Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi rumoured to have had sex with some of China's most powerful men, including disgraced politician Bo Xilai
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi rumoured to have had sex with some of China's most powerful men, including disgraced politician Bo Xilai Tumblr

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Zhang Ziyi, has fiercely denied allegations that she earned millions by prostituting herself to a string of powerful Chinese men.

The 33-year-old Chinese beauty found herself at the centre of a sex scandal when reports surfaced that she had slept with disgraced politician Bo Xilai.

Bo, a former top Chinese official tipped for greater things, and his wife, Gu Kailai, are being investigated over their alleged involvement in the murder of Old Harrovian businessman Neil Heywood.

According to Chinese reports, Zhang slept with Bo at least 10 times in Beijing between 2007 and 2011 for around £1million each time after being introduced by Chinese businessman Xu Ming.

Ming is said to have claimed that he paid Zhang a total of £18m for sex before he later negotiated a deal for a similar liaison for Bo.

She is also alleged to have had secret trysts with other powerful Chinese officials for money.

Three-times Bafta nominee Zhang slammed the claims as "a complete lie" at a press conference after the 12th Chinese Film Media Awards in Haikou.

She told the Chinese press: "This 'news' is a complete lie. Both within the article and between the lines, there were contemptuous lies.

"I met with my lawyers in Hong Kong and clearly expressed my position."

She also vowed to take legal action against the tabloids that first published the report at "whatever the cost".

"I will seek legal recourse and pursue this matter to the very end," she said.

"I read a lot of comments from people who don't know the truth and they think this film industry is like that [rife with unsavoury dealings].

"This time, these [irresponsible reports] have not only hurt me, but maligned the film industry. And worse of all, they [some media outlets] made use of such hot topics to fool the public," she added.