The China drama Tiger Mom marks Vicki Zhao Wei's return to the small screen since 2009's A Lady's Epic.

It has set tongues wagging in China over the intimate scenes between her and her onscreen husband, Tong Dawei. In the first episode, the two are shown making out in a car.

"We actually filmed more intimate scenes but they were all cut by the television station," she says casually, speaking at a press conference on Friday at Resorts World Sentosa for the show, which is currently showing on Star Chinese Channel (StarHub TV Channel 822).

Neither did her husband, businessman Huang Youlong, have any problems with those scenes.

While the series depicts a marriage, it is also about the challenges of raising a child in modern-day China.

Zhao, 39, who had rocketed to fame in the role of Little Swallow in the period drama My Fair Princess (1998-1999), has been busy with movies the last few years. But she was drawn to the script for Tiger Mom. "It's closely linked to society and is about the people and things happening around us," says the actress who gave birth to a daughter in Singapore in 2010.

As she and her husband are permanent residents here, she knows that education is a hot-button topic for parents here. It is the same situation in China, she says.

For this reason, she decided to pick Tiger Mom over, say, a period or action drama.

"I've lived here for a long time and all Singaporean parents have scary expectations towards their children's education. It's the same in China, it's a topic that everyone is concerned about."