On November 22, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who was previously shunned for her involvement in a tax evasion scandal seven years ago, was crowned Best Actress at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards for her role as a farmer in the Malaysian film “The Mother”. Overwhelmed with joy, Fan Bingbing shed tears during her acceptance speech over a phone call. Many Chinese netizens took to Weibo to congratulate her on her comeback and resilience, praising the Golden Horse Awards for their professionalism and integrity.
The 62nd Golden Horse Awards ceremony took place on the 22nd, with the final awards generating excitement. Apart from Fan Bingbing, other nominees for Best Actress included Fang Yuting from “The Grand Monk”, Sylvia Chang from “Unexpected Courage”, Ivy Ling from “A Place of One’s Own”, and Gao Yiling from “My Hometown Affairs”.
Executive Director of the Golden Horse Awards Committee, Wen Tianxiang, recalled the intense discussions among the judges, stating that Fan Bingbing’s performance was refreshing from her physicality to her language, from extreme calm to breakdowns. He revealed that Fan Bingbing’s toughest competitor in the end was Gao Yiling from “My Hometown Affairs”.
In 2007, Fan Bingbing won the Best Supporting Actress at the 44th Golden Horse Awards for “The Matrimony”, and nine years later, in 2016, she was nominated for Best Actress in “I Am Not Madame Bovary”.
In 2018, Fan Bingbing was embroiled in a tax evasion scandal, paying nearly 900 million RMB in back taxes, fines, and penalties, which shook the Chinese entertainment industry. She has been blacklisted for over seven years since then.
Nominated for the Golden Horse Awards with the Malaysian Mandarin film “The Mother”, Fan Bingbing posted on Weibo on November 5th, saying, “Seven years, hardships have passed and overcome! Life has truly trained me to be a resilient woman. I am proud of the entire team for making a good movie!”
Amidst the recent tensions between China and Japan over the “Taiwan issue”, Fan Bingbing’s attendance at the Golden Horse Awards became a focus of external attention. Before the awards ceremony, director of “The Mother”, Zhang Jian, mentioned, “Fan Bingbing really wants the Golden Horse Awards. She wouldn’t have acted in my movie if she didn’t want to win an award.” Even when she missed out on an award at the Tokyo Film Festival recently, Fan Bingbing reassured the director, “It’s okay, we still have the Golden Horse Awards”.
After winning the award, Fan Bingbing was represented on stage by Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian mentioned that when he was hesitating to invite Fan Bingbing to act in the film, she accompanied him back to his hometown’s paddy fields, and when she stumbled, he asked her why she was enduring so much for the role. She replied, “I want to start over.” This declaration was met with thunderous applause.
Subsequently, Zhang Jian called Fan Bingbing who couldn’t attend in person. Over the phone, Fan Bingbing choked with tears multiple times, expressing her excitement and gratitude for the recognition.
Fan Bingbing shared her insights from portraying “Feng Yin” and expressed, “As a Chinese filmmaker, I look forward to breaking new ground in the future, conveying more values through my work, and being seen in a deeper sense.” Finally, she thanked the production team for their care and the Golden Horse Awards for the acknowledgment.
Many Chinese netizens praised Fan Bingbing’s win, calling it “amazing” and offering their congratulations, labeling her as “incredibly resilient” and “a woman with strong vitality”, asserting that “she is truly starting over”, and stating, “It’s unexpected that the Golden Horse Awards were willing to lend her a hand”.
Others remarked, “Due to Fan Bingbing’s efforts and persistence, Zhang Jian’s appreciation and courage, and the professional and authoritative nature of the Golden Horse Awards, the future of Chinese-language cinema can still progress.” Some users directly compared the professionalism and credibility of the Golden Horse Awards to the Golden Rooster Awards, stating, “Those who understand, understand.”
Due to the Chinese government’s boycott of the Golden Horse Awards, some netizens mentioned that news of Fan Bingbing’s win did not trend on Weibo. Some users commented, “The winner of the Golden Horse Awards can’t even trend on Weibo?” and “Whether it is given or not, international recognition is the key.” Moreover, a user stated that their post celebrating Fan Bingbing’s win was deleted.
Fan Bingbing’s studio posted on Weibo, congratulating her for winning the Best Actress award with her role as “Feng Yin” in “The Mother” from the island. Despite not explicitly mentioning the Golden Horse Awards, the post was deleted in the early hours of the 23rd.