China Daily 每日新闻摘要——May 17th

兔斯基

Apple's CEO Tim Cook's eight visits to China





Apple CEO Tim Cook's latest visit to China yesterday, coming after his company's $1 billion investment in Chinese ride hailing app, Didi Chuxing. During this trip, Cook took a taxi hailed via Didi with Jean Liu, president of Didi, to meet app developers at an Apple store in Beijing. At that meeting, Cook said, "China is one of the most vibrant places in the world. There are so many entrepreneurs now that they'll drive the next generation of innovation in China."

兔斯基

Cristiano Ronaldo joins Sina Weibo, further taps China market





Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the biggest names in world's soccer, further extended his stardom to China by joining Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter.


The Real Madrid star needed less than one day to attract more than 280,000 followers after he posted his first message on Monday afternoon.


"Hello everyone! It's amazing to find support from all over the world. With this account I hope to be closer to all of you who support me in China. Hope that you enjoy and follow me around here. NI HAO, CHINA!" read his first message.


The three-time World Player of The Year already enjoyed a wide fan base in China before his official entry into Sina Weibo. Ronaldo, undoubtedly the face of Real Madrid, grabbed the spotlight during the team's off-season promotion tour to China last summer, eclipsing other big names of the star-studded Los Blancos.


Chinese fans were overwhelmingly delighted after this big gesture, rushing to leave emotional messages.


Weibo user Florencezzy said: "(I'm) so happy to see you are here! You are the best... Hope you (do) better and better! My hero."


Ronaldo's new account is his second on Chinese social media. In September 2011 he joined the relatively less-used Tencent Weibo, on which he sporadically posts. His archrival on the pitch, Barcelona's Lionel Messi, is also featured on the Tencent platform, but hasn't made his official presence on Sina Weibo yet.


What's also noticeable is that the first tweet indicated him using a ZTE Nubia smartphone. The Portuguese's arrival to the social network coincided with him reaching an agreement with the Chinese phone maker ZTE.


Well-tuned and market-savvy, the 6' 1" player is the natural choice of brands. The endorsement deal with Nubia, along with the Sina Weibo gig, however, rhymed with Chinese brands' increasing interest in the country's booming sports market. Extending on-court rivalry to off-court, Messi became the new face of Huawei, another major Chinese phone maker and ZTE's competitor.


It's not the first time that Sina has invited world-famous sportsmen to its platform. Ronaldo follows the footsteps of soccer players David Beckham, Robin van Persie and Mario Gotze. A-list European clubs, including Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus, also opened official accounts for news release.


Ronaldo is expecting Real Madrid's 11th Champions League title as the Spanish giant sealed their place in the final with local rival Atletico Madrid in Milan on May 28.


Captaining Portugual, the 31-year-old will head to next month's Euro 2016 in France, his fourth and probably last European Championship campaign, eager for a major national level trophy that has evaded his stellar career.

兔斯基

Media mogul buys Song Dynasty letter for $31.7m





A Song Dynasty (960-1279) calligraphic letter of 124 characters was sold for 207 million yuan ($31.7 million) to Chinese media mogul and art collector Wang Zhongjun at a Beijing auction on Sunday night.


The letter, titled Jushi Tie (A Letter on Happenings), was composed by the famed politician and scholar Zeng Gong on Sept 27, 1080, during his 12-year service in local administrations.


In the letter, he thanks an unidentified friend for being supportive in the long term. Between the lines, however, he also shows a dissatisfaction at being unable to implement his political ideas in the royal court.


Zeng is ranked among the "eight masters of prose of the Tang (AD 618-907) and Song dynasties". Very few of his writings still exist.


Once owned by Belgian collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens, the letter was auctioned at 108.6 million yuan in Beijing in 2009.


The participation of Wang, who bid over the phone, surprised many people, since he is known for being an ardent buyer of contemporary Chinese and, recently, Western art. He spent $29.9 million on a Picasso painting, Woman With a Hairbun on a Sofa, at a Sotheby's sale in New York in May last year.


The letter by Zeng Gong topped the Grand View auction of classical Chinese paintings, staged by China Guardian Auctions, which grossed 1.11 billion yuan in total.


In the same sale, a calligraphic album in running script by the Ming calligrapher Song Ke was sold for 92 million yuan to Zhang Xiaojun of Shanxi province. An album of calligraphic Buddhist sutras, poems and paintings by intellectuals from the Tang and later dynasties sold for 57.5 million yuan.


The Grand View auction of classical Chinese ink art, held twice a year, is seen as a barometer of China's art market.


Luan Juli, general manager of China Guardian's Chinese painting department, said after the sale that classical Chinese art will play a bigger role in supporting the whole art market.


The most expensive classical Chinese ink art sold at auction is Di Zhu Ming, a calligraphic hand scroll by Song Dynasty master Huang Tingjian that fetched 436.8 million yuan in Beijing in 2010.