Chinese film, television, music

Blake Lively on her first China-U.S. sci-fi franchise

[Published on May 13, 2015

China and Hollywood co-producing movies is becoming a bit of a trend nowadays. And the movie “Log Out” — set in near-future China — is the opening installment of the first-ever sci-fi franchise involving the pair. The cast includes American stars Blake Lively and Adrien Brody, as well as Chinese actor Shawn Dou. CCTV News reporter Fei Ye had a chance to sit down with Lively, who talked about her experiences working on her first Chinese film.]

Is China’s shadow puppetry dead? Not yet, says robotic engineer

[Published on May 8, 2015

The thousands-year-old traditional Chinese art of shadow puppetry is dying – but engineer Sun Qigong is aiming to bring it back with robotic puppeteers. His team’s first- and second-model robots could only move horizontally, but were improved to wield more flexibility in controlling the puppets. Next, Sun said he plans to make the robots interact with humans for a truly authentic and spectacular show. Watch CCTV’s Culture Express for more.]

Lost Chinese Silent Film “The Cave of the Silken Web” Found and Returned

[Lost Chinese Silent Film “The Cave of the Silken Web” Found and Returned

An old silent film from the Golden Age of Chinese cinema made the headlines last April when a nitrocellulose print of The Cave of Silken Web (1927) was finally returned to China from Norway. The film, long thought lost to the times, was discovered in Norway’s national library in 2011. The discovery of this rare film is a cause for celebration for many, as few Chinese films produced from the 1920’s to the 1930’s have survived the Cultural Revolution, leaving a dearth of films from what was considered the Golden Age of Chinese film.

The Cave of Silken Web (also called The Cave of the Spiderwomen and Pan si dong) had a Norwegian premiere in Oslo on January 1929, showcasing the influence and growth of the film industry in China during this era. Given the current tensions between Norway and China, due to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to imprisoned activist Liu Xiaobo in 2010, the return of the film can be seen as a move to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Running a little over an hour, the film, directed by Dan Duyu, is the first known cinematic adaptation of the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West. The silent feature adapts one of the more well-known episodes of the classic epic, where the gluttonous Pigsy and the gullible Monk Xuanzang are lured into a trap by a group of seemingly beautiful maidens who actually turn out to be cave-dwelling, hungry spider-demons with a palette for human flesh. The film has a rather slow start but once Pigsy and the Monkey King enter the picture, the film picks up and becomes a fun and fast-paced flick.

—Nancy Nguyen
Cave of the Spiderwomen at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival]

Internet artists revamp entertainment industry in China

[Internet artists revamp entertainment industry in China

Published on May 30, 2015

Instant voice and video communications technology is allowing thousands of young people in China to turn themselves into Internet entertainers. They produce their own live shows and can make a decent living.CCTV-America's Feng Xin files the report from Guangzhou]

Some good China-Japan news for a change, and gives me some hope whatever governments do to each other, common folks could see beyond it. Love to see lots more of positive stories like this.

China-Japan tensions may still be high, thanks to unresolved wartime issues and a territorial dispute, but that didn’t stop Chinese fans from flocking to see the Japanese cartoon character Doraemon on the big screen this week. Stand By Me Doraemon, a 3-D animated film about the blue robotic cat, earned $33.47 million in its opening weekend and reached a four-day total of $38 million by Tuesday. The anime movie displaced the latest Avengers film to claim the top spot at the Chinese box office.

That was enough to set a few records,

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. The film destroyed the record for a non-Hollywood imported film, topping Russia’s Stalingrad, which grossed $11.75 million. Plus, Stand By Me Doraemon can now claim thethree highest-grossing single days of an animated film in China. Kung Fu Panda 2 still holds the record as the highest-grossing animated film in China overall, with $92.6 million, but that could change if the latest Doraemon movie holds strong.

That success is all the more impressive considering the context. Stand By Me Doraemon was the first Japanese film to win a nationwide screening in China

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. Japanese films fell victim to the political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, largely thanks to the flare-up over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands after Japan moved to nationalize the disputed islands in 2012.

China-Japan relations are strained at the grassroots level as well – a

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by the Genron NPO and China Daily showed that 86 percent of Chinese have an “unfavorable” impression of Japan (and 93 percent of Japanese felt the same way about China).

The political situation has improved somewhat since then, with a highly anticipated handshake between leaders Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe in November 2014 paving the way for more high-level political contacts. That thaw is what made it possible for the Doraemon movie to overcome the moratorium on Japanese films in the first place. Still, as China focuses on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, criticisms of Japan and its attitude toward history are in the media almost every day.

Political tensions apparently don’t extend to the popular cartoon character Doraemon, however, though in the past some Chinese media outlets have

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. In 2014, the local Chengdu Daily took aim at Doraemon after an exhibition featuring the character. “Doraemon is a part of Japan’s efforts of exporting its national values and achieving its cultural strategy; this is an undisputed fact,” the paper said. A similar article in Global Times warned: “Doraemon is cute but he also represents Japan’s soft power. We must never let a little robotic cat take control of our minds.”

Such articles do have a point: Japan is well aware of the soft power potential of its animated creations. Doraemon was officially named Japan’s “anime ambassador” in 2008 by then-Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura. “Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people’s understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan,” Komura

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. Still, Chinese internet users (especially younger people who grew up watching Doraemon cartoons) ridiculed the idea that the blue cat was somehow brainwashing China’s youth.

The success of the Doraemon film despite the rocky nature China-Japan relations prompted Liu Zhun of Global Times to muse about the nature soft power. Doraemon has not only “managed to export popular Japanese culture to the rest of the world, but it has deeply influenced more than one generation in its biggest neighbor, and the influence is ongoing,” Liu wrote. “The popularity of Doraemon indicates Japan’s robust soft power in cultural communication.”

China, meanwhile has a long way to go. “China’s indigenous cultural products are much less influential. Complaints have been filed against the shoddy scripts and poor animation skills,” Liu said. In the end, the success of Doraemon has nothing to do with geopolitics: “The market and audiences don’t lie, and they treat cultural products on an equal footing.” If China wants soft power, it has a lot of work to do.

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Blackstone said:

Some good China-Japan news for a change, and gives me some hope whatever governments do to each other, common folks could see beyond it. Love to see lots more of positive stories like this.

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Not sure what the 3 year ban is about, but Doraemon is no ordinary Japanese cartoon. It's one of several Japanese cartoons that has been a staple in China for over 20 years. It's basically a household name.

I bet it's been three years since a Japanese movie was release in China. And that's what they call a three year ban. Like China allows every other countries' movies in so easily.

China only allows 34 foreign movies to be shown in China a year and the majority are taken up by Hollywood and Hollywood complains there's something unfair about that. BTW, how many Chinese movies are shown in the US? If China was a part of TPP which Hollywood has come out to support, can you imagine how they'll use the rule that corporations can sue for expected profits? If Hollywood thinks a movie is suppose to make this amount of money despite it was a bomb at home, they can sue for the difference. Since Furious 7 made $390 million in China, they'll expect every Hollywood movie shown in China to make at least $390 and then sue for the difference if it doesn't.

Blackstone said:

Some good China-Japan news for a change, and gives me some hope whatever governments do to each other, common folks could see beyond it. Love to see lots more of positive stories like this.

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Doraemon is an example of soft power, but not the political definition of it. It is an example of a team of artists' endearing and inspiring blend of everyday experiences and imaginative fantasies. Innocent, earnest, yet at the same time adventurous, creative, and full of fantastical gadgets it has universal appeal. It has been popular across Asia since the 1970's. Make art not war!!! My compatriots on a military forum.

Bruce Willis doing a Chinese WWII movie.

Gotta separate the wheat from the chaff, or try to prevent chaff from getting out there in the first place.

World | Mon Jun 22, 2015 4:41am EDT
China bans celebrities from hosting television shows
BEIJING

China's media regulator has banned celebrities such as actors and actresses from appearing as presenters on television shows to ensure no "improper remarks" are made while on air, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

The government frequently takes aim at what it considers base, vulgar or politically inappropriate entertainment.

In the latest move to tighten controls on the state-run media sector, television hosts must have proper vocational qualifications, which will be checked, Xinhua said, citing the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

"TV shows, including news, commentary and interview panels, should not recruit guests in the role of supporting host," Xinhua said, citing the circular.

"TV hosts are responsible for the show; guiding the audience and controlling the pace of the live broadcast. Thus, it is unsuitable for guests to be hosts or presenters," it added.

Hosts and guest must undergo "more training" before shows are recorded, the report said.

"TV stations often hire famous actors, actresses and celebrities as guest hosts, especially for popular reality shows, which might result in improper remarks or mistakes during live broadcasting."

In May, the watchdog said it would investigate an anti-Japan television serial that viewers have criticized as vulgar for a scene showing a woman making use of a grenade concealed in her crotch to kill Japanese soldiers.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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