Zhao Wei was once the childhood idol of a generation, and became an instant hit because of her appearance in "Huanzhu Gege". However, her career also came to an abrupt halt at some point, her social media accounts were canceled, and her work was taken off the shelves. From a high-profile superstar to a disappearance, what happened?
01 Zhao Wei was born in an extraordinary family, her grandfather was a martyr in the Southern Anhui Incident, therefore, she has a martyr's family background. In her childhood, she had a sweet face that contrasted with her quiet and introverted older brother. She is full of energy and often frolicks with the boys. Zhao Wei's academic performance was not outstanding, which once made her mother worry about her future. However, she excels in emotional intelligence and has a very close relationship with her secondary school homeroom teacher. When she graduated, there were originally only 20 guaranteed places, but her homeroom teacher won a place, making Zhao Wei a student at the Normal College. In those days, it was a valuable opportunity to become a teacher training student to secure a future career. However, Zhao Wei was too lively and dissatisfied with life in the small city of Wuhu. She has participated in Gong Li's films, but she dreams of becoming an actress. In the second year, she was successfully admitted to Shanghai Xie Jin Star School. In this star school, Zhao Wei's performance was eye-catching, she won an important role in Xie Jin's film, and then entered the Beijing Film Academy with the first grade in her major. This shows her ability to study diligently and plan well. Xie Jin once told the students: "Zhao Wei's yesterday is your today, and her today is your tomorrow." He has high hopes for her potential. After Zhao Wei entered the Beijing Film Academy, her career took off, and masterpieces emerged within two years.
When casting "Huanzhu Gege", Qiong Yao thought that Zhao Wei's big watery eyes were very suitable for the characters in the play. It was originally planned that Taiwanese actor Li Yiting would play Xiaoyanzi, and Zhao Wei would play Ziwei. However, after Li Yiting quit the crew, Qiong Yao handed over the role of Xiaoyanzi to Zhao Wei. In 1998, the mainland's hit "Huanzhu Gege" became a sensation and was hailed as a phenomenal drama, which also made Zhao Wei popular overnight and became the first idol star in the mainland, opening the era of "Four Little Flowers" and leading the mainland entertainment industry into a new stage.
02 However, in 2001, Zhao Wei photographed the cover of a fashion magazine, wearing a cheongsam printed with the Japanese flag and embroidered with the words "peace" and "happiness". The move sparked strong condemnation and almost put her acting career in jeopardy. A Chinese public figure openly wears clothes with the flag of the Japanese army invading China to make money, which is seen as a blasphemy and insult to history. This was not only condemned by the audience, but also aroused the anger of anti-Japanese veterans and survivors of the Nanjing Massacre. Not only did Japan not apologize for the Nanjing Massacre, but it also tried to erase this history. Anti-Japanese veterans and survivors jointly sent a letter, hoping that Zhao Wei would publicly apologize and not distort historical facts. They believe that a person who grew up in China should not commit such a desecration of history. In the aftermath of the cheongsam incident, Zhao Wei's studio claimed that the responsibility should lie with the magazine and the designer, stressing that she was a descendant of martyrs and would not deliberately commit such an act. However, the public believes that this is not enough, and they need an apology from Zhao Wei herself. Zhao Wei's perfunctory apology failed to show sincerity and seemed to be just to continue her career. This further angered the public, and even suffered a nasty throwing incident at her concert. After this incident, she fell into a slump and chose to go back to school to continue her education. A few years later, she successfully revived her career with the movie "To Youth", opening the era of youth films in the entertainment industry in Chinese mainland. However, her series of actions have sparked controversy again, and she invited Taiwanese independence and insulting Chinese artists to participate in the new film, which was once again criticized, and even criticized by state media, saying that she had seriously "crossed the line". Zhao Wei not only did not reflect, but also tried to use the power behind her to delete the official post, and behaved extremely arrogantly. In the end, she was banned overnight, and the forces behind her also abandoned her, including no longer doing public relations for her artist Zhang Zhehan. Zhang Zhehan was revealed to have visited Japan's Yasukuni Shrine many times, where war criminals of aggression against China are buried. In 2013, he attended the wedding of a Japanese friend and visited the Nogi Shrine, a war criminal of the Sino-Japanese War. In the following years, he visited the Yasukuni Shrine many times, obviously with bad intentions. Zhang Zhehan is gradually testing the bottom line of the Chinese people, and China's regulatory response is not strict enough in this regard. A Chinese who publicly posts a photo of a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine but makes a negative remark in the Western media will be treated as "social death." In the end, Zhang Zhehan was also banned. However, what is even more worrying is that a large number of Zhang Zhehan's fans began to deny historical facts such as the Nanjing Massacre in order to save him. These fans are like being bewitched, once they question their idols, they will lose their bottom line, and they are poisoning the next generation. The incident of Zhao Wei and Zhang Zhehan has completely exposed the serious mistakes of some people in the entertainment industry in their historical cognition and moral concepts. The country should continue to vigorously rectify the entertainment industry, improve the people's understanding of history, and cultivate patriotic feelings and pride. Only by resolutely opposing historical nihilism can we cultivate a new generation of patriots.
03 After Zhao Wei married the wealthy businessman Huang Youlong, she became the second largest shareholder of Alibaba Pictures by virtue of her relationship. The two jointly registered "Longwei Media" and participated in the manipulation of the stock market with a registered capital of 60 million. In the early days of the company's establishment, they announced that they would acquire the shares of Wanjia Group on a large scale and become the largest shareholder. Zhao Wei used her reputation and celebrity effect to mislead ordinary investors who did not know about the stock market, causing them to enter the market blindly. At that time, Tesla's stock price rose sharply, and many shareholders made a lot of money. Zhao Wei tried to take advantage of the opportunity to get rich quick, she vigorously promoted the acquisition plan, drove up the stock price and quickly cashed out, seriously hurting investor trust and blatantly violating the rules of the stock market. She may think that she can evade the sanctions of public opinion, but China is a society governed by the rule of law, and no one is above the law. The securities regulatory authorities quickly exposed the behavior and announced a permanent ban on Zhao Wei and Huang Youlong from entering the securities market.
EpilogueAs the saying goes, if you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself. Zhao Wei crossed the bottom line many times and tried to clear her name, but her bottom line was repeatedly questioned. She was justified in being banned. In today's increasingly complex online environment, we don't know whether the people behind them are friend or foe, so we must be vigilant and not stand in the way of others.