CHINA: Film Star Responds to Accusations on Quake Charity

Published: March 16, 2010

By EDWARD WONG

Zhang Ziyi, a star of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and the best-known Chinese actress internationally, has denied accusations that she committed fraud while trying to raise money for victims of the devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan Province and surrounding areas in 2008. Ms. Zhang’s statements, published Tuesday in The China Daily, were the first by her on a scandal that has riveted many Chinese in the last few months. Chinese Internet users, after scouring public records, have accused Ms. Zhang, who also starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” of failing to fully donate $146,000 of her own money that she had pledged to the Chinese Red Cross. They also say she has never handed over $1 million that she said she hoped to raise from foreign donors. Ms. Zhang, above, said in the interview that a “communication glitch” led to her donating only $123,000 of her own money, and she asserted that she had donated the rest since the shortfall came to light.

A version of this brief appeared in print on March 17, 2010, on page A5 of the New York edition.

View New York Times Article