She has starred in dozens of films and been photographed thousands of times for hundreds of magazines, but it’s still easy to miss Maggie Cheung Man-yuk in a crowd. The cafe in the Mandarin Oriental hotel is buzzing with the Friday evening mix of tai-tais, tycoons and investment bankers sipping Veuve Clicquot, and no one notices when the actress quietly slips into the room and cosies up in a booth at the back.

Cheung is beaming. Having been away from the big screen for four years - her last role was the troubled single mother and recovering junkie she portrayed in Clean - she seems carefree, stripped down to her real self. She is wearing a simple Balenciaga sweater, skinny trousers, boots from her favourite store, Top Shop, and a distressed leather Luella bag ("It came with some strings but I cut them off," she whispers, as if divulging a secret. "I love it because it will age well.") Cheung is here to talk about, among other things, her latest role - not in a film but as one of the stars in Lane Crawford’s Transitions fashion campaign, which debuts next month. In one of the two images featuring Cheung, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the actress is pictured wearing an Alexander McQueen hourglass dress that cages her body, transforming it into a dramatic silhouette. The image is erotic - Newton-esque in its depiction of the female form - and completely incongruous with the good-girl persona she portrays for brands such as Ebel and Oil of Olay.

"Wow," she exclaims, looking at the images with a naughty look in her eye. "This is going to be great!" Acting is what Cheung is best known for but fashion has long been an interest. From designing for jewellery brand Qeelin to being photographed by Patrick Demarchelier and serving as a muse for designers such as Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Cheung has become one of the industry’s leading style icons. An attempt five years ago to come up with some ideas for local clothing chain Izzue wasn’t such a success, however, and she’s vowed she’ll "never do it again. It took too much time and work, and fashion design doesn’t interest me.

"It’s a big bonus that I am a fashion icon but I still think [fashion] is a superficial thing," she says. "Yes, it’s a beautiful thing and I appreciate it very much … so I let myself gravitate towards it … but it’s not something I like to do all the time. It doesn’t … affect what I really am."

At 43, Cheung has changed significantly from when she starred in her first feature film, almost 23 years ago. Born in Hong Kong, she moved to Kent, in England, when she was eight, and stayed there until the early 80s, when she returned to Asia to start modelling. After finishing as first runner-up at the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1983 (she was a semi-finalist at the Miss World pageant that year), she secured a contract with Shaw Brothers Studios and starred in popular comedy Police Story (1985) with Jackie Chan. In 1988, she landed a role in As Tears Go By, directed by Wong Kar-wai, a man who would be key to her career. Successes followed, and so did awards - as well as numerous Hong Kong honours, Cheung picked up best actress accolades from the Berlin and Cannes film festivals and five Golden Horse Awards over the next two decades.

Such praise, however, was not enough to keep Cheung on the silver screen. After completing Clean, the actress drifted away from cinema, leaving critics to presume she has retired from the business altogether.

"No, I’m not retired; I am letting it be," she explains in a soft English accent. "I’m not looking to do another film but I am not saying yes to much else either. The only thing that could draw me back to getting up at 5.30am, being on the set at 6am, and doing hair and make-up for five hours, is something very special. It became the same cycle for every film; I don’t need that cycle any more.

"I am at such a nice time in my life and I don’t want to end that for something that I don’t 100 per cent love. You have to defend a film that you have done no matter what - professionally and personally. I’d like to speak about my next project with passion, but I just feel that it’s not going to happen. I have done 75 films and that makes me think that it’s OK not to do 76. If I do choose another movie, I’d like to walk on set and say, `Wow! I love being here’, instead of thinking, `Why am I giving up my life to be here on this bloody mountain in the middle of nowhere?’

"When you take on a part, it’s actually quite a beautiful process," says Cheung, who has earned a reputation for playing "heavy" roles. "Just to understand another woman … to imagine what it can be. I don’t live the parts but I analyse them until I really understand who they are and I try to imagine them physically.

"But now [that I’ve stopped] I am much lighter as a person. It’s amazing to be able to live as you wish. You are able to plan your day yourself and do whatever you want. Right now I don’t feel like being stuck or committed to anything full time. Even my relationship - it’s still part-time, as I travel and work."

Cheung’s wanderlust may have stemmed from her childhood desire to be an air stewardess, she jokes, and she still makes frequent trips to Paris, where she once shared a home with ex-husband and Clean director Olivier Assayas. More recently, though, she has been spending a significant amount of time at her home in Beijing, where she enjoys the anonymity.

"I feel so sad about what the Hong Kong press have become. Even though people [in Beijing] still recognise me, and do or don’t like me, the way they behave is purer. Hong Kong people have become more critical because of the media," which have been known to camp outside Cheung’s Repulse Bay home.

"It’s a bad education for the heart, the soul and what you want for others and what is important: the value of life. It’s f**ked up. The media are f**king Hong Kong up and I am angry about that.

"In Beijing I feel that with anyone I am in touch with, whether they know who I am or not, they are genuine and not judging me on how I look. I don’t always want to be alert and on my guard."

She may not feel charitable towards the Hong Kong media, but Cheung has begun working with Oil of Olay and Audi (she represents both brands in China) on projects aimed at educating mainland youths.

"China is growing so fast but if the education of the next generation is not up to it, it can backfire for the country," she says. "Now I can do something for society. I always wanted to but have been so busy up to now. I am not a great saint who is giving up all her time to charity; it’s something I am serious about and that I really want to do. Apart from the charity work, I’m still out there looking for fulfilling projects.

"I like to do things properly. What I have in my hands now makes me busy and I just don’t want to overload myself. I want to be happy and lighthearted."

On the creative front, Cheung is devoting time to music, her enthusiasm ignited by a brief stint on the microphone in Clean.

"It’s not that I want to become a singer, but I am working with … music. I walk into the studio and hang out, make up songs and write some lyrics. I do some tunes on the computer with my own programming. I’m in love with that side of it," she says.

"If I keep on doing it, it might become something big. Music took me away from cinema. I feel my disposition is more inclined towards music now than to acting. Some actors are addicted to acting but I don’t feel that way. But if I don’t do anything musical for a while, I miss it and I want to be back in the studio." And that "part-time" relationship? Having split up with Qeelin founder Guillaume Brochard, she is reportedly dating German architect Ole Scheeren (she neither confirms nor denies this).

"I am willing to go where love is. I didn’t know that before, that I was like that," she says. "But I realise that’s always been the case. I am a true romantic at heart and I think that is the most important thing. Love is what drives me.

"But having a family is something I don’t see. I don’t think I will manage to have kids. I might adopt. I love children but I don’t want to [give birth]. I decided [that] when I was watching the news during 9/11. When I saw those planes crash into the buildings I said to myself that I didn’t want to bring anyone into this suffering. That moment clarified it for me. And along the way, watching my friends have kids, I have just realised it’s not for me. It’s a lot of work, a lot of heart. I believe two people should just be together and be happy to enjoy each other."

With no family and, possibly, no films ahead, what does the future hold for Miss Photogenic 1983?

"I think I will probably continue having three or four homes in places I like, and travel from home to home. I may even consider settling down in England, as that’s the one place I feel most comfortable. That would be an ideal life for me, as long as I have the person I love with me - unless he takes me somewhere else that I love, that is."

Interview by Harilela

This is very sad news, that something like the Flu can still do this, I wonder if they did a thorough inspection of the surrounding of what caused this.

Four reports of flu outbreaks involving 88 people in kindergartens and primary schools in Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and Yau Tong were announced last night. Most of the patients, aged from three to 42, had recovered, the Centre for Health Protection said.

Legislator for the medical sector Kwok Ka-ki said the Hospital Authority should be better prepared for flu outbreaks. "Faced with demands in admission, hospitals should try to scale down other services and provide additional beds for paediatric and medical patients who are most affected by flu outbreaks," he said.

The tragedy-struck Ho family had happier news yesterday with the birth of a baby, four days after their three-year-old daughter died of flu.

The baby came into the world yesterday morning at Tuen Mun Hospital, where Ho Po-yi died on Saturday. The child’s death sparked allegations by the family that doctors had been remiss in not admitting her earlier.

On what should have been a joyful occasion, the children’s father and grandfather were unsmiling as they went to the hospital yesterday, not even willing to disclose the sex of the new child, Mrs Ho’s fourth.

Also in the hospital is another daughter, Ho Yuen-yi, six, suffering from the same H3 flu strain that struck Po-yi.

Yuen-yi was confirmed yesterday to be ill with the H3N2 substrain, known as Brisbane flu after the Australian city where it first emerged, but the exact substrain that infected her sister had not been established last night.

Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok said the authority was very concerned by the sisters’ case. Dr Chow said he hoped the coroner’s court would be able to provide a clear account of the medical procedures involved and what had happened. He said the case was rare, as flu did not normally kill so quickly.

Po-yi died on Saturday afternoon after she was admitted to the hospital, a few hours after being sent home from the emergency room with a high fever.

Her sister, under treatment with the flu drug Tamiflu, is also having psychological counselling to help her deal with the tragedy.

"Yuen-yi is now stable, and she has started to eat again," grandfather Ho Kwai-ming said.

"Doctors say she may be discharged within two days. We are glad."

He did not answer when asked whether Yuen-yi had taken in the news of the death of her sister, but said he was still angry with the hospital. Mr Ho wondered whether mistakes had been made.

Recently, a video clip from the BTV3 program <At A Time of Rule of Law> drew 200,000 viewings in less than a day and more than 1,000 comments.  This television episode was about a case in the western district of Beijing about the uploading of certain obscene photographs.  The chief defendant named Luo was the manager in charge of Internet business operations at a certain information technology company.  Luo directed subordinates Yang, Ruan and Ding to distribute obscene photos via the mobile phone WAP technology.

According to an examination of the electronic data, a total of 28 photos had been uploaded resulting in more than 250,000 hits.  The existing law metes out punishment based upon the circulation of such obscene articles, and 250,000 plus hits can result theoretically in a jail sentence of ten or more years.

Netizens wrote: "The chief judge should not adhere to the rigid law code.  He needs to consider the environment of the Chinese Internet.  A hit count of more 250,000 does not mean that 250,000 different persons saw it.  That is to say, the number of people exposed should not be estimated from a simple technical method."  A lawyer said, "There is no doubt that these people distributed obscene articles for reason of profit, but ten years in jail appear to be too draconian.  Under the current Internet technology, a person can cause mulitple hits on a single photo because of failures due to network congestion.  Therefore, the number of hits is not the same as the number of unique viewers.  The 250,000 figure ought to be discounted, and that should be the basis by which the penalty is determined.

In the 2004 Greatest Sichuan Internet Pornography Case, the chief judge had declared that the prosecutor presented insufficient evidence when the "hit count" was taken as the audience size.  Since the hit rate and the view rate are not equivalent, the hit rate cannot be used to determine the penalty.  In that case, the defendant was sentenced to 18 months for distribution of obscene material on the Internet.

via NetEase