Chinese Actress Liu Yifei, known for her roles in the TV dramas “Where the Wind Blows” and “Record of Dream”, was initially nominated for the 32nd Golden Eagle Awards. However, on September 10th, she was unexpectedly disqualified during the second round of online voting, as the rules for this year’s awards had been changed, citing that Liu Yifei, who holds American citizenship, “does not meet the nationality requirements.”
Liu Yifei was nominated for Best Actress at the official Chinese Television Golden Eagle Awards for her portrayal of characters such as “Xu Hongdou” in “Where the Wind Blows” and “Zhao Pan’er” in “Record of Dream”. Yet, when the second round of voting began on September 10th, netizens noticed that her name had been removed from the list of nominees.
According to Chinese media reports, the regulations of the 32nd Golden Eagle Awards state that “participants in single award selections must have Chinese nationality”, and actors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau need approval from relevant authorities to participate. Due to Liu Yifei’s American citizenship, she was disqualified from the awards.
Although other non-Chinese ethnic actors like Sikin Gaowa, Feng Jiayi, and Jiang Shimeng also had their nominations revoked, the public opinion in China has focused primarily on Liu Yifei’s nationality issue. The exclusion of Liu Yifei from the nominations has become the hottest topic on Chinese social media, with Weibo views exceeding 140 million as of 9th September.
Public records show that the 37-year-old Liu Yifei was born in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. After her parents’ divorce when she was four, she moved to the United States with her mother in 1997 and returned to China five years later to study at the Beijing Film Academy, where she has been active in the Chinese entertainment industry. In 2006, Liu Yifei was selected as the first “Golden Eagle Goddess” at the China Golden Eagle TV Art Festival, but now she has been removed from the nominations due to her nationality.
Many people expressed surprise, saying, “I didn’t know Liu Yifei was a foreigner”; while some criticized her for not obtaining Chinese citizenship despite her constant activities in mainland China, causing an 80% decrease in their support, stating that it was “reasonable” for her to be disqualified.
Several entertainment influencers criticized the organizers of the Golden Eagle Awards for being unreasonable and hasty, questioning whether the decision to allow Liu Yifei into the second round was due to incompetence or a publicity stunt. Fans lashed out at the awards for capitalizing on Liu Yifei’s popularity, allowing her to be nominated in the first round only to remove her subsequently, stating, “What’s wrong with Liu Yifei? She’s just too popular,” emphasizing that it was the organizers’ fault.
Currently, neither the Golden Eagle Awards organizers nor Liu Yifei have responded to the situation, but discussions have arisen on mainland Chinese social media platforms about whether foreign actors should be banned from participating in award selections.