Renowned Chinese star Zhang Ziyi has filed a suit against an entertainment media company in Chaoyang district court, claiming it seriously damaged her reputation.

The hearing is expected to be held soon.

Huang Kai, Zhang's lawyer, said they want the Shopping Guide (Gouwu Daobao) to immediately stop damaging Zhang's reputation, delete relevant reports and publish an open apology.

The dispute centers around former singer and business woman Zhao Xinyu, who is known as the capital's "party queen".

Zhang's claim says a story in the Shopping Guide on Jan 13 that claimed to speak of Zhao's "special friendship" with Zhang was libelous.

Zhao said in the article that she introduced Zhang to a Shanghai billionaire, identified only as "A", at a charity party in November 2008.

The story said "A" was married, but soon developed a "deeper relationship" with Zhang while Zhang was dating Vivi Nevo, a 43-year-old Israeli billionaire with the largest private stock shares in Goldman Sachs and Time Warner.

Zhao claimed in the story that "A" gave Zhang many luxury gifts, which amounted to 200 million yuan.

She said the gifts include a 10-million-yuan limited edition Tiffany necklace, a pair of diamond earrings and a diamond necklace, worth 10 million yuan, a one-million-yuan Hermes diamond lascote handbag, a two-million-yuan Audi and two precious oil paintings worth $600,000.

The story said the wife of "A" found out about the secret relationship and blamed Zhao for introducing them.

The article said Zhang and Zhao fell out after that, with Zhang believing Zhao revealed the relationship to "A"'s wife.

In the piece, Zhao said Zhang Zinan, the brother of Zhang Ziyi, insulted her and sent threatening messages, prompting her to flee to Hong Kong.

Websites were rife at the time with reports that Zhao was competing with Zhang for Vivi's attention, so Zhao flew back to Beijing to clear the air, the story said.

Tian Jinshuang, a well known independent entertainment promotion designer, said the conflict between Zhang and Zhao was a commercial promotion strategy aimed at increasing their celebrity.

"Anyway, the two women now have been appearing on headlines of local publications' entertainment editions almost every day," said Tian.