Chinese media cut the part of Taiwan-born director Ang Lee speech over his best director Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain"; they cut exactly the part where he thanks everyone in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

A banner caption on the front page of the Beijing Youth Daily read: "Ang Lee uses Chinese to say thank you at the Oscars".

China regards Taiwan as sovereign territory and censors any reference to the self-ruled island which suggests it is not part of China. Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Chinese television also cut Lee's words of thanks to the two gay cowboys. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in China until as recently as 2001 and is still a highly controversial subject.

"Ang Lee is the pride of the Chinese people all over the world, and he is the glory of Chinese cinematic talent," the China Daily said, according to Reuters.

But the state-run paper failed to report that "Brokeback Mountain" would not be coming to Chinese theatres, obviously, and will only be available on pirated DVD.

Lee's international breakthrough film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which took the 2001 Oscars for best foreign language film, cinematography, art direction and music, did poorly at the Chinese box office and was widely criticized by the country's critics and moviegoers as being made for Western audiences.