Arts China

He played Pu Yi's jailer in last year's Oscar-winning movie "The Last Emperor," the jailer who saved the life of the emperor after he had slashed his wrists. And when at the movie's end he was seen wearing a dunce cap, being led down the street and humiliated by the hated Red Guards, it was not so far removed from his own life. He brought Arthur Miller and "Death of a Salesman" to China, translated the play into Chinese, and did the lead role of Willy Loman.

Sotheby's will expand its presence in China with a new, 10-year joint venture that will see the auction house giant team up with a state-owned Chinese art company. The deal will create a new entity called Sotheby's (Beijing) Auction Co., Ltd.  Sotheby's said the new company would be the first international fine-art auction house in China. The agreement is subject to approval from the Chinese government. Under the new deal, Sotheby's said it would focus on auctions and exhibitions.

At Shanghai's new opera house, where the acoustics are as crystalline as the vaulting glass walls, the symbolism of the Grand Theater's opening also rings loud and clear. The $150-million glass culture palace designed by French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier to host international performers such as tenor Jose Carreras and operas such as "Aida" and "Faust," is meant to be a declaration about the state of the arts in Shanghai.

Beijing has long dominated China's theater scene. But now a Shanghai troupe has staged a play here that is quintessentially Beijing in content and quality. The sold-out performances marked a potential turning point for this commercial mecca that wants desperately to be the nation's artistic capital. "Under the Red Banner" is based on the unfinished autobiography of Lao She, one of China's favorite literary sons.

Bringing international productions to Shanghai's new Grand Theater is an art in itself. As the government backs away from its old role as organizer, promoter and gatekeeper, arranging this season's best acts seems to be a one-man show. That man is Bonko Chan, the vice president of the largest state-owned air-cargo company in China, who produces operas in his spare time. "I was sitting with a friend," he said, perched atilt in a broken office chair, "and we were a little bit bored.

China claims the only continuing civilization originating in the ancient world. One critical reason for the longevity: the development a thousand years ago of an extremely literate--even hyperliterate--ruling class, with deep knowledge of (and passionate affection for) painting, history, poetry and prose. An administrative government like that is a long way from what you'd find these days in our neck of the woods.

China's most influential advocate of a more relaxed approach to ideology and culture has lashed out at hard-line leftists and promised a loosening of controls, official newspapers reported Tuesday.

The Chinese actor most familiar to Western audiences has been stripped of his post in the Ministry of Culture as part of Beijing's attack on artistic freedom and anti-socialist cultural influence. Ying Ruocheng was dismissed as a vice minister of culture in one of a dozen changes in cultural and media posts. The English-speaking Ying, 60, played a prison warden in the movie "The Last Emperor" and the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, in the 1981 television series "Marco Polo."

All of the American and Western European groups that once planned to perform at the second China Arts Festival, Sept. 15-Oct. 15, have canceled, sources confirmed on Monday. The Joffrey Ballet of Los Angeles and New York had been at the top of the list of international performers invited to China for the festival, but was among the first to cancel after the army put a violent end to student demonstrations in Beijing on June 4.

It was just five months ago today when artist Xiao Lu opened fire with a pellet gun on her own "destruction art" sculpture at Beijing's China Art Gallery, when Gao Qiang fashioned three meteorological balloons into giant breasts and suspended them from the gallery's ceiling to "oppose tradition" and when Wang Guangyi placed a sign next to his huge, cubified portraits of Mao Tse-tung that declared, "A great figure should be evaluated objectively and soberly."

Seated behind a table during rehearsals in rural Massachusetts for "The Peony Pavilion," Chen Shizheng looks less like an opera director than a military commander. Facing his Chinese forces with complete attention, he wields control on many fronts, not just the usual view through the proscenium but also the sides of the stage, which are fully exposed to audience view.

At Shanghai's new opera house, where the acoustics are as crystalline as the vaulting glass walls, the symbolism of the Grand Theater's opening also rings loud and clear. The $150-million glass culture palace designed by French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier to host international performers such as tenor Jose Carreras and operas such as "Aida" and "Faust," is meant to be a declaration about the state of the arts in Shanghai.

Bringing international productions to Shanghai's new Grand Theater is an art in itself. As the government backs away from its old role as organizer, promoter and gatekeeper, arranging this season's best acts seems to be a one-man show. That man is Bonko Chan, the vice president of the largest state-owned air-cargo company in China, who produces operas in his spare time. "I was sitting with a friend," he said, perched atilt in a broken office chair, "and we were a little bit bored.

Imperious and awesome she may be, but Turandot, the Chinese princess of Puccini's last--and some say greatest--opera, is hardly role-model material. Like all the ancient Furies rolled into one, Turandot is a dark force of nature, driven by an unseemly thirst for vengeance. Her sport is putting three impossible riddles to those hapless men who dare seek her hand in marriage--and lopping off their heads when they inevitably fail.

China claims the only continuing civilization originating in the ancient world. One critical reason for the longevity: the development a thousand years ago of an extremely literate--even hyperliterate--ruling class, with deep knowledge of (and passionate affection for) painting, history, poetry and prose. An administrative government like that is a long way from what you'd find these days in our neck of the woods.

A photo exhibit of recent American history by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, and a collection of paintings and embroidered tapestries depicting the crafts of Southwest China, will be on display at Cal State Northridge beginning today. The new exhibits, titled "Photo Op" and "Art and Craft of Southwest China," will be on public display through April 18 in the Art Dome, located on the south side of the CSUN campus.

Beijing has long dominated China's theater scene. But now a Shanghai troupe has staged a play here that is quintessentially Beijing in content and quality. The sold-out performances marked a potential turning point for this commercial mecca that wants desperately to be the nation's artistic capital. "Under the Red Banner" is based on the unfinished autobiography of Lao She, one of China's favorite literary sons.

A middle-level official in China's Ministry of Culture has revealed that the ministry canceled all plans to send entertainers to the United States after the government's violent crackdown on demonstrators in June. Meanwhile, planners of the Los Angeles Festival said Monday that they specifically cut off negotiations with at least two Chinese performing groups in the immediate wake of the Tian An Men Square massacre.

On the stage at the warehouse theater, the seven actors performed for more than two hours by using the same two words--"I love"--several thousand times until the words were turned inside out and rendered practically meaningless. Eight television sets glowed on the spare stage with the silent images of imported commercials for Lady Clairol hair products and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Film clips of the late Chairman Mao Tse-tung were projected on one wall.

China's most influential advocate of a more relaxed approach to ideology and culture has lashed out at hard-line leftists and promised a loosening of controls, official newspapers reported Tuesday.