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updated 1 Sep 2012, 21:41
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Sun, 29 Jul 2012
The Star/Asia News Network
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Zhang Ziyi's new romance fuels wedding talk

Zhang Ziyi's romance with CCTV host Sa Beining has been blown wide open, with China's news hounds filling pages with wedding talk.

Ziyi and Beining's love affair was only just exposed in photos published by Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly before the marriage news broke.

Chinese media reported that Ziyi's mum, her brother and his wife gave their permission for Beining to propose - which he did with 9,999 roses, and she said yes.

"Ziyi was so touched, they hugged and cried," said a close friend to the couple.

Their relationship was the talk of town for some time, but nothing was made public until the pictures came out. Ziyi, 33, and Beining, a 36-year-old Muslim of Hui ethnicity, have reportedly been dating for almost a year.

The magazine reported that the photos were taken when Beining visited Ziyi on the set of her movie The Grandmasters, which was filmed in Guangdong province. The film is directed by Hong Kong auteur, Wong Kar-wai.

"Beining would drive Ziyi to her locations and pick her up when she finished," sources told the magazine. "She even took a break from her tight schedule to spend time with him at a stream in the forest park nearby."

"Their relationship wasn't a secret to those in the industry," the source added. "When she was shooting in Shanghai and Nanjing for Dangerous Liaisons, the crew would see him on the set and spot them eating together near her hotel."

According to the story, Beining - a Beijing Olympic torchbearer - fancied Ziyi from the time they met on his TV programme, Show Me First, in May last year, when she was promoting her movie, Love For Life.

Rumours of their romance surfaced four months later, but even their friends only learned the truth in February when they kissed at her birthday party.

The "Zhang-Sa" romance has since become hot Internet chatter. Naysayers are speculating that this is "another celebrity gimmick" by Ziyi, to use Beining's image as a "good man" to mend her reputation, which was tarnished by a series of bad press.

She was called out on her failed relationships to several men - Fok Kai-shan, the son of Hong Kong tycoon Timothy Fok; Israeli-American tycoon Vivi Nevo; Jackie Chan and his son Jaycee.

But the worst scandal came when Hong Kong's Apple Daily and Next Magazine accused her of sleeping with shamed Chinese politician Bo Xilai for money.

Beining, a Peking University law graduate, was fully behind Ziyi when she sued the publications for dragging her into Bo's scandal, and it seemed to help make their minds up about their future together.

Businessmen eager to make a quick buck off the latest romance have also jumped into the fray.

In the Southern Metropolis photos, Ziyi and Beining were seen sporting matching footwear, which readers took as a sign of "some kind of connection".

Entrepreneurs took it as a sign and now, a similar pair of white sandals can be yours for only 48 Yuan (S$9.38) online.

 

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Zhang Ziyi's romance with CCTV host Sa Beining has been heavily discussed by Chinese media. (Photo: The Star/ANN)
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readers' comments
The moral of the story Ms Zhang can have 4 ex husband, he husband too can have up to 4 wives. Fair deal.
Posted by hehehehaha on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 at 08:07 AM
zhang will turn to muslim with her husband?
Posted by winsor78 on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 at 08:04 AM
Zhang Ziyi's romance is " GOT HOLE to TRAVEL..... "
Posted by jopiemalay on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 at 07:06 AM

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