A Chinese actress is being sued after a man claims she "stared at him too intensely" through his TV set.

The lawsuit was filed by a man in Shanghai after he watched Zhao Wei in a series called Tiger Mom, which debuted last month.

A new law making it harder for courts in China to reject lawsuits has led to concerns of a rise in the number of frivolous claims being made.

The rules came into force on 1 May with a 29% rise in cases reported in China.

The Supreme People's Court says there were just over a million cases filed compared with same period last year.

The registration system requires courts to accept legitimate lawsuits when they're filed or clearly state reasons for rejecting them, and Chinese citizens have the right to appeal against the decisions.

The changes led to Shanghai Pudong New District Court receiving a case against Zhao Wei, according to the court's litigation service hotline.

A court official refused to say whether the case had been accepted.

Tiger Mom, starring Zhao Wei, centres on a couple's different approaches to raising their daughter.

Zhao plays a mother who relentlessly pushes her daughter's development, while the father wants his child to have more freedom.

Zhao Wei is one of China's biggest and richest movie stars and starred in director John Woo's Red Cliff.

She directed her first film in 2013, So Young, and has also released seven music albums.

The Legal Daily newspaper said the man was alleging that Zhao's stare caused him "spiritual damage".

Gan Wen, who works at China's Supreme Court, said that the Zhao case was an example of citizens abusing their right to file lawsuits.

"It's not necessary to waste our judicial resources on cases like these," he said.

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