Yang Mi Gets Second Billing in “Harbin 1944,” Jin Chen Gets Third Billing in Her New Drama and Both Actresses Speak Up for Their Roles

Billing order in C-ent has seen its fair share of controversies. When a new series or film is announced, having an actor or actress listed first as the most prominent in the cast can become a point of contention. However, two actresses have recently spoken up to stress that there is nothing more important than a good project.

Harbin 1944 Announces Qin Hao Opposite Yang Mi

Yang Mi who recently left her former agency has just announced her newest project entitled Harbin 1944 哈尔滨一九四四. The Republican spy series is top billed by Qin Hao opposite the actress as his leading lady.

While some feel it’s reasonable for Qin Hao who has had consecutive successes with The Bad Kids and The Long Season in recent years to have top billing over Yang Mi, others feel she was “downgraded” and that it’s unfair for the popular actress who has hit dramas of her own. As Yang Mi’s second billing drew heated debate and trended online, many applauded her when she took to social media to put the matters to rest. She wrote, “What can move an actor should be a good script, a good role, a good partner, and a good team. The first task of an actor is character creation, each role has its own seat, and each role has reason for existence. In this era, if it is gold, it will shine, and the order of names should make way for the characters.”

Jin Chen Goes from Having Second Billing to Third Billing?

Just a day later, actress Jin Chen also trended when her new drama Nan Lai Bei Wang 南来北往 appears to have moved her name down to third in the cast list. The period drama which stars Bai Jingting, Jin Chen and veteran actor Ding Yongdai had her in second when filming began last November but when filming wrapped last month, Ding Yongdai’s photo came before Jin Chen’s. Today, the show dropped a new poster with a caption introducing Bai Jingting and Ding Yongdai as teacher-student before introducing Jin Chen as the love interest.

Given that Jin Chen’s name appears to have dropped from second to third, some of her fans are crying foul. They explain that it’s not their intent to fight for billing but to call for production to respect the actress instead of seemingly blurring the billing order. Meanwhile, the actress has also taken to social media to speak up. She wrote, “Honored to participate in Nan Lai Bei Wang, don’t want any voice to blur and affect the project. I have always believed that: work (the project) is king, the character is the soul, and it is the duty of an actor to act well. A good role is the only criterion for an actor to choose a project…”

With artists themselves casting aside other issues to put importance on the roles they choose, perhaps fan wars over top billing will now become a thing of the past.