Zhang Yimou. (AFP)
China's family planning authorities are pursuing the acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou for allegedly violating the country's one-child policy, but they have been unable to track him down, according to China's official newswire.
Officials in the central city of Wuxi began investigating the 62-year-old director of Hero and To Live after rumours surfaced online in May that he fathered seven children with four women, Xinhua reported. Yet the officials have reportedly failed to contact Zhang and his wife, Chen Ting, who is from Wuxi. If the allegations were held to be true, Zhang could owe the government 160-million yuan (about R267-million) in fines, state-run media reported in May.
"Concerning the revelation that Zhang Yimou and Chen Ting are suspected of violating family planning rules, population planning officials have highly prioritised the case," an unnamed representative of the city's family planning committee told Xinhua.
The committee has enlisted other government departments in the investigation, reached out to Chen's family, sent more than 10 letters to the couple via film production companies, and dispatched a team to Beijing, but the representative said: "Really, at this point, we haven't received any satisfactory reply."
Attempts to contact the committee were unsuccessful.
Zhang rose to fame in the 1990s with a string of sweeping, visually striking dramas; more recently, he directed the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
He is currently filming a new historical drama called Return. Production began in Beijing in September.
Last Friday, authorities revealed plans to relax the one-child policy further, which already allows certain demographic subgroups to have multiple children.
Violators are often forced to pay huge fines, euphemistically called "social maintenance fees". Unequal enforcement of the law has caused widespread public indignation.
In the countryside, violations can lead to human rights abuses such as sterilisations and forced abortions. Yet many wealthy urban families are known to skirt round the policy by paying reduced fines or simply by having their children abroad.
Wuxi's family planning authorities must find Zhang before calculating a fine, according to Xinhua. "The numbers that were spreading online aren't accurate," the representative said.
The committee added that it respected the couple's right to privacy, and that without Zhang's consent it was unable to reveal some of its findings. – © Guardian News & Media 2013Rumours surfaced online in May that Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou fathered seven children with four women