She speaks English with a funky Beijing accent. The beaded black and gray
Armani outfit she wore to the Oscars was frumpy. She squats on the floor like a
Chinese farmer when she goes shopping.
So say Hong Kong media, which just love to bash Zhang Ziyi - the movie
world's hottest young Chinese actress.
Although Hollywood is enthralled with the spunky beauty who starred in
"Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Zhang's critics in
this movie-mad city enjoy picking her apart. And the criticism can be downright
vicious.
"Zhang Ziyi's Armani evening gown made her look so flat-chested it was
scary," the Sing Tao Daily, a major Chinese-language newspaper, said in a
headline about the 27-year-old starlet's appearance at the Oscars earlier this
month.
Zhang, who declined to provide comment for this story, has said previously
the venom has to do with Hong Kongers' deeply entrenched bias against mainland
Chinese, who are viewed to be bumpkins and gold diggers.
"They think, 'How can you be an international movie star? You are only from
China.' For them, Chinese mainland is like the countryside," Zhang was quoted as
saying in an interview with The Sunday Times of London in 2004.