Tang Wei’s career launched amidst controversy. She won the 2007 Golden Lion Award for her performance in Director Ang Lee’s artistic Lust, Caution. Tang Wei portrayed Wong Chia Chi, a communist hero who spied on the Japanese army during the 1930s Sino-Japanese war. But critics gave mixed reviews to her character because the supposedly communist hero demonstrated subtle sympothy for her traitor lover (Tong Leung Chiu-Wai.) Even more provocative were her nude scenes with Tony, which can only be deemed pornographic by the conservative Chinese standard. Even in the U.S, the movie Lust, Caution received an NC-17 rating.
Since Lust, Caution, Tang Wei has been intentionally banned from many Chinese media outlets because she had fallen out of grace with the communist regime. Many companies dropped her from their celebrity endorsement commercials. But after two years of missing out, Tang brings audiences Crossing Hennessy, a romantic drama with Jacky Cheung. It will be her first movie shown in China since Lust, Caution.
