Shrinking HK Entertainment Industry Forces Artists into Product Selling Shows in China

In recent years, many HK artists go to mainland China in search of acting opportunities. Joseph Lee Kwok-lun (L) and Deric Wan Siu-lun (R) take part in this popular "live chat and promote goods" program. Screenshots via the Epoch Times

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of Hong Kong artists going to mainland China to appear in “live chat cum selling products” shows, where they try to sell their products during live broadcasts. However, the on-stage behaviour of some of these artists often arouses heated discussions on the Internet in Hong Kong.

For example, Joseph Lee Kwok-lun had been called a “lousy product-selling actor” because of his low sales volume and was also accused of selling fake products. To add to this insult, he even sold feminine hygiene products on the show. It is not uncommon to find some artists overeat and sell goods with hilarious exaggeration.

Some senior entertainment journalists and film critics described that as a shame: what they are selling is not actual products, but dignity. This phenomenon reflects the sad reality that Hong Kong’s entertainment industry has reached such a forlorn state, where the lack of local job opportunities has forced them to go north to “sell goods.”

In recent years, countless Hong Kong artists have become hosts of these “Live Chat with Goods” shows, including but not limited to, Joseph Lee Kwok-lun, Benny Chan Ho-man, Evergreen Mak Cheung-ching, Kwong Wa, Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, Eric Tsang Chi-wai, pop group Twins, Joey Yung Cho-yee, Jordan Chan Siu-chun, Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, Deric Wan Siu-lun, Wong Cho-lam, Rosamund Kwan Chi-lam, and the like. Some of their behaviours have caused heated discussions on the Internet in Hong Kong.

For instance, Lee Kwok-lun, the 68-year-old “King of the green leaves (supporting actors) in TVB,” started his pursuit of acting opportunities in mainland China in April last year (2021). Some netizens ridiculed him for staying in a live broadcast continuously for eight hours, but with just about 1,000 viewers, resulting in a very low sales volume and estimated earnings of less than 200 yuan (US$28). He was also found once promoting feminine hygiene products and ate spicy crayfish during the live broadcast producing eyes full of tears and his lips turned purple.

Lee once revealed during an exclusive interview with Guangdong Radio’s “Beautiful Person in Beautiful Talk” programme that he started doing such “live streaming and goods sale” shows at the suggestion of his manager. The initial results were exceptionally good. He once achieved sales of three million yuan (US$417,000) in just two to three hours. However, he was once accused of selling fake goods, which not only led to many goods being returned but also mockery by netizens of him as a “lousy artist with bad sales records.” All these really hit him psychologically, and adversely affected his subsequent sales volume too.

May Chan Ka-kai, nicknamed “Little Treasure,” a TVB actress, follows the “Internet celebrity eat and broadcast” route and often broadcasts her overeating habits on items such as instant noodles, desserts, fish maw, sausages, and the like. Her sales methods are considered extremely exaggerated. Once when she was promoting fish maw, she claimed that she had to eat that every day for 15 years to keep herself wrinkle-free.

Deric Wan Siu-lun was suspected of being drunk during a live online broadcast in November 2021 and inadvertently revealed his own bitter experience. He described himself as appearing bright and beautiful on the surface, but all these were just superficial and in fact, he was in a state even worse than being in jail. According to media reports, such “live streaming and selling goods” shows had become Wan’s main source of income. Because of that he even needed to try to sell sanitary napkins, safety pants, and other feminine products, but still only attracted about 1,000 viewers to the live broadcast.

Entertainment Journalist: Very Aggrieved and Pitiful State of Affair

Senior entertainment journalist Poon Siu-man once pointed out in her online “D100” programme “Entertaining-The Little Nanny” that the general trend of the pro-establishment TV station “TVB” is to arrange for more artists to “bring (sell) goods” in the mainland. But in fact, they are not actually selling goods, but dignity. She mentioned specifically the case of Lee Kwok-lun being asked to sell feminine hygiene products. This incident was very aggrieving, pitiful, and not funny at all. She questioned whether artists should devise a bottom line for themselves while attempting to make money.

The famous Taiwanese YouTuber “Chaji” also uploaded a video commentary titled “The End of Hong Kong Artists, China’s Live Chat Room with Goods.” The analysis pointed out that Hong Kong TV drama was once in its “golden age” and elevated quite a number of artists as celebrities.

However, with the decline of the TV drama industry, many TV stars who were once immensely popular are now going north to the mainland to “bring (sell) goods.” He cited the TVB classic drama “Journey to the West” as an example, in which actors Kwong Wa, Benny Chan Ho-man, Evergreen Mak Cheung-ching, and Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, who together played the master (Tang monk) and his three entourages, are now the anchors of their respective “Goods selling” programmes.

Film Critic: A Sad Reflection of the Shrinking HK Entertainment Industry

In an interview with the Epoch Times, film critic Ben Lam Siu-pan said bluntly that the online culture of “bringing goods” in mainland China is low-level fun, and those hosts are grandstanding in order to promote products, such as overeating. He described the status of most Hong Kong artists who “bring goods” to the north are those becoming forgotten and unpopular in Hong Kong. They are forced to give up their dignity in order to make a living. And to develop a career via “bringing goods” in mainland China is an even more unprofessional and sad reality.

Lam also pointed out that to see so many Hong Kong artists going north to “bring goods,” and when many of them are arranged by the TV stations or managers, they all point to the sad reality of a shrinking Hong Kong performing arts industry and the lack of local job opportunities. If Hong Kong’s soft power is resilient enough, and the TV station and film industry are willing or able to produce more films and television episodes, there is certainly no such need for the artists to go north and engage in such “bring goods” farce.

He believes that the Hong Kong government also has a responsibility and should allocate more public funds to subsidize the Hong Kong film and television industries to create more job opportunities. As a good precedent, the South Korean government regards the export of cultural assets as part of its national policy and established the “Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)” to support the music, film and television industries. It is through this agency that Korea successfully exports its popular culture to the world and creates a large number of jobs as a result.

Chance Live Broadcast with Goods Selling Could Hit the Political Red Line

In addition, “live streaming with goods selling” in mainland China could also hit the political red line by chance. For example, on June 3, mainland internet celebrity anchor Li Jiaqi, also known as the “Lipstick Big Brother,” committed such a fault by showing a tank-shaped ice cream cake during one of his live broadcasts. The live broadcast was immediately interrupted, and Li Jiaqi disappeared from the Internet for quite a while without any more news. Someone close to Li’s team had responded that Li Jiaqi has always been loyal to the CCP, and this incident just reflected his momentary ignorance of the sensitivity related to the “June 4 Incident.”

After Li Jiaqi disappeared for 109 days, he reappeared in a low-key Taobao live broadcast room on Sept. 20, selling detergent, garbage bags, underwear, sneakers, disinfectants, and the like. It still attracted occasionally over 30 million viewers during his live broadcasts.

Furthermore, the CCP released the “Code of Conduct for Internet Anchors” in June, which added more regulations on the content allowed of Internet anchors. Listed there were 31 kinds of behaviours that are fully censored, such as advocation of all sorts of discrimination, scenes of excessive horror, physical pain, fake eating, overeating, and the like.