A claim that Zhang
Yimou, one of China's best
known film directors, had two sons
and a daughter with actress Chen
Ting before they got married in 2011
was confirmed by people close to
the couple yesterday.
The news
sparked a heated online debate about
the rich flouting the country's
one-child policy.
It was
Zhang's second marriage after his
divorce from Xiao Hua, with whom
he had a daughter.
People
in close contact with Zhang, 63, and
Chen, 32, confirmed that the couple,
who registered their marriage in the
eastern city of Wuxi, had children
born in 2000, 2004 and 2006, yesterday's
Chongqing Evening News
reported.
Zhang's romance with
Chen was the subject of media
speculation last March when actress He
Jun, who the paper said had
failed to get a role in the
director's "The Flowers of War,"
claimed Chen and Zhang had three
children.
There were subsequent
online claims that Zhang had bought
a villa worth more than 10 million
yuan (US$1.6 million) to accommodate
Chen, their children and Chen's
parents, the paper
reported.
Chen was said to
have been a student at the
Beijing Film Academy but quit when
she met Zhang during auditions for
his "The Road Home."
An
"acquaintance" told the paper that
Chen "once told me that Zhang
had two daughters with a woman
and a son with another woman.
She felt so proud because she
won (the competition with the
women)."
The comments led to
speculation that Zhang might have a
total of seven children - three with
Chen, three with two other women
and the daughter from his first
marriage.
Under family planning
rules, couples may have a second
child under certain conditions, such
as both spouses being from one-child
families, or if the first child
has a non-inherited disease. In some
provinces, rural couples are allowed a
second if their first is a
girl.
Zhang and Chen should
be liable for a fine of 160
million yuan, based on income, a
legal expert told
www.ifeng.com.
Online there
was anger that rich and influential
people could spend money to have
more children while the poor were
forced to have abortions.
"Do
money and power top the law?
Can the rich just use money to
solve everything and get what they
want?" was one of many online
comments.