Celebrities celebrate fashion mag release

Celebrities celebrate fashion mag release

Martial arts star Jet Li (L) poses with Su Mang, chief editor of the Chinese edition of “Harper’s Bazaar” magazine, at the launch ceremony of “Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style” in Beijing on Saturday, January 12, 2008.
The launch ceremony of a men’s fashion magazine on Saturday in Beijing drew a multitude of Chinese celebrities.
Film stars Jet Li, Hu Jun, Tong Dawei, and Li Bingbing, director Feng Xiaogang and many others turned out to celebrate the publication of “Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style.”
The bimonthly magazine, a brother publication to the female-oriented “Harper’s Bazaar” Chinese edition, targets a readership of professional urban men.
 

Actress Li Bingbing attends the launch party of the “Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style” magazine in Beijing on Saturday, January 12, 2008.

Actor Hu Jun attends the launch party of the “Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style” magazine in Beijing on Saturday, January 12, 2008.

Actress Fan Bingbing attends the launch party of the “Harper’s Bazaar Men’s Style” magazine in Beijing on Saturday, January 12, 2008.

Source Code China book review

Source Code China book review

Cyrill Eltschinger is a natural entrepreneur. Impeccably dressed, suave and witty, at 7:30 PM on February 19th the Swiss businessman gave a talk about his new book at the Beijing Bookworm. His book: Source Code China, published in late 2007 by John Wiley and Sons, has been well received internationally. Eltschinger’s book is as timely as the man is charming.
Mr. Eltschinger arrived on the Chinese mainland in late 1994, working for a subsidiary of GM after being based in Singapore, the business hub of the Pacific Rim at that time. He recounted how his bosses ordered him to “Go to China and find out what is happening.”
“Things were a lot different than they are today,” Mr. Eltschinger reminisced. “No expat wanted a posting in the PRC. Business was done in my office via two overloaded fax machines.” He went on to explain that the Chinese understood the need for renovation but that many foreign businessmen felt great resistance to any sort of change.
“Global businessmen must adapt to the changing environment,” Mr. Eltschinger said. “China has adapted at record speed, going from a strong manufacturing base toward a high end services sector, yet some foreigners still regard China as a place for low skilled cheap labor. That¡¯s not true anymore and that¡¯s what my book addresses.”
Mr. Eltschinger wrote his book out of personal frustration: he wanted to advertise to the world what China has to offer from a software/high tech perspective. With the fast growing market, promoting outsourcing with a China destination is crucial, Eltschinger explained. The book has ten chapters and was written for laymen. It covers the high tech sector market, looking first at the global economy and then zooming on to Asia and focusing on China specifically. Three main sections comprise the book: first, a unique survey of selected cities compatible for outsourcing; second, case studies of various outsourcing services; and third, a resource section that lists key agencies, government ministries, and high tech parks, development areas.
According to Eltschinger, outsourcing is divided into business processing outsourcing, hiring outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing. Business processing and hiring are vast enterprises. Many factors contribute to their success: top sponsorship, treating people fairly, involving employees, good communication, sufficient training, among other things. Eltschinger asserts that the China market provides 90 percent of the factors needed for successful outsourcing. He said that China¡¯s image improved considerably after becoming a member of the WTO and witnessing unprecedented economic growth. .
In fact, he predicts that by 2010 China will become the largest marketplace in the world in many diverse areas: cell phones, IT products, advertising, car parks, commercial aviation, chemicals and waste & recycling industries. Mr. Eltschinger pointed out that historically companies outsourced their business in the 1970¡¯s to Australia, in the 1980¡¯s to Singapore, in the 19990¡¯s to Hong Kong and Japan, but now, in the 2000¡¯s, everyone is heading straight for Mainland China.

Specifically, in regard to outsourcing high tech IT, India has been the main destination for the last twenty-five years but things are evolving fast. “For outsourcing IT India is currently number one, China two, Brazil three and Russia four,” Mr. Eltschinger said, “but none of them have China¡¯s potential high tech talent. Everything in China is growing, plus the market is stable. Both India and China have a lot of people but only China has a booming market that also provides access to a world class IT infrastructure. By the end of 2007 China had 210 million Internet users; 77.6 percent were broadband users. This wired market is second only to the USA and consists of only 15 percent of the population. With government subsidies this number is expected to increase enormously very soon.” He added that China currently has 15.9 percent of the global Internet users and that Chinese as an Internet language is second to English, with Spanish, Japanese and German trailing afterward.
Mr. Eltschinger said that his book points out how China clearly is transitioning from cheap, low skilled factory labor force toward a high value, high skilled engineering force, especially regarding IT. “In 2007 it¡¯s estimated that China graduated more than 350,000 computer science students as opposed to only 29,000 in 1998,” he stated, explaining that the US and India figures have remained flat. “Beijing, Shanghai and Xi¡¯an are the three main training cities for computer science majors and China now has 53 high tech parks for industry and R&D, with 29 of them listed as world class facilities. India cannot compete with that.”
When asked why China is still not a highly popular destination for IT industries, Mr. Eltschinger explained that the country has some challenges to overcome. “International trade shows need to be improved,” he asserted, adding that many Chinese IT facilities also now have received international standards certifications to validate them globally.
“There are cultural issues, there is the RMB revaluation issue and there is the Indian head start of 25 years.” Mr. Eltschinger remarked with a smile that India is now following other global companies into the China market; “India is tagging along, tapping into the Chinese market, tapping into the better rates and larger industries and getting a closer foothold to Japan.”
Source Code China enthusiastically promotes China as an outsourcing paradise, with the largest pool of technical talent, ten years of stable, rising economic growth, a world class infrastructure network, English widely spoken, government subsidies for business, infrastructure and workers, and the lowest rates globally.
Cyrill Eltschinger wears many hats in addition to being a writer. He currently is the chief executive officer for IT United, a Softtek company that is affiliated with the internationally renowned IT industry, Gartner. He is also the chair in Beijing for the Swiss Chamber of Commerce, a member on the Board of Governors for the Capital Club, the founder of Texas A&M China Club, and a private pilot. He currently resides in Beijing.

Faithful to the original

Faithful to the original

Published in 2004, the novel about the lives of herdsmen on the Mongolian grassland in the 1960s has created a big stir. By last December, the book’s Chinese version had sold 2 million copies on the Chinese mainland, confirmed Zhao Meng of Changjiang Literature Art Press, who is in charge of the book’s domestic marketing.
Last November, Jiang Rong won the first Man Asian Literary Prize with the English version of Wolf Totem at the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, which aims to promote Asian works of literature.
Adrienne Clarkson, a former governor general of Canada, who was chairwoman of the panel of three judges for the Man Asian Literary Prize, said: “This masterly work is also a passionate argument about the complex interrelationship between nomads and settlers, animals and human beings, nature and culture.”

Penguin purchased the book’s global English copyright in 2005 from Changjiang with an advance of $100,000 and 10 percent royalties. “Wolf Totem is a wonderful book – very different from many other Chinese novels. Besides the unique narrative style, it interests me because of its strong flavor of Mongolian culture. And I believe other Western readers will also find it interesting to read,” the general manager of Penguin China Jo Lusby, who speaks and reads Chinese, was quoted as saying in an interview with Chinese media.
In translating Wolf Totem, Goldblatt has held to his usual high standards, including finding a student at Inner Mongolia University to check the Mongol spellings of the many transliterated Mongol words and phrases.
“The somewhat raw narration fits the austere setting and the violent circumstances of many of the situations,” says Goldblatt of the book in an e-mail interview with China Daily. “The relationship between the narrator and (tribal leader) Bilgee is extremely complex and volatile, and serves to highlight the clash of cultures.”
“Jiang Rong was generous with his responses to my inquiries, some textual, others contextual. (As for editorial decisions by the publisher) I cannot imagine any author who would be happy to have any of his work excised in translation.”

Wolf roars back in English

Wolf roars back in English

It is not unusual for a Chinese fiction to dominate the domestic market for several years. But can it also make a splash overseas? And what factors would contribute to this goal?

“Wolf Totem” is a legend Chinese novel that has topped the bestseller charts for four years since its publication. So far, about 2.4 million copies of the book have been sold and it has garnered increasing foreign media attention, including Time magazine, Guardian newspaper and AFP.

Recently, the book has been awarded the first Man Asian Literary Prize. This prompted international publisher Penguin Group to unveil the English version of “Wolf Totem” in Europe, Oceania and North and Latin America.




Veteran American translator Howard Goldblatt speaks at a promotional event for the English version of the popular Chinese novel “Wolf Totem” in Beijing on March 13, 2008. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]
Howard Glodblatt is the person who helped to make the English version possible. The American is regarded as one of the most experienced translator of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in the West. His translations include masterpieces of renowned Chinese writers like Ba Jin, Su Tong, Feng Jicai and Mo Yan.

Howard is a master of both English and Chinese and he humorously describes the request for him to translate the book as an arranged marriage in Asian countries. However, as he began to render the book into English, many subjects captured his attention. He recalled some in both Chinese and English.
“There are many. The whole idea of Tian’e Hu-the swan lake, and Xiaolang-the little wolf. And then the whole idea of life on the grassland-it is something I’ve never imagined in my whole life. We have that in the West, such as ranches and cows and all like that-but not like this, not with all the wolves out there, waiting to attack all the single day! It is fascinating.”

Howard reveals as a translator, he has to read between the lines and try to find the best English equivalent of some Chinese words or phrases. Sometimes he even has to make up an English word himself with additional explanations. That makes the translation more reader-friendly.

Complicated relationships between animals and humans, slowly developing narrative and simple and unrestrained lifestyle of nomads on the grassland are some major attractions of the book for the Chinese people. But to Howard, who is among the first English-speaking readers, author Jiang Rong’s academic background is equally interesting.
“Besides the content, the main difference in writing was that Jiang Rong is an academic, he is a scholar. He is a philosopher. He is not originally a novelist. So you could sense there is something other than what just the novelists can work. There is more non-literary aspect to his writing.”

Nicholas Jose is a judge of the Man Asian Literary Prize. He holds similar opinion about the book.
“It is a philosophical book, dealing with big questions of the environment and different ways to live. It is also a real book. It tells the story based on the author’s own life. And you can feel the reality. That is attractive.”

Nicholas says although there are many foreign-language publications on present-day China in international markets, “Wolf Totem” explores something different.
“I guess people would be very interested in this book and they will be surprised by it. What we know is something about young people in Beijing or Shanghai. But this book is completely different. It is about the old generation of Chinese. This reflects their experience back in 1960s and 1970s when they were young. So that is interesting.”

In accordance with the global launch of the English-language book this March, a series of activities will be held at both home and abroad, including an exhibition of grassland near Thames in London, a seminar on nomadic culture in Melbourne and an eco-friendly tour to Inner Mongolia where author Jiang Rong once lived.

Sci-Fi legend Arthur C. Clarke dies

Sci-Fi legend Arthur C. Clarke dies

Pioneering science fiction writer and visionary Arthur C. Clarke, best known for his work on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

He died of heart failure doctors linked to the post-polio syndrome that had kept him wheelchair-bound for years.

Pioneering science fiction writer and visionary Arthur C. Clarke, best known for his work on the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90.  (File Photo)

Marking his “90th orbit of the sun” in December, the prolific British-born author and theorist made three birthday wishes: For E.T. to call, for man to kick his oil habit and for peace in Sri Lanka.

Clarke was born in England on Dec. 16, 1917, and served as a radar specialist in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

He was one of the first to suggest the use of satellites orbiting the earth for communications, and in the 1940s forecast that man would reach the moon by the year 2000 — an idea experts at first dismissed as rubbish.

When Neil Armstrong landed in 1969, the United States said Clarke “provided the essential intellectual drive that led us to the moon.”

Clarke wrote more than 80 books and 500 short stories and articles, and wanted to be remembered foremost as a writer.

Trained as a scientist, he was renowned for basing his work on scientific fact and theory rather than pure fiction and for keeping humanity at the heart of his technological visions.

In 1964, he started to work with the film maker Stanley Kubrick on the script of a groundbreaking film which was to win audiences and accolades far wider than those of most previous science fiction — 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Based loosely on a short story he had written in 1948, it dealt poetically with themes of human evolution, technology and consciousness and came to be regarded by many as one of the greatest films ever made.

These Wonderful People of Xingjiang

These Wonderful People of Xingjiang

By Li Sha

On her third visit to Xinjiang in the summer of 2007, Lisa Carducci, a Canadian writer who has been living in Beijing for almost two decades, traveled the Uyghur autonomous Region “from the most northern point, which is the Friendship Peak on the Sino-Russian border, to the most western, on the Sino-Kirgiz border, and went to the most eastern and most southern cities, Hami and Hotan.”

She interviewed more than 20 people representing the varied aspects of Xinjiang where 55 of the 56 Chinese ethnic groups are present (the Jino missing). In her 276 pages These Wonderful People of Xinjiang, printed on high quality paper, and copiously illustrated, the readers will come to meet Yilari Chunguang, an ethnic Xibe bows and arrows maker, the melon expert Wu Mingzhu, the Uyghur 6th generation embroider Ajiahan Sahmet, the “Russian Old Lady”Jina who brews kvas, the Kazak gynecologist Jiang’er Rehati, the Uyghur Imam Abdurakip Damullah, the Mongolian artist Lindai, and so on.

Lisa will introduce her “Kirkiz Family”, and tell stories on how she was constantly mistook for a Uyghur.

The style is light and the tone familiar, making the reading a good choice for non-native English speakers also. Lisa has her own way of interviewing people ¨C a writer’s vision. Interviewees are amazed by the aspects she considers, different from those of Chinese journalists and TV reporters, and making this book unique.

Xinjiang is rich with ethnic traditions, fruits, ways of cooking mutton meat, breathtaking landscapes, types of arts and crafts, and so many other rich practices that the author shares with the readers.
Lisa Carducci’s peculiar vision of the Chinese reality leaves unforgettable impressions. Readers will mentally be transported to Xinjiang and those who will decide to go and see with their own eyes will be well prepared by this reading full of detailed information about customs, religion, culture, music, education, daily life, work, art, etc.

“Xinjiang is a region of extremes in China,”Lisa Carducci wrote in her conclusion, “the country’s lowest depression, the warmest place, the most distant point from the ocean, and the region bordering the greatest number of countries. Xinjiang wonders are too numerous to be all mentioned but one must start somewhere, and These Wonderful People of Xinjiang puts the reader on the right way.

A French edition titled Ces gens merveilleux du Xinjiang, is also available.

Rowling: Potter reference book is theft

Rowling: Potter reference book is theft

Author J.K. Rowling exits Manhattan federal court, Monday, April 14, 2008, in New York after testifying on the first day of her trial against a publishing company. [Agencies]
J.K. Rowling says the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children, too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write.
“I really don’t want to cry because I’m British, you know,” the mother of three told a judge Monday in U.S. District Court as she described how much her characters and seven books mean to her. “You know, these books, they saved me, not just in the very obvious material sense, although they did do that. … I would have to say that there was a time when they saved my sanity.”
Last year, Rowling sued Michigan-based RDR Books to stop publication of Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon,” claiming copyright infringement. Vander Ark runs the popular Harry Potter Lexicon Web site, and RDR wants to publish a print version of the site and charge $24.95.
RDR publisher Roger Rapoport, who testified in the case Monday, was to return to the witness stand Tuesday.
Rowling claims the lexicon is nothing more than a rearrangement of her material, and she told the judge it copied so much of her work that it amounted to plagiarism. She said she was “extremely shocked” because Vander Ark had said on his site he would not publish a book.
“I did feel a degree of betrayal,” said Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband and children. “I believe that it is sloppy, lazy and that it takes my work wholesale, verbatim. This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work.”