Live in China long enough and you start to forget that the closest most non-Chinese will ever get to China’s uber-urban areas and striking natural landscapes is movies portraying a country, and a people, that to most foreigners, even those of us lucky enough to live here, is still pretty mystifying. Beijing hasn’t been memorialized in the movies the way Shanghai has, and even as movies about China spread internationally – one paradox is that many of the movies about China most acclaimed abroad are banned within the country, a situation which doesn’t do much for dialogue or creating grounds for mutual understanding – most of them are historic epics and/or martial arts flicks, or gritty indie films that reach only select film circuit audiences.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

The first batch of commercial cards for the Shanghai Expo was released on Jan. 27. The card will replace the need for cash with quick and easy electronic payments during the Expo, covering tourism, hotels, shopping and other consumption both inside the Expo site and around the city. A number of malls,

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites