According to Chinese media, the current standard pay for A-list actors is around 25 million yuan per project. The figure is significantly lower than the 200 million yuan per project that Chinese media frequently reported during the peak years of the country’s booming entertainment market.
However, the 25 million yuan figure is not an official salary cap imposed by Chinese regulators. Instead, it reflects the current market average as streaming platforms reduce production budgets, investors become more cautious, and projects rely less on star power alone.
The shift follows a sweeping restructuring of China’s film and television industry after a series of scandals involving “yin-yang contracts,” tax evasion, and excessive celebrity salaries.
Between 2016 and 2018, as investment poured into the entertainment industry, production companies were willing to spend enormous sums to secure the country’s biggest stars. Chinese media previously reported that some television dramas with production budgets of around 300 million yuan allocated as much as 200 million yuan solely to actors’ salaries. Several top-tier celebrities were also said to receive between 100 million and 200 million yuan for a single production.
With most of the budget going toward cast salaries, funding for scripts, production design, costumes, visual effects, and post-production was often reduced. Many dramas were criticized for relying on celebrity appeal while delivering weak storytelling and production quality that failed to justify their enormous budgets.
In response, Chinese broadcasting regulators introduced new rules in 2018, requiring that total cast salaries for television dramas and online series could not exceed 40% of a production’s overall budget. Salaries for lead actors were further limited to no more than 70% of the total amount allocated for the cast.
That same year, China’s three major streaming platforms iQIYI, Youku, and Tencent Video along with six major production companies, agreed on an industry self-regulation mechanism. Under the agreement, an individual actor’s salary would not exceed 1 million yuan per episode, with a maximum of 50 million yuan for an entire television drama.
By 2019, Chinese media reported that the highest salaries for many major stars had already fallen from approximately 150 million yuan to around 50 million yuan following the government’s industry-wide crackdown.
More recently, multiple industry sources have suggested that 25 million yuan has become the typical market rate for some of China’s biggest actors. Even so, this figure is not an official regulation but rather reflects changing market conditions as streaming platforms continue cutting costs and producers place greater emphasis on controlling budgets.
Industry observers believe the decline in actor salaries has allowed production companies to invest more resources into screenwriting, visual effects, production design, and overall content quality. Nevertheless, acting fees remain only one portion of top celebrities’ earnings, as many continue generating substantial income through endorsements, television appearances, livestreaming, and brand ambassador contracts.
Sources: LD
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