What's new
Arts masters captured in documentaries
In honor of China's modern masters in art, literature, music and drama, CCTV has begun to produce a series of 100-episode documentaries to explore their lives. It will include biographies of 40 Chinese masters who had great achievements in culture in the past century. Programs featuring master painters Xu Beihong, Zhang Daiqian, Qi Baishi and Huang Binghong were broadcast last year. Another four documentaries of other painters are being filmed and will be aired later this year. The series will be completed in five years.
Sign up to singon a global stage
The China International Vocal Competition has kicked off registration for this year. The competition will be held from Oct 20 to 31 in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Held once every three years, this is a major competition offering a platform for international vocal talents to display themselves. According to Yu Feng, director of China Central Opera and famous conductor from Ningbo, 13 international judges will participate in the competition. An Opera Week will also be held during the competition, and China Central Opera will perform The Valkyrie by Wagner and The Lady of the Camellias by Verdi as well as the Chinese original opera The White-Haired Girl.
Li Yuchun readies exuberant new album
Singer Li Yuchun says she is preparing for her seventh album, which will have hits of "personality, freedom and fashion". The diva, who gained fame during the second edition of the Super Girl singing contest, shared her inspiration of the next album at a press conference for her new endorsement of China's Tenwow Ice Red Tea soft-drink products. Li has collaborated with many commercial brands thanks to her strong appeal among China's youngsters.
Foundation reaches out to poor kids with books
The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation will donate books to kids in deprived regions this year. It will send out 15,000 school bags in Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan and Fujian provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region; each bag will contain seven to nine books. Taiwan actress/singer Annie Yi joined the effort to set up the foundation to help poor children last year. This year, organizers will send children's books selected by 20 celebrities, including basketball icon Yao Ming, writers Jiang Fangzhou and Han Han, songwriter Gao Xiaosong and entrepreneur Pan Shiyi. Yi will also travel to villages to teach children reading and painting herself.
EU film festival returns online
The 2nd European Union Online Film Festival is ongoing until July, with 15 features and one short film streamed on LeTV.com, all in original languages with Chinese subtitles. Some of the films were screened in the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival. Titles include A Real Life from France, Across the River from Italy, Life Is No Piece of Cake from Germany, and Corridor from Sweden. Carmen Cano, deputy head of the European delegation to China, told the opening-ceremony crowd on April 10 that the festival films bring Chinese audiences a first-hand look at the people, life and culture in the EU.
Actor promotes sci-tech nightclub
Chinese movie star Nicholas Tse helped open a high-end private nightclub themed on science and technology in Shanghai recently. Located at Shanghai's downtown, the nightclub, Linx Club Shanghai, is designed with a futuristic style to provide a visual feast and "out-to-space" experience for its members. It has a DJ stage that can change shapes automatically, walls and floors that digital images can be projected on and a lifting platform. Tse works as the Asian-region strategy director for the Linx Royal Members' Club, which also has Linx Artech, an intelligent conference center, and Linxury, a royal art fair.
China Daily
(China Daily USA 04/17/2014 page11)
