2021 Year of the Ox

[GeneChing]

CNY is FEB 12, 2021


China has lychee-flavoured Oreos for CNY (https://mothership.sg/2021/01/lychee-flavoured-oreos-china/)
Not cookie cutter.

Lean Jinghui | January 12, 2021, 01:53 PM

https://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/collage-6.jpg

Oreos has produced a lot of different flavours over the years.

In China, some of these very unique flavours have included Wasabi, Green Tea Cake, and Blueberry Ice Cream.

The lychee-flavoured Oreos are the latest cookie craze to hit China's convenience stores. According to social media, the Oreos are only available between November 2020 and April 2021.

Each box comes with 8 small packets, in different designs to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
There's even one with a cow imprint as 2021 is the year of the ox.

https://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/a5EdNgq_700bwp.jpghttps://static.mothership.sg/1/2021/01/ayM5pwY_700bwp.jpg
Image via 9gag
According to Sina, the Oreos are definitely sweet, because "life is as sweet as honey".

Currently, the lychee-rose oreos can be bought via Ebay at US$22.99 per box, or via T-mall/Taobao.

Top image via 9gag


threads
2020 Year-of-the-Rat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71622-2020-Year-of-the-Rat)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)

[GeneChing]

Lunar New Year Stamp Called Out for Being ‘Culturally Inappropriate’ (https://news.yahoo.com/lunar-stamp-called-being-culturally-170506655.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb&tsrc=fb)
Carl Samson
Tue, January 12, 2021, 9:05 AM
A new stamp from the U.S. Postal Service featuring the Year of the Ox has come under fire for being "culturally inappropriate." The stamp, the second in the agency's Lunar New Year series, is scheduled for release in Chicago on Feb. 2. Image via U.S. Postal Service Featuring an ox mask, the stamp was designed by art director Antonio Alcalá, with original art from artist Camille Chew. "Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed during Lunar New Year parades, these three-dimensional masks are a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk art crafts created during this auspicious time of year," USPS said in a press release last month. Weeks ahead of the stamp's release, critics are pointing out multiple reasons why it's "culturally inappropriate." "What is this!? Insult to the Chinese zodiac's Ox and the line across 'forever' suggests... Wrong on many levels," wrote Twitter user Karlin Chan, who calls himself an independent "community advocate/activist."

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/dNXHscQUrMKpHfLtQVLI3w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTExMTIuMTM3NQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/nextshark_articles_509/dad2cb63b6220f5ab2e487eb9bda33df

According to the postal service, the word “forever” is crossed out in the online image to prevent counterfeiting, CBS reported. Chan's comments eventually reached Facebook. User Peter Zhao questioned why the stamp was designed by a Hispanic artist and why it was predominantly blue, when celebratory colors are supposedly red and gold. "Luis Fitch and Antonio Alcalá also designed the 2020 Rat stamps. I understand the indigenous people in America went by the lunar calendar. But why ask Hispanic artists create a stamp for lunar New Year celebration mainly observed in Asia? Why wouldn’t USPS employ an Asian artist? Why blue, when the celebratory colors are red and gold? Good point you raised Karlin Chan," Zhao wrote. The Year of the Ox stamp is one of three Asian American-inspired stamps coming this year. Images via U.S. Postal Service Alcalá and Chew responded to Zhao's calls for an explanation, according to AsAm News. "Thank you for your comments. You raised some good points. I worked with the illustrators, consultants and the USPS on each issuance. I will be sure to ask about this with future stamps in this series. And thanks again for your insights," Alcalá reportedly said. Chew, on the other hand, said: "Thank you for your insights. Red and Gold are part of the color palette of the series as a whole, though aren’t as prominently featured in this design. I’ll be keeping your comments in mind moving forward." Two other Asian American-inspired stamps -- Japanese American veterans and Chinese American physicist Chien-Shiung Wu -- are coming this year. Feature Images via U.S. Postal Service (left) and Karlin Chan (right)
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/57jl6jjTMW0ikLK1wyIUDA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM3NC41MzEyNQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/nextshark_articles_509/b04567815441e10f43ad92239eddc4d6
U.S. Postal Service


Remember, the Rat rode in on the Ox...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvFsNBmy56M

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9YuIg7R1I

[GeneChing]

For the record, I think 少林寺之得宝传奇 translates into Shaolinsi zhi de bao quan qi - Shaolin Temple gain treasure summon occult. Maybe someone with better Mandarin skills can correct me.


iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema Section to Premiere "Shaolin Master" Through PVOD Mode, on First Day of Chinese New Year
NEWS PROVIDED BY iQIYI
Feb 03, 2021, 05:26 ET

BEIJING, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the "Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, recently announced that action film Shaolin Master, will premiere on its Ultimate Online Cinema section through the Company's premium video-on-demand (PVOD) mode on February 12, the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday.

iQIYI’s Ultimate Online Cinema Section to Premiere “Shaolin Master” Through PVOD Mode, on First Day of Chinese New Year
iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema section streams high-quality films via PVOD mode, allowing users to view latest releases online at a moderate price. A dozen films launched on the section last year have attracted a growing legion of avid supporters.

"We hope that Shaolin Master can win favor with our audience as previous PVOD titles have. Going forward, iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema section will continue streaming a slate of high-quality films, providing premium new offerings for our subscribers. At the same time, we also hope that the PVOD mode will achieve sustainable development, as we work with platforms and creators to build a healthy online film ecosystem where filmmakers can identify their clients, guarantee their incomes, and seize exciting new opportunities," said Song Jia, Vice President of iQIYI and General Manager of iQIYI Film Business Center.

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1432262/iQIYI_s_Ultimate_Online_Cinema_Section_Premiere__S haolin_Master__Through_PVOD.jpg?p=publish&w=950
Shaolin Master - the only action film scheduled to premiere online during the Spring Festival film season

With the 2021 Spring Festival film season around the corner, seven films have announced their release in theatres on the first day of the holiday. Shaolin Master is the first and only action film scheduled to premiere online for the first day of the holiday.

In the Stanley Tong-directed film, Wang Baoqiang plays the role of Ximen Debao, an inn-keeper with no ambition. The film tells the story of how Ximen Debao who was framed for crimes, being trained with an eminent monk to prove his innocence. In recent years, Wang has successfully portrayed a number of impressive comic roles in a series of well-received and lucrative blockbusters such as Lost in Thailand and Detective Chinatown. In this new film, Wang has cast off his stereotypical image of "comic actor" and transformed into an orthodox warrior monk of the Shaolin Master.

PVOD mode, a new favored option for filmmakers and studios

In 2020, the PVOD mode became a new avenue for film distribution worldwide as movie theaters were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the Chinese market, iQIYI launched the action comedy film Enter the Fat Dragon last February via PVOD, allowing its subscribers to enjoy a new theatrical film at an affordable price in the comfort of their own homes. In doing so, iQIYI took the lead among Chinese video streaming platforms in exploring the PVOD mode.

In the past year, more than 10 films have been released on the iQIYI platform through the PVOD mode, including Spring Tide, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, Knockout, and Double World. The online distribution of high-quality theatrical films has quickly covered a wide range of genres. Based on the runaway success of the mode, the Company launched its Ultimate Online Cinema section in July 2020 to promote a systematic PVOD-based cooperation with filmmakers.

Currently, not only have the films on iQIYI's Ultimate Online Cinema received revenue directly from subscribers, but they have also achieved widespread acclaim from the industry. Spring Tide was nominated for Best Feature Film and Best Director at the 33rd Golden Rooster Awards. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains was selected as one of the top ten films of 2020 by the Cahiers du Cinéma, a famous French film magazine.

During the 2021 Spring Festival season, iQIYI, together with several other video streaming platforms will release Shaolin Master through the PVOD mode. Through these initiatives, iQIYI is working with a growing number of filmmakers and platforms to create good content, accelerating the development of Direct-to-Consumer in the film industry and building a broader distribution model for filmmakers.

Funny that the image echoes the old Jet Li original film (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?64237-Original-Shaolin-Temple-movie-(Jet-Li)).

threads
Shao Lin Si (少林寺之得宝传奇) (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71977-Shao-Lin-Si-(%26%2323569%3B%26%2326519%3B%26%2323546%3B%26%232 0043%3B%26%2324471%3B%26%2323453%3B%26%2320256%3B% 26%2322855%3B))
Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)

[GeneChing]

What will this year bring? READ 2021 The Year of the Metal Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/info/horoscope/this-year.php) by Wilson Sun (with Gigi Oh and Gene Ching)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtZ34C_U0AEQSa0?format=jpg&name=small

threads
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
Chinese-Zodiac (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?40462-Chinese-Zodiac)

[GeneChing]

Lunar New Year celebrations this year aim to help struggling Chinatowns (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/lunar-new-year-celebrations-year-aim-help-struggling-chinatowns-n1256525)
In New York City, grassroots groups are using the holiday to support businesses that lost 50 percent to 70 percent of revenue since the pandemic began.
https://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2021_05/3447032/210202-lunar-new-year-zine-green-fish-seafood-finnie-fung-ew-145p_7c5629cbe37c9d16bee0488c01157025.fit-1240w.jpg
Finnie Fung, the owner of Green Fish Seafood Market in Oakland, Calif., is featured in the recipe zine "Have You Eaten Yet?"Good Good Eatz
Feb. 5, 2021, 9:37 AM PST
By Victoria Namkung

Lunar New Year celebrations usually mean colorful lion dance parades, thumping drumbeats, popping firecrackers and massive feasts with family and friends. While the holiday will certainly look different in the Covid-19 era, wishes for health, wealth and good fortune are louder than ever in America's struggling Chinatowns.

The Year of the Ox begins Feb. 12, and organizations, grassroots groups and volunteers throughout the country are using the Lunar New Year to raise money for Chinatown businesses hit especially hard since the onset of the pandemic. Creative initiatives and virtual events are using art, storytelling, culture and community to highlight the people behind the businesses that make Chinatowns beloved places for countless Asian Americans.

New York City's Welcome to Chinatown, founded by friends and Manhattan Chinatown residents Victoria Lee and Jennifer Tam, partnered with the Abrons Arts Center and Wing on Wo's W.O.W. Project to commemorate Lunar New Year with "From Chinatown, With Love," a photo calendar shot by Mischelle Moy, featuring products from 18 Manhattan Chinatown businesses, such as Lucky King Bakery and Bangkok Center Grocery.

"We want people to see the Chinatown we see as locals," Tam said. "Chinatown is so much more than a place for tourism or gathering."

https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2021_05/3447030/210202-calendar-7-po-wing-hong-ew-142p_7c5629cbe37c9d16bee0488c01157025.fit-320w.jpg
IMAGE: The calendar 'From Chinatown, With Love'
The calendar "From Chinatown, With Love" features photos of 18 Manhattan Chinatown businesses.Mischelle Moy
The classic Chinese-style calendar, which will be given to customers who spend $20 at participating businesses, is accompanied by a neighborhood Lunar New Year gift guide filled with local insider tips.

Tam said her nonprofit has raised more than $650,000 for Manhattan's Chinatown since it was founded 10 months ago.

Welcome to Chinatown is also selling a Lunar New Year Collection of merchandise benefiting six Manhattan Chinatown businesses and a nonprofit.

It's estimated that businesses in the area have lost 50 percent to 70 percent of their revenue since the pandemic — and the subsequent xenophobia — began in January 2020.

Alice Liu is a second-generation proprietor of Grand Tea & Imports, which got a grant from Welcome to Chinatown's Longevity Fund in September.

"It was really exciting and offered a lot of hope, because being a Chinatown small business, we've been closed out of a lot of mainstream funding," said Liu, whose family business is featured in the calendar and the merchandise collection. "Having [a relief program] made for us, by us and administered in a way that small businesses in Chinatown are used to creates a lot more trust."

Another New York-based group, Send Chinatown Love, has created an illustrated map of Asian American-owned restaurants and gift shops for its Lunar New Year Crawl through Chinatowns in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Other organizations have also taken design-forward approaches to supporting local businesses.

Save Our Chinatowns and Good Good Eatz teamed up to produce "Have You Eaten Yet?" a recipe zine and red envelope bundle to benefit Yuen Hop Noodle Co., Cam Anh Deli and Green Fish Seafood Market in Chinatown in Oakland, California.

https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2021_05/3447031/210202-soc-zine-red-envelopes-ew-142p_7c5629cbe37c9d16bee0488c01157025.fit-320w.jpg
IMAGE: 'Have You Eaten Yet?'
"Have You Eaten Yet?" — a recipe zine created by Save Our Chinatowns and Good Good Eatz — benefits businesses in Oakland's Chinatown.Courtesy of Save Our Chinatowns
Daphne Wu of Oakland, a Save Our Chinatowns volunteer who conceptualized, wrote and edited the zine, said, "A recipe zine is a way to inspire folks to go out and support these businesses and also get to know the owners a bit more personally and intimately."

The printed copies sold out within two hours of the zine's launch Jan. 25, but digital copies are available with an online donation.

Wu said people feel deep connections to Oakland Chinatown because "there are so few places in the world where us third-culture kids can feel at home and a sense of belonging."

But even with the support of grassroots initiatives like Save Our Chinatowns, which raised $40,000 last year, Chinatowns in San Francisco and Oakland must fight to stay open because of Covid-19-related closings and racially motivated fears.

Business owners like Anh Nguyen of Cam Anh Deli, who arrived in Oakland in the early 1990s as a refugee from Vietnam, are dedicated to moving forward.

"A lot of people stepped up — it's just incredible," said Nguyen, who contributed a recipe for lemongrass tofu to the zine, which was illustrated by six artists, including Save Our Chinatowns founder Jocelyn Tsaih. "I want to tell people Chinatown is a safe place to be and we will go on and continue to serve the neighborhood and community as long as we can."

Traditional fundraising events are also underway for Lunar New Year.

The 43rd-anniversary L.A. Chinatown Firecracker 5/10K, Kiddie Run, Bike Ride & Paw'er Dog Walk on Feb. 27 is being held virtually this year, giving participants the flexibility to complete their events at the time and date of their choosing.

It is one of the largest and longest-running Lunar New Year charity runs in the nation, and 100 percent of net proceeds are reinvested locally.

Similarly, the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center is holding a free Lunar New Year Virtual 5K/1 Mile Run/Walk, "We Love Boston Chinatown," Feb. 12-15.

The organization encourages entrants to run or walk in Chinatown and patronize its spots in the process. Prizes will include gift certificates from Boston Chinatown restaurants to encourage spending in the community.

Social service agencies are also using digital spaces to encourage donations — and visits — to Chinatown.

The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, or PCDC, plans a virtual Chinese New Year celebration Feb. 26 to benefit programs for Chinatown.

PCDC's Ai Love Chinatown campaign, which was launched in August to support small businesses affected by Covid-19, has produced a video series that spotlights Asian American-owned businesses.

"We wanted to bring that personality to people's attention to show there's real people standing behind these businesses, and they're hurting, but they're still taking the time to take care of their customers and workers," PCDC Project Manager Lamei Zhang said.

Tam of Welcome to Chinatown said the immense nostalgia and love people have for the historic neighborhood is why people are eager to volunteer and donate money to help.

"We always say we hope when we have kids of our own, that they get to know the Chinatown that we grew up experiencing," Tam said. "People can't fathom the idea of Chinatown disappearing."
I went through SF Chinatown early in the pandemic last year, before the lockdowns, and I've never seen it so barren...like a ghost town.

threads
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
covid (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
NYC-Chinatown-and-Chinese-New-Year (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?9846-NYC-Chinatown-and-Chinese-New-Year)
Chinatown-San-Francisco (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?26877-Chinatown-San-Francisco)
L-A-Chinatown (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?33862-L-A-Chinatown)

[GeneChing]

The Shaolin Temple: Legend of Debao is a much better translation of Shao Lin Si (少林寺之得宝传奇). Changing the title of this thread now.

China’s streaming giants unite for online Chinese New Year movie season
By Global Times
Published: Feb 07, 2021 06:23 PM

https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2021/2021-02-07/c13a271c-99a1-4c87-9af7-98e83d610f67.jpeg
The launch ceremony for the online Chinese New Year movie season Photo: Courtesy of the China Film Association

China's three streaming giants, iQIYI, Tencent Video and Youku, are working together to introduce nearly 20 movies to their platforms for the upcoming Spring Festival. The season was kicked off by representatives from the three at a ceremony on Friday.

Online releases have been an important part of the world's largest film market since the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. The upcoming Spring Festival online releases include not only new films like The Shaolin Temple: Legend of Debao and Dreams of Getting Rich, but also recent popular movies such as The Rescue and Shock Wave 2.

Aimed at fully meeting the entertainment needs of millions of Chinese families who are choosing to stay put during the festival instead of traveling amid the epidemic, the move has been encouraged by China's regulator authority the National Radio and Television Administration. Li Zhongzhi, deputy director-general of the department in charge of online video and audio programs, told media that the "online release season marks an important milestone in China's online movie development," going on to note that he hopes the three platforms can "work together to contribute content for the holiday."

"The upcoming season will be an unforgettable one as it marks the first time that cinema and online releases, studios and streaming platforms have united for an online release Spring Festival season," said Yang Xianghua, vice president of iQIYI.

threads
Shao Lin Si (少林寺之得宝传奇) (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71977-Shao-Lin-Si-(%26%2323569%3B%26%2326519%3B%26%2323546%3B%26%232 0043%3B%26%2324471%3B%26%2323453%3B%26%2320256%3B% 26%2322855%3B))
Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)

[GeneChing]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtzqOmtUYAA2V4X?format=jpg&name=medium

NEW 2021 Year of the Ox T-shirts & Hoodies! (https://www.martialartsmart.com/new-apparel.html)

[GeneChing]

Not sure if we covered this here before. I can't remember and the terms are too general to search out.


WLF to Create China's "Kung Fu Spring Festival Gala”, the Most "Hardcore" Chinese Power Blooms in Macau (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210211005364/en/)
https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20210211005364/en/858528/4/image.jpg?download=1
WLF to create China's "Kung Fu Spring Festival Gala", the most "hardcore" Chinese power blooms in Macau (Photo: Business Wire)

February 11, 2021 03:44 AM Eastern Standard Time
MACAU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In China, in addition to the annual CCTV Chinese New Year Gala on New Year's Eve, there is another Chinese New Year "gala" that is highly anticipated and paid attention to, and that is the "Kung Fu Spring Festival Gala" as it is called by the majority of boxing fans. The "Martial Arts Global Kung Fu Festival", which was launched in 2012-2013 season, is now in its ninth year, with more than 180 well-known fighter fighters from 32 countries and regions. More than 180 celebrities from 32 countries and regions have shown their skills in the ring.

“Top of Hengqin - Martial Arts Style 2021 Global Kung Fu Gala”

Tweet this
On January 23, 2021, the 9th "Kung Fu Spring Festival Gala" - "Top of Hengqin - Martial Arts Style 2021 Global Kung Fu Gala" ended at the Studio City of Macau. On February 13 (the second day of the Lunar New Year), it will be broadcast on Henan TV. At this special time, the success of the "Global Kung Fu Festival" not only highlights China's strength and sense of responsibility in the fight against COVID-19, but also boosts the global determination and confidence in the fight against COVID-19 with the tenacious and bloodthirsty spirit of the contestants.

This event is the first match of the five-year strategic cooperation between Henan TV Wulinfeng and the Greater Bay Area Martial Arts Cultural Association to land in Macau. "Chinese Captain" Fu Gaofeng, "Demon Blade" Wei Rui, "Little Tiger" Tie Yinghua, "Divine Condor" Jia Aoqi, "Majestic Warrior" Zhang Kaiyin, "Dafei" Wang Pengfei ... Each of the 22 Chinese fighters in the 14 tournaments carried their own aura and were clad in honor, and the high level of their performance was the most luxurious Chinese stand-up lineup of the century.

In the future, "Wulinfeng" will take stand-up fighting as its core, form a combat matrix with MMA event "Wulin Cage Match" and youth combat event "Wulin New Generation", and steadily promote international martial arts cultural exchange and cooperation, making "Wulinfeng" the most hardcore Chinese power in the international combat world

Contacts
Henan TV
Mark Du
86-13503710060
https://www.hntv.tv/

threads
year of the ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
wu lin feng (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67765-Wu-Lin-Feng)

[GeneChing]

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR! READ Chinese New Year 2021: Year of the Iron Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1579)by Gene Ching

http://www.kungfumagazine.com//admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/images/ezine/6268_Year-of-the-Ox_Lead.jpg

threads
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
Chinese-Zodiac (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?40462-Chinese-Zodiac)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ6ApvLnRGk

[GeneChing]

THE LAST STAND OF S.F. CHINATOWN'S STORIED BANQUET HALLS (https://www.sfchronicle.com/culture/article/The-last-stand-of-S-F-Chinatown-s-storied-15943375.php)
These restaurants have been Chinatown’s heart and soul. What happens to S.F. if they disappear?
By Melissa Hung | Feb. 14, 2021 | San Francisco Chronicle


ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON in late December, Bill Lee walks through his empty restaurant in Chinatown. Though the tables are draped with white tablecloths, the dining room functions more as a storage space. Wedged between tables are stacks of red-cushioned dining chairs. Signage, featuring large photos of the restaurant’s dishes, leans against a wall. A lone bottle of hand sanitizer sits on a dining table. A year ago, the scene looked very different — the chatter of locals and tourists filled the room as they feasted on Cantonese and Chinese American dishes.

Opened in 1920 at 631 Grant Ave., Far East Cafe is one of San Francisco Chinatown’s oldest restaurants. Much of its decor remains unchanged from its early days: oil paintings depicting historical scenes from Guangdong (where many early Chinese immigrants hailed from), large hanging lanterns from the province, and a set of dark wood-paneled private booths behind red curtains. Buttons for summoning wait staff remain on the walls, though the bell system no longer works.

Far East Cafe is also one of Chinatown’s last remaining large-scale banquet halls, serving as a gathering space for the neighborhood’s many family associations and civic organizations. The dwindling number of Chinatown banquet halls worries community leaders, who fear their loss could devastate the culture and traditions of a community already threatened by gentrification. Ten years ago, there were five: Empress of China, Far East Cafe, Four Seas, Gold Mountain, and New Asia Restaurant. Now, only Far East and New Asia remain.

Lee, 77, who took over Far East in 1999 and added the second floor for banquets, is only the third owner — along with nine other shareholders — in its history. Over the years, thousands of banquets have taken place there. Lee had planned to throw his own event: a 100th anniversary celebration of the restaurant in the fall of 2020. But that was before the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdowns that began in March. Now, instead, sitting in the dim dining room, he contemplates shutting down Far East for good.

“I tell you, I love this restaurant. I have never spent so much time in one place,” Lee says. “I spent 20 years for this restaurant.”

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/77/36/01/20596286/5/1200x0.jpg
Far East Cafe owner Bill Lee sits at the bar while his daughter Kathy Lee, the restaurant’s manager, makes him a drink. Far East Cafe is one of the few remaining banquet halls in S.F.’s Chinatown, but Lee is unsure how long he can keep it running. | Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
While the entire restaurant industry is struggling for survival, the pandemic has hit especially hard in Chinatown, which saw business drop months before shelter-in-place began. Lee is down to four employees from the 50 or so full- and part-time staff he once employed. He has tried to make a go at outdoor dining. Volunteers had been putting finishing touches on a new parklet structure, painted red and trimmed in yellow to match the restaurant. But then the city halted outdoor dining on Dec. 6 in the midst of a coronavirus surge. Lee felt defeated. He didn’t want to close, but he was operating at a deep loss, even after he and his daughter Kathy Lee, the manager, stopped taking their salaries.

Two weeks later, on Dec. 22, news broke that Far East would close permanently on Dec. 31. The next day Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents Chinatown, held a press conference in front of the restaurant, telling Lee that help was on the way. The week before, nine community organizations had written to Mayor London Breed, warning that the situation in Chinatown was dire and asking the city to provide millions in financial aid, as it had done for the Latino community. Peskin and Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer introduced legislation proposing $1.9 million in relief for Chinatown restaurants. Peskin urged Lee to hang on. Lee shrugged his shoulders and seemed to laugh, perhaps wearily, from behind his face mask.

But the speed of government bureaucracy is too slow for Lee. Nearly a month passed before the Board of Supervisors approved the legislation on Jan. 19, another month where he owed tens of thousands more dollars in rent, utilities and more. The city funds will help Chinatown restaurants, including Lee’s Far East, survive for a few months. But then what? Will enough people be vaccinated by then that COVID-19 infections slow sufficiently for businesses to reopen? Or will the situation worsen again?

And there is a larger question: If the banquet halls go, what will become of Chinatown?

continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/77/36/01/20606882/5/1200x0.jpg
Clockwise from top left: Gogo Wu and Lillian Lin at the Chinese Real Estate Association of America Chinese New Year and Installation Banquet held at New Asia restaurant on February 21, 2020; Kuo Wah restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown in an undated photo; a Lunar New Year banquet held by the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) that was attended by, from far right, future Vice President Kamala Harris, the Rev. Norman Fong of the CCDC, Jane Kim, David Chiu, Phil Ting, the late Jeff Adachi, the late Mayor Ed Lee, the late Rose Pak and CCDC founder Gordon Chin; an image from an old postcard showing the interior of the Empress of China, a banquet hall in San Francisco’s Chinatown. | Photos By Frank Jang And Chinatown Community Development Center
HUNDREDS OF BANQUETS take place in San Francisco Chinatown every year — family association gatherings, weddings, red egg and ginger parties, political fundraisers and galas for nonprofits. More modest events might book a smaller banquet hall like Imperial Palace. But the big ones can fill up all 680 seats at Far East Cafe or the 1,000 at New Asia. (Back in the day, some banquets were so large that they filled multiple locations.) A Chinatown banquet, much like Chinatown itself, is a crowded affair, with guests seated snugly at 10-tops as waiters in white shirts and vests deploy platters upon platters across the dining room. The dishes are abundant; there is always food left over.

The first quarter of the year is an especially busy time because of Chinese New Year, which typically occurs in late January or early February. Because there aren’t enough bookings available close to the holiday to accommodate everyone, New Year banquets can stretch into April and May. Reservations need to be made a year in advance, sometimes two.

A Chinatown banquet is not just a party with a parade of family-style dishes. For a community that has endured segregation, racist immigration exclusion that kept families apart and threats of displacement, banquets are loud, bountiful, collective affirmations of community resilience.

“This is a community that traditionally has been very close, very networked, and very organized in certain senses and I think that that connection has been one of the critical elements of why this community has been a successful immigrant gateway for so long,” says Malcolm Yeung, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, one of the organizations that penned the letter to the city asking for help.

Forced to fend for itself, Chinatown long ago established an ecosystem of mutual aid through its family and district associations and its social service and advocacy organizations — a network that still exists today. New immigrants know they can come to Chinatown for resources and opportunities. “All of that is based on the connection and cultural fabric that we’ve been able to weave in this community,” Yeung said. And community banquets are the primary mechanism for celebrating and maintaining those connections, he says.

And while food is always important — each dish in a banquet is imbued with meaning — it’s not about the meal, but the whole experience of Chinatown. About being reminded, even if on a subconscious level, that this is where the community began.

Chinatown banquets also showcase political empowerment. Laurene Wu McClain, 77, an attorney who grew up in Chinatown, attended banquets in the 1950s and ’60s with her father, the head of their family association and a co-founder of San Francisco’s Chinese Historical Society. She remembers fondly the sound of hundreds of people cracking open watermelon seeds with their teeth at the start of banquets, and the bottles of Belfast Sparkling Cider on every table.

She also remembers how, against the backdrop of the Cold War, when relations between the U.S. and a newly communist China were antagonistic, the community courted politicians and government officials. Though most Chinese Americans were anti-communist, they feared they’d be viewed as the enemy and incarcerated, as Japanese Americans had been during World War II. They made outreach efforts to the wider American society through events like the Chinese New Year Parade and banquets.

“Sometimes it was the first time anyone would have seen the Caucasian mayor of San Francisco or seen in person one of the members of the Board of Supervisors,” she says of guests at banquets. “That was part of the assimilation process, that, yes, we are our own ethnic group, but we do belong here. We belong here and we invite you to join us in our celebrations.”

Today, many working-class families who started out in Chinatown have advanced to the middle class and live in the avenues or suburbs of the East Bay and Peninsula where there are newer, more spacious Chinese restaurants and 99 Ranch Markets with well-stocked aisles and hot deli counters. There’s less reason to come to Chinatown and hassle with parking just to buy groceries and a roast duck. Younger generations often prefer getting married in Napa rather than throwing a traditional Chinese wedding banquet.

Yet banquets remain critical to the culture and plexus of Chinatown, connecting community members to the power brokers of the city — and to each other.

“Chinatown is the social-political capital of the Chinese community,” says David Ho, 43, a political consultant. “People don’t go book tables in Cupertino and expect 1,000 Chinese to show up. That’s just not going to happen. First, they don’t have the facilities for it. Second, only Chinatown can get that kind of audience and attention from politicians.”

Ho would know. As a Chinatown activist and a political consultant, he has thrown his share of banquets over the years.

“It’s really about community coming together. It’s about seeing old friends and new friends, and a tie to where we came from, to the immigrant legacy,” says Mabel Teng, a community advocate and former San Francisco supervisor. “Some of us crossed the ocean five decades ago, but some crossed the Pacific five years ago, and we are a community of intergenerational legacy, and also intergenerational leadership.”

After the pandemic ended banquets at the New Asia restaurant in S.F.’s Chinatown, its owner converted it into a neighborhood grocery store. | Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
NEW ASIA RESTAURANT, established in 1987 at 772 Pacific Ave., is a newcomer compared to Far East Cafe, and looks it with its high ceiling, shiny gold pillars and multicolor strip lights. A pushcart-style dim sum parlor by day, it is Chinatown’s largest banquet hall. When banquets began being canceled over coronavirus concerns in January 2020, Hon So, the owner since 2000, grew so anxious he couldn’t sleep.

So, 61, canceled any supply orders he could and stored what had already arrived in freezers. It would just be for a few months, he thought. In July, though, he had to throw it all out, trashing cases of shrimp, beef, chicken, an estimated $100,000 worth of food. Insurance would not cover the loss.

“When I was throwing things out, I was thinking, what will I do in the immediate future? What do I do with a big place like this?” So says in Cantonese. “You have no income, but you still have your bills. The income is not just for me, but for my family, my workers. What can I do to yield income for everyone?”

He thought about how in this new reality of the pandemic, people were lining up to buy groceries and cook at home.

Over two weeks in July, with the help of friends, he cleared tables to make way for shelving and freezers. The next month, New Asia reopened as a grocery store, which allowed So to retain 10 to 15 jobs, a fraction of the 40- to 50-member staff he had before. New Asia’s proximity to Stockton Street, where many neighborhood markets are located, helped bring in foot traffic.

On a recent Saturday, shoppers browsed the selection of produce, snacks and frozen foods. On the stage, two steps up from the dance floor, packages of toilet paper and rice noodles were stacked on repurposed dining tables. The character for double happiness, a symbol of marriage, was on the wall above them.

“This is the only market with crystal lights,” So said wryly, referring to New Asia’s chandeliers.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/77/36/01/20596190/5/1200x0.jpg
Then: On Feb. 20, 2020, before S.F. announced shelter-in-place, New Asia restaurant in S.F.’s Chinatown was the scene of a typical busy banquet, in this case for the Coalition of Asian American Government Employees (CAAGE). The pandemic put an end to such gatherings. | Frank Jang
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/77/36/01/20596249/5/1200x0.jpg
Now: Shoppers browse the aisles inside the New Asia restaurant. in S.F.’s Chinatown neighborhood. As banquets were canceled at the start of the pandemic, New Asia’s owner converted the grand restaurant into a neighborhood grocery store. | Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
Even if his market brings in enough to survive the pandemic, New Asia will be displaced for several years. In 2017, after much advocacy by the late Chinatown activist Rose Pak, the city bought the property to develop it into affordable housing. The plan is for the restaurant to return to the ground floor of a new building, but construction will take at least three years, and the process has barely begun. Proposals from developers were due to the city last month.

Still, New Asia is the rare Chinatown banquet hall granted a possibility of return. Down the street, Meriwa is now medical offices. In 2016, Mister Jiu’s replaced Four Seas, a popular venue since the 1960s. A year later the food emporium China Live, which contains two restaurants (one with a $185 tasting menu), retail and a bar, opened in what was once Gold Mountain. Empress by Boon was slated to open in 2020 in the iconic Empress of China space, but the pandemic has put a pause on that.

While these new upscale restaurants with Michelin stars and modern takes on Chinese cuisines add a culinary sheen to the neighborhood, they attract a different clientele: a monied crowd from outside who Uber in, eat and leave. They are out of range for residents and for community groups used to paying $40 to $80 a head for an eight-course banquet.

To be sure, Chinatown has long courted visitors. In a segregated San Francisco, attracting visitors to the neighborhood was key for economic survival and tourism remains important. But a healthy Chinatown maintains a balance between businesses for visitors and its immigrant residents.

“There’s room for Mister Jiu’s and China Live,” says Vincent Pan, 48, the co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. I know Pan well. We have collaborated on several projects, including on some work for his organization. “We support having a mix of high-end and hole-in-the wall mom-and-pops,” Pan says. “But the real risk is you lose this one piece and it’s hard to bring it back.”


When the civil rights nonprofit learned that the Empress of China was closing in 2014, it hosted one last banquet that December just for the sake of it. It was one of the last, if not the very last, banquets at the Empress, says Pan.

“We know from other North American Chinatowns, whether it’s Philadelphia or Manhattan, that there’s always a risk of being subsumed by the neighboring financial districts,” Pan says. “And one of the key anti-displacement strategies that has been effective is to have the Chinatowns serve as cultural anchors that bring in a diverse mix of economic support. Banquets are a flagship of that.”

Banquet halls have played a core role in the Chinatown economy, from providing new immigrants with starter jobs to sourcing from local vendors. Far East Cafe partners with Charity Cultural Services Center to train and employ restaurant workers. Banquets summon the diaspora, whose members tend to make the most of their stop in Chinatown by doing some shopping.

That’s why Chinatown leaders want to preserve the landmark Empress of China building for community access. When John Yee, a real estate investor, bought the six-story building in 2017, he alarmed many with his initial plans for tech offices. Though Yee grew up in Chinatown, he angered many in the community in 1999 when he tried to evict a building full of low-income tenants. Malcolm Yeung filed an appeal with the San Francisco Planning Department in an attempt to pressure Yee into discussions over the Empress. Yeung would like to see affordable community banquets return to the space, but Yee says the banquet prices Yeung wants are not feasible.

On Jan. 27, Yeung’s appeal was denied in a 3-2 vote, resulting in another banquet hall lost to the community.

The upstairs banquet hall of Far East Cafe in S.F.’s Chinatown is shuttered. Far East Cafe, which opened in 1920, is one of the few banquet halls remaining in Chinatown. | Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
THE YEAR OF THE OX IS UPON US. Another Lunar New Year in a pandemic, another season of no banquets. Organizations like Chinese for Affirmative Action have held their annual galas on Zoom instead, delivering catered meals to re-create the experience of eating together. Without its usual gatherings, Chinatown has been eerily quiet for the past year. Even with sections of Grant Avenue closed to traffic on the weekends to encourage shopping, the streets are mostly empty, a whisper of the usual hustle.

The question on the minds of many in Chinatown is what will be left when the pandemic finally ends and people come out of isolation clamoring to socialize?

After Chinatown leaders asked the mayor for $11.5 million in financial aid, they met with city officials about reviving the Chinatown Community Development Center’s Feed + Fuel program in partnership with SF New Deal. The program, which ran in spring 2020, paid 34 Chinatown restaurants to cook meals for the neighborhood’s most vulnerable residents living in public housing and single-room occupancy hotels. These SRO residents share communal kitchens and bathrooms, which makes social distancing impossible.

The center hopes that the $1.9 million relief ordinance, plus $500,000 from the Human Services Agency and $100,000 of the center’s own funds can eventually help 70 restaurants over an eight-week period. If the nonprofit can raise an additional $1 million from individuals and foundations, it will extend the program to 15 weeks.

“People don’t go book tables in Cupertino and expect 1,000 Chinese to show up. That’s just not going to happen. First, they don’t have the facilities for it. Second, only Chinatown can get that kind of audience and attention from politicians.”
DAVID HO, 43, A POLITICAL CONSULTANT

Feed + Fuel 2.0 launched Jan. 18 with 10 restaurants. Far East Cafe, which participated in the first iteration, joined the new program on Jan. 25, cooking 300 meals a week for $3,000. Far East also participates in similar programs, but the money it receives from these programs doesn’t cover costs — not even close. Lee says he needs to bring in $4,000 a day to keep a restaurant as large as his afloat. One reason he’s been able to last this long is because of an understanding landlord, the Ying On Benevolent Association, of which he is a member.

The family associations that own buildings in Chinatown are not interested in selling them, says Doug Mei, 40, a paramedic firefighter who grew up in a Chinatown SRO and who now works in the neighborhood fire station.

“The reason why they keep them is so they can continue to take care of the new immigrants that come here and continue to carry on the legacy of all those who worked so hard to build this community for us,” he says.

The city’s help is too little, too late, and Asian Americans have been forgotten, he says, a sentiment that many in Chinatown share. Where are the loan programs for Asian-owned small businesses, like those the city established for other minority communities, he asks. “We take so much pride as a city in how diverse we are. But we need to take action to preserve that diversity. It’s important that we protect every community and we give every community fair resources all around,” Mei says.

Leaders worry about the elders who rely on dim sum parlors and banquets to stay active with friends. They worry that these restaurants will fade away like the neighborhood’s once-vibrant theaters.

“There’s got to be some adverse impact on the psychology and well-being of the community,” says David Ho, the political consultant.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/77/36/01/20565411/5/1200x0.jpg
Far East Cafe owner Bill Lee poses for a portrait in the main dining room of Far East Cafe. “I tell you, I love this restaurant. I have never spent so much time in one place,” he said. | Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
ON THE LAST SATURDAY IN JANUARY, after a week of stormy rains, the sun came out, bringing with it more foot traffic in Chinatown. Outdoor dining reopened and waitstaff wove through pedestrians on narrow sidewalks to take orders. Outside Far East Cafe, Mei and another volunteer worked on the restaurant’s parklet, cutting wood with a circular saw. Lee and his daughter Kathy, who is the restaurant’s manager, carted produce through the dining room into the kitchen.

During a late lunch break, Lee recounted how Far East Cafe has given many new immigrants who didn’t know English their first jobs in the U.S. Back in 1967, he was that new immigrant. Closing the restaurant would hurt those who arrive in the future, but he wasn’t sure how long he could stay open. What was the point of working just to keep losing money?

“It’s very difficult,” Lee said in a mix of Cantonese and English. “We really don’t want to close, but a fact is a fact. We don’t have money.”

Melissa Hung is a Bay Area writer from Texas with ties to San Francisco Chinatown. Email: culture@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @melissahungtx

This story was translated into Chinese for The Chronicle by Joyce Chen.

threads
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
covid (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Chinatown, San Francisco (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?26877-Chinatown-San-Francisco)

[GeneChing]

Feb 12, 2021 9:59am PT
‘Detective Chinatown 3’ Tops Chinese New Year Day With $163 Million, Breaking Record for Best Debut in a Single Market
(https://variety.com/2021/film/news/detective-chinatown-3-box-office-chinese-new-year-record-1234907178/)
By Rebecca Davis

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Detective-Chinatown-3.jpg
Courtesy of WanDa Pictures
The world’s largest film market is living up to its title with world-record-setting sales. “Detective Chinatown 3” shot past strong competition, as predicted, on its Chinese New Year opening day on Friday, notching a record-breaking $163 million (RMB1.05 billion) in sales despite poor word of mouth.

The sum marks the highest ever opening day tally for a film in a single market, beating out former title-holder “Avengers: Endgame,” which grossed $157 million in North America on its first day in 2019.

“Detective Chinatown” sales on Friday accounted for more than 60% of China’s total new year’s day box office nationwide, which surpassed that of 2019 at $268 million (RMB1.73 billion).


The massive commercial success of director Chen Sicheng’s comedic mystery also propelled Imax to new heights. As of Friday evening local time, the firm “very confidently” projected full-day China earnings of $7.7 million from three films, 18% more than on Chinese New Year’s Day in 2019. Almost all of that revenue — some $7.4 million, or 96% — came from “Detective Chinatown 3,” which was shot on Imax cameras.

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That marks the highest opening day for a Chinese film in Imax of all time. It also marks the third-highest ever opening day for any Imax film, foreign or local, in China, behind “Avengers: Endgame” ($14 million) and “Avengers: Infinity War” ($8.1 million).

According to data from the Maoyan industry tracker, 38% of all scheduled Friday screenings in China were for “Detective Chinatown.” They saw 69.4% attendance rates, meaning that most screenings were almost sold out each time, given the government’s current 75% cap on max cinema capacity to curb the spread of COVID-19 over the holidays.

Maoyan is currently estimating a whopping $976 million (RMB6.3 billion) total run for “Detective Chinatown 3” within the China market alone. That would be almost double the world’s top grossing picture of 2020, “The Eight Hundred,” which earned $461 million, and make the film the country’s highest earner in history. Current local estimates expect the film to reach $400 million over the three-day period of its first weekend.

Audiences have been yearning to see the Tokyo-set third installment of the “Detective Chinatown” franchise since last Chinese New Year, when it was a frontrunner but was extensively delayed due to COVID-19-induced cinema closures at the time.

Nevertheless, the film’s high volume of ticket sales comes despite poor word of mouth online. It has a mere 6.8 out of 10 rating on the taste-making Douban platform, where a third of users have given it just three out of five stars and 6% have given it the lowest possible one-star rating.

Many were put off by excessive product placement amidst the action. “I have never seen such shameless acts of inserting advertisements into a film before,” wrote one top comment on the site liked thousands of times. Another two-star review summed up the caper: “In a runtime of 136 minutes, it’s 110 minutes of running + 15 minutes of father-daughter interaction + 10 minutes of deduction + 1 minute of commercials.”


Numerous others felt fatigued by the franchise’s over-the-top comedic style. “You can tell from the first five minutes that this film is a dud. Everyone in it is screaming,” wrote one, while another chimed: “[Lead actor] Wang Baoqiang’s style of pretending to be crazy and stupid has reached the point of just being disgusting.”

Others complained that some of the gags were disrespectful to healthcare workers and women.

It’s worth noting that Chinese box office darlings of years past — including “Wolf Warrior 2,” the 2019 Chinese New Year breakout sci-fi epic “The Wandering Earth,” and “Nezha,” the country’s top three grossers — were all unexpected hits that saw slower box office growth propelled by strong word of mouth over time, rather than a sudden first day explosion in sales.

The Lunar New Year holiday, which this year runs from Feb. 11 to 17, is typically the most lucrative period of the year for China — a mere week in which most cinemas make more than a tenth of their annual revenue. This year, seven major tentpoles debuted on Feb. 12, with two more smaller films set to open on Valentine’s Day.

The light-hearted time-travel-themed rom-com “Hi, Mom” from writer-director-actor Jia Ling came in second with $35.5 million (RMB229 million), while “A Writer’s Odyssey,” an action-adventure film from Lu Yang (“Brotherhood of Blades”), ranked third with $21.4 million (RMB138 million).

In fourth was the perennial new year children’s favorite, animated “Boonie Bears” franchise film “The Wild Life,” which earned $17.7 (RMB114 million). Director Li Weiran’s live-action fantasy “The YinYang Master” came in fifth with $12.8 million (RMB82.4 million).

“New Gods: Nezha Reborn,” another cartoon depiction of the popular folk god Nezha, ranked sixth with a $8.97 million (RMB57.9 million) debut, while crime thriller “Endgame” was the last amongst the new releases, opening to just $6.94 million (RMB44.8 million).

Box office ranking ultimately matched up exactly with each film’s success in pre-sales, according to Maoyan. In that category, “Detective Chinatown 3” had far and away led the pack, with pre-sale ticket sales of $148 million (RMB955 million) as of early Friday evening — $104 million (RMB674 million) of which were for opening day. Its closest competitor, “Hi, Mom,” sold $34 million (RMB219 million), while third place “A Writer’s Odyssey” sold $13.4 million (RMB86.4 million).

“The outstanding performance of the film market is due to a sufficient supply of films during Spring Festival… of diversified content and genres,” wrote an analysis piece published by the People’s Daily newspaper, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

Another major factor, it said, was that due to COVID-19, citizens have been strongly urged to celebrate the new year in place without travelling home, meaning that many — particularly urban migrant workers who would typically return to rural hometowns — are experiencing an unconventional holiday in which movie-going may appear to be a more attractive option.

threads
Detective-Chinatown-3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)

[GeneChing]

Netflix Picks Up Chinese Animated Feature ‘New Gods: Nezha Reborn’ (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-picks-up-chinese-animated-feature-new-gods)
1:29 AM PST 2/17/2021 by Patrick Brzeski
https://static.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/newgods-1613551349-928x523.jpg
Courtesy of Netflix / Light Chaser Animation Studios
'New Gods - Nezha Reborn'

Produced by pioneering Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation, the film has earned $36 million since its premiere last weekend over China’s Lunar New Year holiday.
Netflix has acquired worldwide streaming rights to Chinese animated film New Gods: Nezha Reborn, which opened theatrically in China last weekend at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The film is produced by pioneering Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation. The movie is based on the oft-adapted classical Chinese novel The Investiture of the Gods, but Light Chaser has given the material a vivid pop-culture spin in a bid to generate excitement among Chinese youth.

Those efforts have yielded a modest success at China’s booming box office. Among the seven Chinese New Year titles that released last Friday, Nezha Reborn currently ranks fifth with $36.5 million in total sales, according to ticketing service Maoyan. But the movie has been a favorite among China's more discerning filmgoers. On the influential movie reviews site Douban, which tends to be a reliable barometer for film quality in China, Nezha Reborn ranks second best among the new releases, with a user reviews score of 7.4. It's trailing only the ascendent box-office champ Hi, Mom, which has a Douban score of 8.2 and total earnings of $403 million. The solid critical reception suggests strong legs for Nezha Reborn for the rest of the holiday and beyond.

Nezha Reborn was created over a period of four years by the same creative team that produced Light Chaser’s 2019 hit White Snake, a co-production with Warner Bros. that earned $61.6 million in China. The new feature is directed by veteran animator Zhao Ji, who also co-directed White Snake. The voice cast includes Yang Tianxiang, Xuan Xiaoming, Ling Zhenhe, Zhu Ke’er and Li Shimeng.

Netflix hasn’t been able to launch its service in China because of the Beijing government’s ban on foreign streaming platforms. But in recent years the company has acquired a number of major Chinese blockbusters — such as sci-fi hit The Wandering Earth and comic book adaptation Animal World — making them available to the Chinese diaspora audience around the world.

A streaming release date for Nezha Reborn is yet to be revealed. The official summary for the film is as follows: "Set in a mythical world, Donghai City, a melting pot where gods and people from different cultures co-exist, Nezha is reborn as Li Yunxiang, a young daredevil, 3,000 years after the original Battle of the Gods. Yunxiang grows up as a cool regular boy, who earns his living as a delivery courier. His love for motor racing and adventure prevail even as he discovers his true identity as Nezha. Yunxiang encounters his mortal enemies, the Dragon Clan, who are now living as super wealthy businessmen, feared and revered in Donghai City. Boss De, the Dragon King of the East China Sea or The Patriarch of the Dragon Clan, vows to revitalise the Dragon Clan in the new world. He is accompanied in this film by his three sons, The Three Princes, who are intent on killing Nezha to avenge their clan. New Gods: Nezha Reborn tells the story of how Yunxiang discovers his true identity and valiantly battles the Dragon Clan, their masked assassin, and other enemies, to protect his friends and family in a tale of life and death."

PATRICK BRZESKI

patrick.brzeski@thr.com
@thr




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tGEZv-P0Ok

Threads
Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
New Gods: Nezha Reborn (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71989-New-Gods-Nezha-Reborn)

[GeneChing]

Chinese New Year Box Office Hits $1.2B, Sets Record High Over Holiday Period (https://deadline.com/2021/02/chinese-new-year-2021-box-office-record-detective-chinatown-3-hi-mom-covid-1234695261/)

By Nancy Tartaglione
International Box Office Editor/Senior Contributor
@DeadlineNancy

February 17, 2021 12:40pm

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/detective-chinatown-3-1.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Wanda Pictures
The Chinese New Year box office achieved yet another milestone Wednesday, with grosses for the holiday period growing to an estimated RMB 7.78 billion ($1.2 billion). This beats the previous all-time high set during the comparable 2019 holiday (RMB 5.9B). China often outdoes itself, but the fact that 2021’s Lunar New Year frame came with Covid capacity restrictions makes the performance even more staggering.

Factors working in the session’s favor included a diverse slate of seven new local titles (including two powerhouses at the top), as well as increased ticket prices in some areas, additional screens versus 2019 and a reduction in travel which made moviegoing the first-choice activity for people who were not journeying to see family as would normally be the case during the holiday.

After setting new records for opening day and opening weekend in a single market (February 12-14), Wanda Pictures’ Detective Chinatown 3 has grossed RMB 3.56B ($551 million) through Wednesday. It is not only far and away the top movie of the year globally, but is also nearly 20% bigger than 2020’s top worldwide title, China’s The Eight Hundred — and this after just six days of play, with more to come.

While DC3 led the weekend, Beijing Culture’s time-travel comedy Hi, Mom was atop the daily charts from Monday-Wednesday and has grossed RMB 2.73B ($423M). Hi, Mom is projected by Maoyan to top out at RMB 5.28 ($817M), which would make it the No. 2 movie ever in the market. DC3 is eyeing RMB 4.51B ($698M), estimates Maoyan, a 33% local currency increase on the previous installment in the popular franchise.

Overall, there were seven new local movies for the New Year session which rolled out beginning February 12; the public holiday in China ran from February 11-17, though celebrations continue. Through Wednesday, the titles above are rounded out by A Writer’s Odyssey (RMB 538.2/$83.32M), Boonie Bears: The Wild Life (RMB 407M/$63M), New Gods: Nezha Reborn (RMB240.1M/$37.2M), The Yin Yang Master (RMB 211M/$33M) and Endgame (151M/$23.4M).

Xinhua reports that more than 155 million tickets were sold during the New Year frame, up from 130M in 2019. That’s reflective of pent-up demand for big new titles — especially given Detective Chinatown 3 was delayed by a year when Covid shuttered cinemas in early 2020 — and in part reflective of the increased number of screens in the market, which was 75,500 by the end of 2020, compared to just under 70,000 at the end of 2019.

China was the first country severely hit by the coronavirus, and implemented strict lockdown measures across the board. After six months of cinema closures, it slowly re-acclimated audiences. That began in July 2020 with some import titles whose releases had been delayed by Covid (think: Dolittle) and library movies like the first Harry Potter and some older Christopher Nolan pics. Once the market was primed, China released The Eight Hundred to huge results last August. Notes an international exec, “What China is showing is that where the virus is under control and people feel safe, they’re coming back (to cinemas) in droves.” We’ve seen some similar phenomena in Korea and Japan, although with more Covid ebbs and flows affecting momentum.

The early estimated RMB 7.78B Chinese New Year period (which also includes holdover play from movies like Disney-Pixar’s Soul), is already 38% of the total box office for 2020 in China. It’s also about 10% of 2020 global box office, 12% of international box office and 55% of domestic box office last year.

For the first month and a half of 2021, China box office has crossed RMB 10B, according to state news media, meaning it’s already more than 50% of 2020’s full gross. The good news out of China hopefully serves as an indicator of recovery that will be seen in other markets as they get back up and running with new product.

threads
Detective-Chinatown-3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
Chollywood-rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)

[GeneChing]

Lunar New Year holiday consumption in China jumps to more than US$127 billion (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3122111/lunar-new-year-holiday-consumption-china-jumps-more-800-billion)
Consumption for the holiday in 2021 sees a 28.7 per cent increase from 2020
Spending still below the amount in 2019, which was over 1 trillion yuan

Linda Lew
Published: 9:30am, 18 Feb, 2021

https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1098,format=auto/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2021/02/18/fc9f06d0-7142-11eb-ba58-f8f0a43119e3_image_hires_193710.jpg?itok=1wO5c3jW&v=1613648239
A man makes an offering as a lion dance team perform inside a mall in Beijing on Tuesday, on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Photo: AFP
Chinese consumers spent about 821 billion yuan (US$127 billion) on shopping and dining during this year’s Spring Festival holiday, an increase from 2020 but still below the amount in 2019, which was over 1 trillion yuan, according to government data.
China has been battling Covid-19 outbreaks in a number of provinces this year. As a result, the annual Lunar New Year mass migration home and consumption were disrupted as health authorities required people from high- and medium-risk areas to spend the holiday where they worked or studied, and avoid large gatherings or unnecessary travel.
The 2021 figure, released on Wednesday by China’s Ministry of Commerce, also revealed the hit to last year’s holiday spending, as statistics for that period were not published last year.
Consumption for the holiday in 2021 saw a 28.7 per cent increase from 2020, which meant last year’s spending stood at about 638 billion yuan.
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2021/02/18/f0cf7d76-7142-11eb-ba58-f8f0a43119e3_1320x770_193710.jpg
Security guards patrol in a shopping district during the Lunar New Year holiday in Beijing, China on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
“2020 was a highly unusual year that saw complicated domestic and international macro-environments, especially due to the serious impact from Covid-19,” said a January 2021 report by the Ministry of Commerce that evaluated consumption in the last year.
“The pandemic has hit the consumer market like never before, with the total retail sales of consumer goods falling by 20.5 per cent compared to the same time last year,” the report said.
But as the outbreak came under control, consumption rebounded. Total retail sales of consumer goods recorded positive growth again in August last year, and maintained a growing trend in the past five months, reflecting the vitality of China’s domestic demand, said the ministry report.
China was the only major economy in the world to record economic growth in 2020, at 2.3 per cent. The World Bank estimated a 3.6 per cent contraction for the US economy last year and 7.4 per cent drop for the euro zone.
Economic growth in China for 2021 was still uncertain as analysts said that will depend on the success of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and government policies to stimulate the recovery.
Investment bank Natixis wrote in a February research note that business sentiment has dropped slightly due to the tightened Covid-19 containment measures in China before the Lunar New Year but that economic activities were growing.
“However, the economic situation down the road is still uncertain,” Natixis wrote, depending on how the Covid-19 situation evolved and the roll-out of the vaccine.
“Economic situation is likely to improve if the containment measures can again put the Covid-19 situation under control,” it added.

I hope the rest of the global economy can bounce back with the same resilience.

[GeneChing]

Enter to win a 2021 Kung Fu Year of the Ox T-shirt. (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/kungfu-ox.php)
Contest ends 3/4/2021

http://www.kungfumagazine.com//admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/images/ezine/9641_Year-of-the-Ox-tshirt_Large.jpg

[GeneChing]

Feb 21, 2021 11:01am PT
China Box Office: ‘Hi, Mom’ Overtakes Initial Frontrunner ‘Detective Chinatown 3’ in Total Sales (https://variety.com/2021/film/news/china-box-office-hi-mom-detective-chinatown-3-beijing-culture-1234911970/)

By Rebecca Davis

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Hi-Mom-Chinese-film-cr-Copy-res.jpg
Beijing Culture
The Beijing Culture-backed tear-jerking comedy “Hi, Mom” grossed $134 million this weekend to finally surpass Wanda Film’s record-breaking Chinese New Year holiday frontrunner “Detective Chinatown 3” in overall box office, having led the latter in single-day returns since Monday.

It is now only the sixth film to ever have grossed more than RMB400 million ($62 million) in China, a feat achieved by “Detective Chinatown 3,” “Avengers: Endgame” and four other local titles.

The upset shows just how important strong word of mouth is these days in the world’s largest film market. With its 2020 debut delayed due to COVID-19, “Detective Chinatown 3” had a year-long head start over its competitors. While its aggressive promotional campaigns and the strength of its franchise pulled in audiences initially to generate a world record-breaking debut weekend, they have proven no match for the grassroots support that has emerged for the comedy that has organically captured hearts across the country.

The Jia Ling-helmed film has consistently received the highest user ratings among all seven of the blockbusters that premiered on Lunar New Year’s Day Feb. 12, and currently ranks 8.1 out of 10 on the popular Douban platform. “Detective Chinatown 3” languishes in last with 5.6 out of 10.

Inspired by the life story of her own mother, who passed away when Jia was 19, and adapted from a play she wrote in 2016, “Hi, Mom” tells the emotional tale of a woman who travels back in time to befriend her own mother and try to make her life better.

It has currently sold a total of $624 million (RMB4.05 billion) in tickets, while “Detective Chinatown 3” has sold $621 million (RMB4.03 billion), according to real-time data from Maoyan pulled just after midnight local time. Over the weekend, it brought in $134 million, more than triple second place “Detective,” which grossed $42.3 million.

From sales in just the China market alone, both titles have now far surpassed the world’s highest grossing film of 2020: China’s “The Eight Hundred,” which earned $468 million.

The strong performance of “Hi, Mom” has been a boon to its main backer Beijing Culture, which has floundered financially over the last two years but seen a recent uptick in its stock price in wake of the hit.

In third place was Huace Film and TV’s “A Writer’s Odyssey,” which earned a further $20.2 million this weekend to bring its current cume up to $113 million (RMB733 million).

In fourth was the Andy Lau-starring “Endgame,” which has had strong word of mouth as the second highest-rated title of the holiday but languished in last place until now due to lower numbers of scheduled screenings. It made $14.7 million this weekend and now has a 10-day cume of $42.9 million (RMB278 million).

Animations “Boonie Bears: The Wild Life” and “New Gods: Nezha Reborn” came in fifth and sixth, grossing $9.9 million and $9.17 million, bringing their cumes up to $77.7 million (RMB504 million) and $50.4 million (RMB327 million), respectively. In seventh was the Huayi-backed special effects-heavy fantasy film “The YinYang Master,” which brought in only a further $2.64 million. It has grossed $36.6 million (237.5 million) so far.

Next Friday will see the release of Warner Brothers’ live-action animation hybrid reboot “Tom and Jerry,” which is currently the first foreign film to hit Chinese screens in the wake of the Chinese New Year holiday blackout on imports. Disney’s Southeast Asia-inspired “Raya and the Last Dragon” will then debut in cinemas on March 5.

threads
Detective-Chinatown-3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)

[GeneChing]

China’s Lunar New Year box office revenues soar by a third to record US$1.21 billion as cinemas fill up amid travel restrictions (https://www.scmp.com/business/money/spending/article/3122812/chinas-lunar-new-year-box-office-revenues-soar-third-record)
Strict measures to avoid a return of Covid-19 meant more people stayed put during the festival season instead of returning to their hometowns for family reunions
Ticket sales were dominated by the comedies Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3, which became the fifth and sixth top-grossing movies of all time in the Chinese film market

Cheryl Heng
Published: 6:44pm, 23 Feb, 2021

https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1098,format=auto/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/methode/2021/02/23/0bd127be-75bc-11eb-8b9d-76c80a88a6d4_image_hires_195736.jpg?itok=0-58x3V3&v=1614081469
People queue to enter a cinema in Beijing on February 17, 2021. Photo: Xinhua
China’s box office revenues climbed to a record high during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, signalling a promising recovery of the world’s largest film market from the coronavirus fallout last year.
Holiday movie ticket sales in China reached 7.8 billion yuan (US$1.21 billion) during the week of February 11 to 17, up 32.5 per cent from the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment.
Ticketing revenue for 2020 was omitted as cinemas were shut between January and July amid the coronavirus crisis.
The resurgence at the box office may have been powered by stricter travel measures put in place to limit the annual Lunar New Year mass migration, in a bid to prevent a return of Covid-19. People stayed put during the festival season instead of returning to their hometowns for family reunions.
Some 44 per cent of those surveyed by the Maoyan Research Institute said they watched more movies during this year’s festive season than they did in 2019, citing more leisure time as their main reason.
More than 40 per cent of theatre screenings were fully booked in the first three days of the festive season.
Box office sales in the period were dominated by family comedy Hi, Mom and mystery comedy Detective Chinatown 3. The films had raked in earnings of 4.24 billion yuan and 4.1 billion yuan respectively as of Tuesday, making them the fifth and sixth top-grossing movies of all time in the Chinese film market, a whisker behind Avengers 4: Endgame at 4.25 billion yuan, Maoyan data showed.
Detective Chinatown 3, the third instalment of the popular cop series, led China’s box office in the first few days of the holiday with its strong franchise appeal and marketing buzz.
But it was inched out of first place by the strong word-of-mouth appeal of comedian Jia Ling’s maiden directorial work, Hi, Mom, a heartwarming story of a daughter who travels back in time to meet her mother.
The first six days of the Lunar New Year emerged as being among the top 10 highest box office revenue days in China’s film history, even as most theatres were limited to three-quarters seating capacity.
China took the top spot for global cinema receipts last year, overtaking the US as the pandemic shut American cinemas for longer than their Chinese counterparts. Ticket sales in China came to 20 billion yuan (US$3.06 billion) in 2020, surpassing the US$2.28 billion of receipts in the US, according to data from Maoyan and Comscore.

threads
Detective-Chinatown-3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
Chollywood-rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)

[GeneChing]

Far East Cafe owners decide to keep 100-year-old S.F. Chinatown restaurant alive (https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Far-East-Cafe-owners-decide-to-keep-100-year-old-15995381.php)

Janelle Bitker
March 3, 2021
Updated: March 3, 2021 4:47 p.m.
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/16/34/66/20565410/5/2000x0.jpg
Far East Cafe owner Bill Lee poses for a portrait in one of the signature booths inside the main dining room of Far East Cafe in the Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif. Thursday, January 28, 2021. Far East Cafe is one of two remaining banquet halls in Chinatown and is still being stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic with the threat of becoming extinct.Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Far East Cafe opens for indoor dining today and will expand its hours to five days a week, marking a return to form for San Francisco Chinatown’s 100-year-old banquet restaurant that nearly shut down at the end of 2020.

The owners of Far East Cafe have officially decided to continue operating the restaurant, as first reported by Sing Tao Daily and confirmed to The Chronicle by the Chinatown Community Development Center. Of course, in the volatile restaurant industry there is no such thing as permanence, but it marks a quick and significant reversal for a restaurant that announced it would close in December.

The restaurant will open indoors at 25% capacity in addition to offering outdoor dining and takeout for its generously portioned Cantonese and Chinese American dishes like wonton soup and egg foo young.

As one of Chinatown’s last-remaining banquet halls, there was an outpour of community support for Far East Cafe when its pending closure was first reported. Individuals donated money. The restaurant started making meals for vulnerable neighbors through a new partnership between nonprofit S.F. New Deal and Chinatown Community Development Center, with $1.9 million in funding from the city. And the restaurant’s landlord offered 50% off of rent, in addition to six free months last year, according to Sing Tao Daily.



Far East Cafe. Indoor dining, outdoor dining and takeout. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday-Sunday. 631 Grant Ave., San Francisco.

threads
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
covid (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)
Chinatown, San Francisco (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?26877-Chinatown-San-Francisco)

[GeneChing]

See WINNERS-2021-Kung-Fu-Year-of-the-Ox-T-shirt (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72008-WINNERS-2021-Kung-Fu-Year-of-the-Ox-T-shirt)

[highlypotion]

threads
Detective-Chinatown-3 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71600-Detective-Chinatown-3)
2021 Year of the Ox (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)
Chollywood-rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)

Haven't watched it but the picture Is really dope. Each character brings little vibes to me about them.

[GeneChing]

Time to get this started. Hopefully, this will be an auspicious year for Tiger Claw (https://www.tigerclaw.com/home.php).

threads
2022 Year of the Tiger (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72166-2022-Year-of-the-Tiger)
2021-Year-of-the-Ox (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71967-2021-Year-of-the-Ox)