Funeral home drama a fresh departure

Veteran director Gao Xixi has completed a television drama remake of Departures, the Japanese Oscar-winning film about those who clean, dress and apply cosmetics to the dead.

Gao's version deals with a dresser working in a funeral home, and his three siblings. While depicting the family's ups and downs over the years, the drama also revolves around many social issues, such as single mothers and generation gaps.

The show is the first project of Gao's new studio, Hope Century, and will be broadcast soon.

Gao's next work is a TV series on the battle between Chu and Han, two states from 2,200 years ago.

Viewers can vote for favorite TV hosts

Beijing TV viewers can now vote for their favorite TV hosts.

They can vote for one of the station's 66 TV hosts by calling the hotline, voting through selected newspapers, or logging onto its official website. Voting ends on Sept 5.

All the candidates have opened micro blogs on qq.com. Viewers can follow them on the website to find out more about the TV hosts.

The votes, together with a social survey , will determine the 30 most popular TV hosts. An award ceremony will be held in October.

The event will take place every two years.

Designers get their chance to bloom

The Space Floral Decoration Design Contest, from July 6 to Dec 23, is the first in China for space floral designers. The host Cohim Fashion Training Organization is one of the biggest space floral training centers in the nation.

The judging panel includes famous space floral designer Gao Yijing from Taiwan and French artist Yves Charnay. There will be four awards: the best space floral design, the best lighting design, the best environment materials application and the best color innovation.

Space floral, widely used at weddings, wine parties and banquets, is a combination of lighting, music and floriculture.

Floral tributes pour in for Universiade

Ten designs have entered the final round of competition for the awards-ceremony flowers for the 26th Universiade, to be held in Shenzhen from August 12 to 23.

More than 380 proposals have been submitted for the competition, many from masters of flower art, according to Beijing Huaxiang Green Garden Group, which provided ceremonial flowers for the Beijing Olympics and will take on the same job during the 26th Universiade.

Singer Tan Jing is image ambassador for the ceremonial flowers of the 26th Universiade.

Forest music fest a classical music treat

The 2011 Beijing Forest Music Festival will be held on Aug 6 and 7 in Yanqing county, Beijing.

The festival will feature three of the best-known Chinese tenors Zhang Jianyi, Ding Yi and Wei Song, as well as Peter Buffett, an Oscar-winning American musician and son of investor Warren Buffett.

Beijing Wind Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of China Opera and Dance Drama Company will also perform at the festival.

With the theme of "music, green, fashion, family, love", the festival hopes to attract families to appreciate classical music in a natural environment.

The festival will be held at the Great Wall Tanglewood Art Zone of Yanqing county.

Samaranch statues mark Olympic bid

To mark the 10th anniversary of China winning the right to host the Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese artist Yuan Xikun has made 100 bronze statues of the late Juan Antonio Samaranch, former president of the International Olympic Committee.

Yuan made these statues as gifts to the people who contributed to China's bid for the Olympic Games, including international political leaders, athletes, and ordinary volunteers.

The statues are smaller versions of a statue that Yuan made in 2006, which was launched by Samaranch.

China Daily