SINGAPORE - In 1998, the period drama My Fair Princess became a smash hit across Asia, making stars out of Vicki Zhao, Ruby Lin and Fan Bingbing at a time when mainland Chinese dramas were hardly mainstream outside the country.

Some two decades later, dramas and variety shows from China have become staple fare across Asia, but Zhao and Fan have gone from being the entertainment industry's shiny new faces to symbols of the problems plaguing it.