Fan Bingbing stars in the acclaimed social justice drama, "I Am Not Madame Bovary." (Photo : Getty Images/Gareth Cattermole)
"The Legend of the Blue Sea" star Lee Min Ho and "X-Men: Days of Duture Past" star Fan Bingbing are two of the Asian superstars who recently made a donation to charity. Their fans see this as simple acts of generosity while detractors will dismiss it as an obligation since they are financially advantaged.
In commemoration of the World Water Day on March 22, Lee donated 25 million won ($21,800) to the Korean Committee for UNICEF, Korea Herald quoted the organization as saying. With the South Korean actor and singer's donation, 138 emergency packs with 690,000 water purifiers will be purchased to provide that can provide clean water to 92,000 children in several countries.
In March 2016, Lee also donated 50 million won to the Korean Committee for UNICEF. In 2009, he made his first donation to the organization and in 2015, he was added to the UNICEF Honors Club.
On the other hand, Fan is donating 150,000 yuan ($21,750) to the Heart Ali project. She is one of the founders of the project that funds treatment for children with congenial heart conditions in Tibet.
The amount will be from a case Fan won recently. The Chinese actress won a lawsuit over infringement of her portrait rights and decided to donate to charity all the money she is receiving in compensation, CRI English, as cited by Women of China, quoted her as saying.
A Chinese media company named Doulang, the defendant in the case, was found guilty of altering a video of Fan's appearance at a promotional event without consent. It appeared that the "X-Men: Days of Future Past" actress was promoting the company when the promotional text in the video was altered to show the company's name.
Whether or not Lee and Fan are obliged to donate to charity since they are both very rich, it appears that they are spending some of their earnings on a good cause. The former recently released a new song titled "Always" months after starring in "The Legend of the Blue Sea" as a magistrate's son in the Joseon era who fell in love with a mermaid (Jun Ji Hyun).
Fan is also playing a mermaid in "The King's Daughter," which is directed by Sean McNamara. Among her co-stars in the action adventure fantasy film are Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt, Benjamin Walker, Paul Ireland, Crystal Clarke and Kaya Scodelario.
Watch Fan in the 2017 Super Bowl TV spot with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Aaron Eckhart here:
