"If the amount you are offering is a before-tax figure, I'm not interested," Liu Xiaoqing, a film star recently released on bail for tax evasion, told an advertiser.

The middle-aged actress has watched her star dim since being detained last year on suspicion of tax evasion.

But shrewd businessmen are still trying to take advantage of her name, which has apparently become better known to the public since her arrest.

Zhuhai-based company Fubusi Cultural Communication told Beijing Morning Post that Liu had agreed to appear in a commercial to advertise a manual for studying English.

They are discussing the pay now. But Liu has repeatedly emphasized that the offer must be an after-tax figure, said Tang Chao, the company's general manager.

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