Top 20 Chinese celebrities in 2013

Fan Bingbing, a famous Chinese mainland actress, topped the 2013 China Celebrity List. Her overall earnings over the past year were estimated at some 110 million yuan (US$17.8 million).

The listed was released by the Chinese edition of Forbes magazine on April 25. It is the tenth time Forbes has released such a list, quantifying the overall power and status of Chinese celebrities, based on both their income and exposure.

The 100 Chinese celebrities on the list have excelled at their respective "crafts" and made some outstanding achievements in the fields of entertainment, sports, culture and media.

China's film market boomed in 2012, with a whopping 17.1 billion yuan in national box office revenue. Many celebrities ranked in the top half owe their spots on the list to their excellent performances in movies, including Stephen Chow (24), Ang Lee (29), Huang Bo (34) and Xu Zheng (38).

Several actors and actresses moved up quite a few places on the list, often due to their splendid performances in 2012 TV series. One example is that of Sun Li, who moved up the ranks 74 places, from No. 96 in 2012 to this year's No. 22. This particular shift stems from the overwhelming popularity of TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan", in which the actress portrays one of the leading characters.

The following are China's top 20 celebrities of 2013:

Mayday

Ashin (2nd L), lead singer of pop band Mayday from Southeast China's Taiwan, performs during a charity concert in Beijing, capital of China, late April 5, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Occupation: band

Income: 97.9 million yuan (US$15.8 million)

Wealth ranking:5

Media Exposure Ranking (Internet): 43

Media Exposure Ranking (Newspapers): 53

Media Exposure Ranking (Magazine &TV): 75

Mayday is one of the most popular bands in Taiwan as well as on the Chinese mainland. Its "Nowhere World Tour 2012" attracted great attention and a stream of fans at every stop. The band has won the award for Best Band at the Golden Melody Awards a total of four times thus far.

Source: china.org.cn