Ang Lee recruited for Beijing Olympics

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (李安) has been recruited to the roster of star arts consultants for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Lee joins a creative team that includes fellow directors Zhang Yimou (張藝謀), who is in charge of the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, and Steven Spielberg, also one of the consultants.

Lee was among a second batch of arts and culture consultants appointed this week, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games said on its Web site.

Also appointed were He Zhenliang (何振梁), president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and composer Wu Zuqiang (吳祖強).

Taiwan-born Lee received the best director Oscar this year for the gay romance Brokeback Mountain.

A Chinese state newspaper praised Lee as the "pride of Chinese people all over the world" after his Oscar, though censors rejected Brokeback Mountain for release in China.