Man sues Chinese actress for 'staring at him' through TV

A Chinese man is suing actress Zhao Wei for causing him "spiritual damage" by staring at him too intensely through his TV set.

The unnamed man said the "damage" occurred during the prime-time show Tiger Mom, a hit drama about a couple's struggle to raise their daughter.

The Shanghai Pudong New District Court's litigation service hotline confirmed it had received a case against the actress under new laws that make filing a lawsuit easier.

It refused to state whether it had accepted the case, but Gan Wen, the deputy head of a case-filing chamber under the Supreme Court, said on Tuesday (9 June): "It's not necessary to waste our judicial resources on cases like these."

A new registration system in force since 1 May has made it more difficult for Chinese courts to reject claims.

The courts must now provide clearly stated reasons if a case is rejected, and citizens have the right to appeal the decision.

"Previously, it was difficult for administrative cases, such as people suing governments, to be accepted," Beijing lawyer Li Heping told the Associated Press.

Since the introduction of the law, designed to end "obstructive behaviour by courts and officials meddling in cases," there has been an 29% increase in cases in comparison with the same period last year, according to the Supreme People's Court.