Chinese state media steps up attack on Wanda tycoon's son for spreading 'sex and violence'

China's state news agency Xinhua has defended its claims that the son of Wanda tycoon Wang Jianlin, is arrogant and overprivileged, after he claimed that his most important criteria for choosing a girlfriend is that she is buxom.

Xinhua criticised Wang Sicong, 26, for objectifying women, and likened him to former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was convicted of sleeping with prostitutes, then cleared on appeal.

Wang made his comments on Valentine's Day after raising more than yuan 500,000 ($ 79,950) for charity by auctioning the chance to watch a film with him.

Xinhua claimed Wang "recklessly disseminates vulgar information … from the worship of money to sex and violence". A full report of the agency's rebuke can be found in the South China Morning Post.

When Wang republished Xinhua's attacks on his highly popular Weibo social media account, he won online support, with many arguing that Xinhua had overreacted to lighthearted comments.

However the news agency has refused to back down, expanding its attack on Wang as a decadent elitist.

Wang sits as a partner on his father's Wanda Dalian Group, a conglomerate which comprises cinema, karaoke bars and department store branches.

It recently entered into ownership talks with Berlusconi's AC Milan football team, which probably informed Xinhua's comparison between Wang with the disgraced former Italian premier.

Xinhua said that male celebrities publicly expressing their "biological" desire for buxom women risked tearing away "the fig leaf on civilization".

"He tore down that fig leaf on purpose, like a naughty boy that pees in public," the commentary said.

The row comes amid a crackdown on sexually suggestive material by Chinese authorities.

The popular TV show Empress of China was pulled from the air last December after censors deemed that actresses were displaying more cleavage than was appropriate.

Recently, it was revealed that scantily clad models, known as "booth babes", were to be banned from China's biggest car show in Shanghai after pressure from authorities.