Source: CRIENGLISH



Zhang Zi Yi 'enraged' by paparazzi photos

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi has expressed her resentment over a series of paparazzi photos that show intimate scenes of her and her fiance.

"When she found out about the photos online, she was enraged," an assistant of Zhang surnamed Zhi told the Western China Metropolis Daily on Monday.

A group of 81 photos first emerged during the past weekend on the English-language Website X17online.com, and were spread like wildfire among Chinese Websites thereafter. Some sites even encountered server failure due to an overwhelming number of hits, according to a report on Sina.com.cn.

The photos show scantily-clad Zhang Ziyi and Vivi Nevo sunbathing on a beach. Zhang can be seen topless in several photos. The couple obviously were unaware of the paparazzi and were shown in the photos embracing and caressing each other. Sources say the beach was the private property of Zhang's millionaire fiance Nevo.

"It is a matter of personal privacy," Ji Lingling, Zhang's publicist, said in a statement. "Ziyi and her fiance were vacationing on a private beach enjoying a normal part of life," adding the photos were a serious infringement of the couple's privacy.

Ji says the actress is now working to have these photos removed from the Internet, but is yet to consider filing a lawsuit.

The Western China Metropolis Daily cites a Beijing lawyer named Wei Zhen as saying that Zhang could seek legal help to stop commercial Websites from using the photos to attract clicks.



China clamps down on Internet sex search (Credit: Variety Asia Online)

China has launched a crackdown against high-profile websites including Google that officials accuse of threatening public morals by spreading pornography and vulgarity.

The crackdown was announced the same day as newspapers and websites were plastered with paparazzi photos of Zhang Ziyi in topless and intimate embrace with her boyfriend Vivi Nevo. Snaps were apparently taken as the pair were holidaying in the Caribbean.

Warning is the latest effort to rein in the Internet in China in what’s not expected to be a great year for online freedom in the country.

The Communist Party is attempting to stifle dissent and protests as the economy slows and as China enters a year of major anniversaries, including the 20th year since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989 and the 60th since the revolution that brought the party to power.

The crackdown follows a public outcry after a Shanghai shop assistant was detained by police for posting an online video of herself having sex.

The campaign was launched by China’s powerful Ministry of Public Security and six other government agencies Monday. The report on state TV showed officials taking away digital equipment from some unspecified site.

Apart from Google, a state-sponsored industry org called China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center listed China’s main search engine Baidu, as well as Sina.com and Sohu.com as among those that have “spread pornography and threaten youth’s morals.”

The org threatened to tighten regulations on these groups after the discovery of 19 websites providing pictures, text, video clips and Web links “inappropriate for young people.”

“The list exposes a number of websites that violate public morality and harm the physical and mental health of young people,” it said.

Altogether, 19 Internet operators and websites named had failed to swiftly cut “vulgar” content and had not heeded warnings from censors, the org claimed.


Zhang Ziyi and So Jisub film a scene of "Sophie's Revenge" in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

Additional Translation (Translated by: Dragon888)



Ziyi Zhang was angry because of the invasion of privacy

Ziyi Zhang was wearing her bikini sun bathing in the Caribbean Sea with her fiance Vivi Nevo the other day. The paparazzi took more than 80 pictures of their intimate scene including those when she went topless. Netizen in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan had created a stir. Some pictures were found in the internet and some media even offer high price for the pictures.

Ziyi was still sleeping when her pictures appeared in the internet. Her assistant told her about it and she was very shocked. She had to contact her manager to sort out the pictures in the internet urgently as well as going back to the mainland to continue filming "Philip Chang perfect" (菲常完美)

As it happened, the netizen and people from the entertainment industry reckoned she is in fact the victim and they are supporting her. Ziyi is the spokesperson for a few products which have not been affected by this incidence.

Ziyi went to the Caribbean Sea for a holiday with her fiance Vivi Nevo. They stayed at a resort in St Barts. She was wearing a red bikini and lying on the sand sunbathing. Her bikini top was undone and he bikini bottom was slightly pulled down. Their intimate scene was caught in camera by the paparazzi. When her pictures were circulated in the internet, her assistant Miss Chee was in mainland China. She told reporters Ziyi has been busy promoting the movie "Mui Lan Fong", she was so glad that she had a few days break to relax. Therefore, she went to the States for a rest. As it happened, she was still sleeping in her hotel room. Miss Chee said "When Ziyi found out after she got up, she was shocked. She switched on her computer and saw the intimate pictures of herself and Vivi in the internet, she was very angry. She called her manager Miss Gei to try to stop the pictures circulated in the internet." Reporter asked if she would seek legal action, Miss Chee said they haven't considered suing the reporters yet.

Miss Gei expressed that the paparazzi were invading personal privacy. Ziyi and her fiance were in the beach enjoying sunbathing, that is a very normal thing to do when you are on holiday. That is their private life. She felt sorry for the celebrities whose privacy has been invaded. "They were on holidays, which are normal day to day thing; they are really finding it hard to believe."

Some mainland lawyers stressed that taking pictures without permission and uploaded it in the internet is a serious offence of invasion of people's privacy. If there is a commercial gain, that can be dealt with by law.

Ziyi has returned to the mainland to continue filming "Philip Chang Perfect" The investors of the film were there in the mainland to support her. Ziyi is the spokesperson for a few products and she is well known in the international market. They all support her by saying that was her private life, her reputation would not be affected.

[Update] Ziyi Back to Work after Paparazzied Beach Vacation (Credit: CRIENGLISH.com)

International star Zhang Ziyi is back in China for the filming of the romantic comedy "Sophie's Revenge" after a paparazzi-haunted New Year holiday with her fiance Vivi Nevo on the Caribbean island of St Barts.

Although the paparazzi snaps revealing pictures of her and Vivi Nevo provoked strong reactions on the internet, Zhang was not too bothered by it and continued her work, sina.com quoted a production team member as saying.

Zhang Ziyi co-stars in the movie with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and South Korean actor So Jisub. It is also the first movie she is producing.

The joint China-South Korean project started last November in Beijing and moved to the neighbouring city of Tianjin in the new year. The movie is slated for screening at the end of 2009.