Japan maestro Ozawa cancels China performances (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Seiji Ozawa, Japan's most famous conductor, will not take part in a music festival in China later this week, organizers said, with media reporting that he was in hospital in Tokyo for tests.

The 75-year-old former Vienna State Opera musical director, who for many years was also conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was diagnosed with oesophogeal cancer in January 2010 and completed treatment later that year.

In January, he had endoscopic lower back surgery for chronic back pain and took a six-month break from conducting. But his comeback at the Saito Kinen Festival in the Japanese castle town of Matsumoto ran into trouble last week when he was diagnosed with dehydration and a light case of pneumonia, forcing him to cancel two of four performances.

"He will not be taking part in performances in China," said a spokesperson at the Saito Kinen Festival, the organizer of the Chinese event.

She would not confirm media reports that Ozawa was in hospital for tests and unspecified treatment.

Ozawa was one of the first Asian classical musicians widely recognized abroad and has strived to revitalize the classical music scene in his native country by founding the Saito Kinen Festival.

Born the son of a dentist in 1935 in Shenyang, part of what was then Japanese-occupied China, Ozawa spent much of his early childhood in Beijing and has kept up connections with China since the late 1970s, when he was invited to work with a Chinese orchestra for a week.

Ozawa had been set to take part in four performances during the Chinese festival, which runs from Sept 1 to 11.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

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China bars some Lady Gaga hits from download sites (AP)

BEIJING – China's Ministry of Culture has ordered music download sites to delete songs by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, the Backstreet Boys and other pop stars within two weeks or face punishment.

The ministry posted a list of 100 songs — including Lady Gaga's "Judas" and Perry's "Last Friday Night" — that had to be purged from the Chinese web because they had never been submitted for mandatory government screening.

Six Lady Gaga songs in all were on the list, all from her latest album. The 12-year-old ballad "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys was also targeted. Dozens of Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop songs and a few Western hits were listed as well.

The ministry said the rule was meant to preserve China's "national cultural security."

Sites were told in the Aug. 19 announcement posted to the ministry's website that they had until Sept. 15 to carry out "self-correction" and delete the songs. It said violators would be punished, but didn't outline the penalties they would face.

It didn't say that the listed songs were objectionable, just that they had not been approved for distribution.

The Chinese government carefully screens the content of imported entertainment content for political messages or commentary that runs contrary to its official line.

Foreign music acts in particular are believed to receive special scrutiny after Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet!" during a 2008 concert in Shanghai after performing a song titled "Declare Independence."

China claims Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries and that Beijing's tight control is draining them of their culture and identity.

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Singer will.i.am to work with US, perform in China (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US singer will.i.am, the frontman of the Black Eyed Peas, will partner with the State Department to promote cultural and educational exchanges with China by directing a concert in Beijing this year.

The Grammy winner met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday to discuss President Barack Obama's "100,000 Strong Initiative," which aims to increase the number of US students in China, the State Department said.

The concert, which will feature performances by will.i.am and other US and Chinese pop stars, will promote and benefit the plan, said the statement, which did not give details about the other participants.

"In order to become responsible global citizens, young people need to experience the world around them," will.i.am said in the statement.

"We must make sure that American students have the cultural awareness and skills necessary to succeed in a global economy."

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China artist Ai Weiwei stays quiet after freed on bail (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – The dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, whose detention in April ignited an international uproar, was released on bail Wednesday under conditions likely to keep the outspoken critic of Communist Party controls silent for now.

"I can't say anything more, because I'm on bail," Ai told reporters who had gathered outside his home after his release was reported by China's official Xinhua news agency.

His abrupt release came days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao heads to Europe, where Berlin and other capitals have been critical of Beijing's secretive detention of Ai and dozens of other rights advocates, lawyers and dissidents.

But the Chinese government cast its apparent backdown as a vindication of their controversial case. Xinhua said Ai was freed "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from," citing the police.

A company that police said he controlled "was found to have evaded a huge amount of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents, police said," according to Xinhua.

"The decision comes also in consideration of the fact that Ai has repeatedly said he is willing to pay the taxes he evaded," said the report.

Family members and supporters have said the outspoken 54-year-old artist was a victim of a crackdown on political dissent that intensified after overseas Chinese websites in February called for protests in China to emulate anti-authoritarian uprisings in the Arab world.

China's courts and police are firmly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and it is unusual, but not unprecedented, for authorities to back away from a potential prosecution in a high-profile case like this.

"Without the wave of international support for Ai, and the popular expressions of dismay and disgust about the circumstances of his disappearance, it's highly unlikely the Chinese government would have released him," said Phelim Kine, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

The United States, Germany, Britain and other governments voiced concern about Ai's secretive detention without formal notification to his family. Chinese Premier Wen will visit Britain and Germany, as well as Hungary.

"I'm perfectly fine. My health is fine," Ai, notably thinner after his months in detention, said in brief comments to Britain's ITV news service. He thanked his supporters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman Steffen Seibert said she welcomed Ai's release. "Today's release on bail can only be a first step. Now the case against Ai WeiWei has to be cleared in a constitutional and transparent way," he added.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said Ai's release was welcome, adding: "But there's obviously more individuals who are being held, so we want to see the release of all these people."

RETURNED HOME, HEALTH OKAY

Ai (whose name is pronounced "Eye Way-way") was detained at Beijing airport on April 3, igniting an outcry about China's tightening grip on dissent, which has triggered the detention and arrest of dozens of rights activists and dissidents.

The bearded, burly contemporary artist was the most internationally well-known of those detained, and his family has repeatedly said that he was targeted by authorities for his outspoken criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls.

Amnesty International said Ai's release was an "important" but limited step, and urged Beijing to release other activists and dissidents held in the recent crackdown that has relied heavily on extra-judicial detentions.

"His release can be seen as a tokenistic move by the government to deflect mounting criticisms," said Catherine Baber, the Asia-Pacific deputy director for Amnesty, in emailed comments.

"It is vital that the international outcry over Ai Weiwei be extended to those activists still languishing in secret detention or charged with inciting subversion," she said.

In China, bail can be used to release suspects on condition that they do not break laws for a stipulated time, and that condition may discourage Ai from speaking out or resuming his campaigning against government targets.

"There are well-grounded concerns that the conditions for Ai Weiwei's release will be onerously restrictive," said Kine, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

The well-known British sculptor Anish Kapor said foreign artists should still not show their work in China for now.

"While I am thankful that he has been released, I do not think that artists should present their work in China until the situation has been resolved," he said in an emailed statement about Ai's release.

(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Ron Popeski and Alistair Lyon)

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China police allege Ai Weiwei firm evaded tax (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) – Police in Beijing on Friday alleged a firm controlled by Ai Weiwei had evaded "a huge amount" of tax, state media said, as authorities appeared to ramp up their case against the detained artist.

Police authorities in the capital, citing an initial probe, also alleged the company -- Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd -- had "intentionally destroyed accounting documents", the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Ai, one of China's most prominent artists and a vocal critic of the ruling Communist Party, was detained by police on April 3 amid the government's biggest crackdown on dissidents and activists in years.

The 54-year-old's detention has been loudly condemned internationally, with the United States and European Union calling for his release.

Up until now, the Chinese government had only said that Ai was under investigation for economic crimes, but police have so far failed to issue a formal arrest warrant.

Police authorities told Xinhua that Ai was currently being kept under "residential surveillance" and that his "right to meet with people who live with him was ensured in accordance with the law."

Ai was able to meet his wife Lu Qing last Sunday and appeared to be in good health, his sister told AFP earlier this week, in what is believed to be his first known face-to-face contact with his family since his detention.

Liu Xiaoyuan, a rights lawyer and close friend of Ai, told AFP on Friday he could not comment on the police allegations.

But he said the fact that Ai was being kept under "residential surveillance" away from his home did "not meet legal requirements."

Human rights groups have criticised "residential surveillance" -- in which authorities detain people for extended periods without charge -- as a violation of Chinese law.

Lu, meanwhile, was not immediately available for comment.

Chinese authorities, apparently spooked by the wave of pro-democracy uprisings sweeping the Middle East, have detained dozens of lawyers, artists and other perceived critics in recent weeks.

Many of the detainees have reportedly been beaten while in custody.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week denounced China's clampdown on dissent as a "fool's errand," saying Beijing was trying to stop the course of history.

The remarks, made in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, were some of the strongest by a senior US official on China's crackdown.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman later denounced the comment as "inappropriate".

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China piracy cost U.S. firms $48 billion in 2009: report (Reuters)

BIG SKY, Montana (Reuters) – Chinese piracy and counterfeiting of U.S. software and a wide range of other intellectual property cost American businesses an estimated $48 billion in 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a report released on Wednesday.

It also concluded 2.1 million jobs could be created in the United States if China complied with its current international obligations to protect and enforce intellectual property rights. The most direct jobs impact would come in high-tech and other innovative industries.

The report, requested last year by top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, gives the Obama administration additional ammunition to press Beijing for better protections.

More than $26 billion of the losses came from the information and service sector and more than $18 billion came from the high-tech and heavy manufacturing sector in addition to billions more from other sectors, the report said.

"China's unfair practices cost the U.S. billions of dollars and millions of jobs," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said in a statement as top U.S., Chinese and other Asia Pacific trade officials gathered in his home state of Montana for an annual meeting.

"Time and time again, China has failed to protect and enforce American intellectual property rights, and it continues to discriminate unfairly against American businesses. We cannot pretend that there aren't real consequences to these violations when these numbers show that millions of American jobs are on the line," Baucus said.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Sandra Maler)

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Bob Dylan denies censorship of China shows (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rock legend Bob Dylan took to his website on Friday to dispute accusations he bowed to censorship for his first ever concerts in China last month.

Dylan was criticized by Western media and by Human Rights Watch for not performing some of his best-known protest songs on his China tour in April.

In a rare online posting, Dylan said Chinese authorities asked for the names of the songs he would play in their country.

Dylan said he sent Chinese officials his set lists from the previous three months of shows. He performed in Beijing on April 6 and Shanghai two days later.

"If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play," Dylan wrote in the post.

Media commentators cited the absence of songs "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Blowin' in the Wind" from Dylan's China set list as evidence that the counter-culture hero had caved to pressure.

Dylan, who turns 70 this month, said in his Web post that the audience in China, rather than clamoring for his 1960s material, "responded enthusiastically" to music from his last four or five albums.

In March, China's Culture Ministry said in a brief statement that an agreement to have Dylan sing in the country came with the proviso that he perform "the approved content."

China's censors have been sensitive in the past to subversive political content as well as references to sex, drugs and religion in songs by Western performers.

Dylan did open his China shows with his overtly Christian 1979 song "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking," from the period soon after Dylan, who was born Jewish, embraced Christianity for a number of years.

His China tour also included his hit songs "Like A Rolling Stone," "All Along the Watchtower" and "Forever Young."

Dylan, who is known as "Baobo Dilun" in China, said on his website that he sold 12,000 tickets for the Beijing show, out of a total of 13,000 seats available. He said that the rest of the tickets were given away to orphanages.

Dylan faced accusations of selling out after appearing in a 2004 Victoria's Secret commercial and for allowing a Canadian bank to use "The Times They Are A-Changin'" in a 1996 advertisement.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Bob Dylan addresses 'China controversy' (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) – In a rare and strongly worded message to his fans, Bob Dylan has denied claims his songs were censored by government authorities when he made his much-publicised China debut last month.

The music legend, who played in Beijing and Shanghai on April 6 and 8, missed out some of his best known politically inspired songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind", sparking speculation he may have been censored.

Addressing the "so-called China controversy" in a post on his official website, Dylan admitted that authorities had asked for the names of the songs he would be playing ahead of the concerts.

China's leaders -- criticised by rights groups and Western governments for human rights violations -- are widely believed to be nervous about the potential for politically provocative songs or statements by foreign rock acts.

"There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous three months," Dylan wrote on Friday.

"If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."

Dylan, who received a warm reception from a mixed crowd of Chinese and expatriates in Beijing and Shanghai, denied reports that his concerts had been attended mostly by foreigners and that there were many empty seats.

"If anybody wants to check with any of the concert-goers they will see that it was mostly Chinese young people that came," he said, adding the audience responded "enthusiastically" to his more recent songs.

"Out of 13,000 seats we sold about 12,000 of them, and the rest of the tickets were given away to orphanages," he added.

Dylan was playing as part of a tour commemorating 50 years since his first major performance on April 11, 1961. He also denied claims that he had been banned from playing in China last year.

"This was all drummed up by a Chinese promoter who was trying to get me to come there after playing Japan and Korea," he wrote.

"We had no intention of playing China at that time, and when it didn't happen most likely the promoter had to save face by issuing statements that the Chinese ministry had refused permission for me to play there to get himself off the hook."

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Director lauds Christian Bale for China film work (AP)

HONG KONG – The director of the Chinese war epic "Nanjing Heroes" was impressed by Christian Bale's professionalism and willingness to forego Hollywood comforts on the film shoot.

Bale arrived in Nanjing alone Feb. 2 and insisted on the same accommodations as the director and crew, director Zhang Yimou was quoted as saying in a statement by his production company. Bale also attended an extra's birthday party, "playing around with everyone, playing hard, without the pretense of a big star at all."

The Oscar winner for "The Fighter" and star of "The Dark Knight" portrays an American priest in the World War II movie. He finished filming recently and returned to England, the statement sent to The Associated Press said.

"An A-list Hollywood actor traveling alone to an alien country and an alien set, working and living for several months with several hundred foreigners he doesn't know well — that is very incredible and very impressive to me," Zhang was quoted as saying.

The director best known in the West for "Raise the Red Lantern" and "To Live" called Bale a generous performer.

"When I asked him for a certain kind of performance, he gave me three approaches. When I asked for three approaches, he gave me five," he said. "He always wanted to give me more, so I have a wider range of choices. His professionalism often touched me. He is a great role model for Chinese actors."

The film is an adaptation of a Chinese-language novel by contemporary writer Yan Geling about 13 sex workers in Nanjing who volunteered to replace university students as escorts for invading Japanese soldiers. In the novel, the American priest leads a church that shelters prostitutes and young female students during the invasion.

One of China's best-known modern directors, Zhang's recent releases include "A Simple Noodle Story," an adaptation of the Coen brothers' 1984 movie "Blood Simple," and "Under the Hawthorn Tree," a love story set in China's decade-long ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution.

"Nanjing Heroes," a $90 million production, is scheduled to finish shooting in June and will be released in China on Dec. 16.

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