BEIJING (AP) — Famed film director Zhang Yimou and his wife violated China's strict family planning rules by having three children without approval and before they were married, local authorities said Monday. Zhang, the director of "The Flowers of War" starring Christian Bale, had on Sunday admitted flouting the rules by having three children with his wife but refuted reports that he had fathered seven children. A family planning bureau in Wuxi city in eastern Jiangsu province said on its microblog that their investigation had found that Zhang and Chen Ting flouted family planning policies and that the case was being handled according to laws and regulations. Reports had circulated online since May that Zhang, 62, had fathered seven children from two marriages and relationships with two other women.Read more on NewsOK.com