Hong Kong - Actress Zhang Ziyi made her first public appearance on Thursday since pictures of her cavorting topless with her fiance at a beach hit the Internet last Monday.

She avoided reporters by shunning the red carpet but, in a speech on stage, she appeared to allude to being indifferent to online criticism that she had shamed China by sunbathing topless with Israeli investor Vivi Nevo.

Accepting a Fashion Personality award at a Sohu.com event in Beijing, she sounded hoarse as she said: 'We have undergone too much sadness and happiness in 2008. Whether it is to a country or an individual, we have experienced different degrees of tests.'

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