Filmmaker detained on suspicion of paying for sex

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Shanghai Daily, September 16, 2014
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The 48-year-old Wang Quan'an was found in an apartment in the capital’s Dongcheng District last week with a 31-year-old woman surnamed Lu, and he had agreed to pay her 800 yuan (US$130) for sex. [Photo/Weibo.com]

Award-winning Chinese film director Wang Quan’an has been detained on suspicion of paying for sex, Beijing police said yesterday.

The 48-year-old was found in an apartment in the capital’s Dongcheng District last week with a 31-year-old woman surnamed Lu, and he had agreed to pay her 800 yuan (US$130) for sex, police said in a statement. Lu was also detained.

Acting on a tip-off, police apprehended the filmmaker about 7pm on Wednesday. He is accused of paying for sex on three consecutive nights, on one of which he allegedly had sex with two women at the same time, the statement said.

An 18-year-old pimp and six other people involved in prostitution were also detained, it said, without elaborating.

Police said Wang had admitted to paying Lu for sex after contacting her by phone earlier in the day.

Wang is married to 28-year-old Chinese actress Zhang Yuqi, who is believed to have been attending New York Fashion Week at the time of his alleged infidelity.

Zhang Yuqi's Weibo

Last night, on her Sina Weibo microblog account, she said: “Thank you very much first of all for the care you have shown in me and my family. I’ve got very complicated feelings now.”

She added: “I believe in a fair handling by law enforcement departments of the incident’s damage to public order, and as to its influence on the family life, we’ll face it out frankly and share the consequences.”

Her husband, a native of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, won a Golden Bear for best director at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival for “Tuya’s Marriage.”

In February 2012, his controversial movie “White Deer Plain” debuted at the Berlin festival, but was not released in China until seven months later, after some of its sexual content had been removed.

Prostitution is illegal in China. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Public Security ordered a crackdown on prostitution and pornography amid the government’s campaign to promote “core socialist values.”

In May, 38-year-old TV actor Huang Haibo, who is single, was detained by police after being caught with a prostitute in a Beijing hotel.

He was sentenced to 15 days’ administrative detention, followed by six months’ penitentiary education — a common punishment for those found guilty of paying for sex.

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