By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Cosmopolitan Luoyang, a famous historical city in Tang Dynasty is being exhibited in Stockholm’s Far Eastern Museum of Antiquities. Greenpost’s Xuefei Chen Axelsson has talked with Michel Lee, Director of the museum. 
Category Archives: culture
Witches, stallions and sami culture receive production funding
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Stockholm, Sept. 6(Greenpost)–Gabriella Pichler and Jonas Hassen Khemiri collaborate, Ninja Thyberg updates the image of the horse-loving girl and sami coming of age drama by Amanda Kernell in West Bothnia are among the films awarded funding in August.
From Sámi Blood (Sameblod) by Amanda Kernell. Photo: Oskar Östergren Amanda Kernell
Invasion! is Gabriela Pichler’s first film since the Venice awarded Eat Sleep Die (Äta sova dö). The script is a collaboration between Pichler and Swedish award-winning novelist and playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri. As in her previous film, Pichler works with first time actors on location.
Tacit Wisdom (Tyst kunskap) by Saara Cantell is a reality-based psychological social drama about witchcraft on the Swedish-governed Åland islands in the 17th century, where the men in power suppress the wisdom of women. Independent young Anna is at the centre when the church begins a hunt for women who are in league with the devil.
With her debut feature Sámi Blood (Sameblod), Amanda Kernell continues along the same lines as her acclaimed short Northern Great Mountain (Norra Storfjället). Elle Marja attends a Sami boarding school in the 1930s. Racial biology examinations cause her to break away from her Sami identity, but becoming Swedish proves to be harder than she thought.
Three projects in a short format have been awarded funding in August. In the erotic short The Stud (Hingsten) by Ninja Thyberg, horse-loving 16-year-old Adena wants to lose her virginity to her handsome teacher Adam. Patterns are broken and gender roles switch places. In 2013 Thyberg was awarded the Canal+ Award in Cannes for Pleasure, about the porn industry. This is her first film after graduating from the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts.
The children’s adventure Dreamgame (Drömspel 1) by Elisabet Gustafsson, who made Annabell’s Spectacularities (Krakel Spektakel) in 2014, is part of the Moving Sweden initiative. Nicolas’s mum spends too much time working on her thesis and is literally absorbed into her computer. Nicolas jumps into his video game to save her and meets giant spiders and other characters on his journey to the factory, where his mum is being held captive.
In Ni ska se att jag har rätt (English title tba) by Saga Gärde, bus-driving union man Magnus gives an impassioned speech behind the wheel as he sees the union losing members, and how the privatisation of public transport is creating stress and occupational injuries among his colleagues
China Day Held in Sandberg’s School in Sweden
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Upplands Väsby, Sept. 4(Greenpost) — An interesting China Day was held in Sandberg’s School in Upplands Väsby in Sweden on Aug. 28.
The weather is so fine that students have begun the program outside in the playground with the Lion Dance.
Headmaster Eva Svensson said her school was a private school, but with a lot of efforts and investment in building relations with China. They have become sister school with Wenlan School in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province since four years ago.
“The purpose of holding this China Day is to let pupils learn Chinese language and culture through interesting activities with Chinese elements,” said Svensson.
According to Svensson, there are about 300 students and 35 teachers with nine grades and 11 classes.
The students are impress by the lion dance and even tried to learn kongfu excercise from the coach actor and actresses.
Then they moved inside the classroom. Some students wrote characters, cut it and then made a Chinese dragon. Some students made kites and some made Jianzi.
Chinese teacher Sun Kai said she was impressed by her Swedish students because they like to study Chinese and if you give them an idea, they can really make a product for you.
After two hours work, students went out to eat fried Chinese noodles to taste Chinese food.
The last program was to fly all the kites they made themselves.
Many pupils said it was a very lovely day and very interesting.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence – Sweden’s candidate for the Academy Award nominations
Roy Andersson talks to Swedish Film Institute head of press Jan Göransson. To his left producer Pernilla Sandström and Director International Department Pia Lundberg. Photo: Christopher Mair/Swedish Film Institute
The Swedish Oscar Committee has chosen Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence as Sweden’s candidate for the Academy Award nominations. The film is also selected for European Film Award – People’s Choice Award, with Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund as one of the other nine nominated.
A happy Roy Andersson attended the press conference at the Swedish Film Institute in Stockholm, earlier today. He is currently working on a new project, with the working title On Eternity (Om det oändliga); also adding that he wants to see more poetry in film in general.
In autumn 2014, Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron) was awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. Now, the Swedish Oscar Committee has selected the film as the Swedish candidate for the Academy Award nominations.
The Academy Award judges will then decide which films go on to a shortlist, and which are subsequently nominated for an Academy Award.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence has been well received both in Sweden and internationally. The average rating from Swedish critics is 3.90 out of 5. The foreign press has also praised the movie:
“The morose, sardonic genius on show in Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence plays like the melancholy inheritor of fellow Nordic miserablists August Strindberg, Edvard Munch and Søren Kierkegaard – but with much better jokes.” (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound, May 2015)
“…the film is a master class in comic timing, employing pacing and repetition with the skill of a practiced concert pianist.” (Peter Debruge, Variety, September 2014)
The film is produced by Pernilla Sandström for Roy Andersson Filmproduktion, and co-produced by Société Parisienne de Production of France, 4½ of Norway, and German company Essential Film Production. The film received production funding from the Swedish Film Institute, Film Commissioner Suzanne Glansborg.Coproduction Office is the international sales agent. The movie premiered in Sweden on 14 November and is distributed by TriArt.
Roy Andersson is one of Swedish film’s most important directors of all time. His first feature-length film A Swedish Love Story (En kärlekshistoria) from 1970 set a new standard in psychological realism, subtle tragicomedy and strong visual narrative – something that has characterised Andersson’s work ever since, particularly in his acclaimed 2000 comeback movie Songs from the Second Floor (Sånger från andra våningen). A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is the perfectionist Andersson’s first feature-length film in seven years. Andersson was also selected Sweden’s candidate for the Academy Award nominations with A Swedish Love Story, Songs from the Second Floor and You, the Living.
In addition to supporting the Swedish entry for Best Foreign Language Film, the Swedish Film Institute will also grant support for the Academy Award campaign forStig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words in the Best Documentary Feature category.
The following Oscar Committee members were involved in making the decision:
Anders Habenicht, appointed by Teaterförbundet – The Swedish Union for Performing Arts and Film
Jörgen Bergmark, appointed by Teaterförbundet – The Swedish Union for Performing Arts and Film
Zoran Slavic, appointed by Sveriges Filmuthyrareförening (Swedish association of film renters)
Jan Lumholdt, appointed by the Swedish Federation of Film Critics
George Ivanov, appointed by the Swedish Film Institute
Charlotta Denward, appointed by the Swedish Film & TV Producers Association
Sören Staermose, appointed by the Swedish Film & TV Producers Association
European Film Award – People’s Choice Award
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is also selected for European Film Award – People’s Choice Award, one of the biggest film awards in the world. Among other nominated is Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund, making it two Swedish films of a total of ten nominated. The winner is announced at the European Film Awards Ceremony on 12 December in Berlin.
China considers amending laws to boost private schools
BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Legislators on Wednesday deliberated amendments to laws on education to promote the development of private schools.
The amendments were submitted to the country’s top legislature during its bi-monthly session that started on Monday.
According to the amendments, private schools can choose their own method of operation and register as non-profit or profit-making enterprises.
Non-profit private schools will charge fees according to regulations made by local governments, while for-profit private schools can decide the fee criteria on their own.
Private schools operating in violation of the regulations and rules should be shut down. Violators should return fees and may be fined one to five times of their illegal gains, said the amendments. Enditem
Sweden strives for gender equality in film industry
Stockholm， Aug. 22(Greenpost)– Sweden is striving for gender equality in film industry as voices are getting louder in the global film industry regarding gender inequality.
(Video: http://mediaroom.sweden.se/)
A growing body of research and statistics points to what many have been arguing for decades: women are not represented equally behind or in front of the camera.
The Swedish film industry has certainly been no different. Back to 2012, with only 32 percent of Swedish state-funded features produced by women, and women directors and screenwriters underrepresented, Anna Serner, CEO of the Swedish Film Institute (SFI), decided that something needed to be done.
Serner explains, “When I started three and a half years ago, we had an assignment to aim for a 40/60 average of long feature films, in the key positions of director, screenwriter and producer. Of course this always means 40 percent women, but I would say that you should always aim for 50/50 over time”.
Serner has become a bit of a rock-star figure internationally in championing gender equality in the film industry. Her proactive, no-nonsense approach with its proven results has gained worldwide attention from the film industry and media alike.
“What I did was to be very clear in the goal and made an action plan for reaching the goal by the end of 2015. And it took us (only) two and a half years, to reach the goal”.
With four out of five Swedish feature film receiving funding from SFI, their “Towards Gender Equality in Film Production ” action plan naturally had a major effect on what films have been made. Being expected with any shake-up to the existing system, arguments and criticism ensued from both the creative and the business sides of the industry. Even neighboring Scandinavian countries with a similar film funding system questioned the need for such an aggressive program.
Serner’s views have remained steady. “One very common argument is that you shouldn’t do this because it limits the creativity, the freedom of speech and the quality of the artistic level of films. I would say exactly the opposite, actually, that you need gender equality and you need to get the underrepresented voices… to get quality”.
Who gets to make films is one important aspect of equality in the film industry, how women are represented in front of the camera is another.
Sweden also attracted an unexpected amount of worldwide attention for an initiative by a small art house movie theatre in Stockholm.
Ellen Tejle, Director of Bio Rio, explains,
“Back in 2013, we read that only 30% of women in film had speaking roles, and it got us thinking, ‘We need to do something ourselves! But we don’t produce films, we are just showing them’”.
What the theatre did was to develop the world’s first film classification, “A-rate”, to show if a film passes The Bechdel Test. The Bechdel Test was inspired by American animator Alison Bechdel’s idea from 30 years ago, a basic measure to see if women are fairly represented in a film.
For a film to pass The Bechdel Test, the movie must • have at least two female characters • they must both have names • they must talk to each other about something other than a man. As simple as it was, the “A-rate” campaign sent a shock wave through the industry and media from over eighty countries picked up the story.
The Bechdel Test was used in a number of analyses that followed including the oft-quoted analysis in 2014 by New York based FiveThirtyEight, showing that, of Hollywood films produced since 1990, those which passed the Bechdel test actually had a better return on investment.
Tejle cautions, “We realize that the Bechdel Test is only one tool to evaluate film, and it is not a guarantee of quality or equality, but it gets people talking about women’s representation. I know that, since A-Rate, people have been changing their scripts and changing the casting, and that’s amazing!”.
If Serner has anything to say about it, Sweden will continue to push the gender quality question forward .
“Women tell stories with a new perspective, and that’s what feels new, original, and unique. “ She adds with a smile, “There are a lot of countries that talk about things, but we are the only country that actually does things! You can criticize and you can have opposition, but that is a way of making progress”.
Net ODI of China’s financial institutions at USD2.309 bln in Q2
BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Financial institutions on the Chinese mainland reported net outward direct investment (ODI) of 2.309 billion U.S. dollars (14.129 billion yuan) in the second quarter of the year, according to China’s top foreign-exchange regulator on Wednesday.
Data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed that ODI outflows from Chinese mainland’s financial institutions, including banks, insurers, and securities firms, reached 6.146 billion U.S. dollars (37.615 billion yuan) in the second quarter of the year, while ODI inflows amounted to 3.837 billion U.S. dollars (23.486 billion yuan) in the same time period.
The calculations only cover equity investments that enable an investor to own 10 percent or more of voting stock in a company. Enditem
Vice Minister Ren Qiliang visits Sweden
Ren Qiliang, Vice Minister of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council visits Sweden
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, Aug. 16 (Greenpost)– Ren Qiliang, Vice Minister of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council has led a delegation of five members to visit Sweden during Aug. 13-15.
During his visit in Stockholm, Ren had helped cut the ribbon for the new office building of Swedish Chinese Federation of Industry and Commerce.
Ren said he was happy to attend this opening, he believed that the building would create good conditions for overseas Chinese in Sweden and facilitate them to conduct various activities such as lectures, dancing and singing as well as tourism, Chinese cousin, Kongfu and green-tech.
President of Swedish Chinese Federation of Industry and Commerce, Gongshanglian, Wang Jianrong also briefed the delegation about their plans in the future.
After the grand ceremony, the delegation also visited Swedish Chinese National Federation or Huazong which held a brief lunch meeting with the company of Chinese Embassador Chen Yuming.
During the lunch meeting, Ye Peiqun, Execultive Chairman of Swedish Chinese National Federation said over the past five more years, Chinese in Sweden has made great efforts in protecting Chinese interest and serving as a bridge between Sweden and China.
Ren said he was glad to see the Chinese in Sweden are successful in their work and life.
In the afternoon, Ren and his delegation held a seminar with Chinese in Sweden organized by the Chinese Embassy.
Counselor Guo Yanhang presided over the seminar.
Ren said the main purpose for his visit to Sweden is to greet the Chinese and listen to Chinese voices about their difficulties and needs.
“In the past, over 60 million overseas Chinese have made great contribution to China’s development, now China has developed a lot and China likes to have more cooperation with the overseas Chinese,” Ren said.
Guo Yancai, Chairwoman of the Women’s Committee under the Swedish Chinese Federation or Hualian, said the summer camping in China this summer was very good. She hopes there will be more of this kind of activity.
The Chinese schools masters including Ruijing, Ruiqing, Xinxing and others also mentioned to unite to conduct activities under the leadership of the Overseas Chinese Affairs of the State Council.
They are grateful for the assistance from the State Council and the Chinese Embassy.
Other members of the delegation include, Zhou Hong, Lu Haitian, Liu Hongmei and Zou Chuanbiao.
Ye Kexiong, from Qingtian, Liu Fang from Lianghu, Shuang Yan from European China Cultural Education Center and Chen Xuefei from China-Europe Cultural Association and two scores of other representatives attended the seminar.
What my Chiedish Child Teaches Me Every Day (1)
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Stockholm, Aug4(Greenpost)–My Chiedish(Chinese-Swedish) daughter Annie was born in December, 2007, my Chinese friend said it was a wonderful Christmas present for me. Indeed, she completely changed my life and I got something new every day.
When she was two years old and three months, we sent her to the kindergarten. There she began to learn the Swedish thinking. Before that I was very proud that she stayed most of the time with me and could be able to speak in Chinese and recite Chinese poems.
But after going to the kindergarten, she was like a little mirror to vividly imitate the teacher. For example, she could use her little hand to put on my forehead and said, “Alla barn måste sova nu meaning All the children must sleep now.”
She learnt the rules that man should not use violence and if anybody uses it, the other should not hit back, but say “stop”.
One evening I was tired and lay in bed, my husband also lay in bed reading a book. By accident I threw a book to Jan’s hips and he felt the pain and threw the book to the floor angrily.
Annie cried immediately and said to Dad, “Pappa, du får inte slanga, du kan saja stoppa, (Dad, you shouldn’t throw the book to the floor, if you are not happy, you can say stop)!”
We both felt a little bit embarrassing and felt glad that she learnt a good solution from school. It was really a good lesson for me.
Of course, I feel she has too much freedom. Not long after she went to the kindergarten she began to talk at the table, I decide. She brought all her rules at the kindergarten to our home table. Anyone who wants to speak must raise his or her hand.
This reminds me of my childhood. The only thing I remember is that children should not talk at the dinner table. Only my dad talked a lot loud and sometimes only my mother could criticize him for talking too much and too loud.
We learnt to obey whatever Mom and Dad said. But now Annie began to speak what she thinks. There were a few times she cried so fiercely that she said it was always the parents decide and as a child, she never made any decision. Afterwards we have to give in.
In Stockholm, any child can find a kindergarten within 500 meters. There is a good website where people can see where a school sits and how it is like. The same rules for primary school. In comparison with Beijing, many parents in Beijing wish their children to go to the best school and in that way it needs a lot of sponsorship from parents. But in Stockholm, it is the city that pays for every child. A school is good or bad, depends on how many students it can recruit.
If it has too few students, it will bankrupt. And Annie’s new school came from her own classes and in combination with another bankrupted school.
Annie speaks Swedish with Dad and Chinese with Mom. After years of listening to our conversation in English and watching TV, she can speak English too.
She is proud of being trialingual, but sometimes she feels it is too much to read and write the Chinese characters.
Thus it is still a long way to go to really master the Chinese language, but she has had a good foundation of speaking the language.
China pledges more reform on tourism development
BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) — China will carry out more reforms to boost investment and consumption in tourism industry, the State Council, or China’s cabinet, decided on Wednesday.
Tourism development is significant in fostering the country’s modern service sector, increasing employment and income, as well as improving people’s livelihoods, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
The meeting urged improving tourism consumption. Construction of regional airports, roads to scenic spots, parking lots and washrooms in destinations, especially in less-developed central and western China, should be supported, the statement said.
Personalized tourism products focusing on rural areas will be supported, the meeting decided. The government will encourage college graduates and migrant workers who have returned to home villages to start their own rural tourism businesses, as a way to alleviate rural poverty, the statement said.
New popular tourism consumption choices should be discovered and well utilized, the cabinet said. Internet-related business mode such as online vacation rentals and transport rentals, should be easier to enter. Various tourism products such as for the elders, and for studying purposes, should be developed. Governments at all levels should further implement the paid-leave system, the cabinet said.
The meeting agreed to promote public-private-partnerships (PPP) in developing tourism projects, with more government investment and individual capital participation. It also urged to widen financing channels for tourism enterprises, and encourage financial institutions to increase credit support for those enterprises.
Better and colorful tourism activities will enrich people’s life, and also boost economic development, the statement said. Enditem
Video chat with Mama in the countryside
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Stockholm, July 28(Greenpost)–It was such an agony that one cannot see Mama that often, especially when Mama is getting old and difficult to see the numbers in the phone.
My brother bought a phone with audio service. With a preset of numbers and names, when Minsheng calls mama, the phone will speak loudly “Minsheng is calling, Minsheng is calling in Chinese” and it is easy for mama to hear it. But she cannot see Minsheng.
For me in Stockholm it is even more difficult to imagine how it works till one day Chen Gang called.
Chen Gang got a smart phone even though he lived in Dizangsi, the little village in Northeast China. He can give me a video call.
So he goes to my mama’s room and calls me. When I answered with the video, vow! I see my mother, my father, my brother and my sister in law.
With Wechat, Chinese version of skype, or facetime, facebook, I can talk with my mom.
The sound is even better than that when I call Beijing. If I say what I feel with modern technology, that is the equality that brings to everybody as long as you have a smart phone.
Chen Gang, my nephew often filmed a short film about family reunion and send me the short video so I know how they gathered together and celebrate the New Year or Duanwu Festival.
It is amazing that we can talk and see each other.
今日头条－瑞典维多利亚公主庆祝38岁生日
北欧绿色邮报报道（记者陈雪霏）－－瑞典维多利亚公主日前在瑞典东南部的国王夏宫厄兰岛隆重庆祝38岁生日。公主和王子韦斯特林的小公主爱斯特拉首次在公共场合露面。
瑞典王室向来以亲民著称。
公主平易近人地接受小朋友的鲜花礼物。
瑞典国王卡尔16世古斯塔法自己亲自打伞。
瑞典国王与公众握手。
左 韦斯特林王子（维多利亚公主的丈夫），右，瑞典国王。
公主和王子韦斯特林的小公主爱斯特拉首次在公共场合露面。
此前有报道说，小公主第一次面对公众要看是否高兴而定。看来，天时地利人和，小公主非常高兴，表现尤佳。
瑞典厄兰岛王室夏宫建于1906年。周围没有高墙或电网。夏季王室一般都会到这里度假。而皇后岛的王宫则对公众开放。
（全部组图 庞其铭拍摄）
歌曲欣赏：天上西藏
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IQ4G4JSIU
Stockholm chosen to host Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Jiangxi’s Vice Governor Zhu Hong attends tourism promotion fair in Stockholm
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, June 25(Greenpost)–Vice Governor Zhu Hong of Jiangxi Provice, East China has attended the tourism promotion fair in Brommavik Hotel in Stockholm.
(Front left, Mr Liu Shaohui, manager of Brommavik Hotel and President of Stockholm Chinese Association, right, Magnus Gustafsson from Karmmar, behind standing: Zhu Hong, Vice governor of Jiangxi Province)
He spoke at the meeting about Jiangxi’s beautiful scenery.
“Jiangxi’s scenery is very special because it has many special mountains and rivers. The landscape is really spectacular.” said Zhu Hong.
The famous revolutionary site Jinggangshan mountain is one of them. The Lushan Mountain is also a famous conference resort. Chairman Mao used to have meeting there.
The Tengwang Pavillion is another famous tourist site even famous since Tang Dynasty when famous poet Wang Bo wrote his famous prose the Preface of Tengwang Pavillion.
(Right, Wang Jianrong exhibits Dala Horse to Zhu Hong, middle.)
Wang Jianrong, President of Swedish Chinese Federation of Industry and Commerce expressed welcome to Zhu Hong.
(Left: Guo Yanhang talks with Zhu Hong. Photo by Xuefei Chen Axelsson)
Guo Yanhang, couselor at the Chinese Embassy in Sweden also spoke at the fair.
“I think talking about Jiangxi, man cannot help thinking of Jingdezhen town where famous China came from. Jiangxi is China’s name card due to its fine china. I used to visit Jiangxi and it was really beautiful and impressed me so much.” Guo said.
During the meeting, the two sides signed a couple of agreements for future cooperation.
About 40 people from various Chinese associations or companies including China-Europe Cultural Association and Green Post attended the meeting.