The star was released from secret detention and returned to the Chinese capital about two weeks ago, as Beijing regulators concluded their investigation into her tax evasion case, according to a report Thursday in the South China Morning Post, which cited sources "with knowledge of the case." She was reportedly kept in a "holiday resort" used to investigate Chinese officials suspected of corruption, in a suburb of Wuxi in coastal Jiangsu province, where her embattled company is based. Just prior to Fan's tax evasion scandal exploding into public view in June, Chinese social media was awash with rumors that she had bought a luxury condo in Shanghai for nearly $40 million (270 million yuan). Despite the hefty penalties, Fan will not face criminal charges if she pays all the money by an undisclosed deadline as requested by the tax authorities, Xinhua said, citing a 2009 amendment to China’s criminal law. According to the SCMP's estimates, Fan earned about $208 million (1.4 billion yuan) between 2003 and 2016; and Forbes pegs her 2017 earnings at a whopping $43.5 million (300 million yuan). Fan was held under “residential surveillance at a designated location”, a form of detention introduced into criminal law in 2012 that lets police detain anyone suspected of endangering state security, terrorism or significant corruption at an undisclosed location for up to six months. The practice has been regularly condemned by international rights groups since its introduction. As she put it in her apology letter on Wednesday: "I will try my best to overcome all difficulties, raise funds, pay taxes, and pay fines according to the final decision of the tax authorities."
– More than three months after she disappeared from public view, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing has resurfaced. Bingbing, China's most famous and highest-paid actress, is best known internationally for her role as Blink in X-Men: Days of Future Past. She had last been spotted July 1; on Wednesday, she was ordered to pay a $130 million fine for tax evasion and other offenses. For the first time since June, she issued a public statement apologizing for wrongdoing, and now it has been revealed that she was released from a secret detention facility about two weeks ago and returned to Beijing, according to sources cited in the South China Morning Post. Sources say Fan was held at a remote "holiday resort" typically used to investigate Chinese officials who are suspected of corruption. One insider says she was under "residential surveillance at a designated location"—a practice used in China since 2012 that allows anyone suspected of certain crimes to be held for up to six months without access to legal counsel or contact with family. The Post's sources disagree on whether her ordeal is over or whether she will face further questioning, but a senior film executive in Beijing tells the Hollywood Reporter that he and his colleagues have been in touch with Fan since she made her statement and that she is in Beijing. "She has regained her liberty and is in relatively good spirits," according to the executive. It remains unclear whether Fan can afford the penalties; she reportedly has a deadline to pay if she wants to avoid criminal charges and be sent to prison.