Film's bare flesh causes a buzz

Attention has focused on the quantity of bare flesh in Curse of the Golden Flower, which took 96m yuan (£6.3m) in its first weekend.

Web forums have buzzed with debate on whether the film, nicknamed Curse of the Golden Corset, is salacious.

Even the normally sober state news agency has described lead actress Gong Li's appearance as "eye-popping".

The $45m (£23m) epic deals with court intrigue in the Tang dynasty and had the best opening weekend of any Chinese movie.

"(The costumes) show the beauty of a woman's curves"
Gong Li, actress

But the costumes, or lack of them, have raised eyebrows both on the internet and in official circles.

The Xinhua news agency said: "The most eye-popping role is played by Gong Li, the empress, whose breasts are so tightly wrapped that they appear ready to pop out of her costume."

Chinese web portal Sohu.com alone has received 8,000 postings on the subject.

"With costumes like that, you'd think China was more liberal than America," said one unnamed web user.

"It caters to Western tastes while ignoring our own country's sentiments."

Internet surfer "Bond" said: "What I remember is not the fighting scenes or the acting, but the shiny white flesh."

Actress Gong, who was in the updated Miami Vice movie, defended the skimpy costumes as modelled on Tang dynasty fashions.

"They show the beauty of a woman's curves. There was no feeling of awkwardness or danger for us wearing the costumes," she said.

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