Today in China

The Beijing Actors Workshop will be performing live at the “Playground” with the theme of Dreams & Nightmares. We will have three captivating stories that will let you peer into the mind’s subterranean inner workings. Scary though it may be, these scenes are based on actual dreams manifested during deep sleep. Join us and cross into the world where many spend 1/3 of their lives: sleeping with Dreams & Nightmares!

Interesting links:
City Week-end link with map and directions
Beijing Actors Workshop website
Post about the event on Emilie’s Blog

A friend of mine asked me the interesting question: Do Chinese Provinces have specific flags?

Well, in a country as huge as China that only has one time zone instead of at least 4 or 5… You will not be that surprised to know that Chinese Provinces have no specific flags. So, what could we use to differentiate them?

A first approach to differentiate the different territories of China would be the Chinese Characters used to differentiate the License Plates.

Then, another approach, more colorful, would be to choose one local beer for each territory… For this, you may check the website Klausehm.de providing a huge list of Chinese Beers.

ChinoChano (Spanish language blog) already proposes the following Beer Flags:

Yanjing Beer, the symbol for Beijing, would be even better than the olympic logo.

For northern Heilongjiang province, a fresh and “Hapi” Harbin Beer.

Tsingtao Beer could be Shandong emblem.

Dali Beer is perfect for Yunnan, backpackers mecca.

West Lake Beer suits for Zhejiang.

Even Tibet could have the “Lhasa Beer” for a flag.

According to China Daily (CRI), Wentworth Miller (alias Michael in Prison Break) has been invited to visit China in June by the Zhongbo Media Group. An official of Zhongbo said that Miller is coming to promote the Chinese version of Prison Break.

A Chinese version of Prison Break? What they are talking about is not a mere translation of the Prison Break TV Serie. They are working on a real Chinese version, with Chinese actors. Zhongbo bought the rights (1.2 million USD) to create an online video adaptation.

Miller is also invited to act as a final judge to select actors for the Chinese Prison Break, amongst them possibly some famous Chinese Podcasters.

The question now is how will they adapt the plotline to China? The main idea behind the plotline being that the government is totally corrupted and The Company is acted way above the standard law dictating the daily life of normal citizens. Which is of course not the case in China…

It seems that a large IT company will play the role of the bad guys instead of the FBI and the vice-president.

Sources:
Digital Spy, 2007-04-27
China Daily, 2007-04-30

Remark: By the way the picture is an advertisement for a Fuzhou hospital
which promises to take care of your prostate problem in 3 to 5 days… How much did Wentworth Miller get for endorsing the service? Zero.

Some of you enjoyed last year performance from the Theatre des Lanternes, “Le Diner de Connes”. I’m glad to announce that the Theatre des Lanternes is now working on a new play, Theatre Without Animals, by Jean-Michel Ribes.

They will give 3 performances in French on May 12th, 17th and 19th. And then one more performance in French and Chinese on the 16th of May.

You’ll find more information on their website hosted by Today in China!

Eric MEYER has been in China for 20 years. Last week, he answered the questions from TouteLaChine.com in an exclusive interview. The article is in French but you might try the Google Translation if you don’t speak French.

Reminder: Eric MEYER works with China Trade Winds on their weekly newsletter Le Vent de la Chine. Visit their 10 years archive!

I just received the following Golden Pig from a colleague and wanted to share it with you!

I’m not sure it will display properly on all browser. Try to copy-paste it and to use Verdana as a Font!

Here is a picture version of what it should look like:

I’m leaving China for a ten days Business Trip in Europe. But I do not forget you who have to stay in Beijing where it’s raining all days long…

Imagine Galery in DaShanZi will start a new Exhibition on Cheng Yong’s work. Cheng Yong is born in Jiangsu and now works in Nanjing Technical College of Special Education.

The exhibition starts on the 9th of March and will last until the 3rd of April. Enjoy!

Emilie has a nice post about the Seasons in China and how it differs from Europe. As the post is written in French, here is a short summary in English.

In Western Countries, we consider that the seasons starts at the solstices and equinoxes while in Asia they are are considered to be halfway through a season.

Remark: These dates are given for 2007 and slightly vary (+/- 1 day) from year to year.

Sources:
Post on Emilie’s blog
Wikipedia

I discovered an interesting set of pictures from photographer Tom Carter. This guy is currently traveling extensively throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions.
Enjoy!

I know it’s a little bit early bu after celebrating 2007, we will soon have to celebrate the Chinese New Year! If you want to impress your Chinese colleagues, I recommend using the following Pigs in your emails!

If you need some information about simpler Asian Emoticons, please check my previous post on Asian Smileys!

Thanks Zhao Na for sending this to me!

Happy New Year of the Pig! 猪年快乐！