1993

Concubine controversy

FAREWELL TO MY CONCUBINE, the internationally acclaimed box-office hit directed by Chen Kaige, now on at Lido 5, was allowed to be screened in Beijing only two weeks ago, after an initial ban.

It is said that the more conservative Chinese government officials objected to the film's allusions to homosexuality, and the final scene, where Hongkong actor Leslie Cheung's character commits suicide at the dawn of the new Deng Xiaoping era after surviving the horrors of the warlord period, the Japanese occupation and the Cultural Revolution.

But after some editing and the reported intervention of more open-minded party leaders, China's Ministry of Radio, Film and Television approved the film's official release.

Asked to comment on the controversy, Cheung would only say: "Everything in life is predestined."

Now that the ban has been officially lifted, the film, which stars Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi and Gong Li, is expected to make at least HK$ 40 million (S$ 8 million) at the box office in China.

The Straits Times (Singapore)