Director Zhang: An apology for paternity

Family planning authorities confirmed on Monday that film director Zhang Yimou fathered three children out of wedlock, ending months of speculation that he had fathered as many as seven children by various mothers.

Zhang admitted to having three children with his current wife Chen Ting, and he apologized on Sunday evening in a statement posted on his studio's micro blog.

The apology came amid growing concerns about whether celebrities like Zhang can dodge the punishments of family planning laws.

The family planning authority in Binhu district of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, which is the hometown of Zhang's wife, announced on Monday evening that Zhang fathered three children — in 2001, 2004 and 2006 — with his current wife before their marriage in 2011.

The authority said it welcomed the response from Zhang's studio, as well as Zhang's cooperative attitude toward the investigation.

"We hope that the party involved will continue to cooperate with the investigation and accurately declare his income in the birth year of each child. We will handle the case according to the law and in time will announce the result," an official with the family planning bureau in Binhu district said in an online statement.

According to family planning regulations in Jiangsu province, couples who give birth before their marriage is registered face the same fines as married couples who violate the family planning policies — five to eight times the average annual income of the area in which the children were born.

If a couple's annual income is more than double the area's average income, the couple will be subject to additional fines. The amount of any fine depends on the particular county or city that has jurisdiction.

Chen Yuan, a family planning policy lawyer from Pingji Center in Guangzhou, said the couple in this case are unlikely to face a huge fine of 160 million yuan ($26 million), as published in the some media reports.

"If Zhang and Chen's in-come in 2012 exceeded two times the average yearly in-come of local people's, they will pay additional fines, which is one or two times the average yearly income," Chen said.

"Compared to Zhang's in-come, the amount of money is not large," he added.

In 2012, the average yearly income of Wuxi residents living in urban areas was 35,663 yuan.

An authority with Wuxi's commission of population and family planning who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is difficult to investigate celebrities' in-comes because of the country's faulty taxation system, and Zhang, therefore, may not be fined in accordance with his real income.