THE visit to Melaka by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing last week as she starts her stint as the state’s tourism ambassador drew a great deal of attention.
However, it remains to be seen if the Chinese female celebrity’s presence could bear a similar impact to that of legendary Princess Hang Li Po whose supposed marriage to Sultan Mansur Shah in the mid-15th century has enhanced diplomatic ties between Melaka and the Ming Dynasty, thus solidifying Melaka’s stature as a Malay-Muslim empire.
Fan who was the highest-paid celebrity in China between 2013 and 2017 was in the historical city after being appointed as Melaka’s tourism ambassador in conjunction with the Visit Melaka Year 2024.
Fan Bing Bing in Melaka pic.twitter.com/GLZSikaSVC
— @ (@anthraxxx781) June 14, 2024
She met Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh where they held a joint-media conference. Her legions of fans also went into a frenzy catching a real-life glimpse of stars in movies like X-Men: Days of Future Past as Fan travelled across the city over two days.
But Fan’s appointment is not without controversy. Detractors pointed out that Fan was fined 883 mil yuan (RM574 mil) in 2018 for tax evasion in China. Since then, the 42-year-old actress has kept a low profile after incurring Beijing’s wrath.
It is only recently that she has crawled her way back to the limelight. Besides being Melaka’s Tourism Ambassador, she was a special guest at Bangkok’s Maha Songkran World Water Festival 2024 in April.
The publicity surrounding her sparked criticism as some questioned the rationale of the Melaka state government’s decision to appoint a tax evader as a tourism ambassador.
Controversy
Reddit user, thestudiomaster, questioned the credibility of the 42-year-old actress with this teaser: “I am a convicted tax fraud and I endorse Melaka”.
But others pointed out that the beauty who starred in Chinese period drama My Fair Princess and box-office hit Cell Phone still has star power to draw tourists from mainland China to Melaka.
Others drew analogies of Fan and Hang Li Po, the Ming dynasty princess who married Sultan Mansur Shah to enhance bilateral ties and further lift Melaka’s status as a regional transhipment hub in the 15th century although some historians have questioned if the princess really existed.
For starters, the publicity surrounding Fan’s visit to Melaka last week has made it to regional and international media, hence invariably made Melaka stand out even more on the world tourism map. But whether this can translate into higher tourist arrivals or for how long remains to be seen.
Fan Bing Bing on Melaka river cruise pic.twitter.com/nGvnqNBE5K
— @ (@anthraxxx781) June 18, 2024
Despite boosting 63 million followers on Weibo (China’s version of X) and 4.1 million Instagram followers as well as often regarded as the face of global Chinese culture, the question of morality has led to social media influencer and PKR’s student wing vice- chairman Yap Xiang wondering “if it is so difficult to find someone else who is less controversial and most importantly *a Malaysian* with 8 billion people on this earth”.
After all, Bingbing – like Alibaba founder Jack Ma who has been lying low after the gargantuan online marketplace outfit was hit by a US$2.8 bil anti-trust fine by Beijing in 2021 – is deemed to possess the ‘black mark’ of “China censorship a.k.a. 404 which puts her reputation at stake in the eyes of fellow Chinese citizens whom Melaka is targeting as potential tourists.
Ironically, many Malaysian Chinese feel that the Melaka state government could have picked from Malaysian international celebrities like Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, James Wan, Yuna, Henry Golding, Ronny Chieng a.k.a. Uncle Roger or even Betty Chew, the former Kota Laksamana state assemblywoman and wife of DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng to promote the state.
Whatever the case is, it may be too early to discount Bingbing’s influence in driving her countrymen to Melaka despite her ‘dimming’ stardom. – June 18, 2024
