Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse is giving up Canadian citizenship amid Chinese crackdown on entertainment industry

[The_King]

Hong Kong actor and singer Nicholas Tse is applying to give up his Canadian citizenship amid rising concerns that holding dual citizenship may be viewed as unpatriotic by mainland Chinese audience.

Over the weekend, Tse, who was in the wildly successful Chinese action movie Raging Fire , told the CCTV programme Perception Room that he is in the process of renouncing his Canadian citizenship.

“Whether it’s food, music or action films, I have the willingness and responsibility to spread Chinese culture to the whole world,” he said.

 

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

 

Tse said an online comment about Raging Fire “made his heart skip a beat” because it asked if he was Canadian: “I wondered, why would they say that?”

Tse’s father, Patrick Tse, and Tse’s manager, Mani Fok, told the Oriental Daily that they would respect his personal decision.

Tse was born in Hong Kong in 1980. His father was a famous actor at the time, as was his mother, Deborah Lee. He moved to Vancouver at a young age and moved back to Hong Kong with his family later.

His time in Canada allowed him to become a Hong Kong and Canadian dual citizenship holder. Mainland Chinese citizens cannot become dual citizens, so they must renounce a foreign citizenship if they hope to become a Chinese citizen, or renounce their Chinese citizenship if they would like to obtain a non-Chinese nationality.

 

Hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers hold dual citizenship, but Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in February that the city would “strictly enforce” laws that do not recognise dual citizenship.

Although there is no official ban on Chinese stars with foreign passports on the mainland, the Chinese public occasionally criticises celebrities of foreign nationalities. Some stars have dropped foreign citizenship for a Chinese one to boost their career.

In July, US-born Arthur Chen Feiyu, the son of famous director Chen Kaige, swapped his American citizenship for a Chinese one, his studio said on Weibo.

Earlier this year, Beijing banned mentions of director Chloe Zhao’s Oscar wins. She was born in China and has spent a significant portion of her life in Britain and the US. She made comments critical of China in 2013, prompting people to question her nationality when Nomadland turned her into a household name after winning three Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards.

 

Chloe Zhao found herself at the centre of criticism in China after people discovered negative comments she made about the country in 2013. Photo: AFP

Liu Yifei, the China-born star of Disney’s Mulan, received criticism for giving up her Chinese citizenship.

Other top names who have changed their passports include Gong Li and Jet Li, now Singaporean, and director Chen Kaige, who is a US citizen.

 

Tse’s announcement and declaration of national spirit came amid a sweeping crackdown on the entertainment industry by the Chinese government.

Over the summer, several policies and online censorship targeted celebrities who had behaved poorly. The stars had been accused of crimes ranging from rape, tax evasion or behaviour and speech that hurt “public order and morals”.

 

Vicky Zhao Wei was removed from the Chinese internet in August for unknown reasons. Photo: Wanlimu

Kris Wu, a Chinese-Canadian singer, was detained by the Chinese police on August 16 after multiple women accused him of rape. He has been thoroughly censored on the Chinese internet.

Last month, billionaire actress Vicki Zhao Wei appeared to have been blacklisted by the government after her entire internet presence was scrubbed without explanation.

 

 

 

[The_King]

welcome to communist

[Satki]

guess when it comes to money

 

its never enough

 

 

get too rich, the commies will get him

 

stupidity knows no bounds

 

[Huat Zai]

I was going to call him 傻B, then I remembered that his woman is Mainlander, he doesn't have a choice.

[XianGe]

10 hours ago, Huat Zai said:

I was going to call him 傻B, then I remembered that his woman is Mainlander, he doesn't have a choice.

There's an option to bring his woman to Vancouver... 

[Huat Zai]

1 hour ago, XianGe said:

There's an option to bring his woman to Vancouver... 

His woman's background is very heavily fly red flag one, even if she wants to move also not so easy.

[socrates469bc]

6 hours ago, XianGe said:

There's an option to bring his woman to Vancouver... 

 

5 hours ago, Huat Zai said:

His woman's background is very heavily fly red flag one, even if she wants to move also not so easy.

 

heavy red flags all alrdy shift bulk of money overseas liao.

 

or else why u think this Towkay decided to list his most profitable tiong biz on shanghai exchange????

 

wahahahahaha

 

[socrates469bc]

18 hours ago, Satki said:

guess when it comes to money

 

its never enough

 

 

get too rich, the commies will get him

 

stupidity knows no bounds

 

 

thats why i admire this Towkay of all Towkays.

 

[socrates469bc]

but i still want to live my life as a sakti bkk teochew Towkay.

 

wahahahahahaha