The director of picturesque masterpieces, Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, has been marked by the devil of doom and scandal. Wong Kar-wai and screenwriter Qin Wen are allegedly involved in a contentious audio recording that has caused a stir in the Chinese entertainment sector. There will be some Twitter tards asking ‘@grok why?’ Instead of AI, I will quench the thirst of curious minds.
Serious allegations have been made against Wong Kar-wai’s drama Blossoms Shanghai after a former employee, “Gu Er” alleged she was taken advantage of and refused credit. She claims that she created the primary plots, put in a lot of overtime while running personal errands, and was never compensated appropriately or given credit as a writer.
Gu Er also disclosed that production refused to pay for her research expenses and that working long overnight shifts made her ALS worse. As proof, she provided audio recordings and dated drafts. Wong Kar-wai, credited author Qin Wen, and the streaming services have not yet replied. The recording reveals alleged behind-the-scenes discussions that disclose power dynamics, casting deception, favouritism, and character assassination of well-known personalities.
The issue has sparked discussions about fair compensation, writer rights, and how prestigious productions handle their creative teams. Many artists are demanding accountability and legal protection for behind-the-scenes creators.
The director defined actress Tang Yan as “someone who loves to show off. Don’t let her arrive on set first—others should arrive before her.” The filmmaker suggested that she acted in an excessively exaggerated manner on set.
Liu Shishi, meanwhile, was brought up in relation to the drama My Best Friend’s Story. According to reports, Qin Wen stated, “Ni Ni got Liu Shishi’s iconic lines,” and added, “Ni Ni doesn’t need to come to me—I’m always in charge of her matters,” suggesting partiality. (Audience would be the judge of that).
The back-biting was not exclusive to actresses. A prior audio that was made public in September 2025 also mentions actor Chen Daoming. According to the recording, the actor turned down Wong Kar-wai’s request for him to appear in Blossoms Shanghai.
“He pretends to be philosophical, likes to recommend books, but doesn’t read them,” said Qin Wen, making fun of him. “Always wants to revise lines but can’t memorize long scripts.”
Gu Er’s writings, where he talked about the difficult conditions of working on the Blossoms production Translation Below
“Feeling Scholar Hostility”
Original work, author: Guzhi Erxinjia, Official account: Guzhi Erxinjia, Published: 2022-12-14 11:29
Original address: Feeling Scholar Hostility
“At the beginning of the new crown [COVID], there was a drama that was about to air… It was delayed, dragged on. The director kept urging the elderly couple at my house every time—since the drama wasn’t updated, it reflected badly on him. Each time during the Lunar New Year period, the delay and breakup, and before the big day arrived, the old couple’s penthouse—a red sunset, was spoiled by the hasty red envelope crossing the border.
Inside the house, less talk, writing [the script] for the second and third seasons’ sponsor placement, the stove was stewing and simmering beef broth, my hands rubbing the dough, watching the ice condensation on the flood-controlling household’s water, opening the refrigerator door, this soup’s recipe came from a high-ranking military school official, carefully refined, the taste suits winter and summer, he likes it, I ate the second bowl. My parents praised me for making a bowl of five-grain rice, a pot of meat and soup, completely self-sufficient from start to finish.
Daytime, I couldn’t buy it, couldn’t buy medicine, only incense could send off the deceased, asking if there was a pharmacy with antipyretic medicine available. She didn’t reply, also didn’t have it, just needed some medicine, I said, I know the medicine is scarce and expensive, so what should I do now? She didn’t respond again, she was absolutely an incompetent person. At this point, she was left speechless.
After the translation ended, she had a good meal, and there was no good medicine. When thinking about it, the pressure of today’s threat would definitely be exposed by Weishitu [威士图], using the script of a new master line and others. The Hong Kong film era went and never returned, lamenting the relationship between me and the vice scriptwriter, knowing the difficulty level was not something you could easily grasp. Of course, this team has long been under scrutiny.
Cold to the point of four, drinking a mouth [of alcohol], under the turn, wanting to buy, doing it properly, I squeezed the script and took it to my hands, he squeezed my mouth and released medicine into my mouth.
Half asleep, he gave me a mouthful of hot air, grabbed my hand, and asked: Is there any beef soup in the beef broth?
I said, the scriptwriter and the soup are both average.”
