IS FAN BINGBING MAKING A COMEBACK?: Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, whose career has been on ice since 2018 due to a tax-evasion scandal, may be making a comeback.

In a photo posted on Weibo on Tuesday by Chinese director Li Yu, the two are seen posing cheek to cheek with the caption: ''A little drink, old friend.''

This sparked speculation that they are making a movie together.

Li, 47, had directed Fan, 40, in a number of award-winning movies, including Lost In Beijing (2007), Buddha Mountain (2011) and Double Xposure (2012).

In the comments section, a netizen posed the question as an equation: ''A little drink + Old friend = New movie'', to which Li replied with an emphatic ''yes''.

Fan, who was one of China's top actresses with global name recognition before being embroiled in the scandal, has been keeping a low profile since paying a 883 million yuan (S$189 million) fine for evading taxes in 2018.

She not only lost jobs and lucrative endorsements, but also broke up with her then-fiance, actor Li Chen, to a to avoid implicating him.