Ten men allegedly involved in the stabbing of Chinese film director Yan Po last week have been detained, Beijing police said on Monday.

Yan, 43, was stabbed with a knife by four men in Beijing's Chaoyang district on June 8, the same day his movie Shaking Marriage was released.

 

The attack was said to have taken place at a store in Bainaohui Computer Center, a famous electronic appliance shopping mall in Beijing.

According to a report by the Beijing Times, the director was in the underground car parking garage when the attackers approached him. The report said Yan was stabbed repeatedly, resulting in several bone fractures and a severed achilles tendon. He was later rushed to a nearby hospital after an emergency call from a passerby, the report said.

Eight men who are suspects in the attack have been caught by police in Dalian and Anshan in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

During the investigation, Wang Zheng, 38, surrendered to the Beijing police, and Liang Jun, 40, later turned himself in to the police in Shenzhen in Guangdong province. They claimed to have organized the attack to punish Yan for dating a woman who is an ex-girlfriend of one of their friends, surnamed Sun.

Wang and Liang confessed they hired eight men to carry out the attack.

The 10 have been detained for causing disturbances and malicious injury, the Beijing police said.

Yan is a graduate from the French Advanced Decorative Arts Institute. His directing career kicked off in 2003 with an award-winning film Aspirin and he is known to specialize in directing urban love stories. He has been dubbed a rising star in China's sixth generation of film directors, those who started their careers in the 1990s.

Yan's ex-wife, Mei Ting, is a famous Chinese actress.

Police are investigating the case.