Chinese actress Bai Lu hit by new wave of controversies, initiates legal proceedings
According to CCTV News, in response to the escalating disputes over actors' credit ordering in the television drama (and web drama) industry in recent years, the China TV Drama Production Industry Association, the China Netcasting Services Association, and the Actors' Committee of the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations jointly issued a notice today (June 12) to member organizations titled "Notice on Regulating Actor Credits in Television Dramas (Web Dramas)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").
This move aims to address the chaos of "fighting for top billing" at its root, guide the industry back to the fundamentals of artistic creation, and foster a healthy and positive cultural and artistic environment.
According to internal industry feedback, in recent years, some television dramas (and web dramas) have seen multiple disputes arising across various stages — casting, signing contracts, filming, promotion, and broadcasting — due to issues such as actor credit attribution and billing order. In some cases, these disputes have even led to production halts, project delays, and public opinion confrontations, seriously disrupting normal creative processes and worsening the industry ecosystem, prompting strong reactions from all sides of the industry.
"When rankings overshadow acting skills, and position replaces quality, artistic works lose their soul," an industry insider pointed out. Such trends not only encourage the misguided value orientation of "traffic [popularity] above all," but also fuel unhealthy "fan culture" among adolescents, while saddling the entire industry with a negative image of being impetuous and overly profit-driven. Standardizing credit attribution has therefore become an urgent necessity.
The Notice states that actors should consciously abide by professional ethics, devote their energy to artistic creation, and not allow credit ordering (name listing) to interfere with the regular creative order. Actors and their agencies should effectively fulfill their social responsibilities, actively and proactively guide fans to pursue celebrities in a rational manner, and not use credit ordering as a pretext to create public opinion confrontations, while firmly resisting online attacks and irrational behavior triggered by disputes over credit ordering.
Regarding actor credit rules, the Notice makes clear that actor credits shall be subject to categorized management. Based on the nature of roles, screen time, and actual level of participation, the titles "leading actor [role]," "special role [in Chinese entertainment industry, it refers to well-known or influential actors taking on secondary roles]," and "starring" shall be used in a standardized manner, and no additional or alternative designations may be arbitrarily added or modified. It is further specified that the above categories apply only to actors with clearly defined corresponding roles.
The Notice emphasizes that, within this classification framework, actor credits shall be ordered according to the number of strokes in the surname of their legal names, arranged from fewer to more strokes (for compound surnames, the stroke count of the first character shall be used; for ethnic minority names, the stroke count of the first Chinese character in the name as registered on the ID shall apply).
If the stroke counts are identical, the stroke count of the second character, then the third character of the name shall be compared in sequence, until a unique ordering is determined.
The Notice requires that, in principle, actor credits should use legal names. If a stage name that has already gained widespread recognition is to be used, it must follow the standardized format of "real name (stage name)", and stage names, English names, or nicknames may not be used alone.
The Notice further explains that in cases where special circumstances arise regarding the above provisions, production companies must submit a written explanation to the issuing unit of the Notice and file it for record.
Regarding the format of actor credits, the Notice specifies that in opening credits, actor titles shall be uniformly limited to two categories: "leading actor [role]" and "special role," with the number of "special roles" generally not exceeding 10 individuals. The opening credit section must clearly indicate "ordered by surname stroke count."
For closing credits, all actors must be fully listed in the cast roll and credited under three categories — "leading actor [role]," "special role", and "starring" — with each likewise arranged according to surname stroke count. The closing credit section must also explicitly state "ordered by surname stroke count."
In addition, the Notice also requires that all promotional materials and publicly released information — including posters, trailers, press releases, official social media content, and offline event materials — must follow the same actor crediting rules as those used in the opening credits. No differentiation in treatment is allowed based on platform, setting, or distribution channel.
To ensure the smooth implementation of the new rules, the Notice sets an adaptation buffer period of approximately one month and will officially take effect on July 10, 2026. From that time onward, all first-run television dramas and web dramas must strictly comply with the new regulations.
Officials from the three associations stated that a regular supervision mechanism will be established. Projects and talent agencies that fail to properly implement the requirements and cause negative impacts will be subject to industry-wide notification. In more serious cases, they will be included in the risk warning list.
Source: Luzhong Morning Post
