Danwei Noon Report is a daily roundup of new and old media coverage about China from Chinese and English sources.

The Banquet spoofed
Apparently Chen Kaige was so upset with the criticism The Promise received that he found someone to film an even worse movie. Since Zhang Yimou was tied up with the Olympic opening ceremony preparations, he pegged Feng Xiaogang for the task, and The Banquet was the result. It's all detailed here, in The Truth Exposed:

SARFT: Lou Ye had quality problems
Clarifying the recent decision to ban director Lou Ye from filmmaking for five years, SARFT vice-director Zhao Shi fell back on earlier statements that Lou's film, Summer Palace, had problems with image and sound quality that prevented the censor board from authorizing its screening at Cannes. Xinhua quotes Zhao:

We believe that the measures taken to supervise Chinese film have had an immense propulsive effect in the development of the film sector....according to regulations enacted in view of national conditions, all film products entering the market, screened for society, must pass review by inspectors. This is the same idea as the need for quality inspections of other products before they enter the marketplace.

Zhao revealed that Lou will not be fined. The Xinhua wire article reproduces Lou Ye's statement to the AP that he thinks the punishment is unreasonable, and ends with a quote from Jia Zhangke, whose Still Life recently won the Golden Lion after screening (legally) at the Venice Film Festival: "There are definitely misunderstandings between directors and the administrative departments. Everyone should sit down and hear each other out, and maybe find out a better way to solve things." (link - in Chinese; earlier on Danwei; see also this article by Jonathan Watts in The Guardian)

Progress in the West
The blogger at The Opposite End of China has interrupted his string of immensely interesting Uighur music videos to comment on two items concerning the march of progress in Xinjiang. In the first, he compares a rooftop photograph taken of the city of Korla in 1998 with one he took himself this week. (link). In the second, slightly more buzzword-worthy treatment of progress, he notes several reports on President Hu Jintao's recent visit to Xinjiang, a trip that was disclosed only after Hu was safely out of the Uighur Autonomous Region. (link).

Washing up
In this week's Oriental Outlook, author Wang Xiaorou reminisces about how taking a shower has changed over the years.

One time a foreign relative came to our home. I called her "older cousin"; she was American, and I didn't know how we were related. Her temporary address was at our home. Since I couldn't speak a foreign language, I hadn't asked where Americans went to bathe. My task at the time was to take this American girl to the bathhouse. I rode a brand-new Forever bicycle (my gift on entering middle school), but when I thought about the sweaty odors in the bathhouse and the awkwardness of standing naked under the faucet, I felt ashamed all along the way.

At that time, getting a showerhead required skill - otherwise you'd be left standing to one side, watching people and having people watch you. Getting showered with water was something that brought a considerable sense of accomplishment in that place. When someone was just about to finish washing their hair, with their head lifted up, you had to lower your head toward the water. Once the water hit you, you quickly put your whole body into it - in this way you could push the person washing up out from under the showerhead. Once one person got under the water, then without a doubt that person would twist her neck to call out to her sisters while turning her body under the stream. The others would come running to press around - occupying a showerhead was exciting.

Places to shower now are really high-class - they provide food, lodging, and special services. At that time, the standard for evaluating a bathhouse was nothing more than: was the waterflow strong? Were there many showerheads? Was the water hot?

Wang Xiaorou's column is not yet online. It can be found in the 14 September issue of Oriental Outlook (#148).