Dilraba Dilmurat's dilemma

Dilraba Dilmurat was not nominated for the Magnolia Award, but her name is constantly being mentioned.

ZNews•30/05/2026

According to Sina , the prestigious White Magnolia Awards are causing intense controversy. Despite the nominations being announced three days ago, audiences still seem dissatisfied with the five actresses nominated in the Best Actress category.

Among them, the final five names on the shortlist for the award are Ren Suxi (for the film "The End of the Infinite" ), Sun Li ( "Beautiful Life "), Wu Yue ( "Silent Glory "), Yang Mi (" The Birth of All Things "), and Yang Zi (" The Tree of Life ").

Dilraba Dilmurat wasn't nominated, but her name was mentioned when viewers felt the Xinjiang beauty was being treated unfairly.

Dilraba Dilmurat's drama "The Rose Sword " and Yang Zi's "The Tree of Life" both aired on CCTV8, but Dilraba Dilmurat's drama performed better. "The Rose Sword" had a rating of over 1.7%, while Yang Zi's only reached 1.5%, placing it second to last on CCTV8 in 2026. Average viewership also differed, with Dilraba's drama garnering over 33 million views per episode, compared to Yang Zi's 13 million views per episode.

Although both played police officers, Yang Zi's posture and ability to perform action scenes were inferior to Dilraba Dilmurat's.

Both films have themes that are well-suited to the Magnolia Award. The film "The Rose Sword" deals with human trafficking and child abduction, and the victims' circumstances are deeply moving. After the Magnolia Awards announced the nominations, viewers continuously edited clips of the film, highlighting its excellent cinematography and profound meaning, to share with the audience and express their regret.

Besides, although both played police officers, Dilraba Dilmurat displayed much more agility and decisive martial arts movements than Yang Zi. Yang Zi was criticized for holding the gun incorrectly and closing her eyes while shooting. The highlight segment featuring Yang Zi, used to introduce the nominees, was also criticized for poor acting, leading CCTV to cut another segment to replace it. This move further confused and raised suspicions among viewers, as a nominee for Best Actress had such a bad performance that it had to be removed.

Viewers compared the two actresses' works and performances, arguing that Dilraba Dilmurat performed better. However, Sina analyzed why Dilraba Dilmurat didn't receive a White Magnolia Award nomination. They pointed out that Yang Zi's production team is very powerful. The production company, Noon Sunshine, has manipulated the White Magnolia Awards for many years, even being sarcastically referred to as the "Noon Magnolia Award."

The person directly in charge of the Tree of Life project is the General Manager of China Central Television (CCTV). Therefore, viewers believe that Yang Zi has better behind-the-scenes advantages.

Dilraba Dilmurat caused controversy when she won the 2018 Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress.

Another reason is that Dilraba Dilmurat won the 2018 Golden Eagle Award for Most Popular Actress. However, she won with the not-so-outstanding drama " Pretty Li Huizhen ." At the time, viewers were so outraged that they continuously gave the drama one-star ratings, causing its quality rating on Douban to drop to 2.8/10.

Dilraba Dilmurat has set a "bad precedent," causing the Golden Eagle Awards to be boycotted, tarnishing her reputation and creating a "water queen" (a lack of fairness and transparency). Therefore, Chinese film awards are avoiding her. Even with improvements in her acting, the Xinjiang beauty is unlikely to receive further nominations.