Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

Everyone is speculating about what the Beijing police are planning.

This March, they nabbed Li Daimo, a singer; this June it was Zhang Yuan, a director; in late June, Ning Caisheng, a scriptwriter; then from July to today, they have grabbed at least six famous movie stars, ranging from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan.

The same reason why all these people were "recruited" was that they all used drugs.

This long "cast and crew" list has ignited scathing comments in public. Some joked that the Beijing police had recruited the basic staff needed to shoot a blockbuster movie, which could be a Chinese film version of Oz.

All stars want to make headlines and stay in them forever. It seems that some of them have learned the ropes: Being junkies with stardom and getting arrested by the police, deliberately or not, will soon send their names to the front page of celebrity gossip tabloids and attract a large number of social media users to stay tuned for updates.

Joking aside, quite a number of entertainment celebrities have fallen in a whirlwind crackdown by police on prostitution, drugs and gambling, each of which has witnessed some celebrities busted in recent months.

Being exposed to these kinds of scandals in such an intense manner for the first time, the public is astonished at the chaos of their lifestyles. And what is also bizarre is that such astonishment has soon become a nationwide "carnival" online.

A lot of people have swarmed into the social media accounts of these celebrities, writing comments on their bulletin boards, among which myriad voices with all kinds of human emotions can be heard.

This carnival reached new heights after Jaycee Chan, an actor and son of kung fu star Jackie Chan, and Ko Chen-tung, a young idol from Taiwan, were detained by Beijing police in mid-August for taking drugs.

Rumors grew sharply, saying Chan had given up a long list of stars who were also involved in this case, and the number exceeded 120. This hearsay has sparked the curiosity and imagination of gossipers, who have left messages for celebrity friends of Chan and Ko asking them "are you nervous?"

Some are even inquiring, seriously or not, about whether they will be captured by the police and sent to the same detention house where the stars are kept if they take drugs on purpose, so that "we will not only get their signatures but have a chance to take a first look at the other 120 stars when they get busted for taking drugs."

Celebrities, especially entertainment stars, are usually the equivalent of role models. Their words and actions have emotional appeal not just to their fans, but other groups of the society.

From this perspective, public figures had better realize that their remarks and behaviors, be they conducted in the limelight or in privacy, have much bigger impacts on society than the actions of ordinary people.

It is hard to know exactly at what point committing misdemeanors became a routine action for many public figures, and quite a few people have started to nurture a fondness for personality quirks such as cynicism or unruliness.

Nowadays, different attitudes are encouraged as a sign of pluralism, but there must be a red line keeps reminding people that some risky views cannot become the majority view of all of society.

If being a celebrity can be regarded as a job, then being a role model should be at the top of their job description. The bottom line should be to respect and abide by the law.

The author is a Global Times reporter. liuzhun@globaltimes.com.cn