It is like a tug-of-war amongst Chinese actresses over whether there are 'hidden-rules' in the country's entertainment industry.

Zhang Yu

The latest brouhaha came after Zhang Yu, an actress in her 30s, recorded her affairs with director Huang Jianzhong and went public with them on the Internet, aiming to 'shed light on the dark side of the film industry'.

The videos got a lot of hits, but they also called attention to the casting couch in a country where the lucrative entertainment industry is trying to gain recognition from the outside world.

A search for 'hidden rules, Chinese film industry' brought up 102,000 hits on Google.

"We Chinese women have suffered so much humiliation in the past, but nobody dares to talk about it," Zhang said in an interview with the Southern Weekly. According to Zhang, she is "using my overt shamelessness to expose their covert shamelessness."

While Zhang was trying to shake the whole industry through the sex videos, another heavyweight actress Liu Xiaoqing publicly denounced her bold move.

"Zhang's move is like a mouse's dung, spoiling a pot of porridge," Liu told the Modern Express on December 18, adding that she was engaged in the industry for over a decade and China's entertainment industry is not that bad.

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Liu, 55, is one of the best-known actresses in the country's film industry. She rose to popularity in 1979 in the film "Xiao Hua". Liu gradually eased out of the public spotlight after being proven guilty of tax evasion totaling more than nearly 6.68 million yuan (US$807,730) from 1996 to 2001, according to newspaper reports. A court verdict fined her company Xiaoqing Culture Art Co. Ltd.7.1 million yuan (US$858,500) and sentenced general manager Jing Jun to three-year imprisonment.

Liu said the entertainment industry is pure enough and is critical of acting skills. "Zhang was struggling to gain fame, but she will not be successful," Liu said.

In Liu's eyes, Zhang was a nobody.

"Zhang has a vicious mentality and she never learned how to be a real person," Liu said, adding that Zhang has actually never been in the industry.

According to Liu, if a person wants to be in the industry, they must learn how to be a person.

It is not new for scandals involving actresses and directors to make the press.

At the end of August this year, 22-year-old actress Xiao Qiong wrote on her Web log that director Yang Yichao had hinted to her that she could get a leading role in the TV drama "Painter Village" if she slept with him.

Without exception, concerned directors tried to clear themselves of the scandals.

In Zhang's case, director Huang Jianzhong, said that he was drunk and could not remember what had happened.

In regard to Xiao's charges, director Yang Yichao issued a statement via his lawyer on September 1, saying Xiao's action constitutes libel that has seriously damaged his reputation.