According to Chinese media, on June 24, the Tencent Video platform announced the list of major TV series for 2026.
But unlike every year, instead of discussing the quality of the script or the production team's strength of film projects, audiences are focused on another issue: the real names of the actors and how the arrangement is affected.
Previously, in mid-June, three competent film and television associations in China jointly issued the "Notice on standardizing the recording of actors' names in television and network television films".
The notice requires all forms of name recording in film promotion activities to use the real name of the actor (full legal name), if using a stage name, it must be recorded in the form "Real name (stage name)".
The order of actors' names will no longer be arranged based on their position in the industry or popularity, but uniformly arranged according to the number of strokes in the legal name; the name has fewer strokes than in the front, more strokes than in the back. If their strokes overlap, continue to compare the second and third letters until a unique order is determined.
In a film, actors are only allowed to use 3 groups of titles: "main actor", "special participation" and "acting participation".
The purpose of these regulations is to end the prolonged controversy in the industry about the order of artist names (position), thereby bringing the entertainment industry back to the focus of artistic creation and building a healthy cultural environment.
However, when the regulation was actually applied, instead of conflicting in the order of names, a new issue of controversy arose due to "tricks" to deal with the regulation.
The controversial point is that the producer downgraded the actor's title just to suit the arrangement.
In the movie "Bat xuong giang son", before the new regulations, actors Trach Tu Lo, Ha Hao Nhien, Chu Khiet Quynh and Cong Lei were all recorded as "main actors".
But after the regulation took effect, the new promotional material removed some people from the list of main actors, turning them into "special participants", so that the rest could be arranged according to their traits.
Or in the movie "Nguyen dia dao ly" which is even more excessive. When initially announced, the main actors included 7 people: Ton Le, Tan Hai Lo, Phung Thieu Phong, Tan Tuan Kiet, Phong Tu Ban, Vuong Thanh Dich and Ha Tu Diem.
But after the new regulation was applied, the list was completely shuffled, leaving only 2 people holding the title of main actor, Sun Li and Qin Hailu, the rest were all changed to "special participation".
Many actors did not have reduced screen time, the characters did not change, the number of scenes was also not reduced, but just to meet the regulation of arranging names according to number of lines, they were groundlessly demoted from "main actor" to "special participation".
According to the media, this is not being implemented according to industry standardization, but is trying to circumvent the law.
Even, there is a more extreme way to lower the title, which is not to publish the list of actors anymore.
The promotional materials of "Thien ly giang son do" are typical examples. Directors, screenwriters, art directors, and film directors are all fully listed. Producer Tran Dao Minh is also given a separate prominent line. But searching through the content still does not find the name of any main actor.
According to speculation, perhaps because the film has too many famous actors, if registered according to new regulations, it will encounter a difficult situation.
