Chinese movie star arrested

One of Liu's most famous roles was in Hibiscus Town

A famous Chinese film actress has been arrested on charges of large-scale tax evasion, according to state media.

Liu Xiaoqing, an award-winning performer who starred in many Chinese films throughout the 1980s, was arrested in Beijing on Wednesday.

Her three advertising and promotion companies are under investigation by the city's tax bureau, Xinhua news agency said.

Liu, who twice won the Baihua Best Actress award, has appeared in such classics as Hibiscus Town, Little Flowers, Cixi's Eunuch, Li Lianying and Ruling From Behind the Screen.

Government crackdown

She gave up acting in the 1990s to become a businesswoman and was detained last month under a government crackdown on tax evasion ordered by Premier Zhu Rongji, state media reports said.

Xinhua did not detail exactly how much tax the actress was alleged to have evaded but it said that the Beijing Taxation Bureau confiscated some 1.96 million yuan ($236,000) of the assets of one of her companies, Beijing Xiaoqing Culture and Arts Company Ltd, on 9 May.

"According to the facts of the investigation, from 1996 up until the present, the Beijing Xiaoqing Culture and Arts Company Ltd has under-listed its income, over-listed costs, made false reports and evaded a large amount of tax," the report said.

The company's general manager, Jin Jun, and chief accountant Fang Li, were arrested on 30 May in connection with the case, and her sister, Liu Xiaohong, was arrested on 18 June.

Liu has in recent years been at the centre of China's tabloid press and a series of scandals involving business and real estate.