Top 5 News From ChinaKnowledge.comGeely's vehicle sales up 57.8% in Jan-MayGoldman Sachs cuts shareholding in ICBC to 4%China's CPI down 1.4% in MayExxon Mobil, PetroChina, CNOOC in talks on HK gas supplyWhirlpool enters China's refrigerator marketJun. 11, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd<SNDA>, China's leading online gaming operator, plans to purchase a 51% stake in wireless value-added service company Hurray! Holding Co Ltd<HRAY> for US$46.2 million, sources reported.
Pursuant to the agreement, a subsidiary of Shanda will open the acquisition offer at US$4 per American depositary share (ADS), representing a 25% premium to Hurray's closing price on Jun. 5.
The acquisition enables Shanda to enter China's wireless service market at the start of the boom precipitated by the advent of 3G services in China.
We believe that the two companies together can become a leader in digital entertainment, and that our complementary content, development platforms and user groups are advantageous for future development, said Wang Qindai, president of Hurray.
Shanda's takeover followed a failed bid by a Chinese investor group. In addition, in 2007, domestic TV production firm Enlight made a US$160-million merger offer that was not accepted.
Artist Yue Minjun and his famous Cynical Realism works. Photo: IC
By Wu Ziru
The recent opening of a State-run contemporary art institute has divided those in the art world. While many have welcomed the long-awaited governmental recognition of the genre, others are concerned that formal acceptance will see an end to creativity and freedom of expression.
The Contemporary Art Institute under the Chinese Academy of Arts was declared open November 13 and has triggered fierce debate within China's contemporary art community since.
According to Wang Wenzhang, deputy minister of culture, four years of preparation is behind the institute's formal establishment and the goal of the State-run organization is to boost the art genre.
Wang said that as an art form beginning in the 1980s, Chinese contemporary art has its own important place in today's Chinese culture and art world and he believes that the Contemporary Art Institute will help bring Chinese contemporary art into a new phase.
"Chinese contemporary art reflects Chinese modern life from every aspect including politics, economics and culture, which is quite valuable in recording the past 30 years since the reform and opening up policy," Wang said.
Ye Yongqing, artistic director of the institute, explained that the organization will dedicate itself to academic research as well as education on contemporary art. A systematic project to analyze and promote the contemporary art industry will also be established.
"Chinese contemporary art's success and development to a large extent has depended on independent artists and collectors, but from now on, there is a new platform to do all things related to contemporary art," Ye said.
Ye added that unlike many art organizations that gather artists together and benefit from works created by them, the institute is more like a think tank, with the hope that experts will contribute their ideas and reflections on Chinese contemporary art's development.
"Only with a formal institute is there hope that systematic research on contemporary art can be done," Ye said. Famous artist Luo Zhongli, also the director of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, has been appointed director of the new institute.
Luo's representative work is his oil painting Father created in the 1980s and he was nominated as the director due to his "great contributions to education and promoting Chinese contemporary art," according to Wang.
A handsome list of 21 artists including Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, Yue Minjun, Cai Guoqiang and Xu Bing are among the enlisted experts of the Contemporary Art Institute. The list covers almost all of the most-renowned Chinese contemporary artists, many among them famous for their cynical explorations of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and its aftermath.
Officials and artists at the opening ceremony of the institute.
Many see the establishment of the new institute as an encouraging sign that the once marginalized contemporary art field is finally receiving the recognition and attention from the government that it deserves, hoping that further opportunities and funds will now be allocated to the field.
Director Luo Zhongli also expressed his confidence toward the future of the institute and its function in Chinese contemporary art, saying that systematic research would definitely help in building a sound academic atmosphere for the genre both now and for generations to come.
However, many artists and critics hold grave concerns about the new organization. Chen Danqing, painter and independent art critic, regards its establishment as an amnesty and enlistment from the government, worrying that State involvement will damage artists' independアトランティカ rmtデモンズコード rmtro rmtlithium battery
