Country of origin
See also: Political status of Taiwan
The film was coproduced by the American companies Focus Features and River Road Productions, and mainland China companies Shanghai Film Group Corporation and Haishang Films and the Taiwanese Hai Sheng Film Production Company. The director is from Taiwan, and the actors/actresses are from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as the United States. It was shot in Shanghai, neighboring province of Zhejiang, and some locations in Ipoh, Malaysia disguised as 1930/40's Hong Kong. This international nature of the production has led to the film becoming embroiled in the tense political relationship between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan).
Originally, the movie's country was identified as 'China-USA' by the organizers of the Venice Film Festival, but after a complaint from Ang Lee's office, it was changed to 'Taiwan'.[6] However, a few days later, the Venice Film Festival changed the film to "USA-China-Taiwan, China" on its official schedule.[7] When the movie premiered at the event, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council protested the Venice event's use of "Taiwan, China" to identify movies from the island and blamed China for the move.[8]
After the premier of the movie, Taiwan removed the film as its best foreign film Oscar entry, because some key crew members were not locals. Oscars spokeswoman Teni Melidonian said in an e-mail organizers refused to accept the movie because "an insufficient number of Taiwanese participated in the production of the film," violating a rule that requires foreign countries to certify their locals "exercised artistic control" over their submission. [9]