The suspicious incident of mainland Chinese actor Yu Menglong’s fall from a building has sparked widespread controversy. Apart from being heavily suppressed and censored by the Chinese authorities, even his name has been deleted from the cast list of the Netflix series “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms.” Fans are outraged, accusing the authorities of trying to cover up the truth.
Yu Menglong tragically fell to his death in the early hours of September 11th, and the Beijing Chaoyang District police quickly “ruled out criminal suspicion,” categorizing it as a “falling accident due to alcohol consumption.” However, various doubts about the case have been circulating online, with rumors even suggesting that videos of Yu Menglong being abused before his death have surfaced, leaving fans grieving and indignant.
Online sources claim that Yu Menglong was targeted because he resisted the unwritten rules within the entertainment industry. It is rumored that the last gathering Yu Menglong attended involved the illegitimate son of a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official, as well as several scriptwriters, directors, and producers from the entertainment industry. As the police have yet to disclose details of the case, the authorities are actively suppressing public opinion, deleting posts and arresting whistleblowers, leading to further suspicions of hidden agendas in the case.
Less than two weeks after Yu Menglong’s passing, eagle-eyed netizens noticed that his name had been removed from the cast list of the Netflix series “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms,” sparking shock and anger among fans. Comments flooded in, expressing disbelief and outrage at the fact that his presence had been entirely “erased” from the official page of a show that had significantly boosted his popularity. Fans lamented the swift removal, questioning the intention behind erasing his existence so quickly, with many condemning it as an attempt to erase all traces of him.
In “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms,” Yu Menglong portrayed the character “Bai Zhen,” the fourth brother of Bai Qian (played by Yang Mi). Yu Menglong and Yang Mi had a close friendship on and off-screen, addressing each other as siblings. After the news of Yu Menglong’s death was confirmed, Yang Mi mournfully posted on Weibo, “Fourth Brother, may you be well in another world.”
It is worth noting that Yang Mi was once one of the founders of “Jiaxing Media,” although she has since left and established her own company, she still holds shares in the former company. Yang Mi had boldly declared that the artists in her company would not engage in socializing or attend social gatherings with unwritten rules. Recent reports in Chinese media suggested that Yang Mi had attempted to sign Yu Menglong to her media company, but his management company refused to release him at the time, resulting in the failed poaching. Many netizens expressed regret, believing that if the deal had gone through, Yu Menglong’s life would have taken a different turn.
While Yu Menglong’s name still appears in the data lists of “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms” on other streaming platforms aside from Netflix, many fans fear that it may be censored in the future or that the series may be taken down. It is evident that the controversy surrounding Yu Menglong’s death has ignited public anger and could potentially impact the political landscape in China, making the mention of “Yu Menglong” undoubtedly chilling for the Chinese authorities.