Beijing police detained Dou Wei, a Chinese rock 'n' roll pioneer, for alleged arson this morning after he went out of control in the newsroom of Beijing News yesterday, and set fire to a car in front of the office, media reported today.

Rock singer Dou Wei (front) is taken away by police officers after setting fire to a car parking outside the office building of the Beijing News, May 10, 2006. [Sina.com]

Dou is also well known for being the ex-husband of Chinese pop diva Faye Wong.

He entered the newsroom yesterday to file a complaint about a reporter surnamed Zhuo, and his story about Dou and his second wife Gao Yuan's life and economic status.

Senior editors and law department heads from the paper attempted to comfort and calm him down for two hours, promising to look into the issue, however, Dou couldn't control his temper and began breaking office equipment, computers, TV's and splashed water on some employees.

The newspaper employees had to call Dou's friends to take him away.

But Dou returned to the newsroom later, pouring some liquid onto a car in front of the office, and then set it on fire. The papers employees put out the fire immediately and no one was hurt.

The police soon arrived to take Dou and others involved to the police station for questioning. Beijing News reported today that Dou may be charged with committing arson.

Beijing News later published a statement saying the stories they originally published about Dou were all based on interviews and the truth.

Dou and Wong's marriage formerly aroused intense publicity, especially after they divorced. The divorce was reportedly caused by Dou's affair with Gao, who was his former lover before he married Wong. Gao later became his second wife.

However, Dou and Gao ended up divorcing. Wong recently married a Chinese actor, Li Yapeng and they are expecting their first baby early next week.