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This month last year, a bunch of snapshots of Hong Kong star Edison Chen and several starlets engaged in extremely explicit scenes surfaced online. Questions lingered for many days before the photos' authenticities were verified. This week, an even bigger star appeared, seminude, in dozens of photos made public and betraying no hint of PhotoShop meddling. Zhang Ziyi, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame, was snapped lying on a beach with her fianc Vivi Nevo in a series of images that can be called intimate but not exactly inappropriate by Western standards. OK, I'll be frank. Without the benefits of illustration, the photos seem to have caught the couple in the first phase of foreplay. So, it was deja vu all over again, but a major letdown nonetheless for those who have exposed themselves to Chen and his flashing light bulbs. Is there a pattern here? Are we to be treated to confidential images of movie stars during the lull between New Year's Day and the Chinese New Year from now on? Will it grow into a new tradition a la the monster CCTV gala? Who will be 2010's star caught in a moment of titillation or stark exposure? The key difference between Zhang's case and Chen's is morality. Zhang is engaged to the person in the photos; Chen was not. What Zhang did was normal to most people, and what Chen did was outrageous to many. | 
