Chinese film director Wang Quanan arrested for soliciting prostitutes
Filmmaker allegedly confessed to paying 31-year-old woman HK$1,100 for sex
PUBLISHED : Monday, 15 September, 2014, 2:44pm
UPDATED : Monday, 15 September, 2014, 3:37pm
Jing Li [email protected]
Wang Quanan, the director of White Deer Plain, and seven other people were arrested in the prostitution bust. Photo: May Tse
Award-winning Chinese film director Wang Quanan, 48, has been arrested by Beijing police on the charge of soliciting prostitutes, Legal Evening reported.
The Beijing police bureau said in an online statement today that a film director surnamed Wang was arrested on the evening of September 10 in an apartment in Dongcheng district, together with a 31-year-old woman surnamed Lu.
The police said the director of the historic drama White Deer Plain confessed that he paid 800 yuan (HK$1,100) to Lu for prostitution and admitted that he solicited the woman through information he got from text messages. He also admitted that he called other prostitutes on September 8 and 9, the statement said.
A 18-year-old woman was arrested on the charge of organising prostitution, and six others were arrested for prostitution.
Wang is known for his films’ portrayal of China’s rural life. His Mongolian-set feature Tuya’s Wedding won Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear, in 2006.
His 2011 film White Deer Plain, based on a novel of the same name, was set in rural Shaanxi. Wang married the Chinese actress Zhang Yuqi, who starred in the film, that year.
He had broken up with actress Yu Nan in 2008 after a 10-year relationship, according to mainland media.
