Academic paper by top China actress triggers ability debate, bribery claims debunked

Many people online have questioned whether Yang Mi's paper was all her own work. Photo: Douyin

• Writing for academic journals requires strong skills, substantial research, mentorship, critics ask if actress had time and ability to do so

Yang Mi, one of China's most renowned actresses, faced a backlash after writing an article on acting for a prestigious academic journal.

She was accused of using a ghostwriter and urged her to "focus on improving her acting skills."

Yang, a household name in China with 113 million followers on Weibo, is celebrated for her roles in major television dramas such as Chinese Paladin 3, Palace 1, and Eternal Love, which were all national sensations.

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The controversy arose on June 21 when the official website of the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations announced that their publication, China Radio & TV Journal, would feature an article authored by Yang in an upcoming issue.

Titled, A Brief Discussion on Actors' Creative Habits in TV Dramas, the piece draws from her role in the series In the Name of the Brother, which premiered in April on the mainland, and in which Yang plays a spy.

The issue has yet to be officially published.

The academic department of the federation confirmed Yang's authorship, and the journal's editorial staff clarified that "no editing or publication fees were charged", reported The Paper.

China Radio & TV Journal is identified as being on the extended list of "C journals", which refers to the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI) and includes some of the most prestigious and core journals in China.

As there are not many core journals, some others are included in the extended version with the potential to be elevated to the C list in the future.

Even for young professors and doctoral candidates, publishing in these journals is challenging as it requires strong writing skills, substantial research and often mentorship to succeed.

Yang's apparent solo authorship has raised scepticism among netizens, with many questioning how an actress with a demanding schedule could independently conduct research and write a scholarly article without help.

"From selecting a topic, drafting an outline, analysing data, to writing and revising a paper, this process usually takes at least a year," one person said.

"Yang Mi completed filming In the Name of the Brother in 2023, the series aired in early 2024, and during this period, she was also busy with other projects, attending Cannes, and promoting other TV dramas.

"How did she manage to find time to write such a high-quality academic paper?" asked another.

"Next time my adviser tells me it's hard to get published in a C journal, I'll be sceptical. Yang managed to publish in an extended C journal amid her busy schedule. Shouldn't we all reflect on ourselves?" a doctoral student wrote.

Yang was tagged on Weibo by people who said they were "seeking guidance", and asking: "Could you share your process for writing and submitting your paper? How many drafts did you go through from the initial to the final version? How long was the submission process? Are there any other good journals you could recommend?"

Some people criticised her performance in the show, finding it hard to believe that this role could serve as a credible reference for discussing acting skills.

"A commercially-driven actress publishing an academic paper, does this TV series even warrant a journal article? She should focus on improving her acting skills instead," one critic said.

"Her acting is so bad. Is she publishing to compensate for it?" another asked.

The discussions also led to accusations that Yang had used a ghostwriter.

"You do not need to see it to know it was ghostwritten. Do not be like Zhai Tianlin and make people dislike you," someone else wrote.

They were referring to actor Zhai Tianlin, who said in 2018 that he did not know what CNKI, or the China National Knowledge Infrastructure was - the most well-known database of academic papers in China.

This led to suspicion about how he completed his doctoral dissertation, which was later revealed to contain plagiarism.

The Beijing Film Academy revoked his PhD degree on February 19, 2019.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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