Yuan Chengjie, who is known as Wang Sicong's "good brother", has become a dishonest person subject to enforcement saddled with tens of millions of yuan in joint and several debts.
A few days ago, the news that Yuan Chengjie, a well-known mainland Chinese actor and singer, has been listed as a deadbeat (untrustworthy person subject to execution) has drawn widespread public attention.
On November 6, Yuan Chengjie released a statement in response to the incident, noting that the debt stemmed from the investment and financing cooperation of Durian Entertainment in his early years. "Later, as the industry environment changed, the company failed to meet the agreed performance targets, triggering the share repurchase clause, and the court issued a legally effective judgment."
Yuan Chengjie pointed out that this is a multi-party joint and several debt. Since some of the other joint and several obligors have gone bankrupt while others have long been listed as untrustworthy persons, the full pressure of enforcement now falls entirely on him at this stage. He emphasized that he will work hard to pay off the debt and fulfill all due responsibilities in the following period.
Tianyancha data shows that Durian Entertainment was founded in 2015, with Yuan Chengjie as its actual controller and largest shareholder, holding 34.42% of the company's shares.
It is worth mentioning that Yuan Chengjie has a deep friendship with Wang Sicong, known as the "Wanda Prince". He has sent birthday wishes to Wang Sicong on Weibo for many times, and Wang Sicong once served as his groomsman. Panda Interactive Entertainment, founded by Wang Sicong, is also one of the shareholders of Durian Entertainment.
However, just like Wang Sicong who is now in a relatively straitened situation, Yuan Chengjie's current situation is not very optimistic, and most of his entrepreneurial attempts ended in failure.
At present, among the 5 companies where Yuan Chengjie holds positions, 4 are in the status of revoked but not deregistered or completely deregistered. In October this year, Durian Entertainment added a new record of person subject to execution, with the enforcement target amounting to 260,200 yuan.
In fact, it is not uncommon for mainland Chinese entertainment stars to be listed as deadbeats. Actors Wu Xiubo and Li Yapeng have both been classified as untrustworthy persons subject to execution before.
Become a deadbeat due to tens of millions of joint and several debt, Yuan Chengjie says he will strive to pay off the debt
On November 6, Yuan Chengjie, a well-known mainland Chinese actor and singer, published a long article responding to the incident that he was listed as an untrustworthy person subject to execution, with the involved amount reaching 12.1 million yuan.
Yuan Chengjie admitted frankly that this debt came from the investment and financing cooperation of Durian Entertainment in his early years.
Tianyancha information shows that Beijing Durian Entertainment Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Durian Entertainment") was established in 2015, with Chen Yun as its legal representative. Yuan Chengjie is the largest shareholder of the company, holding 34.42% of the shares and serving as its actual controller.
It is reported that Durian Entertainment is a pan-entertainment live content provider, which takes live broadcast as its core, and its business covers content production, content distribution, entertainment marketing, e-commerce and other sectors.
The cooperation mentioned in Yuan Chengjie's response may refer to the financing disclosed by Durian Entertainment in July 2016. At that time, Durian Entertainment obtained a strategic financing of 15 million yuan, with the investor being Shanghai Ziyue Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Public data shows that as of May 31, 2016, Durian Entertainment had total assets of 5.2227 million yuan and net assets of 4.687 million yuan; from January to May 2016, its operating revenue reached 113,200 yuan.
Yuan Chengjie said, "When I participated in the investment at the beginning, my understanding of the cooperation was mainly to increase capital to the company, but I did not fully understand the valuation adjustment mechanism, share repurchase arrangements and possible personal legal responsibilities involved in the formally signed agreement."
"Later, as the industry environment changed, the company failed to meet the agreed performance targets, triggering the repurchase clause, and the court issued an effective judgment," Yuan Chengjie stated.
According to the final judgment issued by the Third Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai in February 2025 ((2024) Hu 03 Min Zhong No. 315), Yuan Chengjie, Chen Yun (legal representative of Durian Entertainment) and Panda Interactive Entertainment shall jointly and severally bear the 12 million yuan repurchase payment plus 100,000 yuan legal fee, totaling 12.1 million yuan.
Yuan Chengjie said this is a multi-party joint and several debt. Since some of the other joint and several obligors have gone bankrupt, while others have long been untrustworthy, the full enforcement pressure now falls entirely on him at this stage.
This is indeed the case. Public information shows that Panda Interactive Entertainment was ruled bankrupt in January 2021. In 2025, Chen Yun and Yuan Chengjie were also listed as untrustworthy persons subject to execution together.
Yuan Chengjie emphasized, "Working hard to pay off the debt is my top priority in the next step, and I will fulfill my due responsibilities. This incident has taught me a profound lesson: oral agreement can never replace a formal contract, and the risks of commercial documents are far beyond imagination."
Once dreamed of being an entrepreneur, only 1 of his 5 affiliated companies remains in operation
Public data shows that Yuan Chengjie was born in Shanghai in 1983 and graduated from Tongji University. In 2004, he made his debut by participating in the draft entertainment show My Show on Dragon TV.
In 2007, Yuan Chengjie formed the duo "Nancai Nümao" (The Handsome and the Beautiful) with Qi Wei, and won the Most Popular Duet Song Award at the 8th Global Chinese Music Awards Ceremony with the song The Bund 18. After that, he continued to participate in variety shows and commercial performances.
It is worth mentioning that in 2017, Yuan Chengjie starred in the business war drama Gold Investor. Though he is well known to the public as a singer and actor, his childhood dream was to become an entrepreneur.
Around 2014, Yuan Chengjie started to run the fried bun chain "Xiangxingji Fried Bun". Less than one year after the business was launched, "Xiangxingji Fried Bun" opened nearly 20 stores in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Yuan Chengjie once made an ambitious statement that he would open 5000 stores across China, expand across Asia and enter the global market.
In 2015, Yuan Chengjie stepped into the entertainment industry and co-founded Durian Entertainment. In December of the same year, Durian Entertainment received support from Wang Sicong, the "Wanda Prince", whose Panda Interactive Entertainment became one of the company's shareholders, holding 22.5% of the shares.
In 2016, Durian Entertainment participated in the production of the live variety show Hello! Goddess, in which Wang Sicong participated as the project initiator, supervisor and main investor.
As the first draft variety show that allows the audience to fully control the fate of contestants, Hello! Goddess is positioned as "national goddess cultivation", realizing the cultivation and transformation process from amateurs to goddesses and then to a top performance group by leveraging advanced technologies.
In terms of competition system arrangement, Hello! Goddess finally selected 5 "national goddesses" to debut through multiple stages including four-city selection, 18-to-10 knockout round, 49-day castle training and debut ceremony.
With the strong interactive experience of live broadcast "black technology", innovative "live variety show" form, and new national star-making model, Hello! Goddess gained a lot of attention after its broadcast.
According to the report of Tencent Entertainment in that year, by the end of the show, the total number of views of Hello! Goddess on Panda Live exceeded 600 million, the clicks on Tencent Video exceeded 520 million, and the reading volume of related topics on Sina Weibo reached 1.98 billion.
However, this show was once involved in the controversy of "objectifying women". In 2017, Hello! Goddess was taken off the shelves for rectification due to vulgar content, guests using abusive language, disrespect for women and advocating money worship.
Although he has held the ideal of becoming an entrepreneur since childhood, most of Yuan Chengjie's entrepreneurial attempts did not achieve the expected results.
Tianyancha information shows that up to now, among all the 5 companies where Yuan Chengjie holds positions, only Shanghai Chenjiyuan Industrial Co., Ltd. is in the surviving and operating status.
Among the remaining 4 companies, Quanshi Xiangxingji (Shanghai) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Beijing Quanshi Chenxingji Catering Management Co., Ltd. and Durian Entertainment are all in the status of revoked but not deregistered, while Beijing Xiangxingji Catering Management Co., Ltd. has been completely deregistered.
In addition, in October this year, Durian Entertainment, which is actually controlled by Yuan Chengjie, added a new record of person subject to execution, with the enforcement target amounting to 260,200 yuan, and the enforcing court being the Third Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai.
Entertainment star deadbeats are not a rare sight in the industry
In fact, in recent years, it is not uncommon for mainland Chinese entertainment stars to be listed as deadbeats.
According to Sichuan Observation, in October 2024, for failing to fulfill the payment obligations determined by the effective legal documents within the specified period, Wu Xiubo, the former top star in the "Uncle Circle", and Horgos Buyi Culture Media Co., Ltd. were restricted from high consumption.
At the same time, Wu Xiubo was listed as an untrustworthy person subject to execution for violating the property reporting system and refusing to perform the execution settlement agreement without justifiable reasons, and related topics immediately topped the Weibo hot search list.
According to Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, Wu Xiubo being listed as a deadbeat is related to the two film and television works he starred in, The Advisor Alliance and The Dragon and the Tiger.
Related announcement information shows that the court ordered Horgos Buyi Culture Media Co., Ltd. to pay 216 million yuan of the distribution revenue of the involved TV series and liquidated damages to Horgos Huali Culture Media Co., Ltd., and Wu Xiubo shall bear joint and several liability for the above debts of Horgos Buyi Culture.
According to the report of Cover News last November, Wu Xiubo was sued again, with the plaintiff still being Horgos Huali Culture Media Co., Ltd., and the defendants being Horgos Buyi Culture Media Co., Ltd., Wu Xiubo and a person surnamed He. The cause of action is an entrusted contract dispute, and the court session is scheduled to be held on January 28, 2026.
Li Yapeng, who regained public attention due to the Yanran Hospital incident, once became a deadbeat due to failed investment. In 2012, Li Yapeng took the lead in launching the "Lijiang Snow Mountain Art Town" project, which claimed an investment of 3.5 billion yuan and covered an area of more than 400 mu.
In January of that year, Lijiang Snow Mountain Investment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Snow Mountain Company"), established by Li Yapeng and his brother Li Yawei, signed the Project Cooperation Framework Agreement with Beijing Taihe Youlian Investment Co., Ltd., agreeing that the two parties would cooperate to complete the "Lijiang Snow Mountain Town" project.
According to International Finance News, in accordance with the agreement at that time, Taihe Youlian participated in the project by investing 60 million yuan as equity contribution, and obtained 10% of the shares of Snow Mountain Company at the same time. Snow Mountain Company promised to Taihe Youlian that if the project suffered losses, the losses would be borne independently by the original shareholders of Snow Mountain Company.
Snow Mountain Company ensured that all the rights and interests of Taihe Youlian would not be less than 100 million yuan, and after the 3-year development cycle expired, Taihe Youlian could recover the agreed fixed equity income of 40 million yuan in advance.
However, after the development period expired, Taihe Youlian never received the payment from Snow Mountain Company. Finally, the two parties resorted to the court.
In 2018, the case ushered in the first instance judgment, and the court ordered Li Yapeng and Li Yawei to pay 40 million yuan and corresponding interests to Taihe Youlian.
After that, due to long-term failure to perform the judgment, Li Yapeng was once listed as an untrustworthy person subject to execution.
According to Tianyancha, in September 2025, Li Yapeng was also listed as a person subject to execution by the People's Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing, with the enforcement target amounting to about 13.8159 million yuan.
At present, there is still a consumption restriction order under Li Yapeng's name, with the applicant being Beijing Taihe Youlian Investment Co., Ltd.
According to Btime, lawyer Jia Wenjun from Beijing Xingquan (Haikou) Law Firm pointed out that the occurrence of such incidents among stars has many reasons, such as weak legal awareness, failing to fully understand personal responsibilities when signing valuation adjustment agreements and guarantee contracts; overconfidence, believing that personal IP and traffic are enough to support business success; lack of professional judgment, crossing into unfamiliar fields; excessive financial leverage, excessive borrowing and valuation adjustment leading to cash flow fracture; poor team management, relying on non-professional teams and lacking risk control and compliance review; joint and several liability trap, providing personal joint and several guarantee for corporate debts.