Chinese Director’s Reported Seven Children Shocks Public · Global Voices
Owen Guo

China's one-child policy is once again under scrutiny after mainland media revealed that famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou might have fathered seven children.
Hailed as an accomplished fifth-generation director in the country, 63-year-old Zhang, who wowed the world in 2008 with his astonishing Olympic ceremonies, finds himself the brunt of fierce criticism after media reports said he has at least seven children. Frustrated netizens thronged to social media, seizing upon the case as yet another example that privilege is what it takes for one in China to flout laws and regulations.
Zhang kept his second marriage under wraps for years and now has two sons and one daughter with a 32-year-old women from eastern Jiangsu province, Southern Metropolis Entertainment reported[zh] on May 6, 2013. Zhang is rumored to have children with another two unnamed women. The director's eldest daughter with his first wife, whom he divorced in 1988, is 30-years-old and now lives in the United States.
Zhang Yimou has so far remained silent.
The so-called one child policy was introduced in 1979 to limit population growth in China, the world’s most populous nation. While the Chinese government say a total of 400 million births would have occurred had the policy not been implemented, critics say it violates human rights and consider it to be outdated given China’s changing demographics.
Exceptions are allowed. Spouses who are both only children in their own families are given the green light to have two children. In rural areas, a second child is legal only if the first born is a girl.
China's famous movie director Zhang Yimou. Screenshot from youku.
Despite so, the policy still applies to nearly 63 percent of the population and has been unpopular with many Chinese, as reports of brutal forced sterilization hit news headlines in the past few years. In one example, a woman from China's northeast Shaanxi province was forced into abortion last June seven months into her pregnancy, igniting a national outcry over what many said was an atrocity committed by local family planning officials.
For those violators, a hefty fine will be imposed. Fees vary from region to region.
Xinhua, the state news agency, reported  that Zhang is now being investigated for breaching the policy. But until details emerge one day on why his alleged seven children have gone unnoticed by family planning officials, the public anger is unlikely to subside.
“Fenghui Luzhuan de Fengge” vented his deep frustration [zh] on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo:
哪个名人明星不超生？哪个平头百姓敢多生？只有继续努力去做自己的黄粱美梦
Who doesn't violate one-child policy if he or she is a celebrity or famous person? Who dares to do it if he or she is just a common citizen? The only thing we can do is to work hard to achieve our fond dream.
Weibo user “Christopher – Gold”, who is Chinese but residing in the US, wrote [zh]:
为何中国得不到世界尊重？看达官显贵二奶成群，看明星老男人婚变换妻，政协委员张艺谋享尽特权，四个女人七个孩子，百姓超生了，不整死也得罚死，他安然无恙，李安更是大导演，德艺双馨，奥斯卡获奖无数，夫妻白头偕老，老谋子的素养比老百姓都不如，不公平的社会永远得不到尊重.
Why China does not have the respect of the world? High-ranking officials and the wealthy are never short of mistresses, old male celebrities get divorced and change wives, CPPCC member Zhang Yimou has enjoyed his prestige, four women and seven children. While ordinary folks who would have broken the family planning policy would be tortured, or at least face heavy fines, [Zhang] is fine and [unpunished]. Ang Lee is even a bigger director, but he excels in both work and his moral standard, he earns multiple Oscars and has a lasting marriage, Old Zhang’s moral standard is not any better than ordinary folks, an unfair society will never earn respect.
Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee won a second best director Oscar for the 3D adventure “Life of Pi” in February, 2013. Responding to that criticism, another user under the name “Blinking Eyes” from Nanchang wrote [zh] hinting that a Communist mainland and a relatively democratic Taiwan, where director Ang Lee is from, might be the reasons behind the two different lifestyles of two directors:
两个制度下的两种人
Two different kinds of people in two systems.
“Beichan Dingxiang” concluded [zh]:
张艺谋超生事件成为了社会体制漏洞的照妖镜，三妻七子！让我们充分见识这个超级大国的荒诞和离奇.
The scandal of Zhang Yimou has become a monster-revealing mirror of the loopholes of the social constitution, three wives and seven children! It fully shows the absurdity and quirkiness of the country.
“Lala Linzhi Xiaoqi” made the case [zh] that the government should bear the responsibility:
最近好多人声讨张艺谋超生。我觉得一来计划生育本来就是很受争议的政策，二来前段时间发生过政府逼怀孕几个月、胎儿已经成形的孕妇流产事件，张的孩子都能打酱油了事情还没调查清楚，说明有的法律就是给没钱没权没势的人制定的。最该被声讨的不是张，而是政府。
These days many people are denouncing Zhang's violation of one-child policy. First, I think one-child policy is a very controversial policy, secondly, some time ago, there were incidents in which the government forced women several month into their pregnancy to go through abortion, Zhang's children are old enough to help the family with the chores, but many details still remain murky and need to be investigated, it shows laws are made for those who don't have the prestige and money. It's the government that should be mostly denounced, not Zhang.