How Could A Country's Most Famous Actress Disappear?

A famous film star and an international diplomat mysteriously vanished, and an Australian academic was held and interrogated in President Xi Jinping’s China. Kelsey Munro throws a spotlight on political disappearances and human rights abuses in one of the most powerful nations on earth.

Fan Bingbing, China’s highest-paid actress, had the world at her feet. Newly engaged to fellow actor Li Chen, another household name in China, she was the face of Luis Vuitton and De Beers Diamonds, a perennial front-row guest at Paris Fashion Week, with wardrobes full of Valentino couture and a sprawling property portfolio rumoured to be worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

In June this year, the X-Men actress was fresh back from Cannes promoting an action flick with Penelope Cruz, had just wrapped Air Strike, a World War II blockbuster with Bruce Willis, and was shooting a sequel to her 2006 domestic smash hit Cell Phone. Enjoying critical acclaim and enormous popularity in her home country, she sat at the top of the Forbes’ rich list of Chinese celebrities for years, reportedly earning 300 million yuan (US$43.5 million) in 2017, second only to Jackie Chan.

Then, in early July, she suddenly vanished. Fan’s busy social media accounts (she has 62 million followers on Weibo, China’s Twitter) fell silent. Her name was scrubbed from state and social media. No one would confirm her whereabouts. Her famous fiancé went to ground. China’s most celebrated actress had disappeared off the face of the earth, and no one who knew anything about it was talking.

Dark side of the state