Venice, Italy

Festival Glitterati

Renowned directors and veteran actors from the Chinese movie industry will once again join the glitterati at the Venice Film Festival, held this year on August 29. Besides Zhang Yimou heading the all-director jury, actor Jiang Wen is eyeing the Golden Lion for his third directorial work, "The Sun Also Rises" (no relation to Hemingway's classic). Oscar-winning director Ang Lee is likely to present his new art-house work "Lust, Caution," staring Hong Kong veteran Tony Leung and Chinese-American musician Lee-Hom Wang. And rounding out the China presence is a John Woo supervised film, "Blood Brothers," which was selected to close the festival on September 8.

Hollywood

Chan and the Dwarfs

Jackie Chan and fellow funny man Chris Tucker won’t be gracing China’s cinemas with their “Rush Hour 3,” as officials from the state-run China Film Group’s import-export arm declare the market for this film to be “relatively weak.” But the buzz in Hollywood, via Variety, is that some officials may have blocked the flick, which has the unlikely cop pair taking on a Chinese crime family in Paris this time, as “fundamentally anti-Chinese.”

In other film industry news, Jet Li will join Natalie Portman in an adaptation of the Disney classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The film is set thousands of years after the original Snow White story, when the princess reincarnates into a young woman (played by Portman).

Tibet

Buddha Approval

All reincarnations of the living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval, according to a statement recently released by the State Administration for Religious Affairs. If the reincarnated living Buddha does not get State approval, the title is considered illegal. All the reincarnation applications must be submitted to the religious affairs department of the provincial-level government, SARA and the State Council respectively, by legally registered venues for Tibetan Buddhism activities, the regulation says. The Chinese government believes this regulation, which will come into effect September 1, will guarantee normal religious activities of Tibetan Buddhism and will protect the beliefs of Buddhists according to Chinese law.

National

Faking Potter

The much anticipated seventh and final Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which exploded onto the Chinese market last month, has suffered several set backs leaving readers in China spellbound. Many copies of the lengthy novel published by Scholastic are missing up to 30 pages and other readers are ending up with completely fake copies which bear similar titles to J. K. Rowling’s series finale, but use content from China’s well-known kung fu epic “Journey to the West.” Titles to stay away from include “Harry Potter and the Hiking Dragon,” “Harry Potter and the Chinese Empire” and “Harry Potter and the Big Funnel.”

Shanghai

Yao’s Knot

Yao Ming, 27, and his long-time girlfriend Ye, a 26-year-old who plays on China’s national women's basketball team, married during the second week of August at the Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai. Only family members and relatives were present at the nuptials as 100 security guards stood by. Local media reported that the reception consisted of 10 dinner tables that each cost the NBA star ¥12,300.

National

Girls and Boys

Slogans such as "Raise fewer babies but more piggies" and "Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected" may soon be a part of the family planning past in China. In a circular issued in early August, the National Population and Family Planning Commission ordered local officials to substitute all offensive slogans with a choice of 190 recommended ones selected by a national campaign. "Mother Earth is too tired to sustain more children" and "Both boys and girls are in parents' hearts" are some of the recommended replacements.