THE crew of China's most expensive movie, "The Promise" by Oscar-nominated director Chen Kaige, has been criticized for damaging the environment while filming at a pristine location in the aptly renamed Shangri-la township in Yunnan Province.

While the nation is expecting an apology from Chen and some Chinese newspapers have harshly criticized him, demanding he step down as an art and culture consultant for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, the director chose to hide from the public. No comment.

Preliminary investigation has shown that the filming of "The Promise" in a remote part of Southwest China's Yunnan Province " influenced and damaged" the area around Bigu Tianchi (Bue Sky Pond), the provincial environmental watchdog said over the weekend.

The crew may also have broken the law by not submiting an environmental impact report to the local department before constructing the set, said Zhu Xingxiang, an official with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

Data indicated that the reinforced concrete structure built by the crew cost more than 2 million yuan (US$246,600).

They also built a 300-to-400 meter-long road, and cut down dozens of square meters of azalea bushes, Zhu said. The bureau will release the results of its investigation soon, the official said.

Waste and wooden posts have been moved from the site, along with the concrete structure, but the sand and the road are still there, and the azaleas have not been replaced.

"The pristine conditions are hard to restore, even after all the clean-up efforts have been completed," he said. Reports said filming at Bigu Tianchi ended in October 2004, but the clean-up efforts did not start until last month.

Chen Hong, the film's producer and wife of director Chen Kaige, rejected the charges, saying the crew had left "enough money" for the local government to deal with the aftermath. If that money refers to the 20,000 yuan from selling the unused construction materials left by the crew, yes. But that money was far from enough to dismantle the road, the concrete structure and restore the original scenery, said Li Aiming, a Yunnan local official.

On May 9, Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing was quoted as telling a forum in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, that the film crew had abandoned a reinforced concrete structure on the lake's shore. His words triggered a spate of criticism of Chen and his crew.

Shooting "The Promise" also harmed the Yuanmingyuan Garden in Beijing, the Daily Sunshine said yesterday. The crew used yellow paint to color 60 10-meter-high trees in the garden to create an effect of deserted battlefields, and the plants are still yellow even as summer sets in. The crew also failed to pay the full charges for shooting in the cultural treasure.

Chen had demanded an apology from Hu Ge, the videographer who created a satirical online video of "The Promise," and he got it. At the time, he also criticized Hu as "shameless."

But now he has hidden from the public when an apology and actions to clear his wrongdoings are demanded.

Memorably, Chen once publicly apologized to his father.

Back in the 1990s, Chen regretted how, as a teenager during the cultural revolution, he was pressured by school authorities to condemn his father -- a noted filmmaker -- as a creator of subversive art. "I denounced my father, it was a terrible thing. It was a terrible time," Chen said.

Editor: Wing