Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyfaces one final test in its mission for global box office dominance: China, the world's No. 2 movie market.The wildly successful Disney film will have to contend with a foe more fearsome than Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters this weekend when it finally enters the Middle Kingdom, however.Rogue One's China opening could be hindered byBeijing's apocalyptic air pollution.Over the past few weeks, heavy smog in northern China has caused hundreds of flights to be

The Nickelodeon Cultural Resort is expected to open in 2020.Viacom International Media Networks is joining forces withSanshui New Town Management Committee and Hong Kong Elite Global Group to build the first Nickelodeon theme park.Based in China's Foshan area, the theme park will be a part of a larger developmentcalledFoshan Cultural and Ecological Coastal Project.The $1.71 billion development covers an area of about 750 acres, with Nickelodeon-themed attractions spanning 250 set acres.“We

President-elect Donald Trump enjoysusing social media to share his thoughts, but conducting foreign policy on Twitter is “ill-advised,” China’s state mediasaidTuesday.“Engaging in ‘Twitter diplomacy’ is ill-advised,” Xinhua News Agency wrote in a commentary Tuesday.Tweeting has become a “habit” for the incoming president, Xinhua explained.Over the past month, Trump has targeted China in several critical tweets blastingChina formanipulating its currency, engagingin unfair trading practic

Last year, Google madehistory when itsDeepMind-based artificial intelligenceAlphaGounequivocally defeatedthe second highest ranking Go player in the world, Lee Sedol – but now it seems the crafty AI is coming for the number one spot.In a curious turn of events, yesterday DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis confirmed AlphaGo has won over 50 games against numerous leading Go competitors, including number-one ranked Ke Jie.The announcement came shortly after a mysterious user – under the moniker of ‘Mas

China has started an overhaul of its salt industry, easing a monopoly that has existed in some form for more than 2,000 years and predates the Great Wall, theAPreports. New regulations went into effect at the start of this year. Under a plan published by China's State Council last year, government regulators will allow private companies to enter the salt market.Existing wholesalers will be allowed to operate outside their previously designated areas, run marketing campaigns, and introduce mo

A knife-wielding man entered a kindergarten in China and attacked 11 children Wednesday, Chinese mediarevealed.The middle-aged man climbed over the wall around 3:30 in the afternoon and began stabbing children at a kindergarten in Pingxiang, Guangxi Province. The motives behind the attack are currently unknown.None of the children sustained life-threatening injuries during the course of the attack.The suspect is in police custody and an investigation isunderway.Such attacks are surprisingly comm

The official mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party the 'People's Daily' was criticized by netizens for uploading an obscenity-filled puzzle for readers on its social media accounts, aBBCreport says.On Monday, the newspaper posted an alphabetical puzzle asking the readers the first three identified words might define the 2017 for them.NewYear2017 word puzzle just for fun: the first three words you see that might define your 2017. What do you see? it wrote early on Monday.A

China launched its first freight train to London this week, the China Railway Corporation said.Departing from Yiwu West Railway Station in eastern Zhejiang Province, the train will travel for about 18 days and more than 12,000 kilometers before reaching its destination in Britain.The route runs through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, before arriving in London. The UK is the eighth country to be added to the China-Europe service, and London is the 15th city.The a

In what is being described as China’s first court case involving transgender discrimination in the work place, a judge in the southwestern province of Guizhou has ruled that a trans plaintiff was illegally fired from his job, but not necessarily because of his gender identity.“We found this a little bit of a shame,”said Huang Sha, the lawyer for the 28-year-old plaintiff, known in the state news media only as “Mr. C.”Mr. C was dismissed from the Ciming Health Checkup Center in Guiyang in Ap

China’s largest television network has re-launched its international on-air and online presence in an effort to promote “positive propaganda” overseas.Central China Television (CCTV) launched the new overseas offensive on Jan. 1 via the newly-named China Global Television Network (CGTN).The move is part of Beijing’s push to extend its global reach via “soft power” tactics and follows President Xi Jinping’s call for media to re-brand China by improving its image and narrative and expanding