Wu Xia brought forward to avoid Transformers 3

Hong Kong director Peter Chan's period blockbuster Wu Xia, about martial arts, will premiere on July 4, rather than Aug 3.

The adjustment has been made to avoid clashing with Transformers 3, to be released on July 21 in China, Chan says.

The movie starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei will put films of this genre on a new level, the director said on the sidelines of the ongoing 14th Shanghai Film Festival. He also suggested Yen would win an award for acting.

Set in the early 20th century, Wu Xia centers on a mysterious murder case involving a group of secret kungfu masters.

Artists pool their brushes to reprise classic painting

Nine ink masters from across the Taiwan Straits, including Chinese Artists Association chairman Liu Dawei, and Taiwan-based Chinese Ink Painting Academy president Li Qimao, have created a modern version of Dwelling at the Fuchun Mountains.

They worked together for a year at Fuyang, a riverside city in eastern Zhejiang province where Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) ink master Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) created Dwelling at the Fuchun Mountains in his 80s.

The original piece is displayed in the Taipei Palace Museum.

The scroll, which is more than 10 meters long and 2 meters wide, was unveiled recently in Beijing.

From Aug 10, the modern painting will tour cities, such as Taipei, Hong Kong, Macao and Seoul.

Legendary Entertainment sets up Hong Kong studio

Legendary Entertainment Productions, creator of global box office hits, such as Inception and The Dark Knight, has set up a new unit that will co-produce movies with China's leading studio Huayi Brothers Media Corp.

Starting in 2013, Legendary's newly founded Hong Kong-based subsidiary Legendary East plans to make one or two major films targeting a global audience every year, according to Legendary chairman and CEO Thomas Tull and Huayi president Wang Zhonglei.

Warner Brothers Pictures will distribute the films worldwide, while Beijing-based and Shenzhen-listed Huayi will distribute them in China, the fastest-growing box office market in the world.

Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum to stage biennial

The first Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum Biennial (CAFAM Biennial 2011) is set to run from Sept 20 to Oct 30 in Beijing.

From now to the end of October, there will be a series of seminars with the theme "Super-Organism".

From September to October, an art exhibition will be held, featuring works by contemporary artists from more than 12 countries and regions, says academy vice-dean Xu Bing, a key organizer of the event.

New book explores impact of Wenchuan earthquake

Tianjin University press recently published The Impact of the Wenchuan Earthquake, a commemorative book compiled by the Beijing municipal Seismological Bureau for victims of the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12, 2008.

The 508-page book contains photos, documents, alongside essays by scholars, officials and celebrities, in addition to news reports about the rescue and relief work, and reconstruction over the past three years.

"With this book, we mean to give readers an insight into the disaster and its aftermath," its chief compiler Ma Zhi says.

China Daily