Wrath of the renrou judges

BEIJING - Before I interviewed Zhang Ziyi, I knew I would be subject to a renrou sousuo, or human flesh search. What I didn't know was how unprofessional it would be.

Zhang, arguably China's biggest movie star, was this year accused of charity fraud by netizens who found inconsistencies in her records. For two months, she kept silent on the issue, and when she - or rather her team - decided to give me an exclusive interview, it was the Chinese equivalent of Tiger Woods granting the five-minute post-crash interview to ESPN.

The difference was, there was no time limit and my interview lasted four hours.