People S Republic

Direct from Beijing and on tour in the U.S. for the first time, the National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China open the Pepperdine University Center for the Arts' 2011-12 season. Dazzling, dizzying and often gravity-defying, the award-winning group of acrobats and contortionists has wowed audiences around the globe for more than 60 years. Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. 2 p.m. Sun. Sold out. (310) 506-4522. arts.pepperdine.edu.

Direct from Beijing and on tour in the U.S. for the first time, the National Acrobats of the People's Republic of China open the Pepperdine University Center for the Arts' 2011-12 season. Dazzling, dizzying and often gravity-defying, the award-winning group of acrobats and contortionists has wowed audiences around the globe for more than 60 years. Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. 2 p.m. Sun. Sold out. (310) 506-4522. arts.pepperdine.edu.

What better way to celebrate a birthday than to take to the world stage? Last week, Hu Jintao became the first Chinese president to address the U.N. General Assembly, a privilege seemingly reserved for the president of the United States and colorful despots such as Moammar Kadafi. The People's Republic, which turns 60 on Thursday, has evolved from tin-pot polity to powerhouse. And among the spectacular transformations China has undergone, its dramatic turnabout in how it relates to the world stands out. China began as a pariah state, rejected by and immensely hostile toward the world community.

Dreams of Joy A Novel Lisa See Random House: 354 pp., $26 With each new novel, Lisa See gets better and better. Each work is more tightly woven, richer with information, its characters more memorable than the last. In her previous novel, "Shanghai Girls" (2009), See gave us an unforgettable portrait of Shanghai, of its cosmopolitan ways and elegant atmosphere that made it a cultural center of Asia, and of two sisters thriving in that world of beauty and delicacy — until history intrudes and forces them to leave it all behind for an uncertain future far away in Los Angeles.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in China this month touting the "new cooperation paradigm" between Ankara and Beijing. Just a week earlier, a top political advisor to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spent five days in Syria signing deals and planting olive trees in the Golan Heights. The Middle Kingdom, it seems, is planting deep roots in the Middle East these days. The reach of the People's Republic is far and wide, extending from the Far East to Africa to Latin America, and its interest in the Middle East is neither new nor surprising: China gets more than a quarter of its oil imports from the Persian Gulf and has billions invested in Iran's oil sector.

"Welcome to the People's Republic of China," declares an officer of the People's Liberation Army as he crisply salutes an American novelist (played by John Cusack) who has just fled the United States, which -- like much of the world -- has been destroyed by an environmental catastrophe. It is a line that has thrilled thousands of Chinese filmgoers who have made writer-director Roland Emmerich's "2012" among the most popular Hollywood films of all time on the Chinese mainland. The plot has helped: In Emmerich's ("Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow")

Derek Ma was feeling pretty good after successfully co-hosting a banquet for China's National Day with more than 600 guests, a 10-course dinner, a parade of entertainers and more than $10,000 in prizes. Then he got a call from the top local representative of Taiwan, who put a damper on his mood. "He basically said, 'We are supposed to be old friends. Why did you guys do such a nice job helping the other side? It makes us look bad,'" said Ma, a restaurateur who used to be president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn.

"Raise the Red Lantern" director Zhang Yimou plans to make a movie to mark the 60th anniversary of communist China, cementing his shift from a dissident to a government-favored artist. Zhang is still working on the script for the film, China Central Television reported Wednesday. Zhang designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in August, and was earlier chosen by the government as the director of an Oct. 1 gala celebrating the People's Republic of China's 60th anniversary.

Re "Media Titans Stress Profits Over Journalistic Mission," Commentary, Oct. 10: One can understand self-censorship by Chinese journalists who must fear for their lives, but profit motive is only one reason why these media giants, Sumner Redstone, Gerald Levin and Rupert Murdoch, would want their journalists from CBS, Time Magazine and Fox to self-censor themselves. A more subtle reason is that these gentlemen are in fact closet racists who are more than willing to accept the explanations given by the People's Republic of China government that its citizens do not need to enjoy the full human rights accorded to other human beings.

For over two years the United States Congress, the President, and the State Department have strongly criticized the Chinese government for its failure to take the issue of human rights seriously in Tibet. Recently Chinese students and workers have taken to the streets of Beijing and other major cities to protest against party corruption and the absence of basic democratic freedoms in China. Given the U.S. government's consistent defense of human rights in Tibet we might have expected to see at least some sign of support for the current protests.

Derek Ma was feeling pretty good after successfully co-hosting a banquet for China's National Day with more than 600 guests, a 10-course dinner, a parade of entertainers and more than $10,000 in prizes. Then he got a call from the top local representative of Taiwan, who put a damper on his mood. "He basically said, 'We are supposed to be old friends. Why did you guys do such a nice job helping the other side? It makes us look bad,'" said Ma, a restaurateur who used to be president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in China this month touting the "new cooperation paradigm" between Ankara and Beijing. Just a week earlier, a top political advisor to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spent five days in Syria signing deals and planting olive trees in the Golan Heights. The Middle Kingdom, it seems, is planting deep roots in the Middle East these days. The reach of the People's Republic is far and wide, extending from the Far East to Africa to Latin America, and its interest in the Middle East is neither new nor surprising: China gets more than a quarter of its oil imports from the Persian Gulf and has billions invested in Iran's oil sector.

Divided into two parts, "Cosmopolitan Capitalism: Shanghai Under the Republic" and "A Revolution in Culture: Designing the People's Republic," the new exhibition "China Modern: Designing Popular Culture, 1910-1970" tracks the iconographic representation of political ideologies and cultural values on decades of everyday objects, household commodities, fashions, plays, operas, posters and advertisements, numbering 100 iconic pieces in total....

"Welcome to the People's Republic of China," declares an officer of the People's Liberation Army as he crisply salutes an American novelist (played by John Cusack) who has just fled the United States, which -- like much of the world -- has been destroyed by an environmental catastrophe. It is a line that has thrilled thousands of Chinese filmgoers who have made writer-director Roland Emmerich's "2012" among the most popular Hollywood films of all time on the Chinese mainland. The plot has helped: In Emmerich's ("Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow")

Sun Fengqing is not getting married in a white dress, or even a traditional cheongsam. She's going to wear a green military outfit with a Red Star on her hat and a Mao Tse-tung badge -- the uniform of the young Red Guard from China's Cultural Revolution. The choice of outfit shows how, 60 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, revolutionary images have taken on different meaning for the nation's young generation. "It's just different from other wedding pictures," said Sun, a 24-year-old advertisement company worker, who is marrying 26-year-old dancer Xu Shuo.

That the current ruler of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, is a bore will no doubt be a relief to most people, including 1.3 billion Chinese. Hu's dullness is remarkable given the high drama of China's fairly recent transformation from a poor, blood-soaked totalitarian country to a rich (in patches) superpower aspiring to take over America's lead in the not-so-distant future. But perhaps his lack of charisma is part of the point. The first 27 years of the People's Republic, under Chairman Mao, when millions died in almost constant purges and upheavals, and tens of millions died of starvation in bizarre economic experiments, were so awful that most Chinese are quite sick of charismatic leadership.

China's leadership puzzle began to fall into place Friday with the reappearance of Communist patriarch Deng Xiaoping, who endorsed last weekend's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators but promised that economic reforms will continue. China's state-run television showed Deng, 84, looking frail but animated, presiding over a meeting at Zhongnanhai, the red-walled leadership compound in central Beijing. He was flanked by conservative allies and a host of army generals. 'Small Number' Accused Deng, who had been away from public view for three weeks, said the crackdown against student protesters centered at Tian An Men Square was needed to defend Communist rule in China.

Amen to your editorial opposition to covert electoral support to the Nicaraguan opposition. But how can you maintain that it is the Sandinista government which has made a mess of Nicaragua's economy? Surely most of the blame must fall on the U.S. embargo. I hope President Bush will recognize that, and lift the embargo. After all, he made the welcome and humane statement that he would not countermand grain sales to the People's Republic of China as a sign of U.S. dismay at the Tian An Men Square massacre.

What better way to celebrate a birthday than to take to the world stage? Last week, Hu Jintao became the first Chinese president to address the U.N. General Assembly, a privilege seemingly reserved for the president of the United States and colorful despots such as Moammar Kadafi. The People's Republic, which turns 60 on Thursday, has evolved from tin-pot polity to powerhouse. And among the spectacular transformations China has undergone, its dramatic turnabout in how it relates to the world stands out. China began as a pariah state, rejected by and immensely hostile toward the world community.

"Raise the Red Lantern" director Zhang Yimou plans to make a movie to mark the 60th anniversary of communist China, cementing his shift from a dissident to a government-favored artist. Zhang is still working on the script for the film, China Central Television reported Wednesday. Zhang designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in August, and was earlier chosen by the government as the director of an Oct. 1 gala celebrating the People's Republic of China's 60th anniversary.