Archive for April 3rd, 2010

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Beijing Olympic -What’s new

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

The Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts film starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan, will premiere in China in April.

Jet Li’s charity boost

China’s top media group, Huayi Brothers, will donate a percentage of every movie ticket sold to The Forbidden Kingdom (Gongfu Zhi Wang) to Jet Li’s One Foundation.

Four theater chains, Beijing New Film Association, Stellar International, Shanghai United Circuit and Beijing Wanda, will donate 0.01 yuan from every ticket.

From this year, the “one ticket and 0.1 yuan donation” will be applied to all the Huayi productions and also films, which Huayi is the main investor.

The new $70 million martial arts film, which stars Li and Jackie Chan, will premiere in China and North America in April. The story follows an American boy’s kungfu dream, combining Chinese myths, martial arts and American humor. This is the first time that the two kungfu stars fight in one film.

Director of the Lion King, Rob Minkoff, directs. Academy Award-winning Peter Pau will also assist in the cinematographer, while Yuen Woo-ping is the choreographer.

Desire of a desperate housewife

In Deadly Delicious (Shuang Shi Ji), which premiered on March 8, Chinese Women’s Day, award-winning actress Yu Nan plays a desperate housewife who tries to poison her husband, with the help of the man’s mistress.

The thrilling picture features beautifully made Chinese cuisine and a triangular love affair. A traditional Chinese saying goes the attraction between a man and woman is the greatest desire. Hong Kong actor Francis Ng plays against Yu, as her husband.

Yu’s other film, Speed Racer, by writer/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, creators of the groundbreaking The Matrix trilogy, opened on Sunday in America. Speed Racer marks the Wachowski brothers’ first writing/directing collaboration since The Matrix movies.

Art for art’s sake

The Artron Art China 2007 Most Influential Participants of Chinese Art were revealed recently in Beijing.

Topping the Events of the Year is the renovation of the National Museum of China, which upon its completion in 2010 will become the largest museum in the world with a floor space of over 192,000 sq m.

The most eye-catching Artist Celebrity of the Year is Ai Weiwei, who brought 1,001 Chinese people, including farmers, laid-off workers, street vendors, minority people, students, rock singers and white-collar workers to Kassel, Germany, to an art event called Documenta, where his work Fairytale was showing.

High on the Most Influential Artists of the Year is Cai Guoqiang, who set a new record for contemporary Chinese work at Christie’s Hong Kong’s auction last December with a set of 14 drawings for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, sold for $9.5 million.

Leading the Most Influential Emerging Young Artists List is the so-called “Unmask Art Group”, comprising three artists, Liu Zhan, Kuang Jun and Tan Tianjun, who emphasize teamwork and a combination of artistic creation and business returns, defying the traditional notion of art for art’s sake.

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)

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Cir – Lesson 647

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Australia has launched a weeklong national celebration for kids. The state of Victoria gives theirs on Sunday by kicking off a special celebration at the Melbourne Zoo in recognition of children’s talents, skills, achievements and rights of young people.

With the company of their parents, kids dress up Sunday morning for a spectacle of activities and entertainment: sand sculpting, face painting, hoopla hoop, Chinese Lantern workshop etc.

“I love being here with mom and dad and I love my face painting. I feel like a fairy.” little Lily gave her splendid smile. “Just like other parents, I believe this is a good opportunity of family time that makes an ordinary Sunday afternoon extraordinary.” Lily’s mom said.

“Yes, this annual event is an opportunity for families to celebrate children and recognize their talents, skills and abilities. It’s a great way to formally recognize the most precious members in our community — the children.” Victoria’s Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development Maxine Morand who has launched the 2009 Children’s Week told Xinhua Sunday.

“Families and kids can join in the celebrations today and throughout Children’s Week with hundreds of free events planned across the state.” said Morand, adding that this is an exciting opportunity to celebrate the importance of childhood and the significance of a child’s early learning experiences.

Morand told Xinhua “The theme for this year’s event is ‘a caring world shares’ which reminds us it’s a shared responsibility that the whole community shares in looking after children and in encouraging a great focus and awareness of importance of childhood.”

“Parents have great influence over their children and it’s never too early to spend some time with your kids.” she said.

Given Australia has lots of kids with different backgrounds living together, Morand said communication and information are important for all of them, especially for their healthcare. “Aware of those kids and families whose first language is not English, we have interpretation services in place. An interpreter can be booked to visit the mother of baby with a nurse if necessary.”

Sunday’s Melbourne Zoo event is free for all children 15 and under and has attracted thousands of children and families coming and celebrating.

Based on the articles expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child, highlighting play, well-being and protection, Children’s Week in Australia enjoys a history for over thirty years and was previously called the Child Care Week.

In 1985, it was decided to coordinate a national week to include all children. Under the name of Children’s Week, celebrations and activities would be held on the same date throughout Australia, commencing the Saturday before Universal Children’s Day and concluding on the following Sunday and in addition the celebrations would broaden to include all children.

Australia’s national Children’s Week 2009 is celebrated from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1 to coincide with Universal Children’s Day on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 in Australia.

(Source: xinhuanet.com)

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China Travel – Paoma Mountain

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Paoma Mountain (horse-riding mountain) is situated at the southeast of Lucheng Town, Kangding City, Sichuan Province. The main scenic spots of the Paoma Mountain Park mainly include the Wuse Lake, Yongxue Tower, Jixiang Buddha Hall, Lingyun White Tower, Paoma Ground, Yufu Pool, Feiyun Corridor, Dongguan Pavilion and Kwan-yin Pavilion.

The Wuse Lake is a glacier relic with an area of 0.11 square meters and 4,100 meters above sea level. There are three steep mountains around the lake. The waterfall is flowing down from the eastern cliff, and the lake is as clear as a mirror.

The Yongxue Tower located at the southern mountainside and in the green shades of trees is the best place for people to view the snow and chant poems. The southwestern mountains and rivers look like beautiful sculptures of ice and snow in winter and spring. The near mountain range is verdant in the bright sun, while the beautiful snow mountains far away are towering and standing upright.

The Jixiang Buddha Hall is located on the hummock at the west of the Paoma Ground. A flight of steps in the luxuriantly green forest is leading to the hall, in which a sitting statue of the Gautama Buddha is enshrined.

The White Tower is situated on the top of the mound at the west of the Paoma Ground, with a height of 20 more meters. Cloud always circles the temple.

Paoma Mountain was originally famous for the horseracing contest. During the early 20th century, the annual horseracing contest was held on the 13th day of the 5th of a lunar month. The Paoma Ground was repaired in the early 1980s again, and it is also the perfect location for tourists to watch the ethical singing, dancing and opera.

After going through the Paoma Ground, tourists can go along with the tranquil path in the forest and reach the Yufu Pool. According to the legend of the Buddhist sutra, the Sakyamuni had a bath in the pool after he was born, and there were 9 dragons making fun in the pool. So the sculptures of nine dragons spraying water and making fun are located beside the pool now.

The Feiyun Corridor with a width of 2 meters is a long corridor at the mountainside. It lies in the verdant forest. Its stone steps are standing steeply. A pair of stone lions is crouching at the both sides of the starting point of the stone steps. The Feiyun Corridor is built along with the rocks using red pillars to support it.

The Kwan-yin Pavilion is situated near the cliff 100 steps to the foot of the mountain. The Kwan-yin Bodhisattva Temple was built at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and has been destroyed several times and was subsequently expanded and repaired to current scale.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

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