Fri 25 Jul 2008
BBC has released its title video for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics broadcasting campaign. The video, created by Blur and Gorillaz members Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, is based on the Chinese classic literature Journey to the West. The pair’s opera Monkey: Journey to the West was premiered in last year’s Manchester International Festival, and is now at Royal Opera House.
Fri 25 Jul 2008
First performed in the UK at the inaugural Manchester International Festival in 2007, following sold-out runs, Monkey: Journey to the West is a new opera for the 21st century directed by the world renowned Chen Shi-Zheng with music composed by Gorillaz award-winning mastermind Damon Albarn and design and animation by Jamie Hewlett based on the ancient Chinese legend of spiritual enlightenment.
This reworked version is a dazzling spectacle involving nearly 40 circus acrobats, martial artists and singers from China with an orchestra of Western and traditional Chinese instruments. Performed in Mandarin with English surtitles, Monkey is a thrilling experience, an unforgettable sensual and spiritual journey.
Monkey Journey to the West
Damon Albarn
Main Auditorium
Roayl Opera House
July 23, 2008 to July 26, 2008
Running time: 1 Hour 50 Minutes | No Interval
Performed in Mandarin with English surtitles
Ticket from Royal Opera House
Tue 22 Jul 2008
M.T.W. in association with TARA, presents China Voices, a double bill of exciting new plays, directed by British Chinese director Jonathan Man. As part of CHINA NOW, the UK ’s largest ever festival of Chinese culture, China Voices is playing at Tara Studio in Earlsfield, South London, at 7:30pm, Friday 25 & Saturday 26 July 2008.
Wolf in the House by Simon Wu is a psychological drama set on a stormy night in Hong Kong. A university professor on the Star ferry invites a young man from mainland China back to his smart flat. But this is the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, and as we get to know the two men all is not what it seems.
Sun 20 Jul 2008
The Home Office has published the draft of the new Immigration and Citizenship Bill, an overhaul of all immigration laws. In the new bill, which is open for public consultation, current forms of purpose-based visa and duration-based bisa will be replaced two types of immigration permission - temporary and permanent permissions. A qualifying period will be required for those wish to become British citizens, the length of which will be longer than currently required but also vary depending on whether the applicant is actively involved in the community and abiding the laws. The English requirement and knowledge of British life have already been highlighted in recent legislations. The Bill is expected to be passed through the Parliament next year and take effect from 2011.
Read the Home Offce statement on the new bill
Download the draft bill and consultation papers
Wed 2 Jul 2008
Owen Gibson reports on the Guardian:
The BBC has recruited the unlikely pairing of Huw Edwards and Damon Albarn to help meet the “unique challenge” of covering this summer’s Beijing Olympics as it attempts to walk an editorial tightrope between news and sport.
As it geared up for the logistics of transmitting live round-the-clock coverage for 17 days from August 8, the BBC said the decision to send Edwards, the anchor of the 10 o’clock news, reflected the importance of the games as a political and cultural event.
Adrian Chiles is to host the breakfast slot, and Gabby Logan will front the prime-time highlights. “There are always going to be news stories from a games, but there will be more than normal [here],” said Logan.
Wed 2 Jul 2008
The Guardian reports:
Forget Andy Murray, who was watched by a mere 10.5 million viewers on BBC on Monday night. The remarkable Jie Zheng was watched by an estimated television audience of over 100 million in China yesterday as she became the first woman from that vast country to reach the last four at Wimbledon. The audience in Shanghai alone was 14 million.
Zheng, ranked 133 in the world having been No786 at the turn of the century, also became the first wild-card entry to reach the semi-finals here as she beat Nicole Vaidisova, the 18th seed, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
The most heart-warming piece in this story is that Zheng, who turns 25 on Saturday, will not pocket one penny of the £187,500 in prize money she is guaranteed so far. She will donate her winnings to the fund set up following the earthquake in the Sichuan Province in south-west China in May which killed 60,000 people and left five million homeless.
“I would like to give all the money,” she said, “but some will go to the tennis association. Apart from this I will do some charity work when I get back after Wimbledon.”
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