Chinese film, TV and radio association released a document in September stating that celebrities in Chinese TV dramas should not receive "excessive" salaries as this is considered as harmful for China's entertainment industry.
China Alliance of Radio, Film and Television (CARFT) issued a statement regarding fees the Chinese actors received when they starred in television dramas, as cited by Xinhua News.
The non-profit organization CARFT ordered the China's production agencies to limit the expenses for casting salaries to not more than 40 percent of the total production costs for TV or online dramas. As per report, within this percentage, the salary of the show's leading actors and actresses must not exceed 70 percent of the total salary paid to the rest of the supporting actors.
The said move is reported to improve the "healthy and orderly development of the Chinese entertainment industry."
China is known to be producing large amount of TV dramas in the world. According to reports, around 50 to 70 percent of current TV drama production investments goes to the salaries of the actors.
In 2016, actress Zhou Xun and actor Wallace Huo of the 90-episode Chinese TV drama series "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace," each made $22.5 million. The production costs were reported to be $1.35 million per episode.
Another report cited that Chinese actress Angelababy is one of the top-earning actress in the country as she makes $200,000 in every episode.
Meanwhile, many netizens expressed support regarding CARFT's latest measure.
"The higher ups have policies, while the lower downs have their own ways of getting around them" a user reportedly said, as cited by WhatsonWeibo.
