Chinese Filmmaker Fined $1 Million for "Beyond Quota" Children

"Oscar-nominated Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has been fined 7.48 million yuan ($1.2 million) for breaching China's one-child policy, authorities say. A letter sent to Zhang by the family planning bureau of Binhu District of Wuxi City, Jiangsu province in eastern China on Thursday demanded that he pay a penalty for having two 'beyond-the-quota' children. The letter was posted on the district's official account on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service. The fine comes after Zhang apologized in an open letter for his 'excessive children' in December. He and his wife, Chen Ting, admitted to having two sons and a daughter. ... Nine investigation teams had been sent to 'collect evidence' since November. ... The filmmaker directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

("China: Filmmaker fined for breach of one-child policy," CNN, Jan, 20, 2014)

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