CHINA / Regional

Li confirms daughter's harelip surgery
(AP)
Updated: 2006-08-13 12:03

HONG KONG - Chinese pop diva Faye Wong's husband, mainland Chinese actor Li Yapeng, said in his blog Sunday the couple's newborn daughter has received surgery for a cleft lip in the U.S.

"Now our daughter (Li Yan) has received treatment and is resting at home. Everything went well," Li Yapeng wrote.

Li said he and his friends plan to set up a charity for children with cleft lips.

"The corrective surgery Yan received in the U.S. doesn't exist in China. We have contacted hospitals in the U.S. and medical groups. We plan to set up a charity with some friends," he said.

Li also wrote that babies with cleft lips are "gods" according to South American mythology, and there are hundreds of thousands like Yan born to parents in China every year.

Li Yan was reportedly born in Beijing on May 27.

Wong, a Beijing native who made her name in Hong Kong, started out in mainstream Chinese pop but branched out into more alternative fare.

She was hugely popular in China and Hong Kong in the mid-1990s but has unofficially retired from the entertainment scene in recent years.

Wong also has another daughter from her previous marriage to Chinese rocker Dou Wei.

On the Net:

Li Yapeng's blog entry: http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/473dc620010005lp