Zhang Ziyi and Ken Watanabe - naked pics

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Zhang Ziyi and Ken Watanabe - naked pics; hypersensitive ranting
Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, September 23, 2005 7:21 AM
zzy_ken.jpg
Furthering the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship

The picture on the left is one of a series posted to the Chinese Internet forum Tianya Club, labelled "Zhang Ziyi's nude performance as Japanese geisha (including totally nude movie stills)".

The Tianya posting includes several poor quality images which purport to be Zhang Ziyi and Ken Watanabe performing a sex scene from the film Memoirs of a Geisha, due for release in U.S. theaters in December this 2005. Danwei has no source to verify the authenticity of the images.

The pictures are accompanied by a nationalist rant, castigating Zhang Ziyi for dropping her pants (脱裤) with a Japanese man and acting as a Japanese prostitute.

Ho hum.

Other sensitive types getting their knickers in a twist about Zhang Ziyi can be found at the International Movie Database (IMDB) discussion board about Memoirs of a Geisha linked below, where some withering flower has written a post titled Chinese Playing Japanese... Similar to 'Black Face.

The withering flower thinks that it is racist and Euro-centric to cast Chinese actors as Japanese because only dumb Europeans think that Japanese and Chinese look the same. Perhaps the withering flower has not visited the web site All Look Same and tried to identify the origins of 18 people from Korea, China and Japan. Good luck sucker!

UPDATE: Variety's Asian film blog Kaiju Shakedown says:

The screenshots with fire in the background are from Kinji Fukasaku's HOUSE OF FIRE, and another eagle-eyed reader says that the screenshot without fire in the background is from a Hong Kong softcore flick called HIDDEN DESIRE.

Links and Sources

* Tianya Club Media Discussion Board (Chinese): Zhang Ziyi's nude performance as Japanese geisha (including totally nude movie stills)
* IMDB Memoirs of a Geisha discussion board: Chinese Playing Japanese... Similar to 'Black Face'
* IMDB: Memoirs of a Geisha
* All Look Same: Test: Can you tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Koreans
* Sony Pictures: Memoirs of a Geisha official site
* Kaiju Shakedown: Zhang Ziyi definitely not naked (use this link in China)

Ziyi goes topless

Ziyi caught topless


Online photos appear as China cracks down on Internet pornography
By Peh Shing Huei, China Bureau Chief

Zhang and Nevo on the beach in St Barts,

BEIJING: More than 80 pictures of well-known Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi sunbathing topless and frolicking on a beach have appeared online, sending netizens here wild yesterday.

What some blogs are saying
Although Zhang Ziyi's photos are very tame compared to Edison Chen?s collection, given that she is a much bigger star than all the victims in the Edison Chen saga, I am quite curious how big this is going to develop online. -- from 'Alvinology' blog

You are right. Anyway breast-revealing is a shame for women. Zhang Ziyi looks like a streetwoman. -- loststar (Mr.Lobster) on the Chinadaily.com forum
... more
The photos first appeared on the Internet on Monday - the same day that the Chinese government sent out stern warnings to 19 top websites over issues of pornography and vulgarity.

The photos, taken by a Los Angeles-based paparazzi agency, showed Zhang on the Caribbean island of St Barts with her fiance, Israeli investor Vivi Nevo, last Friday.

The star of the Hollywood film Memoirs Of A Geisha was shown taking off her red bikini and lying face down, with her buttocks exposed.

Nevo was shown stroking and nuzzling her buttocks. Zhang was also shot lying on her back, with her breasts clearly revealed.

There were also less revealing pictures of her strolling along the beach with Nevo, who reportedly has a private beach on the island.

The pictures were posted on numerous Chinese websites, attracting a flood of comments from netizens on the star, who was recently named by The Beijing News as China's most beautiful person in 2008 - edging out fellow celebrities Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Zhou Xun.

The website operators quickly deleted many of the revealing pictures and, in a sign of caution amid the official crackdown on pornography, some forums even took down comments left by netizens on the issue. But as of yesterday evening, some of the photos could still be found on less popular websites, an indication of the government's difficulties as it attempts to get tough on adult content in cyberspace.

Sichuan province's Huaxi City newspaper said its reporter had exchanged text messages with Zhang's representatives and the actress was shocked and furious when she learnt of the pictures. The Beijing-born star is in the United States.

Zhang's manager did not dispute the authenticity of the pictures in her statement to the media. She said: 'Ziyi and her fiance were holidaying on a beach as a part of normal life and as a matter of personal privacy.

'I sympathise with all celebrities whose privacy is invaded. It is difficult for them to enjoy vacations and ordinary, everyday life.'

While mainland actresses have appeared nude in films - including Joan Chen, Bai Ling and Tang Wei recently in Lee Ang's Lust, Caution - Zhang is believed to be the first major star to be caught undressed by the paparazzi.

Her expose comes a year after the Edison Chen photo scandal, when the Hong Kong-based actor's collection of intimate shots with various female stars shook the Chinese entertainment industry last January.

Chinese netizens were not sympathetic towards Zhang, slamming her for her modest assets and for being a shameless exhibitionist.

Some even accused her of bringing shame to China and staging the shoot to generate publicity for herself.

'Her figure is really poor and she really showed off her weaknesses. She should be more considerate towards the sentiments of the public,' said one netizen.

'What a disgrace to the Chinese people,' said another.

But there were a few who spoke up on behalf of the actress, whose recent film Forever Enthralled banked more than 100 million yuan (S$22 million) in China.

'It is very normal for Western magazines to shoot actresses sunbathing nude on beaches. Zhang is not the first. She is just the first Chinese actress,' said one.

Zhang Ziyi new spy picture

'Flying Daggers': A dream brought to life
By Claudia Puig, USA OTDAY
House of Flying Daggers is an orgy of spellbinding visuals: dazzling acrobatics, mesmerizing martial arts, sumptuous settings and resplendent costumes. With its high drama and historical setting, it is more like an opera than a movie.
Intrigue in China: Takeshi Kaneshiro is a government agent who uses a blind courtesan, Ziyi Zhang.
Sony Pictures

The film takes place in ninth-century China during the waning days of the corrupt Tang Dynasty. Mei, a lovely, blind courtesan (Ziyi Zhang), early on is revealed to be a spy for the most powerful rebel underground army, a group called the House of Flying Daggers. Two agents of the Tang government (Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) hatch a plot to use Mei to lead them to the location of the mysterious group and its leader. A perilous journey follows.

A grove of bamboo trees is a favorite setting in martial arts films, but Daggers director Zhang Yimou has made that tradition his own. At one point, Mei is alone in the woods when a band of villains attacks her from the swaying treetops. She fights valiantly but is ultimately saved by the Flying Daggers revolutionaries.
About the movie

House of Flying Daggers
* * ^ (out of four)
Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau
Directors: Zhang Yimou
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of stylized martial arts violence and some sexuality.
Opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles

Ziyi, who played the strong-willed and courageous young warrior in the unforgettable Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has an even more powerful and luminous presence. She performs a bewitching and elaborate dance that gives way to masterful swordfighting.

House of Flying Daggers is both a love story and an action epic. Mei and Jin (Takeshi) fall in love during their three-day journey, but nothing is simple about their romance. Though there is an underlying sense of impending doom in Zhang's film, audiences will go along willingly for the breathtaking ride. This martial arts extravaganza is suffused with a painterly production design and seasonal touches, such as a field of wildflowers and vivid autumn foliage, which contribute to its magical aura.

Though the ending feels too drawn-out and melodramatic, taking away from the near-perfection of what preceded, House of Flying Daggers is the rare film that inspires audiences to suspend a sense of reality and allow themselves to be transported, as if under a spell, to an alternate, fantastic world.