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Liu Yifei sending Yang Mi birthday wishes
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Angelababy poses for fashion magazine
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“Spiderman” takes on China
Spiderman, the wall-crawling hero traveled to the Great Wall and other Chinese landmarks, which are featured in an anthology of posters titled Beautiful China.
In the posters, released by the Chinese promoters, he is seen surrounded by pandas, standing with the Terracotta Warriors, ornamented guards buried with China's first emperor more than 2,000 years ago.
Source: Xinhua/China Daily
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Stills from “The Monkey King 3”
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Stills of Jackie Chan and Liu Tao in “The Foreigner”
The Foreigner is an upcoming English-language action thriller film film directed by Martin Campbell and written by David Marconi, based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather.
The British-Chinese co-production stars Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Liu Tao and Katie Leung.
It is scheduled for release in China on September 30, 2017 and in the United States on October 13.
Source: Xinhua/Wikipedia
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Qin Lan at event
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Yang Mi at brand event
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Actress-model Lin Chi-ling poses for fashion magazine
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The rise of Chinese hip hop
(China Plus) Hip hop is a genre of music you would associate mainly with western society, with huge talents emerging from the US and UK and being able to make a huge amount of money as a result. It is not particularly a genre that would be associated with China.
However, a new internet reality show named Rap Of China has given Chinese acts a platform to really make an impact in music and emerge from the streets, with rap videos on Chinese video hosting website IQIyi racking up over 2.5 billion views.
The culture being demonstrated has taken China by storm, with a new phrase being coined, "can you freestyle?" As a result of celebrity judge Kris Wu using it repeatedly to grill contestants.
Underground rappers have been brought to the fore in China as a result of the 12 episode show being hugely successful, names such as HipHopMan, PG One, and Tizzy T have been brought to public attention as a result of the new exposure.
The roots of Chinese hip hop are thought to have begun long before this form of exposure, with momentum growing throughout the early 2000s as a result of western influences, with Eminem and Jay-Z being at the peak of their powers.
Hip hop was introduced to China before this momentum began, with records being imported in the early 90s and being played in clubs. Despite this, the genre has remained mostly underground.
Chinese acts have been able to gain label deals and perform at music festivals in the past, with some also being able to perform in clubs. Music venues and clubs promoting the genre have increased in China over the years as a result of national competitions such as the China Iron Mic.
Despite this, Chinese rap has mainly been seen as a hobby, with artists having to use their own money in order to record albums.
Whilst there have been criticisms of the show, with many stating that the elements of 'show biz' are emphasised to an extent that distorts the hip hop element of the show, it is clear that this form of promotion could prove to be groundbreaking for the Chinese rap industry.
Labels in China will undoubtedly be looking to rap acts more as a result of the breakthrough internet show, giving underground acts in China a greater chance to be recognised for their talents.
One example of a rap act who have emerged through this new wave is the 'Higher Brothers,' who made big strides this summer with their album black cab.
They are often labelled as the "Chinese Migos," Migos being a well-known rap group in the US who have seen massive sales figures through their album 'culture,' which included hits such as 'bad and boujee,' as a result of their trap infused sound.
The Higher Brothers use their Chengdu (a southwestern Chinese dialect) dialect to give a playful mood to their songs, something prominent within Chinese rap.
The Higher Brothers are one of the few break out acts so far, but with the genre becoming a fairly natural part of everyday discussion amongst younger people in China, it is undoubted that many will begin to take inspiration, and a new wave of Chinese talent is set to emerge.
Source: China Plus
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Heroes coming
(China Daily) The success of The Founding of a Republic is leading to more patriotic films in China. Xu Fan reports.
When director Guan Hu announced that his latest movie, Ba Bai (Eight Hundred Heroes), will kick off shooting in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Saturday, he was with Hollywood talent working on it.
Glenn Boswell, known for his work in The Matrix movies and Titanic, is the battle-scenes director for the Chinese film and Tim Crosbie, from The Lord of Rings movies, is its visual effects director.
The movie financed by the Chinese entertainment giant Huayi Brothers retells Kuomintang lieutenant colonel Xie Jinyuan's story. He led a regiment of 400 fighters to defend the Shanghai Sihang
Warehouse in 1937, a pivotal chapter in the history of China's resistance to Japanese aggression.
In the past, the revolutionary stories or military movies hardly used non-Chinese mainland filmmakers, let alone foreigners.
And for most Chinese born between 1970s and '80s, such movies are often unappealing because of their boring storytelling about historical incidents. But such movies have seen huge changes over the past decade, thanks to the fast expansion of China's movie industry.
The projects to exemplify the transformation include Sky Hunter, actor-turned director Li Chen's directorial debut, which will open across the country on Sept 30.
The movie about the Chinese Air Force has some members on its production team from Hollywood.
The most famous names are Hans Zimmer, an Oscar-winning composer from Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, and the visual effects artist Nathan McGuinness from Black Hawk Down (2001) and Pearl Harbor (2001).
For some industry watchers, the transformation has emerged from the groundbreaking use of star power in The Founding of a Republic.
Unlike previous such movies, which recruited unknown actors, this movie about the early history of New China cast more than 100 A-list performers, including Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, in cameo roles.
The movie quickly gripped attention of people who were not interested in political stories and became the highest-grossing domestic title in 2009.
Encouraged by the success brought on by star power, The Founding of a Republic had two follow-ups: Beginning of the Great Revival (2011) casting 108 stars and The Founding of an Army (2017) with more than 40 pop idols.
Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, says The Founding of a Republic is a successful commercial exploration of the zhu xuan lyu sentiment in movies, which invigorate national spirit and pride.
He says the genre concept was raised by a Chinese official in 1987, as movie regulators then hoped the domestic movie market could have some films to publicize mainstream values.
Such movies were clearly different back then, but the boundary has been blurred in recent years.
Hong Kong filmmakers have been invited to join such projects for their action scenes or visual spectacles.
Following Tsui Hark's The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014), Dante Lam directed Operation Mekong (2016) and Andrew Lau directed The Founding of an Army (2017).
The celebrated Hong Kong filmmakers, who have established an image in the West, have given the Communist heroes a more human side on screen in suspense-filled plots.
Yu Dong, founder and CEO of the Beijing-based Bona Film Group, is one of the pioneers who boosted Hong Kong filmmakers' involvement with typical Chinese mainstream movies.
The Taking of Tiger Mountain, Operation Mekong and The Founding of an Army were all produced by Bona, which will have a new entry titled as Operation Red Sea, based on China's evacuation of civilians from strife-torn Yemen in 2015.
The movie is also directed by Lam, the 52-year-old Hong Kong director known for his fancy of real action sequences.
Lam said in earlier interviews that he would depict Chinese navy men as cool heroes to appeal to youngsters.
Yu says such movies are attractive to audiences for their values, which showcase loyalty, persistence, honesty and the pursuit of freedom and equality.
He attributes the change to the Chinese movie industry's rapid development, which took off from an annual output less than 100 features in 2001 to more than 770 in 2016.
He also says the popularity of such movies as The Founding of an Army and Wolf Warrior 2, a Special Force-themed tale that is now the highest-grossing movie in China of all time, proves Chinese moviegoers welcome stories of patriotism and heroism.
Zuo Heng, a researcher with China Film Art Research Center, says Hong Kong filmmakers have more experience than their mainland counterparts in making such movies more interesting.
Besides, the content in such movies is also seeing an expansion.
Jiang Yong, a Beijing-based industry watcher, gives the instances of two new movies of this year－martial arts star Zhao Wenzhuo's God of War, and veteran actor Liu Peiqi's The War of Loong.
God of War chronicles 16th-century general Qi Jiguang's battles against Japanese pirates, while The War of Loong recounts the Chinese general Feng Zicai's fight against French forces during the Sino-French War in 1885.
"The heroes are no longer just Communist Party members. The timing has been expanded as well.
The change is a good indication of progress in the Chinese movie industry," he says.
Source: By Xu Fan | China Daily
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Stills from “Chasing the Dragon”
Chasing the Dragon is an upcoming Hong Kong action crime drama film directed by Jason Kwan and Wong Jing. The film stars Andy Lau reprising his role as Lee Rock from the film series of the same name, Donnie Yen as Crippled Ho, based on real life gangster Ng Sek-ho.
The film is about an illegal immigrant from Mainland China who sneaks into corrupt British-colonized Hong Kong in 1963 and transforms himself into a ruthless and emerging drug lord.
Source: Xinhua/Wikipedia
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Yang Mi in NY for fashion week
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Jiang Yiyan in Toronto for Film Festival
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Chinese celebrities delight 2017 New York fashion week
Liu Wen walks the runway for Anna Sui fashion show during New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Liu Wen takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Liu Wen walks the runway for Anna Sui fashion show during New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actor Li Yifeng takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actor Li Yifeng takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actress Yang Mi takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actress Yang Mi takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actress Wang Luodan takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actor Xu Weizhou takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese actress Tang Yan takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Chinese singer Zhang Bichen takes part in the New York fashion week on September 11, 2017 in New York City.
Source: China Daily
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PLA Air Force film ‘Sky Hunter’ demonstrates China’s growing military confidence
(Global Times) With the recent rise in military films and dramas, as well as the incredible success of military action film Wolf Warrior 2, it seems that the Chinese military has been growing more open and confident about being in the public eye.
Sky Hunter, an upcoming military action flick, is the latest example of this growing confidence.
Staring popular stars such as Li Chen and Fan Bingbing and veteran actors like Wang Qianyuan and Wang Xueqi, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force film revolves around the story of Chinese pilots stationed at a top secret base and their aerial battles with foreign terrorists.
Sneak peek
Set for nationwide release in China on September 30, the beginning of the annual seven-day-long National Holiday, the film was screened early for a few PLA Air Force airmen, students and media outlets on Wednesday at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA).
"I am a fan of the military and am very fond of military films and TV dramas," Li Chen, who is also the director of the film, told the crowd after the screening.
He added that he had learned quite a bit after interviewing pilots and researching the military in preparation for the film.
While reviews of the film will have to wait until it hits theaters, reactions from the audience on Wednesday were very positive.
A pilot cadet remarked at the event that he felt fear at the thought of being a pilot after watching war film Pearl Harbor, but his reaction after watching Sky Hunter was quite the opposite.
"I can't hold in my excitement after watching Sky Hunter," the cadet said, adding that it reminded him of the times he has seen fighter jet performances at air shows.
"I didn't know much back then, so I thought they were nothing but beautiful aerial performances, but later on I came to realize that they were all strategies that could be applied during real battles," he noted.
Wednesday was the first time that Yan Feng, a fighter jet pilot and military adviser on the film, had seen the movie in its completed form.
Praising the film as "authentic" and "elaborate," Yan said that the feeling he had watching the film was "almost the same" as the feeling he gets when piloting a jet through the sky. He added that the story is down-to-earth and does an excellent job of portraying real life in the PLA Air Force.
Sharing stories
The first film exploring modern air battles in China, Sky Hunter, however, is not the first Chinese film or TV drama to see direct participation by the military, which has long remained a somewhat mysterious organization to the public.
For example, summer TV drama Shenhai Lijian (Sharp Sword in the Deep Sea) was co-produced by the PLA Navy, which is also behind the upcoming film Operation Red Sea.
However, while Shenhai Lijian and Operation Red Sea were directed by veteran filmmakers and producers Zhao Baogang and Dante Lam respectively, Sky Hunter marked Li's first time in the director's chair on a feature film.
Zhang Li, one of the producers and scriptwriters for Sky Hunter as well as an officer in the PLA Air Force, said that he wasn't worried about Li's lack of experience since the film deals with a "brand new" theme.
"As such, no one in the mainland has any experience in this area. Even some well-known filmmakers from Hong Kong have no experience in this area."
Li's interest in the military and willingness to carry out research therefore made him a great choice for director.
"We both wanted to present something different from previous military films, such as portray realistic aerial battles, show off the latest arms and equipment and demonstrate the readiness of today's airmen," Zhang said, explaining that previous Chinese military films have mainly dealt with historical stories.
Zhang added that around a dozen of military, foreign affairs and diplomatic experts also served as advisers on the new film, while the film's score is from Oscar-winning and Grammy-nominated musician Hans Zimmer.
Speaking about the Chinese military's current proactive stance in presenting their stories and in service weapons and equipment in films and TV dramas, Zhang said that this "is part of a very natural process, since the Chinese military is becoming more confident, accessible and open to cooperation."
As for the Chinese Air Force, Zhang explained that "since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, the PLA Air Force has seen tremendous improvement when it comes to armament, actual combat ability, management and quality of its airmen."
"We hope that we can share our stories and achievements with the public, especially youngsters, through public art works such as films," Zhang said, noting that the PLA Air Force does not belong to itself, but to the Chinese people.
Source: Global Times
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Stills from “Youth”
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Actor Zhao Lixin poses for fashion magazine
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Zhang Xueying poses for fashion magazine
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Jin Chen poses for fashion magazine
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Street shots of Yang Mi
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