Christian Bale has become a public enemy in China.
The actor, in Beijing to premiere his movie "The Flowers of War," took a long van ride to a village in Shandong province to visit the activist Chen Guangcheng. But plain-clothes police roughed him up and turned him away.
A CNN crew took video (below) of Bale's scuffle.
Now, Reuters reports, the Chinese government is criticizing the Academy Award winning actor.
Asked whether Bale had embarassed China, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "If anyone should be embarrased, it's the relevant actor, not the Chinese side."
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The spokesman, Liu Weimin, continued, "What I understand is that the actor was invited by the director Zhang Yimou to attend the movie premiere. He was not invited to any village in Shandong to create news or make a film. .. If he wants to create news, I don't think that would be welcomed by China."
Bale's movie — the communist nation's Oscar entry for best foreign language film — opens in limited release in the U.S. this week.
The activist Chen, meanwhile, remains under house arrest. He served four years in prison on a charge of "blocking traffic." The blind, self-taught lawyer is known for exposing forced abortions in Shandong province.
See video of Bale's scuffle here: