Mainland censors have banned public screenings of the movie Lost in Beijing after 17 minutes of footage of rape and class conflict cut from the original version appeared on the internet.
The order, which came out on Thursday, prompted renewed calls for a film rating system on the mainland, with the movie's explicit sex scenes arousing almost the same controversies as those in Ang Lee's award-winning film Lust, Caution.
'The rating system should be released as soon as possible,' Lost in Beijing director Li Yu said. 'Otherwise, it's hard for our directors to know what the bottom line is. It would be good for both of us.'
The movie, starring Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai and mainland beauty Fan Bingbing , shows the friction between the winners and losers in the country's booming economy by telling the story of a migrant worker trying to blackmail the boss of a foot massage parlour after finding out he had raped the worker's wife.
The 114-minute version was given a category III, adults-only rating in Hong Kong and had to be trimmed to 97 minutes for release on the mainland.
As was the case with Lust, Caution, the cut clips were quickly and widely spread on the internet.