Yes, it’s a film-about-a-film kind of film. China’s first film was shot in 1905 entitled “DingJun Mountain”. It is about a Peking Opera routine and it starred Tan Xipei. So in essence it is a film about a film about Peking Opera. I am sure that works out somehow.

The new movie, named after the old one, portrays the entire production of Dingjun Mountain (1905) - from preparation to casting and shooting, director An Zhanjun said before Monday’s premiere at the Daguanlou Cinema, where the old film also made its debut.

It is interesting to see that China was involved in movie production even earlier than Hollywood. The first movie shot in HollyWood was called “In Old California“, shot by D.W.Griffith.

Disney is making big moves on the Chinese market, headed by it’s Lion King. The musical production is being moved up from it’s home in Melbourne, Australia to Shanghai in time for the July 18th opening at the Shanghai Grand Theater.

This is all in good effect, as musical theater seems to be growing in interest with the Chinese, as witnessed by the success of the Phantom of the Opera last year.

Tickets are on sale and will set you back 100-800RMB depending on the time and day. You have 100 chances to see the show, as they will have 100 performances.

Disney has been a bit lax in it’s China operations until now. An article highlights this:

Disney’s Donald Duck and other classic characters enjoy wide recognition in China. But many observers say the media giant failed to take advantage of its position earlier this decade, largely sitting on the sidelines while Viacom, News Corp., Time Warner and Sony Corp.’s entertainment arm opened TV stations and filmed entertainment joint ventures in China.

Also, it is unclear whether Disney is still in talks with Shanghai about building their new theme park here. One way or another, Disney intends on making their presence felt in Shanghai and China.

Usually we hear about some credit card company or another having some hackers come in and swipe their database of users. This time the hackers were Chinese and the hackee was the online game “Lineage” in South Korea. About 4000 accounts were stolen through the use of malware installed by some suspicious websites. No you will not get free nude pictures of Britney Spears if you click on that link!

Taking the “thief” character class to the next level, the hackers obtained both personal and account information of those affected. The information is not easily used for identity theft, but the virtual identity of the person is easily whisked away.

Another aim of these hackers was to steal the “virtual items” of the players. Yes, we are at a point in this world where people go to great lengths to steal items that don’t exist. There are even full scale “farming” operations where people are paid to play the game to obtain rare items that can be sold for a profit.

One way or another, online gaming is becoming it’s own industry, even it’s own world with benefits and pitfalls. More and more we are seeing online games emerge with their own communities and even economies. Many people are even making a living off trading in these games as well, especially in such socially oriented games as Second Life.

The9 Inc. has been making all the right moves, especially with it’s World of Warcraft franchise. This is in stark contrast to Shanda which has been making very questionable decisions lately. A recent article outlines The9’s situation:

NetEase competitor The9, also reporting this week, will hope to fulfill investor expectations of a strong quarter. The9 operates runaway hit World of Warcraft, which was developed by Vivendi Universal’s (V) Blizzard Entertainment division and should continue to see healthy growth as it gradually expands from a solid base in the major urban centers of China’s east coast into second and third tier inland cities.

These smaller cities are experiencing just as much growth as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but are relatively untapped by the big entertainment players, allaying fears that China’s Internet games market is approaching saturation. Of the top game operators, The9 appears to have the most reliable pipeline of future game offerings, with two major Korean titles to be launched during 2006. If all goes according to plan, World of Warcraft will still be earning for The9 when “Grenado Espada” and Webzen Inc.’s (WZEN) “Soul of the Ultimate Nation” launch commercially in China.

Shanda, currently with the biggest market share does have an advantage, but The9.com is very smart in expanding to the second and third tier cities. As Shanda flouts their grandness, The9 seems poised to pull the rug right out from under them! While Shanda is busy working on it’s drinks, buying up other people’s games, trying to sell online music, and dissing Microsoft.

Shanghaiist had featured an interesting article about a potential Playboy club in Shanghai. It looks like they may be trying to open up a casino as well, but that remains to be seen as gambling is not sanctioned in the mainland. Looks like we might have to just settle for a good ol’ fashion Playboy club.

It seems digital video maker Hu Ge is in hot water, or steam as the case may be. For those of you who missed the news Hu Ge simply took director Chen Kaige’s movie “The Promise”, and made a parody of it. Simply re-cutting it, dubbing over some scenes, created an immensely popular 20 minute piece entitled “The Bloody Case That Started from a Steamed Bun”.

The basic plot of Chen’s film is thus: A poor girl suddenly became rich and powerful, but she was doomed to a life without love unless time moved backwards. Then a humble man appeared and was able to run fast enough to beat time and bring her back to love. In the process, the lady’s husband was killed and more than one guy fell in love with her. 
…
While the bun was not the major element in the original film, Hu sarcastically reduced the whole film to the gratuitous killing over a bun.

This has caused immense outrage by director Chen Kaige. One might speculate it is because this was one of the most expensive films ever made in China, totalling over US$43.2 million. So now he is suing Hu Ge for “copyright violation”.

Shang Jiangang, a lawyer had this to said “The economic loss for the original film, he says, is hard to calculate.” I have no idea what this guy is talking about. Where I come from, parody films are a tribute to the original, only adding to the popularity of the original film. Though, we must remember we are here in China, the land of the backwards thinkers where you mus not think outside of the boundries that the motherland has set for you.

Rather than looking at poor innocent Hu Ge, take a look at your own government and it’s poor controls on piracy, and how that is the greatest economic loss to your film? No, you can’t speak out against the government, so it’s the little guy who gets stuck with it!

You can download the controversial bun movie here.

Update Feb 19: Apparently director Chen Kaige is being mocked for his narrow minded lawsuit against Hu Ge. Probably because He Ge’s movie is far more popular than the original movie which it spoofs.

It seems that Internet cafes have been deemed as “unfit and potentially corrupting environments” for China’s youth. Yes, it seems they are right down there with the illicit massage parlors, gambling mahjong houses and unfiltered search engine results. It seems China’s Government is going insane over elevating computer games to the level of tobacco and alcohol. In short, these “dens of villainy and corruption” are no longer open to teenagers. Yes, we have finally reached the day, when the bouncer IDs you at the door so you can go in and play Bubble Bobble.

This is of course hot on the heels of the major net companies coming under fire for seceding to government demands and blocking certain content within the mainland. China is a stickler for controlling what their citizens see and do:

…the establishments will be prohibited from displaying “audio and video products and electronic games” that threaten national security or disparage other nationalities or races. Specifically, the entertainment may not “damage China’s unification, sovereignty, or territorial integrity,” referring to the dispute over the status of nominally independent Taiwan.

Does this sound like big brother to you? I am sorry how my control over fictitious characters slaying monsters and demons using magical powers threatens the very basis on which the motherland of China was founded.

The next targets of threat to the state we can expect to be McDonalds restaurants, old age homes, and churches. Yes, Big Macs are a threat to national obesity! You must be an adult to realize the consequences of ingesting such food!

Now RPAA and now the IFPI have ”enthusiastically endorsed“ China’s termination of 76 web sites, confiscation of 39 servers and ordering of 137 websites to delete infringing material.

China has been accused countless times of not doing enough to fight movie piracy. I have heard this accusation time and time again. Though recently China seems to be making an effort, at least to appease the US.

Though, it seems the net companies making their way into China are under fire:

The friendly ties between China and the entertainment cartels haven’t been remarked upon, let alone criticized, in stark contrast to its dealings with four of America’s largest Net companies, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco, who are being attacked for their efforts to work with the People’s Republic. During their testimony to the House International Relations Committee, yesterday, “Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace,” Tom Lantos told them.

It seems dealing with China is always a tricky game. Even though China is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 1980 it is still seen as apathetic toward piracy. Spokesperson Yan Xiaohong had this to say:

    ”China’s government will keep up its seriousness about Internet infringement and piracy. Our goal is to create an environment favorable for both copyright protection and the product dissemination, and thus leave Internet information on hand for the public’s study and entertainment.”

It all remains to be seen what China will do. China is riding the fine line between allowing piracy to funnel money into the country and being shut off from foreign markets due to their ineffectiveness toward piracy.