Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi - Torch Bearer in Sanya,China

Torch bearer Jackie Chan, Hong Kong's action star, carries the Olympic Torch during the Olympic Torch Relay on May 4, 2008 in Sanya of Hainan province, China. The Beijing Olympic torch started its first mainland relay Sunday.Jackie Chan, who starred lately in the Hollywood movie "The Forbidden Kingdom" was very proud and excited. He said that as the ambassador of the Beijing Olympics, he will dedicate his time in the second half of the year to the games if needed.
Zhang Ziyi, Chinese international star, is another torch bearer in the Sanya, China. She was seen holding the Olympic torch with her huge diamond ring, reportedly an engagement ring by her American beau.

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Andy Lau-First Celebrity Olympic Torch Bearer in Hong Kong

The Beijing Olympics Torch Relay kicks off in Hong Kong this morning at 10.30am HK time. Andy Lau is the first celebrity and 4th Olympic Torch bearer in Hong Kong. Singer Kelly Chen and Leo Ku are the 7th and 8th torch bearer respectively. Another Hong Kong singer, Miriam Yeung will fly to Macau as one of the torch bearer for the next leg of the Olympics torch relay.

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Jackie Chan to fight Russian Champion Boxer in Beijing Olympics

Jackie Chan, international Chinese kung fu star, has agreed to an exhibition fight in Beijing Olympics with Russian boxer Kostya Tszyu, a Russian media reported yesterday.

"Jackie Chan gave his approval, saying he liked the idea", the organiser, Tatyana Trubnikova said. "But we need to receive permission from the Chinese Olympic Committee, as Chan is China's official face for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing."

She said that if permission is given, the bout will take place on 22 or 23 August in Russia House, the official accommodation for the Russian delegates during the Beijing Olympic Games (August 8-24).

The bout between Jackie Chan, 54-year-old Hollywood star, and the 38-year-old Australia-based Russian boxer, an undisputed junior welterweight world champion, will be held as part of festivities for Olympic boxing.

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Angry Chinese burn French flag outside Carrefour

Dozens of young Chinese, angry at disruption of the Olympic torch relay in Paris, protested outside a Carrefour branch in east China on Friday, setting fire to a French flag, waving banners and shouting slogans.

There have been small protests at the French retail giant's stores in several Chinese cities, including Beijing, in the past week, but the latest outburst in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao came after state media moved to cool down the nationalistic fervor.

Chinese Internet users are calling on consumers to boycott Carrefour, which they accuse of supporting pro-Tibetan independence groups seeking to disrupt this year's Beijing Olympics.

The journey of the Olympic torch around the world has been dogged by protests, largely over Chinese rule in Tibet, where a wave of anti-government unrest erupted in March. In Paris, numerous protests and attempts by activists to snatch the torch prompted Chinese security officials to extinguish the torch several times and put in on a bus.

Local media photos showed the protesters holding up banners that read "Boycott France, Support the Olympics" and "Oppose Tibet independence, Love the motherland". They waved red Chinese flags and shouted slogans, attracting a big crowd of onlookers. A photo showed a man burning a French flag.

France has tried to play down calls for a boycott of French goods, saying they were being made by a "very small minority" and Carrefour, which has more than 100 hypermarkets in China, has restated its support for Beijing's hosting of the Olympics.

Some Chinese newspapers have also run commentaries against the boycott, saying in the era of globalization it would only hurt Chinese employees and suppliers.

Still, an opinion poll in 10 Chinese cities found 66 percent of respondents supported the Carrefour boycott, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Only 7 percent said outright that they would not. (News from Reuters)

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Nicholas Tse, Joey Yung in Beijing Olympics 100 Days CountDown

Yesterday, celebrities like Nicholas Tse, Joey Yeung, Lin Chiling attended Beijing 100 days Countdown to the Olympics. They are among the 100 celebrities and stars from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, like Jackie Chan, Ekin Chou, Jolin Tsai, Wang Li Hom, Stephanie Sun, JJ Lin who sang the Countdown song titled "Beijing Welcomes You".

Nicholas Tse said he might attend the Beijing Olympics with his wife, Cecilia Cheung if time permits. And he was heard teasing Joey Yeung when she told the press that the Olympics event that she most looked forward is diving,"You like to watch topless guys, don't you?".
Taiwanese celebrity, Lin Chiling (see pic below) said she was excited to sing for the Beijing Olympics.
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China and Netizens Demand Apology from CNN

China rejected on Thursday CNN's response to its demand for an apology over remarks made by commentator Jack Cafferty after the Foreign Ministry summoned the network's bureau chief in Beijing the night before.

During the broadcast of CNN's "The Situation Room" on April 9, when asked to comment on the U.S. relationship with China as the Olympic torch relay was underway in San Francisco, CNN news commentator Jack Cafferty said: "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been in the past 50 years."

He also said that the United States continues to import Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food..."

In the wake of the March 14, Lhasa riots, CNN posted a picture on its website showing people running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, also shows mobsters throwing stones at the truck. The latter had been cropped out of the photo by CNN. (See first pic below)

Chinese Americans and Chinese have since launched an online campaign, demanding an apology from CNN and its "The Situation Room" program for insulting the Chinese. "We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hateful remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator JackCafferty," said a petition which has gathered 69,355 signatures since being posted online.

Biased coverage of the Lhasa riots and the Olympic torch relay by the U.S.-based Cable News Network (CNN) has also given rise to a whole new usage of the network's name - "Don't be too CNN".

CNN said Wednesday that commentator Jack Cafferty was referring to China's leaders—not the Chinese people—when he described them as a "bunch of goons and thugs," and apologized to anyone who thought otherwise.

However, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao rejected the apology and demanded CNN and Cafferty retract the remarks and "sincerely apologize to the entire Chinese people," according to a statement on the ministry's Web site. CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz said he met with Liu Wednesday night but gave no details.

Jack Cafferty, who was born in 1942, had joined CNN's "The Situation Room" program in the summer of 2005. According to a New York Times report, Cafferty was convicted of reckless driving, assault and harassment in 2003 for hitting a bicyclist in New York with his Cadillac and leaving the scene. He was then fined US$250 and sentenced to 70 hours of community service.

Cafferty's remarks have been uploaded on YouTube and the click rate is approaching 27,000.

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Chinese bloggers call for boycott of French goods

Chinese internet blogs and chat-rooms are full of calls for a boycott of French goods and contracts since the raucous protests which forced the Olympic torch off the streets of Paris last Monday.

French businessmen in China say that they are worried by apparently spontaneous signs of anti-French feeling but say that there is no sign, so far, of any official willingness to "punish" Paris.

Some of the incidents in the French capital – especially an attempt by a demonstrator to seize the flame from a Chinese woman in a wheelchair – have been shown repeatedly on Chinese TV.(See pic below)

"France didn't protect the sacred flame," protested the Global Times, a tabloid newspaper. "The world has seen the irrational extremism of some in the West, and also seen the incompetence of the Paris police."

Chatrooms on the internet have been choked with appeals to boycott French luxury goods, such as cognac, wine and perfumes, whose sales are booming in China. There have also been calls for a scrapping of multi-billion euro contracts recently signed during a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

French businessmen in Beijing told Le Monde that there was no sign the online protests would be followed up officially.

Previous popular appeals for the boycott of goods of nations who have offended popular nationalist feeling in China – including Japan and South Korea – have had little impact, the businessmen said.

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Olympic Torch Protests - Actions Politicised the Olympics Games

China's hopes of winning international prestige by sending the Olympic torch through 135 cities on five continents ahead of the August 8 opening of the Olympic Games had been damaged by bout of protests in her human rights record.

The early stages in London and Paris were overshadowed by demonstrations against Beijing's repression of protests in Tibet, and the third stage in San Francisco was also drastically curtailed and seen by relatively few people.

However, the most recent relays in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam passed off with little incident. The Olympic torch is expected to get a rare protest-free outing Monday in a parade through the capital of the Sultanate of Oman on the Middle Eastern leg of its journey to Beijing.

Many world leaders like British prime minister, Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN chief Ban Ki-moon and French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, would boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said a boycott of the opening ceremony, where every competing country marches into the main Olympic stadium behind their national flag, would perhaps hurt athletes but nobody else.

How could the Olympics, a beautiful game promoting friendship and sports around the world be use in such extent to propagate somebody's political agenda? China human rights record had been in doubts much before the coming Beijing Olympics, why did protests on Tibet only surface recently? Would China's human rights records be changed overnight or drastically just by protesting the passing of the Olympics torch?

Zhang Zi Yi embarrassed at the Olympic Lighting Ceremony

Zhang Zi Yi wrote in her blog yesterday that she was upset she was not included as one of the Olympic torchbearer after being shortlisted. The media also suspected that it got to do with an embrassing momemt at the recent Olympic Lighting Cermony held in Olympia, Greece.Apparently, she was invited by the Chinese official to witness the Olympic Lighting Cermony in Olympia, Greece on Monday, 24 March. However, she was only given a media pass instead of a VIP pass. The embrassment came when she was stopped by security officer while trying to enter the Hera Temple where only those with VIP pass could enter.
Though her co-worker tried to explain to the security officer that she is a "Superstar", Zhang Zi Yi was still refused outside the temple and had to follow the main crowd in witnessing the event.

The Beijing Olympic flame was ignited in a traditional sun-ray ceremony at 11:45 a.m. on Monday at the Hera Temple of Ancient Olympia, Greece(See pic below).
Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the role of a high priestess, kindles a pot with the Olympic flame during the Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony. (Pic above)
Whereas Taiwanese singer cum actor, Wang Li Hom (see pic above) was excited and elated that he is the 17th torchbearer in the Olympic Lighting Cermony.

Gillian Chung out of CCTV Beijing Olympics Show

After being identified as one of the women involved in Edison Chen's photo sex scandal, Gillian Chung's career had taken a big toll. Her group Twins is literally not invited to a high profile CCTV Beijing Olympics show in end April though many of her fellows singers and actors in Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) like Nicholas Tse, Joey Yeung and Yumiko are confirmed in the list of attendees.According to unofficial reports, Beijing CCTV had taken a strong stand against performers with any "unhealthy records or image" due to the incoming Beijing Olympics in August. CCTV had apparently blacklisted Edison Chen, Cecilia Cheung, Twins(Gillian Chung in particular) and even Tang Wei, lead female stars in Lee Ang's latest sex thriller movie Lust Caution.

Nevertheless, Twins's Manager, Huo Wen Xi, said that,"Gillian is on leave and her partner Ah Sa is filming a movie in Thailand now, so Twins could not attend the CCTV show.......Nicholas Tse will be appearing in the show...". The irony is that Nicholas Tse is also cast in the same movie as Ah Sa.