NBA center Yao Ming, screen stardom Zhang Ziyi, and top hurdler Liu Xiang made Forbes Chinese’s "The 2005 Chinese Top Celebrities List," clinching the first three spots and outdistancing, by a strikingly large margin, their peer Chinese public figures (mainly from entertainment and sports circles) in the vanity fair of both fame and money.



　　No. 1 basket player Yao Ming raked in a titanic amount of 150 million yuan (US$18.12 million) by the end of 2004 with about 5,569 frequent public appearances.

　　Others on the top ten list included mainland actress Zhao Wei, HK pop diva Faye Wong, world acclaimed movie director Zhang Yimou, actress Zhou Xun, pop singer Sun Nan, HK beauty Liu Jialing, and young actress Fan Bingbing, a newcomer on the 2005 list.

　　Of the top ten, six are under 30 and eight works in the entertainment sector.

　　The annual income is the most crucial index used in making the list, said Hao Bing, the list’s producer, adding the publicized number of celebrities’ earnings may not exactly reflect the true picture, as the amount paid to agencies and the tax bureau is not deducted from the total.

　　Besides the personalities’ money, their fame is ranked according to a mixture of media exposures from newspapers, television, and the Internet.

　　According to Forbes, the Chinese Top Celebrities List is a Chinese version of "The Celebrity 100," which ranked actor Mel Gibson as the top earner with year-end earnings of $210 million.