Top and inset: Promotional material for Mulan Bottom: A Fujian tulou in East China's Fujian Province Photos: IC

A Shanxi provincial-level journal promoting rule of law reportedly published a vulgar essay a decade ago on the feasibility of marrying Liu Yifei, a well-known Chinese actress, who stars in the Disney live action remake of the animated film Mulan.

News portal thepaper.cn reported on a netizen who claimed the journal, which is named Government Legality and hosted by the Shanxi Sanjin Press Media Group, carried an essay titled "My personal feasibility report on marrying Liu Yifei" in 2010.

The netizen said although the essay was carried in the column with a "sense of humor," he questioned how a provincial legal journal could publish an article with such vulgar content. 

The journal promotes administration in accordance with laws. It is a core journal of the Chinese government's legal system. 

When contacted by the Global Times, a staffer surnamed Tang, who claimed to be the secretary of the Party branch of the journal, confirmed the journal published the article a decade ago. 

He added that they are still verifying the content of the article and looking for the editor responsible for the column. "We have reported the situation to our superior departments. We will inform the public of our findings," Tang told the Global Times.

This article is still downloadable from the China National Knowledge Internet, China's academic paper database. The electronic version of the journal shows the article was not signed, and the article's editor is Xie Jianrong. 

The "feasibility report" was presented by the author in the format of a letter which opened with "Dear leader." In the letter meant to be "humorous," the author claimed that his "affection was very sincere" and his "life experience was absolutely innocent." 

The author further said that he spent 7,200 seconds, that is to say, two hours, to search legal documents and apply a variety of research methods to work out the feasibility report on marrying Liu Yifei. 

While some netizens questioned and slammed the vulgar article, some said there was no need to take it seriously as the article was just trying to be funny while promoting knowledge on marriage law. 

Some joked that "don't even think about it, the feasibility is zero!"
Newspaper headline: Shanxi journal faces scrutiny for ‘vulgar’ essay