Movie director Zhang Yimou admitted yesterday that he and his wife, Chen Ting, have two sons and a daughter, following months of unanswered claims that they had breached China’s family planning policy.

Zhang will accept punishment according to regulations and is apologizing to the public for any negative impact, according to Zhang’s office in a statement on weibo.com last night.

It was the first time the renowned director’s team had responded to questions over his children and if he had breached family planning rules.

Zhang and Chen are said to have sent representatives to the family planning commission in Chen’s hometown in the eastern city of Wuxi to cooperate with an investigation.

In May, online reports surfaced that Zhang, 63, who dazzled the world in 2008 with his Beijing Olympic ceremonies and directed many award-winning movies, including “Raise the Red Lantern” and “The Road Home,” had at least seven children with four women and could be liable for a 160 million yuan (US$26 million) fine, based on his income.

Wuxi’s family planning commission was said to be investigating but it announced late last month that it had done everything possible to contact the couple but had failed to find him.

It had even sent a work team to Beijing to look for the director but with no success, it said.

The Oriental Guardian, a Nanjing-based newspaper, used its front page last Tuesday to publish an appeal to Zhang to come forward and answer the claims.

Xinhua news agency also issued a commentary, scolding the Wuxi commission for brushing aside the issue. Its claim of “failure to find Zhang” undermined the credibility of the local government and breached social equality, Xinhua said.

Zhang’s office said in its statement that someone was using illegal methods to have Zhang’s children followed and to violate the family’s privacy over their identity cards and residency.

They were even spreading false information that Zhang had seven or eight children with several women and that he was paying the mothers 10 million yuan for each child they delivered.

These falsehoods had badly affected Zhang and his family’s lives and the statement said evidence was being collected and Zhang reserved the right to take legal action.

Under Jiangsu’s family planning regulations, each spouse of a couple violating the one-child policy shall face a fine of four times the average local disposable personal income in the year before the child is born.

If the couple has two of more additional children, the fine is five to eight times that figure.

If a couple’s real income is twice local disposable income, the part exceeding the average income will also be charged one to two times as a fine.