Chinese

SHENZHEN, China - Gov. Jerry Brown, visiting the headquarters of an electric car and bus manufacturer here, announced Tuesday that the company would open a factory in Lancaster, the first Chinese-owned vehicle plant on American soil. The firm, Build Your Dreams, or BYD, will put 10 new plug-in buses on the streets of Long Beach beginning next year after assembling them in the Lancaster facility, with hopes of producing dozens more in coming years. "It's very significant," said Brown, speaking in this southern port city on the last full day of his weeklong visit to China.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In the aftermath of Friday's controversial slow-play penalty at the Masters, there were many dueling opinions. We'll go with "Bravo, John Paramor. " He is the rules official from England, affectionately (or otherwise) known as Big John. He has been at this since 1976 and is known and properly feared worldwide by pro golfers. Over the years, the Masters has had several shots heard 'round the world. When Paramor walked up to 14-year-old amateur Tianlang Guan of China on the 17th tee Friday and informed him he was being assessed a one-shot penalty for slow play, it was another one. The news skittered through the magnolias and azaleas like a candy wrapper in the wind.

Anyone who tampers with Hollywood's most iconic venue is likely to encounter some suspicion. So it's not surprising that some residents have raised concerns about plans to bring a giant Imax screen to the former Grauman's Chinese Theatre. But one prominent theater conservation group says not to worry. The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, which raises funds to help conserve the city's historic movie palaces, says the planned Imax conversion won't affect the Chinese Theatre's historic character.

SHANGHAI -- A trip that has been marked by solemn meetings with Communist Party officials in dark suits took a decidedly different tack Friday as Gov. Jerry Brown helped launch a new ad campaign to attract Chinese tourists to California.  The glass ceilinged ballroom of the Ritz Carlton throbbed with a mashup of house music versions of famous Golden State songs like "California Dreamin" and "If You're Going to San Francisco. " Quick-cut images of iconic California locations radiated from a pair of large video screens amid blue strobe  lights that danced off the mirrored walls.  "This is a bit more glitzy than I'm used to," allowed the 75-year old governor.

Executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment are working to get “Django Unchained” back into theaters in China after the film was abruptly pulled on its opening day. Some screenings were halted after they were already underway. It wasn't immediately clear why the action was taken. "We regret that 'Django Unchained' has been removed from theaters and are working with the Chinese authorities to determine whether the film can be rescheduled," said Sony Pictures Entertainment spokesman Steve Elzer on Thursday.

SHANGHAI -- The focus of California Gov. Jerry Brown's trip to China on Thursday intersected with one of the most controversial issues of his governorship -- high-speed rail. Brown rode a bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, walking the aisles, shaking hands with Chinese passengers, and marveling at the country's construction of more than 5,000 miles of high-speed railroad in less than a decade. Brown was joined by Dan Richard, the head of California's high-speed rail board, and representatives of the Chinese company that designed and built the train.

Imax Corp., once a peripheral player in Hollywood, is putting its stamp on the industry's most famous movie theater. The Canadian big screen theater company, which has offices in Santa Monica, plans to open one of its largest theaters at the former Grauman's Chinese Theatre opened in 1927 by showman Sid Grauman, sources familiar with the matter said. The deal, which is signed but subject to permit approval by the city, comes three months after Chinese TV maker TCL paid more than $5 million for the naming rights to the historic theater along Hollywood Boulevard, which now goes by the name TCL Chinese Theatre.

BEIJING -- Gov. Jerry Brown went to the American Embassy on Wednesday to celebrate a new $1.5-billion investment from a Chinese developer in a massive new Oakland waterfront housing project. The single deal amounts to roughly the total of all Chinese investment in California companies and projects from 2001 to 2011, according to a study commissioned by the Asia Society. It also helps Brown illustrate to Californians why he is in China. Gubernatorial travels often have a subtext, and Brown's trip is no exception.

As Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to build California's own high-speed rail system, he's pointed to the example set by China, where 5,000 miles of track have been laid in recent years. During his visit there this week, he will ride one of those bullet trains from Beijing to Shanghai. But one day before Brown steps aboard, an embarrassing episode involving the railroad is being shoved back into the spotlight in China. The man who led construction of the country's high-speed rail system is facing corruption charges, the Associated Press reported.

BEIJING - In Washington, it is said, the definition of a gaffe is accidentally saying what you really think. That may be doubly true in Beijing, as Deng Yuwen can attest. Deng, an editor at the weekly newspaper run by the Central Party School, the main training institute for future Communist cadres, has taken on controversial topics in the past: deploring corruption and censorship, advocating political reform. But when he published a column calling for China to abandon its alliance with North Korea, he found himself out of a job within 48 hours.