As above. Before you make a comment (and I welcome all), please read through the whole piece carefully.
There’s a misconception that Chinese netizens think: Aijing, a kid, should be held responsible for her parents’ debts → thus should have her career ruined.
So on the flip side, many think: kids have nothing to do with their parents’ debts, why hate on Aijing?
The latter is correct. But Chinese netizens are actually getting at something else entirely.
In essence: her career is built on blood money, meaning money that’s so inherently dirty and morally tainted that no one should be able to profit from it, despite them being innocent.
To put it into more ‘Western’ terms, imagine someone’s training and celebrity status was paid for by their parents doing some human trafficking and sex slavery. That’s dirty money coming from people’s suffering; no one (innocent or not) should be profiting from that; and anyone halfway decent knowing what their career was built on would back out.
Aijing’s mum is what the Chinese call a ‘老赖’。I make the above example to human trafficking because foreign fans don’t understand what a ‘老赖‘ is and the severity of the issue. It’s really not just ‘some debts owed’ or ‘bad business practice’.
First, I’ll tangent to a brief example of Qu Wanting, a Chinese-Canadian singer who had her career cancelled also due to her mother being ’老赖‘。Several families in Harbin were dependent on her mother distributing government money. Because she didn’t, workers had to spend winters as cold as -24°C on the streets; some mothers had to go out and prostitute themselves because their families were literally starving; in some cases, whole families (including children) committed suicide together.
The money that was supposed to save families’ lives was instead used for Qu Wanting’s school fees, her piano lessons, to build her music career (much like Aijing). Qu Wanting, of course, was innocent. But it goes without saying that her career couldn’t continue; it would really be a slap in the victims’ faces if she could use money that took people’s lives away to enjoy herself in the spotlight.
Chinese netizens think the same logic applies here (to all ‘老赖‘）。A ‘老赖’ (like Aijing’s mother) owes unpaid wages; has been ordered to pay by a court; and simply refuses to do so.
In China, that always threatens actual lives. There are many cases out there if you would like to read up: in 2021, a delivery driver tried to take his own life over just 5000 rmb — that’s all it takes to make all the difference for low-wage workers. His sister said if the pay was even a month late, the entire family would have nothing to eat. Similarly, another Harbin worker permanently disabled himself whilst protesting over an unpaid 4000 rmb, because that money made a ‘life or death’ difference for him; an Anhui worker committed suicide after years of chasing up wages.
It’s hard to even properly describe the despair these people go through. It is literally the end of the road: no money, no shelter, no food.
Even for people better off, it hits hard. It’s hard to imagine because employment laws are much stricter in the west; very seldom could an employer ever get off simply not paying an entire year’s worth of wages. But that’s exactly what’s happening: You work a full year. Rent, food, your kid’s school fees all depend on that pay. It never comes, and it’s never going to come.
Aijing’s mum owes somewhere between 3.5 million – 9 million rmb in unpaid wages. Even being generous to her (taking the 3.5 million) … just think about how many families at the bottom are suffering from that; or, how many people’s full year, full time pay that is.
To put it into perspective, a netizen came forward with her own experience. Her mother had been owed a large number of wages by a 老赖；after years of work, she was left penniless. Like Aijing’s mother, the 老赖 was living comfortably for years and used that money (alongside, presumably, money owed to others) to send her daughter to a private school in Australia. She described how her mother couldn’t do anything about it, thought about the unfairness of it all the time, became extremely depressed and often contemplated suicide. She said if the 老赖’s daughter was also about to become a celebrity like Aijing, using that money, receiving praise and enjoying the spotlight, she would have likely ‘被气的吐血‘。
An important point: Aijing’s mother has not returned any of the money. Her ‘apology’ on Weibo was issued in very unapologetic terms and basically said: I can’t return the money right now, also don’t bother my daughter.
It’s undisputed that she is able to return to money (they have more than enough money) and has always been able to do so. So no, she doesn’t need Aijing to ‘debut and earn money’ to repay the debt. ‘老赖‘ is currently a blind spot in Chinese law, and 99% of 老赖 never repay their debts.
Given her notice, it’s clear that Aijing’s mother is planning to never repay her debts. Those victims will be left outstanding forever. We know the situation is dire because many of their victims have filed criminal charges. If they suffer, starve, or die from it, well too bad, her daughter’s career is more important right…
Especially in China and Korea, being a celebrity is seen as coming with immense privilege and also responsibility. Aijing has no legal responsibility for her parents’ debts, and no one should harass her. But Aijing and her family should not be allowed to benefit further from other people’s suffering. Every stage, stream and fan vote is the return on that spending, giving them the reward whilst the victims still wait.
It’s unfair on Aijing, unfortunately, but it would be much much more unfair on the victims if she got to keep the benefits from the dirty money whilst they struggle to live well and, in some cases, live at all. Chinese citizens are only asking that she return to her previously already comfortable life; on the other side, people’s livelihoods and lives are at risk.
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