Das Kapital: The Musical

Just when you thought Broadway couldn't be beat for bad taste, the Chinese show up the Americans once again. The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre intends to premiere Das Kapital: The Musical next year. The director, He Nian (best known for his martial-arts stage spoofs) promises to combine Broadway musicals and Las Vegas spectacle with his sing-song, dance marathon adaptation. Zhang Jun, an economics professor at Shanghai's Fudan University, has been enlisted to make sure the production is intellectually rigorous. Read more here.

China's Broadway

Now that Broadway has closed (9 shows concluded runs on Sunday), who better to take up the baton but China? As reported in Variety, Beijing is constructing a 32-theater complex to the tune of $686 million, which will feature Western musicals and other shows year-round. Being built by Beijing Shibo Real Estate in the city’s Haidian district, the biggest theater will seat 2000 people, while the others will accommodate between 300 to 500 audience members. With the success of such recent imports as The Lion King and Hairspray, the complex expects to produce more than 100 shows a year.

China Invests in Cultural Centers

China will invest 800 million yuan (USD $117 million) this year improving cultural facilities in rural areas where some 800 million people live. In addition to 200 million yuan allocated earlier this year, the investment, announced last week, will mainly be used to build cultural centers while improving old ones in small towns and villages, according to the Ministry of Culture.

China has constructed about 36,800 such centers since 2006. More than 20,000 centers will be built before 2010, mainly in less developed central and western areas, said Zhang Xiaoping, director of the ministry's division for mass culture affairs. Total investment could reach 4 billion yuan by 2010 according to the government's plan, he said, adding that last year saw 100 million yuan spent to start the project.

With cultural centers next to their homes, villagers do not need to travel far to find a library, a cinema or a museum. They can enjoy folk performances and fine arts created by fellow villagers, or set up a handicraft workshop. They can also enjoy movies or read books via computers as many rural centers will be linked with a network called the National Cultural Information Sharing Project, Zhang said. He said the plan was to give rural people better access to cultural facilities to improve their quality of life.

More Artists than Athletes at Olympics

Once every four years, the world’s athletes come together to compete in the global Olympics. As much media coverage is reserved for ‘the Games’, one piece of information is often neglected. This year, in Beijing, there will be two artists performing or showing work for every one athlete competing. According to the Chinese Ministry of Culture, the country has invited some 20,000 artists from more than 80 countries to put on 300 shows as part of the international spectacle. Performing arts highlights are the "Divas in Beijing" performance at the sleek new $438 million National Center for the Performing Arts, featuring renowned sopranos Renee Fleming, Sumi Jo, and Angela Gheorghiu; a performance by the Royal Danish Ballet, and a collaboration between the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and a Beijing children's choir. "The Games is the perfect opportunity to showcase China's rich history and culture," said Lu Bin, a director at the Beijing's cultural bureau. "Having overseas artists perform in China represents our integration with the global community."

The Rise of Mandarin

Here's the link to an article from the AP about the rise of people learning Mandarin, as it quickly becomes the international language of the 21st century. I found this interesting because, on a recent trip to my hometown in New Jersey, I read in the local paper that my old middle and high school will introduce Mandarin into the curriculum next year. Below is a snippet of the text.

"China, having traded socialism for capitalism, is emerging as an economic power, perhaps the only one that could rival U.S. dominance in the 21st century. For a new generation of students, business people and even artists, the land of opportunity now lies to the East, not the West.

Drawn to its promise, many are seeking ways to navigate the often rough-and-tumble Wild West atmosphere of working in China. The clearest barometer of this trend is a booming appetite for learning Chinese.

Worldwide, about 40 million people are learning Mandarin, China's official spoken language and its most common dialect. Nearly 100,000 foreigners went to China to study Mandarin in 2006, more than twice the number five years earlier."