Taiwanese director Ang Lee (李安) has criticized a reported Chinese media ban on his protege, actress Tang Wei (湯唯), who became a huge star with the leading role in his award-winning spy thriller Lust, Caution.
Chinese regulators have ordered TV stations in Beijing and Shanghai to stop reporting on Tang and to pull any advertisements featuring the actress, Chinese media reported in recent days.
The reason for the ban, which hasn't been officially announced, was not immediately clear.
But Lust, Caution has drawn attention because it portrays explicit sex and unpatriotic behavior. An edited version of the movie became a box office hit in China.
In the movie, Tang plays a student activist who seduces a Japanese-allied Chinese intelligence official in World War II-era Shanghai to pave the way for his assassination, only to give away the plot at the last minute.
In a statement e-mailed to wire agencies, Lee said he was disappointed by the reported ban and praised Tang's performance.
"I am very disappointed that Tang Wei is being hurt by this decision. She gave one of the greatest performances ever in a movie that was properly produced and distributed. We will do everything we can to support her in this difficult time," Lee said.
Unknown before Lust, Caution, Tang became a household name in the Chinese-speaking world with her role in the movie.
Lee was aware of Chinese worries about Lust, Caution. He cut the movie's sexually explicit scenes and edited a line so Tang's character would appear less of a traitor to the Chinese cause.
The reported ban against Lust, Caution would mark the second time this year that China took action against people involved in a film that had been approved for release by state censors.
In a notice on its Web site last week, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television reaffirming its rules against films with sexually risque, violent or supernatural content or those that "degraded the image of revolutionary leaders, heroes and important historical figures."
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS