Chinese Actor Gavin Gao Arrested For Sexual Assault; Dee Hsu Finds It Hard To Accept The News

Another day, another sexual assault case.

This time round, the alleged perpetrator is Chinese actor Gavin Gao Yunxiang. The 35-year-old, who skyrocketed to fame in China after playing the reckless Yi Qu Wang in 2014 Chinese period drama The Legend of Mi Yue, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room in the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney.

He had been filming Chinese drama Ah Na Ya Lian Qing, with his wife, Chinese actress Dong Xuan in Australia. The latter had wrapped up her scenes earlier on March 14 and had returned to China the next day. Twelve days later, Gavin was accused of sexually assaulting a 36-year-old female in a hotel room — the alleged victim claimed that the incident had taken place on March 26. Coincidentally or not, that was the same day Gavin had wrapped up filming for the drama.

According to a police report, the alleged victim, who is an Australian-Chinese TV producer who had worked with Gavin, claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Gavin and another 35-year-old male, Wang Jing, who is the drama’s producer. (He's not to be confused with Hongkong film director Wang Jing, who has unwittingly been tied in to the controversy for obvious reasons. In response, Wang Jing has replied, “I'm in Hongkong; I know at least five ‘Wang Jings’.) Both accused, Gavin and Wang Jing, have been arrested, and are currently being detained by the police.

Australian news reports claimed that on March 28, Gavin and Wang Jing appeared in Sydney Central Local Court via video from prison. Their lawyer said they would plead not guilty and apply for bail at a later date. The next court hearing will be in June.

When a Chinese news outlet rang up Dong Xuan for comment, the actress reportedly hung up the phone without saying a word. Thereafter, the actress expressed her support for her husband. “Sorry for making everyone worry. I believe in [Gavin],” she said.

Previously, Gavin and Dong Xuan recorded a segment for Chinese variety show Feng Kuang Hun Li Ji (loosely translated to‘Crazy Wedding Season’) in which they talked about their love story. The recording was scheduled to be aired on March 29, but that was cancelled. The couple married in 2011, and have one daughter.

Chinese netizens have been stunned by the news. One expressed her disappointment that showbiz is short of one less good man. Another pointed out that besides Dong Xuan, the one most upset at the news would be Fan Bing Bing whose new period drama The Legend of Ba Qing, was set to be released. Now that the drama’s male lead, Gavin, has been embroiled in this scandal, the drama’s original scheduled release in April has also been affected.

Meanwhile, another one disappointed would be Dee Hsu, who had once publicly declared her love for Gavin. In an interview with Apple Daily, Dee said, “If he really behaved in that way, it is really hard for people to accept [the news].” Dee became a huge Gavin fan due to the latter’s appearance in The Legend of Mi Yue. Previously, when Gavin made a guest appearance on Dee’s show Hungry Sister, she jokingly flirted with him and repeatedly asked, "Your wife won't be jealous, right?"