This photo taken on Sept 9, 2014, shows director Wang Quan'an and his wife Zhang Yuqi at the premiere of White Deer Plain. [Photo/IC]

Award-winning film director Wang Quan'an was detained last week on suspicion of hiring a prostitute, Legal Evening News reported on Monday.

Wang, a 48-year-old Shaanxi native, was caught having sex with an alleged prostitute, a 31-year-old from Heilongjiang province, on Sept 10 in an apartment in Dongcheng district in Beijing. Both admitted their guilt, and prostitution is illegal on the Chinese mainland.

Wang, who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1991, is regarded as one of the representative sixth generation Chinese film directors. Since his debut film, Lunar Eclipse in 1999, he has achieved success on the international film festival circuit.

Most notably, he was awarded the Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival for his film, Tuya's Marriage. The win was the third time a Chinese film had been awarded the Berlinale's top award, after Xie Fei's Woman Sesame Oil Maker and Zhang Yimou's debut film, Red Sorghum. Wang also won the Best Screenplay award for Apart Together at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival with co-writer Na Jin.

Wang's latest film, White Deer Plain, produced in 2011, was also nominated for the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Wang married Zhang Yuqi, 27, the leading actress in White Deer Plain, in 2012. Zhang was in the United States for New York Fashion Week when Wang was caught and did not make any comment when approached.