Wong is a huge star in Asia

Faye Wong's song In the Name of Love, which includes the lyrics "opium is warm and sweet", will be removed from her upcoming album.

The Xinhua News Agency reported it was banned because "the lyrics were too decadent and will influence the health of young people."

A spokeswoman for Wong's company said she had no information on the ban.

An employee of the Shanghai-based distributor Xinsuo Music Company said the Chinese version of the album would include the other 12 songs on the original album.

The album is due to be released across Asia in November.

Wong is arguably China's most popular female artist and is one of the first women to dominate Hong Kong's recording industry.

Star

She won a place in the Guinness Book of Records last year as the best-selling female singer of Cantonese pop music.

The Beijing-born performer, whose native tongue is Mandarin, only learned Cantonese after settling in Hong Kong in the late 1980s.

Her 1999 album, Lovers and Strangers, has sold more than 800,000 copies and was number one in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

She has at least 100 dedicated websites and thousands of fans around the world.

Controversial

Communist leaders are still sensitive to any reference to opium in popular culture, as it is a reminder of the country's colonial era.

Britain attacked China in the 1840s over Beijing's ban on imports of opium by British merchants.

China lost the war and had to hand over Hong Kong to the UK, leading to a century of colonial power from various foreign governments over parts of China.