The Analects, the classic of Confucian thought, is being made into a movie that will be distributed on the Internet, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
Shooting for the film, which will also depict scenes from life of ancient philosopher Confucius, will begin this month on a shoestring budget of US$37,000.
"I intend to express the thesis that a person must be righteous and the fact that whoever opposed Confucius didn't have a good end," said Yu Wenyi, the movie's screenwriter and director.
Internet users will be able to access the on-line version of the movie in return for a fee, and if successful, another version for movie theaters will be released later, the agency said.
The Analects would not appear to be ideally suited for a screen version, as it is almost exclusively made up of brief dialogues centering on themes such as filial obedience and the value of learning.
Confucius, who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, has recently been rehabilitated by the Chinese authorities who organized the biggest celebrations of his birth anniversary since the 1949 revolution.
Some see it as part of a campaign orchestrated by the government to boost nationalist feelings by instilling a sense of pride in the country's ancient culture.
Arnie plays the hero
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law on Friday tripling damages celebrities can win from paparazzi if they are assaulted during a shoot and denying the photographers profits from any pictures taken during an altercation. The new law comes as Los Angeles authorities try to crack down on aggressive photographers following a series of altercations involving actresses Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson, among others.
Kate Moss takes the cure
Police have raided a recording studio in London where disgraced supermodel Kate Moss is alleged to have snorted cocaine and they plan to interview the 31-year-old next month, a newspaper said on Saturday.
The British beauty is currently out of the country, reportedly receiving medical treatment and therapy at an exclusive clinic in the US.
The Daily Mirror, which sparked the recent outcry surrounding Moss by publishing pictures of her apparently taking cocaine, said Scotland Yard's serious crime squad had a warrant to search for class A drugs at the studio.
Officers spent four hours at the building and left with several bags, but refused to say whether they had found any narcotics, the tabloid reported.
A senior police officer was quoted as telling the Mirror: "We are determined to fully and vigorously
investigate these allegations ... We want to discover who the supplier of the drugs was and why Kate Moss had them in her possession ... We will be interviewing her as soon as possible. If she admits using the drugs she may face a police caution."
The Mirror said other people would also be questioned, including Moss' on-off boyfriend, the rebel singer Pete Doherty.
Robert Blake undermines himself
Actor Robert Blake, testifying for the first time in the 2001 shooting death of his wife, said on Thursday he had given different accounts about the night of her death because he was "human." "There are versions because I'm a human being," Blake told a wrongful death civil trial in Los Angeles. "I'm not a machine. I'm 72 years old. I'm dyslexic."
Truman Capote's papers found
RSS