Creation dance

Dance artist Wang Yabin will star in a production named Genesis, which she co-created together with world-renowned Belgian dance choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. It is the fifth production of Yabin and Her Friends, a yearly performance event series. Genesis uses "origin of creation and formation" as its theme, and uses the description of a tree growing, with its root representing history and the past and its branches as well as fractals present and future. It will debut its world tour at Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts on Nov 14 and 15, Guangzhou Friendship Theater on Nov 21 and 22, and Shanghai Oriental Art Center on Nov 27 and 28. It will be staged in major theaters in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

More of Detective Dee

The long-awaited trailer for Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, has been released. It is the prequel to his 2010 thrillers Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. In the 3-D blockbuster, Hark creates a magnificent tale using special visual effects, featuring intense underwater scenes. The story revolves around several mysterious criminal cases in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and how the young Detective Dee, played by Taiwan actor Mark Zhao, finds bigger conspiracy behind them. The film will premiere in China on Sept 28. The real Detective Dee in history was a high-ranking official of the Tang Dynasty, known for his wit and integrity. The film will be released on both regular and IMAX screens.

Step-by-step calligraphy

Now, it's possible to learn the teachings of a sought-after calligraphy master from paper. Chinese Calligraphy, an established step-by-step set of textbooks on the title subject is releasing its international versions, the Sino-Culture Press announced recently during the First International Cultural Festival for Chinese Calligraphy. Translations will be available in English, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabian and Persian before the end of this year. The six-volume teaching material covers the art from its origin, development, varieties to stories of calligraphy artists. It also features exercises that assure proper writing techniques. Compiled and edited by Ouyang Zhongshi, the renowned calligrapher and director of Chinese Calligraphers Association, the set's Chinese version has more than 30 million readers.

Empress to motherhood

Sun Li, one of China's most popular TV drama actresses known for her title role in the smash hit The Legend of Zhen Huan, will again star on the small screen. Sun, 31, entered show business in 2003, and became extremely popular eight years later as the lead actress of The Legend of Zhen Huan, an imperial court drama centered on the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperor Yongzheng's concubines. She will act in Hot Mom, a city comedy set in Shanghai. Sun plays the role of a young and ambitious career woman who finds herself pregnant. The show will be broadcast on Anhui, Shenzhen, Zhejiang and Dragon TV on Sept 14.

China Daily

(China Daily USA 09/04/2013 page10)