Beijing, June 13: China's roaring sex and political scandal took a new turn with world famous actress Zhang Ziyi suing Hong Kong's leading newspaper Apple Daily and its sister weekly Next Magazine over reports that she exchanged sex for money with the purged Communist Party strongman Bo Xilai.
The 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' star is fighting back allegations that she was paid $110 million for sleeping with Bo and his rich business associates on "numerous occasions" over a period of 10 years.
Zhang, 33, told the Hong Kong high court that the reports in the two publications were "seriously defamatory" and "false".
The move shows that China's Communist authorities have decided to allow the actress to clear her name by fighting the Hong Kong dailies although the articles they carried seemed to serve the purpose of defaming Bo, who has fallen from grace.
Earlier reports suggested she was being probed and asked not to leave mainland China. But she was later allowed to travel to Hong Kong, which is an autonomous region with greater judicial and political redeem.
"The plaintiff has been subjected to public odium, hatred, contempt or ridicule," the actress said in the suit while adding she would seek unspecified damages.
Zhang denied Apple Daily's assertion that she was now under investigation by Chinese authorities and was barred from leaving China.
The Apple Daily published a piece on May 29 saying Zhang "is a prostitute" and had sex with disgraced top official Bo Xilai and his wealthy associate Xu Ming for money on "numerous occasions", the court document said.
Apple Daily, a Chineselanguage daily, is known to be critical of China's Communist leaders. This is why the article that seemed to strengthen the case against Bo caused a lot of surprises.
Bo was sacked from his position as the party secretary of Chongqing city for "serious discipline violations" last March. He was due to be selected to the powerful nine-member politburo standing committee before the sack orders were announced.
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