Zheng Pingru and Wong Chia Chi, Her Counterpart in "Lust, Caution," Acted by Tang Wei
In the film Wong Chia Chi (王佳芝), a student who has been recruited by the Nationalist Party's spy network, masquerades as a rich merchant's wife in order to seduce and assassinate Mr. Yee (易默成), a ruthless counter-intelligence official in the puppet government in Shanghai. The two becomes inextricably intertwined in a love affair, with each performing and playing a role in their love-making, Mr. Yee to test whether Chia Chi is a spy and Chia Chi to convince Mr. Yee of the authenticity of her emotions. The graphic and exhausting sex scenes earned the film much controversy even in the West, and an NC-17 rating in the United States where it premiered on September 28, 2007.
Eileen Chang, Student at University of Hong Kong; Tang Wei as Chia Chi, Student in Hong Kong
Before "Lust, Caution" could be released for the viewing by mainland Chinese audiences, it had to go through script changes and 6 edits before it was finally approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television or SARFT (国家广播电影电视总局). According to Fang Li, a leading film producer, China's film industry is the most backward industry in a rapidly growing market economy, thanks to the censors of SARFT, "a group of mostly elderly people who work in committee and invite critical comment on movies from different branches of government, from the Women’s Federation to provincial governments, all seeking to present their constituency in the best light and to avoid offense."
Tang Wei (Chia Chi) and Tony Leung (Mr. Yee) in "Lust, Caution"
While the cuts (which totalled 13 minutes) and script changes satisfied the censors sufficiently to allow the film to open in mainland China, they compromised the original intent of the director and simplified the film's emotional complexity and moral ambiguity. The differences between the mainland version and the overseas version are detailed by the EastSouthWestNorth blog. Aside from the expected cuts in the explicit sex scenes, which are in fact not gratuitous but central to the story, the important changes are:
- The killing of Mr. Tsao was accomplished with one clean stab, rather than clumsily with eight stabs and Tsao falling down the stairs. The original edit show that killings are messy, and that the drama students who have plotted to carry out the political assassination of Mr. Yee, but have been uncovered and blackmailed by Mr. Tsao, are innocents in way over their heads. The censored version, however, sanitizes the killing and valorizes the students as budding heroic resistance fighters.
- A scene with refugees dying in the streets of Shanghai was cut. Was the reason a concern that there are parallels between wartime Shanghai with the miserable living conditions of contemporary migrants to the cities?
- Chia Chi's final lines in the jewelry store are changed in such a way that they indicate that she does not warn Mr. Yee to leave at once (as in the original version), but that Mr. Yee figures out on his own that he is being targeted. In place of the morally and psychologically conflicted Chia Chi torn between love and patriotism in the original version, the censored version makes the point that Chia Chi does not weaken in her resolve, and does not abandon the assassination of Mr. Yee, thereby becoming in effect a turncoat.
Joan Chen as Mrs. Yee in "Lust, Caution"
Even after the required cuts and changes, however, the film was subjected to a lot of attacks online and at salons. Both Ang Lee and Eileen Chang were denounced for allegedly denigrating Chinese resistance fighters, kowtowing to foreign aggression, and glorifying Chinese traitors during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War. China's nationalistic angry youth (愤青) took umbrage at "Lust, Caution." On Oct. 15, 2007, a group of Beijing students signed a petition [ch] to the new leadership that would be confirmed at the 17th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party. This document condemned the vulgar culture (滥俗文化) and the "pornographic, traitorous and poisonous" culture (“黄奸毒”文化) that have been promoted by the massive cultural invasion of foreign cultural products ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to junk films from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Japanese sex films and anime to Korean soap operas to American fast food. As a consequence, social morality has been utterly corrupted, the youth and children of China have been spiritually polluted to the degree that revolutionary ideals of service to the people have become virtually moribund, and people only look up to "successful" models of moneymakers who enrich themselves, but benefit neither the nation nor the people. Chen Kaige (陈凯歌)'s "The Promise" (无极) may be tolerated as an example of vulgar culture. But a product like "Lust, Caution" is the pinnacle of "pornographic, traitorous and poisonous" culture, turning a heroine who sacrificed her life in the cause of patriotic resistance into a prostitute and a socialite, and celebrating Chinese traitors (汉奸) who sold out the nation. The students demanded that the party leadership stop this spread of vulgar culture and "pornographic, traitorous and poisonous" culture and actively promote and disseminate the core values of the new socialist culture centered around the peasants and the proletariat.
Eileen Chang
This kind of attitude is not surprising among Chinese government censors and hot-headed Chinese youth, but it is disheartening that even some segments of the Chinese intelligentsia still employ the mentality and the rhetoric of the Cultural Revolution era. An example of the inflammatory and impassioned rhetoric that has been flung at "Lust, Caution" by intellectuals may be seen in a summary of the discussion of the film held at Peking University's Utopia Book Club (乌有之乡) on Nov. 11, 2007. The guest speakers were all members of the intelligentsia in academia and the mass media. Huang Jisu (黄纪苏), deputy editor at International Social Sciences, blasted the film as "a sexually transmitted skin disease" and "an insult to the good women of China." "While China has stood up, the ilks of Ang Lee are still kneeling" and embracing the leg of the West. Guo Songmin (郭松民), a freelance critic, called "Lust, Caution" "a big poisonous weed." Zhou Guojin (周国瑾), a movie director, went even further by classifying the film as a "Chinese traitor movie." Wang Xiaodong (王小东), a researcher at the Chinese Youth Research Center, shouted: "The ugly female Chinese traitor Eileen Chang wrote a story filled with dark and vile imagination in order to express her hatred against the beautiful heroine Zheng Pingru. So that was how "Lust, Caution" was created!" (More complete transcripts in Chinese of the discussion at this film salon and essays by Huang Jisu and Guo Songmin are available.)
Poster for Chen Kaige's "The Promise"
The Chinese public was not by any means unanimous in joining the condemnation of "Lust, Caution" as a work celebrating the negation of Chinese values. Even in a cut version which softened the complexities of the international edition, the psychological depth and humanistic portrayals of the film are appreciated by many. The Maoists of the past and and the leftist nationalists of the present prefer instead cultural works that sharply contrast the good and the bad characters and have a clear political message affirming the socialist revolutionary values. The leftist nationalist critics of "Lust, Caution" are certainly right to be concerned about the loss of morality in an increasingly commercial social environment, but their advocacy of a return to Maoist cultural standards takes an overly simplistic view of the allegedly corrosive effects of modern culture. If American popular culture is so insidious and harmful, how then would they explain the high level of volunteerism in American society, particularly among many young people who are committed to social service?
Still, many more people might have been attracted to the film by reports of its explicit and contortionary sex scenes, or by the fame of its Oscar-winning director, than by the intrinsic artistic merits of "Lust, Caution." Whatever the motivation of the attendees, "Lust, Caution" even in its censored version drew record audiences in China, raking in 90 million yuan or about $11.25 million in the first two weeks of its showing in China since its debut on November 1. Many Chinese, in an effort to see the forbidden scenes cut in the mainland version, downloaded the pirated overseas edition from domestic Web sites, despite warnings by security experts that the sites offering the downloads might be plagued with viruses. Dong Yanbin (董彦斌), a Ph.D. student at the China University of Political Science and Law, sued SARFT for failing to set up a ratings system that would allow adults to view an uncensored version. He also sued UME International Cineplex for infringing on his rights as a consumer by showing a cut version of the film.
Wang Lee Hom as Kuang Yu Min in "Lust, Caution"
Although no one else sought remedy through the court system (which in any case proved futile), many renewed long-standing calls for the institution of a ratings system so that adults can enjoy films with mature content. Among those who supported a ratings system are film director Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯), whose "Still Life" (三峽好人) won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, and veteran star actress Gong Li (鞏俐). SARFT, however, adamantly holds on to its long-standing position that "films not suitable for children are not suitable for adults, either."
In the last two months of 2007, thousands of mainland Chinese flocked to Hong Kong for the purpose of seeing an uncensored version of "Lust, Caution." The record numbers of tourists traveling to Hong Kong solely to see a movie signifies "the rise of a class of affluent urbanites in China’s rich eastern cities who have grown increasingly accustomed to ever more choice in their lives."
"Lust, Caution" has not generated emotionally charged responses in the United States as in China. It has, however, drawn generally negative or tepid reviews. Critic Raymond Zhou (周黎明) argues that American critics have misunderstood elements of the plot and overlooked the film's multiple layers: "Human emotions writ large can transcend boundaries. It is the niceties that cause cultural misunderstandings." For example, the American critics were preoccupied with the S&M and acrobatic elements of the sex scenes between Chia Chi and Mr. Yee, and missed their symbolic meanings altogether: "The scenes epitomize their relationship, from domination, to distortion, to harmony." Zhou also points out that the American critics overlooked the connections between "Lust, Caution" and Ang Lee's previous films, such as "Sense and Sensibility": ""Lust" is "sensibility" while "caution" is "sense." Both leads -- and even some supporting characters -- have to maintain a life of caution for self-survival. When they succumb to lust or passion, they pay the ultimate price." (See also Zhou's more detailed analysis in Chinese.)
Ang Lee Receiving Award for "Lust Caution" at the 2007 Golden Horse Awards in Taipei
Ang Lee himself has pointed out the connection between "Lust, Caution" and "Brokeback Mountain," which won not only the Best Director Oscar for Lee, but also his first Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 2005. As Lee observes, both "Brokeback Mountain" and "Lust, Caution" "are based on stories by women in which sex, making love, is one intimate way to make connections ... 'Brokeback Mountain' is like paradise, the whole movie is like the loss of Eden . . . Something pure and unclear happened on Brokeback and they spend the next 20 years trying to go back [and] finally the tragedy comes. In "Lust, Caution," by contrast, the sex scenes here remind me of hell, [going] deeper and deeper toward hell."
Edison Chen as the Young Lau Kin Ming in "Infernal Affairs"
In early 2008, "Hong Kong's juiciest-ever sex scandal," involving the leaking and the online dissemination of some 1,300 photos of some of the Special Administrative Region's best known film industry celebrities engaged in explicit sex, sparked an even greater amount of voyeurism and controversy than Ang Lee's film. Dubbed Sexy Photos Gate (艷照門) by Chinese netizens, this cautionary tale unfolded when Edison Chen (陳冠希), a Canadian Chinese actor and singer who have become a heartthrob on the Hong Kong entertainment scene, took his pink PowerBook to a computer shop for repair. There one or more employees discovered a treasure trove of pictures of Chen in compromising positions with several women, including film star and singer Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝), Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) of the Canto-pop duo Twins, former singer and model Bobo Chan (陳文媛), and Chen's current friend Vincy Yeung (楊永晴), who is the niece of Albert Yeung (楊受成), the founder of Emperor Entertainment Group (英皇娛樂集團), which represents Chen, Cheung and Chung. Someone posted a few photos online beginning Jan. 27. Then the initial trickle led to torrents of hundreds of photos released online in waves by persons unknown.
Bobo Chan
For weeks the unfolding scandal captivated people in the Chinese world, occupying the front pages of Hong Kong newspapers for 21 days and becoming a hot topic on mainland Chinese online forums (EastSouthWestNorth has extensive coverage of developments, media coverage and public reactions). In mainland China, which normally dealt more harshly with the dissemination of pornography online, for several weeks Internet sites and Web forms posted news and photos, as the police was preoccupied with the crisis precipitated by unusually heavy snow storms and placed the Sexy Photos Gate postings on the back burner [ch]. The photos had a wide circulation in China, with the popular Tianya forum getting 20 million hits per day. On February 20, however, the police announced that it "would "severely crack down on the criminal activities of manufacturing, selling and spreading discs of Hong Kong's celebrity photos and other pornography productions."
Twins, the Singing Duo of Gillian Chung (left) and Charlene Choi (right)
The public frenzy finally subsided after two of the principals made public apologies. After days in seclusion, Gillian Chung, flanked by her Twins partner Charlene Choi, made a brief appearance at a press conference on February 11, 2008. "I admit that I was naive and very silly, but I've grown up now. I want to thank my company, family and friends for their concern," she said.
Gillilan Chung's Public Apology for the Photo Scandal (in Cantonese), Feb. 11, 2008
After hiding in Canada, Edison Chen returned to Hong Kong. On February 21, 2008, Chen held a press conference, apologizing "to all the people for people for all the suffering that has been caused." He also announced: "I have decided to step away from the Hong Kong entertainment industry. I have decided to do this to give myself an opportunity to heal myself and search my soul." He would devote himself in the future to do volunteer and charity work, he said.
Edison Chen's Public Apology for the Photo Scandal, Feb. 21, 2008
Gillian Chung Bearing Gifts for Child Victims of the Sichuan Earthquake
Several people were arrested for copying and circulating sexually explicit pictures online. The professional futures and personal relations of the principals were seriously or even irreparably damaged. The ad endorsements of the stars were withdrawn by their sponsors, and their professional appearances were cancelled or curtailed. Among the companies which dropped or did not renew ad campaigns involving Edison Chen are Pepsi China, Standard Chartered Bank, Samsung, Levi’s and the Hong Kong Metro. Gillian Chung was the target of boycotts. She kept a low profile, but participated in a series of free performances in Beichuan (北川) for the victims of the devastating May 12 Sichuan earthquake in September. She returned to Beichuan on December 3, bringing food and warm clothes to the child victims of the earthquake. However, she was dropped from the cast of Chen Kaige's high profile film, "Forever Enthralled" (梅兰芳). Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi remain close friends, but it is unknown when their duo Twins will perform together again in public.
Cecilia Cheung in "Fly Me to Polaris"
Despite repeated divorce or separation rumors concerning Cecilia Cheung and her husband Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒), who is also a Hong Kong film star, the two have apparently reconciled and are still together as of the end of 2008 [ch]. Cheung is reportedly pregnant with their second child.
What had begun as a sex scandal evolved into a public debate in Hong Kong in the form of editorials, online discussions and public protests about related issues and developments, including the personal culpability and degree of contrition of the stars concerned, the right to privacy for celebrities, the social responsibilities of artistes, police abuse of power, fairness of the judicial system, and legal definitions of indecent and obscene materials. There was considerable public interest and debate in Taiwan and mainland China as well.
While some fans defended the privacy rights of the stars implicated in the scandal, others have questioned their morality and the judgment, and the sincerity of Gillian Chung and Edison Chen in their public apologies.
The heavy-handedness of the Hong Kong police came in for a great deal of criticism. More than one hundred detectives were assigned to the case. Nine people were arrested in a futile attempt to stem the flood of online postings, which quickly spread to overseas servers beyond the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong police. Oiwan Lam (林藹雲), editor of inmediahk.net (香港獨立媒體), a citizen-reporter Web site established in 2004, observed: "On the Internet there are a lot of nude pictures and sexy photos, but the police don’t bring charges except in the current case involving the singers."
Chung Yik-tin (鐘亦天), the first person to be arrested on January 31 for posting one single photo online four days earlier, was denied bail and held until February 15 when the the Obscene Articles Tribunal (淫審處) determined that the photo was "indecent" (不雅) rather than "obscene" (淫褻), and the police withdrew the charge of posting obscene articles against him. However, other suspects who had uploaded more photos than Chung were granted bail, prompting questions about the police's fairness in dealing with suspects. Moreover, why did the police go after people who posted the photos online, but failed to question Edison Chen, the original source of the photos, or ask the Canadian police or Interpol to question him after Chen fled to Canada?
Police Commissioner Tang King-shing (香港警務處處長鄧竟成) went so far as to declare on February 2, the 6th day of the scandal, that even possession of those photos might be illegal, depending on the number, which could indicate an intent to distribute. This created a great outcry about police infringement of the freedom of speech and promoting a climate of fear, as this stringent legal interpretation could mean that anyone possessing an unspecified number of photos that could be deemed obscene could be subject to HKD 1,000,000 in fines and 3 years in prison. On February 10, a group of protesters (230 people by police count and over 400 by the organizers' count) demonstrated, "arguing that, among other things, Hong Kong’s anti-pornography ordinance was too broad and too vague, and that this was a case of unequal treatment." Assistant Commissioner Vincent Wong Fook-chuen (助理處長黃福全) subsequently clarified that it was not against the law to share the photos with friends, but that it was illegal to publish them online so that strangers could view them.
Did the police deal with this case with great zeal because the case involved celebrities and because of the personal intercession of Albert Yeung, as some Hong Kongers charged? After all, Yeung had a great deal at stake both in terms of his business interests and personally, as the female stars were his clients whose image as virginal ingenues (玉女) was carefully cultivated by his company, and his niece was the girl friend of Edison Chen? Given that "Hong Kong on the surface is more prudish than Western countries and less tolerant of Hollywood-style antics," the commercial value of the actresses and Edison Chen was seriously damaged. Moreover, while Albert Yeung was allegedly connected to the Sun Yee On triad, he has "strong links to Chinese Communist Party figures who have the ear of the Hong Kong government which, for whatever reasons, prefers to ignore his brushes with the law and regard him as a useful and patriotic businessman."
Indeed, the alleged mob ties of Albert Yeung and his competitors at China Star Entertainment Group (中國星集團) have led to many speculations by Hong Kongers without factual substantiation. Was China Star behind the leaking of the photos to damage the reputation of Emperor Entertainment's stars, some of whom had defected from China Star? Did Edison Chen flee to Canada because of his fear that there might be a hit contract out on him?
Particularly substantive was the discussion of the stars' rights to privacy and social responsibilities. Some argued that because these stars were public figures (公眾人物), they had limited right to privacy and should take public responsibilities for their actions, while the public had the right to know. Cultural critic Liang Wendao (梁文道) [ch] countered that public figures should be divided into two categories: those with public powers, e.g. politicians and government officials; and those in which the public took a special interest, e.g. movie stars and celebrities. The first group had control over the use of public funds, and their actions could impact the entire society. Therefore their rights to privacy should be limited. For example, the public had the right to know their sources of income. The actions of the second group, on the other hand, might impact entertainment companies, advertising agencies, and their fans. But the welfare of the whole society would not be affected by what they did, and therefore the public's right to know should be limited. The private affairs of these public figures with no official authority should be their own business.
What about the social responsibilities of stars and artists who were models for particular social groups? For example, what about Gillian Chung, who was nurtured as a virginal ingenue (玉女) by her entertainment company, and the leakage of her intimate photos might well damage those preteen and teenage girls for whom she was their model? After all, according to a survey of about 400 middle school students [ch], 55% had circulated the sex photos among friends, 92% had discussed the incident with their friends, 74% had discussed it with their parents, and close to 30% found nude photos acceptable. Liang Wendao argues, however, that the responsibilities of celebrities should only pertain to their actions on public occasions [ch], not their private actions in the privacy of their homes and bedrooms. Gillian Chung might have been foolish to allow those photos of hers be taken, but she was not morally responsible for any possible damages that might be inflicted on preteen and teenage girls who saw her pictures, since she did not have the intention to make them public, and had the right to engage in consensual sexual acts in private.
(Epilogue)
Both "Lust, Caution" and Sexy Photos Gate entered the political discourse of Taiwan's presidential election in March unexpectedly. Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), the presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was falling badly behind Nationalist Party candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) due to the DPP's corruption scandals and public fears that the DPP's tough stand in support of Taiwan independence might provoke China and damage Taiwan's security and economy. Hsieh, in an effort to fight for the youth vote, hired a heavy metal band as spokesman for his campaign, and posted a series of YouTube campaign ads. In one video, he made a pun regarding a sexual position in "Lust, Caution," and in another, he told a corny joke about the lessons of Sexy Photo Gate on the need to protect privacy. Ma won the election in a landslide victory.
Lin Chi-ling as Xiao Qiao in John Woo's "Red Cliff"
Beijing Daily (新京报) released in December a list of the 50 most beautiful people in China (中国最美50人) [ch], headed by Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) who had catapulted to stardom after her role in Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The co-stars of Lee's "Lust, Caution," Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (梁朝偉) and Tang Wei (汤唯) were voted no. 2 and no. 19 respectively. Tang Wei, whose sensational debut in "Lust, Caution" made her a hot star, ranked 2 places ahead of Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), Taiwan's no. 1 supermodel who made her film debut in this year's blockbuster "Red Cliff" (赤壁), directed by John Woo (吳宇森) and starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Zhou Yu (周瑜) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) as Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮). Gong Li (巩俐), who had ranked no. 1 two years ago and no. 3 last year, had fallen off the list completely, probably because she had recently chosen to take up Singapore citizenship, an action that provoked controversy and even charges of treason by Chinese netizens. As for Edison Chen, who ranked no. 34 last year, he did not make the list this time, no doubt because of his notoriety in connection with Sexy Photos Gate.
Perhaps Edison Chen should try to rebuild his career in North America where the notorious scandals and absurd escapades of its stars only serve to heighten public interest in them and make them ever more bankable. In November, E! Entertainment ranked him 15th on its “25 Sexiest Men of the World” 2008 list. As Mark Magnier of the Los Angeles Times observes: "As Paris Hilton and other Hollywood types can attest, sex sells and can super-charge careers. In Hong Kong, it can also end them, at least temporarily."
Christopher Nolan's blockbuster "The Dark Knight" will not be shown in China. It is speculated that the Chinese government objected to the film because: (1) Tainted Edison Chen had a cameo; (2) Hong Kong mobsters are among the cast of villains; and (3) Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent states, "Carbon fiber, .28 Caliber, made in China. If you want to kill a public servant you should buy American," thus conjuring up memories of "media reports of defective Chinese products from toys to milk powder and drywall to auto parts."
Last revised: December 29, 2008
