Child Actor from 'Akebu Color' Accuses Wang Baoqiang of Failing to Fulfill Promise of College Support
Ma Hu, a child actor from the film ‘Akebu’s Color’, recently accused renowned actor Wang Baoqiang of promising to support the film’s young actors through college but not following through. The actor’s trainer provided additional context on the situation.
A recent controversy has emerged surrounding renowned Chinese actor Wang Baoqiang and his alleged treatment of the child actors in his 2018 film “Akebu’s Color”. Ma Hu, one of the young actors who portrayed a teenage version of Ma Hu in the film, recently made public accusations that Wang had promised to financially support Ma Hu and the other child actors in their college educations, but ultimately did not fulfill this commitment.
Ma Hu claimed that the four main child actors in “Akebu’s Color” were paid a total of just over 150,000 yuan (approximately $22,000) for several months of filming, equating to a daily wage of only 1,000 yuan ($145) each. He also alleged that during filming, the child actors were served only boiled vegetables and rarely given meat, despite being in a critical growth stage. Ma Hu says this strict diet caused the children to lose dozens of pounds.
Furthermore, Ma Hu stated that Wang Baoqiang had publicly promised during the film’s release to support any of the participating child actors who wished to attend college, all the way through to graduation. However, Ma Hu says he has not received any such support, and that Wang did not even respond to text messages Ma sent during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday.
Additional context was provided by Sun, the acting coach for the child actors. According to Sun, Wang Baoqiang did indeed make promises to support the children’s education, but gradually lost touch with them after filming wrapped. Sun also refuted Wang’s alleged claims of personally scouting the child actors from remote villages, stating that Sun himself provided and trained the young actors.
In response to the accusations, many netizens have come to Wang Baoqiang’s defense. They argue that the compensation the child actors received was quite generous considering their lack of acting experience, and question why Wang should be expected to fund Ma Hu’s college education now that Ma Hu is an adult and professional actor himself. Some accused Ma Hu and his acting coach of trying to exploit Wang’s previous charity for their own gain now that the child actors' careers have stalled.
So far, Wang Baoqiang and his representatives have not made any official response to the allegations. Many are waiting to see if he will address the controversy and present his side of the story. The true picture remains unclear, but the court of public opinion seems largely sympathetic to Wang Baoqiang, a beloved actor who built his career from humble beginnings. Most feel these accusations, even if true, do not warrant labeling him as a “collapsing idol”.