Who doesn't love Gong Li?

Or perhaps another way to put it is: who hates Gong Li? According to the media storm that hit last year after she announced she was becoming a citizen of Singapore, hundreds of millions of people in China. As is so often the case when the pulse of the body politic is taken in the PRC the "netizens"--a very clumsy neologism--were consulted and were found to be outraged. For them it was a matter of national pride--China doesn't allow its citizens to hold dual nationality so she had to discard her Chinese citizenship. Based on the reaction one might think she had blown up a section of the Great Wall. Gong Li was branded a traitor, a shame to her native land, unworthy of being called Chinese and "the most hated Chinese celebrity". Since that last epithet ran in China.org.cn and was illustrated by the picture at the top of this post it may have been at least partially sardonic toward the subjects of the article although such publications aren't known for their irony.

In Singapore itself the "Straits Times" piled on a bit, claiming that Gong Li had "raised the ire" of Singaporeans by not being present when her citizenship was actually granted. Read the Breaking News accompanied by a lovely picture of our heroine pledging allegiance to her new homeland and looking quite resolute. Even the "TimesOnline" found the space to cover the story and find internet users to quote.

Whatever Gong Li's reasons for becoming a citizen of Singapore may be, we know that she has been married to Singaporean tobacco tycoon Ooi Hoe Soeng since 1996.

I was going to quote some statistics about how Chinese internet users are predominately young, urban and male so that using such sources might be a bit like taking a survey on fraternity row at a big college but I will just reference a summary from the China Internet Network Information Center here. There is a link at to the entire PDF report, which seems to take a long time to load, at the end of the article.

There are those who don't hate Gong Li, though--or at least are able for professional reasons to act as if they value her company. Among them are

Aishwarya Rai and Letitia Casta, her fellow L'oreal Beauty Ambassadors, (a more descriptive title I cannot imagine) at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. (Zimbio photo)

 

At the premiere of "Hannibal Rising" she is getting the most clumsy looking semi-air kiss from Peter Webber, the director, as Jay-Z models a scarf. (Zimbio photo)

This unidentified English socialite gets along with her fine as they compare the number of feathers each has on her dress at Britian's Best awards in 2008. (Zimbio photo)

And at the amfAR gala during the Venice Film Festival in 2002, where she showed she could turn into the camera with a killer smile while not knocking over her water glass, her dinner companions didn't seem to mind Gong Li's presence. It might be possible to look as perfectly elegant--Grace Kelly comes to mind--but certainly not more so. (WireImage)

And like the "Beauty Ambassadors" picture above, here is another paean to multiculturalism as Gong Li glams it up with Andie Macdowell and Kerry Washington, neither of whom seem to have a problem getting along with her. I guess backs were in that year. (Zimbio photo)

Gong Li's attitude might be summed up by what she said over a decade ago when asked in an inteview about how she dealt with the press. It may well be the case for the zillions of netizens who have such hatred for her. In an interview from 1997 which can be found here. She says, "If I don't see what people write about me, they don't bother me. If I do, I'll curse them out in my heart. So I laugh it all off."