'Shaolin soccer' star Zhao Wei becomes the latest victim of Beijing's celebrity crackdown

In its crackdown on "celebrity culture," Beijing has removed the name of one of China's biggest stars from video platforms.

As Beijing continues to clamp down on the entertainment industry and fan culture, Chinese billionaire Zhao Wei, also known as Vicky Zhao, has found herself the latest target of this internet takedown.

'My Fair Princess', the most successful television series in China's history, shot Zhao Wei to fame in the late 1990s. After becoming an A-list actress, she went on to become a director, pop singer and businesswoman.

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According to a local newspaper China Business News, on Thursday many major works by the 45-year-old actor didn't play on streaming sites last week.

CNN reports that her fan page has been removed from Chinese social networking site Weibo, and as per a report by SCMP reports, her hashtag on the sitethat enabled her fans to share information about the actresswas also censored.

The entire internet presence of the actress has been scrubbed.Major Chinese online streaming services have no trace of serial and chat shows featuring her. Even the online credits for her movies no longer include her.

Recent months have seen the Chinese authorities take action against the entertainment industry over what state media outlets have described as "improper fan activities."

Though the move is part of a squeeze on celebrity culture, it is unclear why she is being targeted. While some people feel that this is a celebrity purge aimed at LGBTQ+ content and its creators, others speculate that the actress might be evading tax.

Others speculate that it might be because of her connection with the company Ali Baba and its founder, Jack Ma.Her husband, Huang Youlong was also part of a private equity deal with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma in 2015.

Late last year, a Chinese government crackdown prevented Jack Ma from taking his Ant Group public last year after he criticised the state bureaucracy. Then, for three months he disappeared from the public eye.

On Friday, China's top internet watchdog announced that it will take further action against harmful information being circulated by celebrity fan groups and will shut down discussion forums that spread celebrity scandals or "provoke trouble."

In recent days, China has issued a number of stringent rules on a range of topics from video games to movies to music, censoring anything that it deems as a violation of its core socialist values.