China and Japan in a culture clash
(Houston Chronicle )
Updated: 2005-12-02 15:08

China and Japan, which are at each other's throats over any number of issues, finally seem to agree on one thing: Hollywood's latest release is a cultural dud.

(L-R)US film director Rob Marshall poses with the cast of his latest movie 'Sayuri' ('Memoirs of a Geisha'), Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and Japanese actor Ken Watanabe at a press conference in Tokyo. [AFP]

The Hollywood movie Memoirs of a Geisha, which had its world premiere in Tokyo Tuesday, has triggered consternation in Japan because none of the three lead actresses are Japanese; two of them are Chinese, and another is an ethnic Chinese from Malaysia.

Citizens polled about the matter in Tokyo questioned why Hollywood chose Chinese actresses to portray geishas, quintessentially Japanese women trained in traditional arts of singing, dancing and accompanying wealthy men.

If there's dismay in Japan, there's outrage in China, but for a different reason: Many Chinese are beside themselves that the film's star, Zhang Ziyi, China's best-known actress, is depicted in the movie as having sexual relations with a Japanese man.

"She deserves to be chopped into a thousand bits," said one Internet user, one of more than 1,000 people who posted on the subject at the Tianji (Sky's Edge) Web portal.

"Zhang is a shameless prostitute," another posting said. "She should be deprived of Chinese citizenship."