Tourist sites in province free for foreigners, not for Chinese

October 10th, 2009 Harvard to digitize 51,000 rare Chinese booksBOSTON — One of the most extensive collections of rare Chinese books outside China will be freely available as Harvard University has agreed to digitize the titles. Representatives from the Harvard College Library and the National Library of China signed a deal Friday to digitize more than 51,000 volumes in the Harvard collection.

October 6th, 2009 LONDON - Hong Kong actor Edison Chen is returning to the entertainment industry for the first time since his involvement in a sex photo scandal. The 28-year-old landed in hot water last year when over 1,000 photos showing him having sex with several female stars found their way to the Internet, reports the Daily Express.

September 16th, 2009 SYDNEY - Hackers are using Patrick Swayze's death to push off spurious anti-virus software to Internet users and infect their computers with viruses. The 57-year-old Swayze died of pancreatic cancer on Monday.

August 21st, 2009 'Avatar' trailer debuts online to mixed responseLOS ANGELES — Social networking sites are abuzz over an online trailer for "Avatar," a day before more than 15 minutes of James Cameron's anticipated 3D sci-fi adventure was to screen in theaters. Fan response to the two-minute version was mixed Thursday on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

August 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Chinese man has been arrested and charged with raping a 91-year-old woman in Huizhou, Guangdong province. Wen, 44, a security guard at a private firm, allegedly barged into the old woman's house at 2 am and raped her, reports the China Daily.

August 8th, 2009 Exiled Uighur activist say she is 'woman of peace'MELBOURNE, Australia —An exiled Uighur activist whom Beijing blames for recent deadly riots in China said Saturday that she is a "woman of peace," as she attended an Australian film festival for the screening of a documentary about her life. Rebiya Kadeer, a U.S.-based activist who has denied instigating last month's ethnic violence in western Xinjiang province, was escorted into the sold-out screening of "10 Conditions of Love" at the Melbourne International Film Festival through a back entrance as a small group of protesters demonstrated nearby.

August 7th, 2009 Uighur activist calls for probe on unrest in ChinaMELBOURNE, Australia — A Uighur activist called Friday for a U.N. investigation of recent violence in western China, as 100 people demonstrated outside the Chinese consulate in Melbourne.

July 30th, 2009 3rd Chinese film pulled from Melbourne festivalHONG KONG — A third Chinese director has pulled his movie from an Australian film festival after two other filmmakers backed out to protest the planned appearance of the exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for inciting recent ethnic violence. Rebiya Kadeer's scheduled visit to the Melbourne International Film Festival on Aug.

July 21st, 2009 Bruce Lee's siblings authorize Chinese biopicsHONG KONG — Bruce Lee's older sister and younger brother have authorized a Chinese company to make a series of biographical films about the late kung fu icon, saying they want to produce a historically accurate account of their brother's life. Phoebe Lee and Robert Lee appeared at a signing ceremony with J.A.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Neighbours of Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch are opposing plans to turn the King of Pop's former home into a tourist attraction. The residents in the rural Santa Ynez Valley area of Santa Barbara, California, have formed a group called Never! in a bid to prevent the property from being turned into a noisy, crowded commercial venture.

July 18th, 2009 BEIJING - Chinese film producers are struggling to make ends meet even though the country's movie industry earns good profits, say officials. Hollywood blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen collected 400 million yuan ($58.4 million) in China after the movie was released worldwide June 24, breaking the record set by Titanic ten years ago in the country.

July 6th, 2009 LONDON - Michael Jackson's rented Los Angeles mansion, where he suffered his fatal heart attack, may soon be put on a tour map. French fashion mogul Christian Audigier, a friend of the late singer, is said to be planning to buy the property and open it as a memorial.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two Chinese writers worked continuously for 48 hours to produce an "instant biography" of late King of Pop Michael Jackson. The 130,000-word book, titled 'Moonwalk in Paradise', has been written by Jiang Xiaoyu and Xing Han, and published by Chinese publishing house Xiandai.

June 5th, 2009 Yao Ming voices role in Chinese animated filmBEIJING — Having appeared in a documentary and played himself on the Simpsons, Houston Rockets star Yao Ming finally gets to voice a whole different character for an upcoming Chinese-language animated film. Yao plays the father of the main character in "The Magic Aster," a traditional tale of good versus evil that promises to be more earnest than the famously irreverent Simpsons.

May 29th, 2009 LONDON - Incarcerated Jack Tweed will be celebrating his release with a Chinese meal at his favourite floating Chinese restaurant, it has emerged. The 21-year-old former model has been serving 12 weeks for assault on a taxi driver at Edmunds Hill prison and will be freed today.