More bad news from the Hong Kong box office

Chinese Films reports that the Hong Kong Christmas weekend (12/24 through 12/27) was down 20% compared with last year's holiday take. Even worse (but not surprising) news is that the top four grossing films were Hollywood products.

Adding insult to injury "Chip-wrecked", the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie that shouldn't have sold any tickets anywhere, did better than "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate". Both were released on December 22.

Faye Wong top female vocalist draw?

Yahoo China ran some numbers and concluded that the to earning female vocalist for 2011 was Faye Wong not Lady Gaga as reported by Forbes, where American and British singers are the only ones who count.

Zhang Jingchu in Paris

Zhang Jingchu brought her dimples to a photoshoot in Paris. The Photoshop operator filled them in by riding the Gaussian blur until her skin looked like molded plastic. Just about impossible to cover up her striking beauty, though.

Sina

Tis the season to be gorgeous: Shu Qi in "Harper's Bazaar"

Harper's knocks one out of the park with a cover and pictorial of Shu Qi to start off the year.

From Xinhua. For some reason the editors as Xinhua decided to include a few pictures clearly done by ChenMan and marked with Sina's logo.

Brilliant NMA Video of Christmas at a Chinese assembly plant

Through the always worth reading Roast Pork Sliced From A Rusty Cleaver, NMA brings us Christmas at a plant that might be Foxconn. The darkest and bleakest dark humor. Kind of tacky that the embedded video isn't quite embedded.

Karen Mok repeats wedding in Hong Kong

Tired of celebrity weddings? Got room for just one more? If so, here is the latest: Karen Mok and her new husband Johannes (no last name) invited a few hundred friends and relatives to watch them exchange vows again, this time in Hong Kong.
The more or less newlyweds. Quite a dress, lots of silver ornamentation--looks heavy.

Daniel Wu was there

As was Eason Chan

Ifeng also had lots of pictures of celebrities arriving or leaving in their cars which I won't bother reproducing here.

Zhou Wei in January "Elle"

Vicki Zhao Wei, looking great if a bit over-Photoshopped, on the cover and in an editorial in next month's Chinese "Elle".

Sina

Michelle Yeoh meets with grinning idiot in Speaker's Chamber

In furtherance of her support for freedom and democracy in Burma as well as generating buzz for her biopic of Aung San Suu Ky, "The Lady", Michelle Yeoh, accompanied by Anna Roberts, executive director of the Burma Campaign UK, met with John Bercow the Speaker of the House of Commons. Bercow has made the news recently for overspending on his official portrait and coat of arms. In pictures from the event it looks as if Bercow's head was not very skillfully photoshopped onto his shoulders with the same vacuous expression in each of them.

Zimbio; The Telegraph

Tang Wei in fight rehearsals for "Speed Angels"

Tang Wei was put through her paces in "Speed Angels". Jingle Ma, the film's director and not the most unbiased commentator, said that the audience will see her beautiful, agile skill while Tang Wei herself said that she tried hard and had a feeling of accomplishment in her first fight scenes.

More images at Yahoo China

Vivian Hsu with giant orange cat

Preparing to record voice tracks for Dreamworks "Puss and Boots", Vivian Hsu prepped by dancing with the title character.

She reported that she took the job because her nephew thought it would be great to have Aunt Vivi in a cartoon.
xinhua

PRC to tighten rules on film content while leaving standards undefined

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) of the People's Republic has promulgated a set of 13 categories that filmmakers are banned from promoting--or, one imagines, even mentioning in a way that might embarrass someone somewhere. According to an article in Sina the categories include (which may mean that they are not limited to just these):

incitement to resist or undermine the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations; to promote religious fanaticism, religious harmony harm, hurt the religious feelings of religious citizens, undermine religious citizens and non-religious civic solidarity; publicity drug, rendering terror; teach crime method; against the legitimate rights and interests of minors or harm minors, physical and mental health.

Retranslating from Google, the SARFT regulations prohibit anything that even hints at politics, criticism of the military or civil authorities and anything else the PRC culture vultures feel might cause problems. While this seems to have been the case already the new rules may show the level of concern of the CPC leadership regarding the spread of subversive ideas through social media and their willingness to crack down on all forms of expression that might be threatening. According to the Associated Press the new rules also ban anyone from carrying explosives or radioactive material into cinemas. Surprising that wasn't already prohibited.

Some coverage in Chinese and English: Sina; CBS News; Salon; AP

It's retro time for Chinese starlets

TV actress Wang Xiaochen is channeling Audrey Hepburn although the black leather bustier she is wearing in these pics from Sina isn't very Hepburnish.

Liu Yang goes with a more generic retro look.

Sina, Sina

Sun Fei-Fei's clothing ripped off onstage; the show goes on

"Esquire" magazine had its annual bash in Beijing at Tsinghua University. Sun Fei-Fei suffered from a living nightmare as her dress was stepped on as she was walking on stage. The stepper, identified only as "the host" (as far as I could tell) looked a bit too maliciously gleeful in some of the pictures from the event. As you can imagine they are everywhere in the Chinese entertainment press.
It looks as if she decided to keep standing on Sun Fei-Fei's dress until it fell off.

The final result.

The way she looked before the mishap.

Her assistant earned an entire year's salary, moving quickly with a blanket--and having one close at hand or knowing where one gets a blanket backstage at a big event.

Award shows stop for no one, though. The parade of singers, TV and movie stars and the occasional accused fraudster continued. Dresses stayed on; the only really odd thing was that it looked as if everyone decided to wear the same nude platform pumps, no matter if they matched their outfit which they generally did not.
Gorgeous Zhang Jing Chu in a purple beaded velvet number with, oddly enough, a matching watchband.

TV actress Sung Ning in an outfit possibly inspired by this fall's big success, the Stella McCartney hourglass (or illusion) dress.

Liv Tyler in the real thing.

Huo Siyan is a knockout in a backless dress and long strings of pearls.

Singer Coco Lee in a lot of sequins.

Zhang Mi and her daughter (whoever she is) in a look somewhere between Cleopatra and the Kardashians.

Gallen Lo and his wife Sophie Su Yan go for a controlled wardrobe malfunction but couldn't compete with the real thing.

Ifeng has lots of pictures; Yahoo China has two articles, one of Sun Fei-Fei and one covering everyone else. Also CRI, Xinhau and lots more.

Zhou Xun still from "The Great Magician"

The headline says it all; more images including a few with Lau Ching-Wan with an odd mustache at Yahoo China