Life of a dancing star

Red Dancing Shoes, a biography of veteran Chinese dancer Chen Ailian, was published recently by China Zhigong Press.

The launch of the book is part of a series of events to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Chen's dancing career. Born in Shanghai in 1939, Chen is an established dancer of both Chinese classical and folk forms. She became famous in 1959 for her performance in the leading role of Fish-Beauty in a pantomime.

At 73, Chen still practices every day and will go on a performance tour later this year.

Student film festival opens

The 19th Beijing College Student Film Festival (BCSFF) kicked off in Beijing on March 25, with the screening of a romantic movie, To My Wife.

More than 30 domestically-produced movies, including the popular comedy Love is Not Blind, Mr Tree and the war drama Cold Steel will be on show in universities across the capital.

The event, on until April 26, features a jury consisting of 10 young film critics and 30 student judges from colleges across the country, who will hand out various awards. Launched in 1993, BCSFF is sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television.

As a bridge linking young people to films, the festival has been providing a stage for small-budget Chinese-made films and new directors and actors to debut. Huo Jianqi's Postmen in the Mountains, and Lu Chan's The Missing Gun, for instance, went on to win domestic or international film awards.

Women's healthcare campaign launched

The 2012 Women's Health Care Campaign was launched recently in Beijing.

Initiated by the All-China Women's Federation and several other national departments, the annual program, now in its 13th year, reaches out to more than 30 cities and provinces nationwide in 2012. It is sponsored by Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Health in late 2011, about 29 percent women were suffering from various gynecological diseases in 2010, and many of them knew little about these afflictions until they were infected.

The program aims to tell young women about health care and prevention of gynecological diseases, mostly through brochures and organizing free clinics.

Sino-French show ongoing at Cable 8

An exhibition, titled Dialogue between France and China, 1912-2012, opened recently at Cable 8 art center, marking a re-opening of the art center.

Works by abstract expressionist Chu Teh-chun, Paris-based young artist Xie Lei, and a portrait of Victor-Marie Hugo by renowned artist Fan Zeng, are on show.

Started in 2009 inside Cable 8 Creative Industrial Park, Cable 8 art center is home to exhibitions and cultural events. The art center is now in the former Sino-French University in the heart of Beijing, near its Central Business District.

Art under the critical eye

The Chinese Socialist Culture and Arts Society, affiliated with the National Academy of Chinese Arts, recently launched an artworks appraisal and evaluation committee in Beijing.

The committee, comprising at least 30 experts from across the country, is expected to play an important role in regulating the art appraisal and evaluation market, says its chairman Liu Yulin, a renowned connoisseur of ceramic artworks.

The committee will also work with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Welfare to train artwork appraisers and evaluators.

How to handle precious stones

An art seminar themed "protective development of valuable and rare material" was recently held at Suifeng Art Gallery in Beijing.

Organized by the Contemporary Art Institute of Tsinghua University's Academy of Arts and Design, the seminar mainly focused on a raw piece of jadeite, exploring the best solution of carving it into an artwork.

The seminar welcomed professional opinions from both artists and jade craftsmen, aiming to bring out the highest artistic potential of the rare material, and improve the standard of craftsmanship.

Artist Du Dakai, who hosted the seminar, said irresponsible handling has caused a large amount of non-renewable resources such as jadeite going to waste. The seminar, he hoped, will evolve effective ways to solve the problem.

China Daily