Chinese Actress Jing Tian Faces Alleged Soft Ban amid Dispute with Bitprenuer Sun Yuchen
Chinese actress Jing Tian has recently found herself at the center of controversy due to her involvement in a romantic relationship and a 30 million RMB (Chinese Yuan) dowry dispute with cryptocurrency tycoon Sun Yuchen. Rumors have surfaced recently suggesting that she may be facing a soft ban, with related search results disappearing, search data being wiped clean, and brands she endorsed cutting ties and removing posters.
The founder of TRON, Sun Yuchen, recently posted a lengthy article on social platform X titled “My Girlfriend Jing Tian,” publicly detailing their relationship from dating to discussing marriage, and the emergence of property disputes, including scandalous revelations such as surrogacy and 50 million USD worth of assets, along with a claim for over 30 million RMB in dowry. This quickly sparked public outrage.
In response to the controversy, Jing Tian took to Weibo stating that she would not sell her love and soul for money, and admitted her shortcomings in judgment and intelligence. Following this, Jing Tian continued to post on Weibo, although her online exposure suddenly took a nosedive.
Some netizens shared screenshots showing that there were “no data temporarily” when searching for Jing Tian’s name on WeChat Index. Her data was no longer being gathered in Weibo’s trending statistics, and her name could no longer be found on the artist ranking list. This situation bears a striking resemblance to past instances where mainland China had banned artists with negative public image.
Furthermore, some video creators on Bilibili uploaded videos related to the Jing Tian incident, with views reaching 300,000. However, these videos subsequently failed the review process due to “involving hot social topics” and were ultimately taken down.
Regarding endorsements, group-buying platform Meituan had just announced Jing Tian as their ambassador in mid-August. However, following the controversy outbreak, Meituan’s official Weibo account not only deleted all related collaboration posts but also removed all posters featuring Jing Tian.
Legal experts analyzed that the lawsuit filed by Sun Yuchen is merely a civil dispute. Until the court issues an official verdict, Jing Tian has not been officially labeled as a “tainted artist,” which theoretically should not trigger an official ban. Therefore, some netizens speculate that the data wipe may be an attempt by the authorities to cool down sensitive public opinion.
However, even if it is just a soft ban, the impact on Jing Tian is significant. She has already completed filming for three upcoming dramas, “The Burn Box,” “Wait Until I Am Guilty,” and “Heartstrings.” With her disappearance from hot searches and her commercial value forcibly reduced to zero, the fate of these three yet-to-be-aired dramas remains uncertain and will need further observation.