Chinese audiences chew on China-flavored Bond movie

At the sight of neon-lit skyscrapers in Shanghai and redlanterns inked with Chinese characters in Macao, Ma Ning feels these Chineseelements in the new James Bond film "Skyfall" have "brought her closer than ever" tothe series she has loved since childhood.

"The movie could have been set in any other country, but I am glad the director choseChina. It made me feel close to Bond," said the 20-year-old college girl.

"Skyfall" hit cinemas in the Chinese mainland on Jan. 21. This Hollywood blockbuster,the first in its series to be cooked with some real China flavor, has won cheer frommovie-goers.

"It is a rare thing for an international action movie to depict China in a fashionable way,"a 27-year-old media worker surnamed Huang said. "'Skyfall' shows a magnificent sideof Shanghai that even the natives may never have seen."

Wu Qi from east China's Shandong Province considered "Skyfall" "largely an under-performance in comparison with the previous Bond movies." But the 25-year-oldarchitect added that the exquisite presentation of Chinese cities seems to be a majorselling point to cinema-goers here.

The movie earned 32.03 million yuan (5.15 million U.S. dollars) on its day of release onthe Chinese mainland, setting a box office record for 2D Hollywood films that hit thescreen on a Monday, according to a report by 21CN.com, a Chinese web portal.

In recent years, incorporating Chinese elements to tap into the world's second-largestfilm market has been a favorite strategy for many moviemakers, said Chen Shan, aprofessor with the Beijing Film Academy, citing the exemplary combination in "Kung FuPanda" of two of China's best-known icons -- martial arts and pandas.

In order to add more exotic flavor for Western viewers and catch Chinese audiences'eyes as well, Chinese faces and locales have been selected to appear in more andmore Hollywood movies, added Chen Chuanlu, a moviemaker in Beijing.

Statistics show that the Chinese market has been growing increasingly important for theworld's filmmakers, with an average increase of 35 percent year-on-year in thecountry's box office earnings.

Chinese characters in Hollywood movies began to break the stereotype of beingtreacherous, backward and superstitious from early this century thanks to the growingimportance of the domestic market and increasing understanding about the nation inthe Western world, according to Chen.

"As already evidenced in 'Looper' and 'Skyfall,' a multifaceted and modern China, whichmeans more than kung fu and pandas, is making its way to the big screen," the academic said.

But it doesn't mean the China card that foreign directors are beginning to play sofrequently has been well-received by all Chinese viewers.

"The shots of Shanghai's night views didn't appeal to me at all. They didn't make it lookany different from any other metropolis," said 25-year-old Wu Liyasi, who works in Beijing.

"It feels somewhat weird to see Bond in a Chinese setting," a microblogger using thename "Ningningyuanyuan" noted on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Chinese images conjured by the West are still far from multi-faceted,said professorChen, suggesting that foreign directors and screenwriters need to constantly updatetheir knowledge of China and its people as they continue playing the China card.

Jolin Tsai attends Remy Martin Centaur Dance competition as judge

Singer Jolin Tsai attends the Remy Martin Centaur Dance competition as a judge in Singapore on January 18, 2013. The final round of the Remy Martin Centaur Dance competition was held in the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention hall of Singapore on Friday.  (Source: Xinhua)

Carmen Soo - Malaysia Model & Actress

Carmen Soo Wai Mun (simplified Chinese: 苏慧敏; traditional Chinese: 蘇慧敏; pinyin: Su Huimin) is a Malaysian Chinese model and actress. Born and raised in Malaysia of Chinese descent, she currently resides in Petaling Jaya, Selangor with her family. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Management and can speak fluent Malay, Mandarin and English while also learning Tagalog to help her television acting career in the Philippines. She was part owner of a boutique named 'Kushi' located in Bangsar.