According to yesterday’s newspaper, the second part of Red Cliff will officially premiere on January 7 2009, 2pm. The first part broke box office records in Asia as 2008 Chinese summer blockbuster of choice. John Woo is going to set another fire on this He sui Season with his massive epic period war film Red Cliff 2. The comical exchanges between actors, prevalent in the first part, will still be conspicuous. Presumably Red Cliff Part 2 will hopefully propel John Woo's Asian film return to a much higher level. A short trailer of the second installment has also been proving popular on video sharing sites.

In every city there are local tales of unexplained circumstances and “haunted houses”.  Beijing, being such a large city still covered by much ancient architecture has inevitably gained its own reputation for being home to many haunted houses and accompanying ghost stories.

Chaonei Dajie No.81 building is one of the most famous haunted places in Beijing. On the bustling strip of Chaoyangmen Neidajie; No.81 is a rundown multi-leveled building with an ominous appearance.  This particular western structure looks quite obtrusive and unique among the flourishing Chinese architectures that surround it.

After a series of spoof, or " Shan Zhai/ 山寨"- the Shan Zhai Spring Festival Gala, shan zhai CCTV News, Shan Zhai Lecture Forum( 百家讲坛), the spoof culture became an acceptable form of the expression of contemporary Chinese Internet creativity. However, Bollywood seems to be able to do it best. Chandni Chowk To China (月光集市到中国), to be released next year, is the first ever Bollywood Kung Fu Comedy. It follows one man's journey from being a medicore cook to an alleged reincarnated kung fu fighting legend. From the streets of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, India, to the Great Wall of China and beyond this hilarious comedy that spoofs movies such as Kung Fu Hustle and Curse of the Golden Flower will keep you laughing and on seat's edge through scene after scene of amusing situations.

European Film Festival
Many of the European embassies in Beijing have come together to present China’s first Annual European Union Film Festival. The schedule consists of films from over 20 countries and includes popular films like Once from Ireland, La Môme (My Life in Rose) from France and The Last King of Scotland from the UK. For a complete schedule click here. The screenings will take place in four locations: the French Cultural Centre, Instituto Cervantes, Italian Institute of Culture and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Each film will be screened in its original language, with English and Chinese subtitles. Free. ID required at certain locations.

The Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card or Yikatong is in need of a nice catchy English name. Beijingologist David Feng's Beijing Super Pass is a good first attempt, but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Hong Kong's Octopus or London's Oyster. Despite the lack of a nifty moniker, the handy little card has proved popular with Beijngers and visitors to the city since it became possible to ride on most of Beijing's public transport in 2006 by simply swiping the card. Yikatong became even more popular when in January 2007 card users were given discounts on the city's public buses (it now costs a minimum of 4 mao to ride if you swipe but 1 kuai if you're paying cash) and when paper tickets were done away with on all of the capital's subway lines. Prior to the Olympics, despite the occasional controversy, close to 20,000,000 cards had been sold.

Film News

According to Variety, Beijing has been chosen as one of the cities in which Columbia's remake of the 1984 classic Karate Kid will be filmed. The film will star Will Smith's son Jaden and is expected to start shooting early next year.

Keep reading below for more Beijing-related film news and screening times for all the English-language films being shown in Beijing tonight.

If you watch the video below you’ll see a veteran presenter of CCTV 1’s flagship 7pm news broadcast involuntarily letting out a small burp while reading the news on Monday evening. The rapid spread of the trivial footage across the web is testament to both the eagle-eyes of the media-watching public and also their new found ability to shine a light on embarassing mistakes by uploading clips to various video sharing sites. Zhang Hongmin's burp is the latest in a long line of gaffes from CCTV presenters and below we’ve gathered together clips and images of some recent on-air bloopers that have led many to bemoan the decline in standards over at CCTV.

Australian author and Asialink Writer in Residence at The Bookworm Linda Jaivin, will be talking about and reading from her new book, A Most Immoral Woman (which is due to come out in March next year) at the Bookworm tonight. The book is a fictional recreation of a rather spicy episode in the life of the wonderfully complicated Australian journalist and adventurer George 'Chinese' Morrison (on a side note, Jane Macartney, The Times' correspondent in Beijing, delivered the annual Morrison Lecture two weeks ago - details here). The event marks the author's last public appearance as the writer in residence at the Beijing Bookworm. So, if you haven't had a chance to get down to hear Jaivin talk already - or even if you have - be sure not to miss what should be an entertaining and hilarious evening. If you're unfamiliar with her work, take a look at Fiona Lee’s interview with the author for some idea of what to expect. Personally, I regard The Monkey and the Dragon as one of the best China books around. Tickets are required, so it’s worth calling the Bookworm to confirm that there are still some spare seats.

While researching the historical novel that she'll be reading excerpts from tonight, Jaivin spent a lot of time peering into the journals of foreigners who lived in Beijing around the turn of the 20th Century. Given this, and her presence in Beijing as a foreign journalist for much of the 1980s, we decided to quiz her on the history of laowai life in the city and particularly about how various foreigners who lived in the capital during different eras amused themselves. Keep reading below for her replies to our queries about how laowai partied in Beijing during both the Legation Quarter days at the turn of the 20th century and the tumultuous 1980s. Jaivin also offers a few observations of how things have changed in today's "Olympic city."

Film News

Documentary Screening: My Beijing Birthday

James Fallows alerted us to the screening of what looks like a very interesting documentary taking place in Beijing tonight. A short introduction to the documentary can be found at the official site or over at James Fallow's blog. To give you a quick idea of what it's about, the documentary follows the mandarin proficient Howie Snyder as he returns to Beijing a dozen years after studying Cross Talk with a group of Chinese kids. The film is a collage of footage taken back when he was studying and new clips of the "new" Beijing and of his former class mates and teachers.
You can view the trailer here.



Oct 28
Documentary Screening: My Beijing Birthday
6pm. Saatchi & Saatchi, The Penthouse 36/F Central International Trade Centre Tower C, 6A Jianguomen Wai Avenue

This Friday is Halloween meaning you only have four days to get to work on a costume that could win you thousands of kuai and other great prizes at the huge range of Halloween-themed parties going on around town next weekend. China is a wonderland for those with a fetish for dressing up. If you’re feeling creative, any market and RMB 50 should suffice. If you need a bit more direction, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best places to go shopping for that prize-winning costume:

Alien Street Market
Laofanjie Shichang, Yabao Lu (south of Fulllink Plaza), Chaoyang District.
老番街市场, 朝阳区雅宝路

Beijing Wantong Market
2 Fuchengmenwai Dajie, Xicheng District. (6804 6283)
北京万通批发市场地址：阜成门外大街2号