Kung Fu Panda 2: Hollywood works harder to win Chinese audiences

A decade ago, as China closed in on membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), key negotiators now say, it wasn't talk of opening a huge market to grain or machinery that threatened talks: It was haggling over movies, the ultimate soft-power export.

Today, Chinese consumer confidence has soared. That has lifted movie ticket sales, which jumped 64 percent in 2010 to $1.5 billion, thanks partly to a 3-D craze and a mushrooming of cinemas in China. But what's also grown is official wariness of the influence of foreign media, so much so that Beijing – a WTO member since 2001 – has all but ignored a March WTO deadline to open film distribution to greater foreign participation, and has refused to discuss the annual cap of 20 imported films.

In late May, taking a page out of China's 1972 playbook – when Beijing gave two rare black-and-white bears to Washington's National Zoo after Presi­dent Nixon's historic visit – envoys from DreamWorks Animation went to Sichuan Province bearing "Kung Fu Panda 2," part of DreamWorks's effort to establish a paw-hold in the globe's fastest-growing movie market. The China Film Group (CFG) released the film nationwide on May 27, dubbed into Chinese.

Their effort drew on lessons from the release of the first "Kung Fu Panda" in China right before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Many loved it, making it the first animated feature film here to gross more than 100 million yuan ($15 million) in ticket sales. Others said DreamWorks's take on China's ancient culture fell as flat as its 2-D portrayal.

Fast-forward three years and the stakes are higher. Tickets costing as much as 120 yuan ($18.50) helped China become the No. 2 movie market after the United States for 20th Century Fox's "Avatar." After its January 2010 release, it went on to gross more than $200 million in China. Walt Disney Pictures's "Pirates of the Carib­bean 4: On Stranger Tides" recently topped the opening weekend figures for "Avatar."

Those kind of box-office numbers get the attention of US moviemakers. They ensure that the studios will increasingly take into account not only what will fly with China's middle-class audience but also with Beijing censors, who must approve every film.

A Baby Born with Two Heads, Single Body- Video

Conjoined twin baby girls with a single body and two heads have been born in southwestern China. Doctors say it's almost impossible to separate them.

The conjoined twins were born in Sichuan, southwestern China. Doctors are not even sure how to keep them alive.

"It is hard to say (how will they survive in the future). But we will try the best to keep them alive at the moment," said Pu Youhua, a doctor with Suining Hospital.

The mother did not even know of their medical condition until a medical check up two days before she gave birth.

Two previous ultrasound scans in September and February both showed a single embryo, but failed to reveal the two heads, most likely because technicians were looking at the baby in profile.

Reports say the twins weighed 4 kilograms and have two spines, two esophaguses and share other organs.

The parents, who are migrant farmers, didn't want to have the babies at first, fearing that they could not afford to keep them alive.

Conjoined twin baby girls with a single body and two heads have been born in southwestern China. Doctors say it's almost impossible to separate them.

The conjoined twins were born in Sichuan, southwestern China. Doctors are not even sure how to keep them alive.

"It is hard to say (how will they survive in the future). But we will try the best to keep them alive at the moment," said Pu Youhua, a doctor with Suining Hospital.

The mother did not even know of their medical condition until a medical check up two days before she gave birth.

Two previous ultrasound scans in September and February both showed a single embryo, but failed to reveal the two heads, most likely because technicians were looking at the baby in profile.

Reports say the twins weighed 4 kilograms and have two spines, two esophaguses and share other organs.

The parents, who are migrant farmers, didn't want to have the babies at first, fearing that they could not afford to keep them alive.

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China have many more Pirated DVD Wholesale Markets

Cheap, pirated DVDs of American films that are produced in China can be found for sale on the streets of Beijing just a few days after the films are playing in theaters. These bootlegged DVDs are threatening legitimate DVD wholesale sales. Pirated DVD shops exist all over China. For instance, Chinese consumers can buy popular DVD movies for about $1.22 (8 yuan) from stores that exist just down the street from the Apple Store in Beijing. So why would anyone buy legitimate DVDs from the Apple Store?

A major reason for the DVD black market in China is its strict censorship policy and government restrictions on home entertainment products. This makes it nearly impossible for consumers in China to buy legal copies of American films because so few are approved for marketing. China only allows 20 foreign movies into theaters each year, and the government has strict licensing rules for the sale of home entertainment products. The censors must approve all films for legal viewing and they disapprove of movies with explicit sex scenes, as well as movies such as “The Social Network,” which is about Facebook, a site that is blocked by the government in China. Therefore, Chinese movie buffs are driven to illegal Internet downloads or stores and street vendors that sell pirated DVDs.

Bootleg DVDs in China are very slickly produced and packaged. In fact, many have extra features that make them better than those found on legitimate discs. This is a huge business. According to a report issued by the state-run media, the country’s pirate DVD industry totaled approximately $6 billion in 2010. China’s box office receipts, on the other hand, totaled a mere $1.5 billion for last year.

The authorities in China say they are taking strong action to put a stop to copyright infringement of products such as films, music and clothing. They claim this crackdown has resulted in jailing 3,000 people since October 2010. However, the major problem is that China’s censorship policies make it almost impossible for consumers to buy legal DVDs of American films in China. This is acknowledged by Hollywood studios and Chinese consumers alike.

The Motion Picture Association of America estimates 9 out of 10 DVDs sold in China are bootlegged, and the piracy rates for Internet downloads are at least the same or higher. MPAA, the trade group that represents the six major Hollywood studies is hoping that a pending World Trade Organization dispute will force China to liberalize the theatrical distribution of movies and government policies regarding the import and sale of home entertainment products, including the retailer licensing process. This has been going on since 2009 and hopefully, resolution will happen soon.

Hollywood has started licensing deals with Chinese video portals such as Youku and Tudou, whereby they license films that users can pay 5 yuan to watch. Tudou is also going to start streaming TV programs like “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” in a licensing agreement with Disney Media Distribution. However, Chinese consumers are so used to bootlegging that they even have pirate brands such as Red Dragon, Monkey King and Pegasus. Some of the more established pirate brands are even putting watermarks on their DVDs to distinguish their products from other bootleggers.

So what can Hollywood do? The MPAA has taken people to court in China and has won these court cases. However, the penalties are not severe enough to discourage people from bootlegging. There are so many bootleg DVD factories and so little enforcement of the law that it’s hard to make a case for legitimate DVD wholesale sales.

Google Says "China Responsible for Blocking Gmail"

       Google has accused the Chinese government of disrupting its email service Gmail and clarified that there were no technical issues with the service or the website from its end. Gmail has been made inaccessible in China as a part of intensified Internet crackdown, reported The Associated Press. Google, in an official statement, noted, "There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

      As per a Google spokesperson, China is the world's most populous Internet Market and users have been reporting about the intermittent access to Gmail since January. Users face major problems in accessing the Gmail homepage, sending emails and also the instant messaging. The blockage is allegedly a the part of the existing web censorship in China and is more sophisticated since it doesn't block the service entirely but just makes it annoyingly intermittent.

      In the past, Google's Gmail snooping issue and the cyber-attacks within China has soured the relations between the company and China. Now, this controlled disruption will certainly make Google think over its presence in China. The company has already moved its search engine domains for Chinese language from mainland China to Hong Kong.

As of now, the Chinese government hasn't responded to Google's allegation but we expect a denial as response soon.