Zhang Ziyi--guilty of ??

In a comment to the post immediately below this one dleedlee, who knows much more than I about the lives of the rich and infamous in Hong Kong, wrote that it was "part of Zhang Ziyi's (successful) image rehabilitation tour." The rehabilitation necessary to Zhang Ziyi's reputation is due to the scandal around funds pledged, raised and paid for the sake of the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and even the incident in which she was the target of destructive behavior by hooded criminals where a group of hooded men splashed black ink  on an advertisement bearing Zhang's image after creating a scene at the Park Hyatt Beijing hotel.  This is a pretty good summary of it with the added bonus of casually smearing the names of Zhou Xun, Vicki Zhao and Na Ying. The reports were all based on anonymous and unofficial sources even though many of the articles used the very weighty term "fraud" in their accounts.

Viewed from the United States the controversy around the money for the earthquake victims looked like a non-issue. We expect celebrities to claim to raise money for relief of a headline grabbing disaster with no responsibility to actually come up with any money--it is part of the Hollywood hype machine which made me think Zhang Ziyi's difficulties were an internet scandal--something that didn't resonate beyond message boards and gossip sites. Based solely on reading some of the Chinese gossip press it still looks as if she was guilty of no more than poor judgment.

However there might have been some consequences for Zhang Ziyi although it has been confined to the rarefied area of high fashion endorsements it is impossible to tell. The reasons why Miss XXX is no longer the face of Brand YYY are as knowable as a correct interpretation of an answer from the Oracle at Delphi or of the riddle of Turandot but having the icon of your brand break down in tears during hostile questioning at a press conference. Either celebrities in China are held to a much higher ethical standard than in the United States or the gossip press is even more vicious than it is here. 

As reported by xiuhuanet  through dleedlee Shu Qi will now be looking out from ads, billboards and subway cards in China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Note: Fixed bad China Daily link at "break down" above.