Sex, Lies and Video Clips

Edison Chen career is ruined but that's just the start of his troubles

The annual Spring Festival TV variety show, which attracts more viewers than the Super Bowl, had little to offer audiences again this year, save heroic footage of Wen Jiabao climbing a hill, but that doesn't mean Chinese audiences were in any way bored. How could you be with the Edison Chen sex scandal breaking so large that even the New York Times covered it on February 13?

In late January, compromising photos of Twins singer Gillian Chung hit the Net, eliciting vociferous denials from her handlers. Ah, but if it had only ended there. The initial trickle was followed by a veritable deluge as photos of Chen doing the deed in lots of interesting ways with Chung and at least seven other women, including Maggie Q, hit the Net. Hot stuff.

Edison made a pathetic attempt to stanch the bleeding in February with an Osama bin Laden style video plea for people to "stop forwarding the photos" and to "erase photos" on hard drives. Fat chance. He fled to Boston to comfort his current girlfriend, but Edison's career (outside of porn, of course) is ruined. Columbia Pictures decided to delete Chen's part in the film Jump and plans to re-shoot. He's also been pulled from credit cards ads. Media reports have his financial losses at 40 million HK dollars, but that may not be the worst of it. Apparently, the mafia are also after him to "teach a lesson" to the guy whose main error was to leave behind photo documentation of his sexploits.

China Horror Ban
This is one for the ages: the Chinese government has banned horror. Reuters reports that regulators have given TV and film producers a window of time in which to root out offending content and notify the authorities. "Wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror" are the target of the campaign whose purpose is, ostensibly, spiritual cleansing of Chinese society. Many are linking this to the earlier move against morally bankrupt films like Lost in Beijing.

China Says

Chinese Express Regret over Spielberg's decision to withdraw from Olympic consulting
Sina.com
"Linking Darfur to the Olympic Games will not help and is against the Olympic Spirit that separates sports from politics."

Summer Palace, The Movie
insunlight.com
"Summer Palace has been refused by SARFT because of too much sex."

Edison Chan Refuses to Come Back to Hong Kong
chinanews.com
"Edison is afraid to return because no bodyguards are willing to work for him."

The World Says

Spielberg Drops Out as Adviser to Beijing Olympics in Dispute over Darfur Conflict
nytimes.com
"Spielberg said that his °Æconscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual.'"

Those Chaotic College Years in Beijing
nytimes.com
"Summer Palace is remarkable for its candor about politics and sex."

The Too-Hot-For-The-Times Hong Kong Sex Scandal Photos
gawker.com
"It's the equivalent of a huge sex scandal involving Kelly Clarkson and Jimmy Fallon, or something."

DIGITS

8
The number of teeth which officially constitutes a "winning smile" according to the Beijing Foreign Affairs School.

300
How much in RMB it costs to purchase the body of an executed Chinese prisoner.

10,000,000
The number of Chinese women Mao jokingly offered to send to the U.S. in 1974. "Let them go to your place," Mao told the U.S. National Security Advisor. "They will create disasters. That way you can lessen our burdens."

1.1
The equivalent magnitude of explosive power generated by fireworks set off during the first 30 hours of CNY.