiwanese healthcare system. I don't think they would like to get much inferior treatments in China if they get sick. LOL.
And, I can't disagree with this proposal though.
Imagine an Israeli working for Iran's business that has been backing terrorist groups HAMAS and Hezbollah at the same time. LOL. Too ignorant of these celebs to think they can appease both countries across the Strait at the same time. Taiwan is in reality at war with China already.
Honey, better not bring Israel into this when Netanyahu has been supporting the presence of Hamas in Gaza to keep Gaza and West Bank under different parties. Don't worry Israel wouldn't have an issue with it at all. Also educate yourself by watching some news from the other side. (I recommend Al Jazeera but yes it one sided too).A little more knowledge from the other side on the subject doesn't hurt.
LOL. I don't need to squander time on Arabic news propaganda to know what they're gonna say. I have no interest in Middle East other than how much American taxpayer money needed to support the US troops in the region again. I just used the ME analogy to state a no-brainer fact about the tension across the Taiwan Strait. Not supporting any side, but IDF is formidable. No joke to kick their asses.
@Somebody, maybe hearing the other side would be better than believing in Fox news propaganda. But ok I'll just take your analogy even if it makes zero sense.
@wapz, LOL. You assumed I'm a fan of Fox news? I summarized the information mainly from AP, Reuters, CNN, Washington Post, NYT, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg, to just name few. But judging how Al Jazeera stupidly blamed the source of BB call explosion to Taiwan and called Taiwan a culprit, enough for me to know this media is unprofessional at all without credibility. They are too emotional and too self absorbent to be called "journalists." LOL. Washington Post just reported a detailed account of how Mossad (Israel Intelligence) has intelligently planed and planted the unprecedented Trojan horse among Hezbollah operatives for 10 years. It's all Mossad's deeds alone from the interviews. No other countries including any ally of Israel had any idea in advance. Israel's allies, specifically those democratic countries in NATO, are useless cowards anyway most of the time when dealing with enemies. LOL
I never said Al Jazeera wasn't biased, I told you it's going to show you the other side. And if not that there are many other platforms and speakers like Owen Jones, The Piers Morgan show, Mehdi Hassan, Norman Flinkenstein etc to hear debates and see what the other side is saying. But I think it's quite futile now, you don't want to. Also CNN, NYT has been proven to be very unreliable resources in the last one year too. But you do you!
@waps, BTW, you referred me to a bunch of internet personalities for better perspectives on the Gaza issues after I scathed about the professional ethics of Al Jazeera's reporters? LMAO. It only proves you're nothing but picking information sources out of your own bias and has become one source of mis- and dis-information yourself, while implying yourself more objective? LOL. Everyone savvy enough knows what could come out of the mouths of internet personalities. LOL.
FYI. Most of the media I mentioned in the prior comment is commonly recognized as left-leaning media. I just named a few that I read news from. I also read and watch news from right-leaning media including Fox and Washington Times, and more neutral sources like PBS, NPR, the Hill, and Politico etc. There are quite a few reputable think tanks that are also good sources (including both left-leaning and right-leaning) discussing international affairs: Atlantic Council, AEI, Brookings, Heritage Foundation, and AEI, etc.
I'm more well-informed than you assume thanks to my job. LOL
@Somebody imagine being a group of terrorists pretending to be a country that is called Isreal but still have the guts to call innocent ppl terrorists, you don't have a right to mock this guy when you are a meme yourself
@Merry
Yeah it’s all clear that palestine was a country that hosted jewish refugee yet now those same people claimed they’re the original owner of the land. How shameful, all the refugee documentation is clear for all to see
Yuhui, saying that the Jews do not have history in Palestine is one idiot thing to say.
@Nena, pro Palestinians don't say that Jews don't have a history in Palestine. In fact, they lived in peace with Muslims and Christians prior to 1948. But the current jews (among which several are refugees) and settlers are ethnic cleansing the natives who have lived their for years. You will see an American jew kicking off a Muslim family from their home they've lived in for generations very easily just because they claim they have a birth right to a land they, their parents, or grandparents were not even born in. Make it make sense.
@Nena
I said jewish refugee, which means jewish who fled from german’s atrocity. Palestine has been home to christian, islam and jewish for long time. Hence why they accepted the refugees. Those jewish refugees don’t have history in palestine. The real jewish in palestine is the palestinian, who have been living there for centuries, with some always be jewish while some converted to christian and islam when the religion is born.
@Merry, moronic to call a country recognized by the UN "pretending to be a country!!!" PRC is even more controversial in its legitimacy taking a seat in the UN. LMAO. Tell your friend Iran, Russia, and their backer CCP to vote Israel out of the UN and then you might sound more like an adult to label Israel "pretending." LMAO
@Yuhyi, did you ever read the history of Jews and Arabs? They were brothers from the same ancestors at the beginning that they both acknowledged. These two peoples have been coexisting in the region since the beginning of recorded human history. Get some education please! LOL
@wapz, "...American Jew kicking off a Muslim family..." LOL. This kind of rhetoric Sounds very much like twisted disinformation from anti-Semitic propaganda. Got brainwashed by leftard liberals? LOL
I don't support either side. But I definitely have no good things to say about whoever love to spread hatred! What you're doing here is one example.
@Somebody,I'm definitely not spreading hate but stating facts. It's too casual to call someone a hater behind the internet these days. I've seen your conduct on this website but I'm never going to call you that. I said, earlier you need to look more into the subject. Also what I quoted wasn't an analogy like you made, there are proper videos on this, search them. And there we go again with anti semitism, when Arabs too are semite lol. I don't even believe that this is a conflict happening on the basis of religion to ever hate on any religion. We have a simple age old occupier situation, they don't care about the religion of the people they occupy because Palestinian Christians are as much hurt as the Muslims but they use religion to justify they have a birth right over this land. That's what I meant from giving you the real life example of American teenagers kicking out a family from their home claiming they have a right to their home. I wouldn't be engaging more on this because I think we have deviated a lot from the real topic being discussed here.
@wapz, stop gaslighting me with backhanded indication something like you've seen my conduct etc. I recalled you're also one of those who love gaslighting ppl with different viewpoints on this site. Equally, I'm refraining myself from being harsh on you due to your one-sided subjective bias about the issues in the ME while riding on a high horse as if you were more objective, better informed, and insightful. LOL. We just looked up information from different sources and have opposite perspectives. No need for you to preach me useless lecture. You're not more righteous than me. You're not more righteous than the people of Israel. LOL (cos your points regarding Israel's existence in that land are rather comical.)
Regardless of the ME history, HAMAS initiated the terrorist act first against Israelis last year. That's enough to justify the subsequent retaliations from IDF. HAMAS and their allies should expect that. Whether Israeli authority made a wise decision to have an eye for an eye and if they will succeed is a separate issue. But they're entitled to retaliate, even decide to annihilate the entire terrorist groups and militias in the region backed by Iran, Russia, and China. If HAMAS' terrorist attacks had never happened, would there have been subsequent calamities in Gaza, Beirut, Yemen, and the vicinity? I don't think so. Whoever started violence is THE ONE to blame, not those who fight back! That is my bottom line!
Your twist of the ME history fails the propaganda big time on me. Sorry no sorry!
@Somebody, I didn't have to say anything and yyou have proven me right
Olease go back to your comments and check how many times you have called people gaslighters who disagree with you. Since you're a regular on this website, I've seen you do that way too many times. Also it's very naive of you to think that none of this would've happened when there were attacks by Israel on 2014, 2021 and constantly in between in the West Bank and Gaza. Surely you don't know about them, because the media you quote never cover them. I didn't mention random internet personalities but historians and journalists who have separated themselves of the media they only show biased reporting. But as I said before, you do you. And keep telling people who slightly disagree with you that they are gaslighting you.
@wapz, you can have your own opinions. But you did gaslight me by initiating a backhanded comment implying I behaved like a hater. Didn't you? Go double check your comment that I responded to you about "gaslighting!"
I did find it's a unique and an extraordinary phenomenon that MANY Asian drama fans love gaslighting those who debate with them when they themselves are not able to make points across and make their cases. LOL. This is interesting since I've rarely come across so many netizens with such a fetish in other forums.
Just bring up your cases to convince people rather than highlight the negative focus on the person you try to convince with your opinions. If you don't initiate personal offense (either explicitly or backhanded like in such a case), I won't be brash to you either. Let's keep the focus on the points to be made themselves.