We'll soon find what's what with WotWots

The WotWots, a children's cartoon from New Zealand that debuted in 2009 will hit China's small screens this summer.

Richard Taylor, creator and head of the New Zealand film prop and special effects company Weta Workshop, which is behind the dazzling scenes in The Lord of the Rings, co-creates the show with writer Martin Baynton.

Taylor told a news conference in Beijing on Sunday that he will work with Chinese talent to create the show's second series. The 52 episodes of the first series have been broadcast in more than 10 countries.

The show's first season will air on some of China's subscription TV channels during the schools' summer vacation, which usually starts in early July.

Retrospective show of Sichuan artist He Duoling

He Duoling, a veteran oil artist from Sichuan, will hold his retrospective show from May 8 at Shanghai Museum of Art.

He will display more than 60 selected works, including signature works of the early 1980s such as Spring Breeze Is Coming, and The Youth, and later works that have never been made public.

They will give viewers a comprehensive look at the 63-year-old's artistic career and the changes that have occurred in Chinese society, says curator Ouyang Jianghe.

The exhibition will tour Beijing and other cities before moving to overseas museums in New York, London, Munich and Paris, organizers say.

Movie sharing community created for fans of film

Video-sharing website Qiyi.com launched an online community for film and television show buffs - the first of its kind in the country - on April 21.

The community provides a variety of services, such as enabling sharing of the latest films and TV shows from not only Qiyi but also from such rivals as Tudou.com and Youku.com.

Users can share and talk about their favorite shows using the community's micro blogs.

Qiyi, which aspires to become the Chinese version of Hulu via the search engine giant Baidu.com, is the country's first video-sharing website with a micro blog and online community.

The Bat flies in to open free nights at opera

China National Opera House will hold its first "free opera days" on May 13 and 14, featuring performances of the opera Die Fledermaus (The Bat) at Beijing's Workers' Stadium.

More than 10,000 free tickets will be offered on the opera house's website www.chinaopera.com.cn and its micro blog on Sina.com.

The opera, composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Gene, will be performed in Chinese, as it's a tradition of the opera house to translate Western works into Mandarin.

The opera house will stage "free opera days" every year to provide more opportunities to appreciate the performance art form.

Sportswear design contest launched by One Dream

Xiamen, Fujian province-based sportswear brand One Dream, and Textile and Apparel Weekly recently launched the First Sportswear Online Design Competition.

The competition, which started on April 20, invites the country's fashion designers to create modern and trendy jumpsuits, pants and accessories for athletic use. Over the next six months, they can upload their sketches to the company's official website.

Online shoppers will vote on these uploaded creations. The final round will be staged in Beijing in November, and winners can become full-time designers with One Dream.

Sportswear has remained a fast-growing component of the garment sector in China over the past three years. The country now has about 80 companies specializing in the field.

China Daily