An indolent, 11-year-old boy, the laughingstock of his school, goes fishing and discovers a magic gourd that will grant him any wish. He quickly becomes class hero and the star of the school swim team. Life is perfect until he begins to question the morality and fairness of using the gourd. In the end, he must decide whether to continue relying on supernatural powers to succeed, or work hard and earn his own rewards. The outcome of the swimming final hangs on his decision.
Another all-American Disney cartoon? Not exactly. The boy's name is Wang Bao (王葆) and the story was written by Chinese satirist Zhang Tianyi (張天翼) in the 1940s, after the Communist regime designated him a children's writer. Disney co-produced the movie with BVI, the China Film Group Corporation, and Hong Kong's Centro Digital Pictures, making it the first-ever Disney movie made outside the US.
The credits include directors John Zhu (朱家欣) and Frankie Chung (鍾智行), and actors Zhu Qilong (朱祺隆) starring as Wang Bao (王葆) and Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) as Teacher Liu (劉老師).
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE
Nearly two years after the opening of Disney Hong Kong, the franchise is again embracing the Chinese market with a movie that is a Chinese story, shot in Mandarin, with Chinese directors, cast and crew, and which, above all, is intended for a Chinese audience.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURE
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
Enter the Dragon 13 will bring Taiwan’s first taste of Dirty Boxing Sunday at Taipei Gymnasium, one highlight of a mixed-rules card blending new formats with traditional MMA. The undercard starts at 10:30am, with the main card beginning at 4pm. Tickets are NT$1,200. Dirty Boxing is a US-born ruleset popularized by fighters Mike Perry and Jon Jones as an alternative to boxing. The format has gained traction overseas, with its inaugural championship streamed free to millions on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Taiwan’s version allows punches and elbows with clinch striking, but bans kicks, knees and takedowns. The rules are stricter than the
“Far from being a rock or island … it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is ‘sponge.’ We’re permeable,” write Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie in their book Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. While the permeability of our cells is key to being alive, it also means we absorb more potentially harmful substances than we realize. Studies have found a number of chemical residues in human breast milk, urine and water systems. Many of them are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. “They can mimic, block
Pratas Island, or Dongsha (東沙群島) had lain off the southern coast of China for thousands of years with no one claiming it until 1908, when a Japanese merchant set up a facility there to harvest guano. The Americans, then overlords of the Philippines, disturbed to learn of Japanese expansion so close to their colony, alerted the Manchu (Qing) government. That same year the British government asked the Manchus who owned the island, which prompted the Manchu government to make a claim, according to South China Sea expert Bill Hayton. In 1909 the government of Guangdong finally got around to sending
RSS