BEIJING - Family planning authorities will handle the birth violations of film director Zhang Yimou in accordance with legal procedures, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

When asked to comment on Zhang's case at a press conference, Yao Hongwen, spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission(NHFPC), said "every citizen is equal before the law and nobody is allowed to have privileges to give birth to more children than allowed."

Zhang Yimou, file photo.

Yao's comment came after media stories claimed that Zhang had remarried and fathered a total of seven children: one with his ex-wife, three with his current wife, Chen Ting, and another three from two mistresses.

"The NHFPC's attitude towards citizens' birth violations is consistent and clear ... Every Chinese citizen should abide by and safeguard the solemnity of laws and regulations," NHFPC spokesman Yao Hongwen said.

China's family planning policy, introduced in the late 1970s to rein in the country's growing population, limits most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two. The policy was recently relaxed, allowing couples to have two children if one of them is an only child.

Those who flout the policy face hefty fines. The amount of the fine is generally several times the yearly annual income of the two spouses combined. Some media calculations put the fine that Zhang may face at as much as 160 million yuan (over $26 million).

Zhang's birth violations have sparked criticism online about celebrities who have more children than the policy allows.

In an open letter on December 1, Zhang admitted that the couple has two sons and a daughter and they are willing to accept investigation and punishment in accordance with China's laws and regulations. He apologized to the public.

However, the letter denied that Zhang had mistresses and was father to as many as seven children from various mothers.

Zhang, one of the "fifth generation" of Chinese filmmakers, made his directorial debut in 1987 with "Red Sorghum" and has won numerous awards  worldwide. He was chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.