SINGAPORE - Singapore actor Li Nanxing, who is managed by actress Vicki Zhao's company for work in China, says her recent scandal will not affect him.

"The management contract is not affected," his manager in Singapore said in response to queries from Shin Min Daily News on Saturday (Aug 28).

In recent days, Zhao, 45, was blacklisted by the Chinese government for undisclosed reasons and her Internet presence in China has been scrubbed.

The two actors have known each other for more than 10 years and Li, 56, even helped introduce her wine - she bought a vineyard in Bordeaux, France, in 2011 - to Singapore.

In his most recent foray into the China market, Li appeared in a romantic comedy Zhao produced, Everyone Wants To Meet You (2020).

On the iQiyi series, he played the father of popular Chinese actor Zhang Zhehan, who came under fire earlier this month over old photos of him at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Zhang, 30, was subsequently dropped by major sponsors.

The pushback against Zhao and Zhang is part of a sweeping movement by the Chinese authorities to crack down on celebrity worship on the Internet in China after a series of scandals involving actress Zheng Shuang and singer Kris Wu.

Zhao, best known for her portrayal of Little Swallow in the period drama My Fair Princess (1998 to 1999), has been embroiled in corporate scandals. Among other things, she was banned from China's stock market for five years in 2017 for misleading investors with her husband, billionaire entrepreneur Huang Youlong, 44, who is a Singapore citizen.

The couple, who married in 2008, have an 11-year-old daughter who was born in Singapore.

After Zhao was blacklisted, her celebrity pals swiftly moved to distance themselves from her. These included A-listers such as actor Huang Xiaoming, actress Yang Mi and actress Li Bingbing, who removed all photos and mentions of Zhao from their social media accounts.

Zhao briefly resurfaced on Instagram on Sunday, posting three mundane photos of books, fruit and trees with the cryptic caption: "The best season, chatting with mum and dad, it's like I'd never grown up, so good."

From her replies to concerned comments, it appeared she was well in Beijing and taking it easy with some family time.

However, an hour later, the post was taken down.