Star of cancerdrug film China’s best role model
BEIJING : The protagonist of the black comedy Dying To Survive, a movie about smuggling cheap cancer drugs from India to China, has been ranked number one in a new list of socially responsible celebrities compiled by Chinese government-funded institutes.
Chinese celebrity Jackie Chan, well-known in India and more popular than many others on the list, was placed in the low 40s.
Famous actress Fan Bingbing, one of China’s and East Asia’s most recognisable faces, ranked the lowest among the 100 celebrities on the list.
The “social responsibility assessment” – the first of its kind for celebrities in China – was carried out by the Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
“The celebrities were evaluated on three criteria — professional work, charitable work, and integrity — based on information collected from media reports published in the past year,” news website Sixth Tone reported.
High scores were given to celebrities who emerged as “relatively strong role models”, as opposed to celebrities mired in controversies or not known to do philanthropy.
Dying To Survive, besides doing unexpectedly good business, also moved critics and audiences alike by “reflecting the struggles of cancer patients in attaining affordable medication”.