You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
The new James Bond film "Spectre" starring Daniel Craig, surpassed ticket sales of the last installment "Skyfall" in China, taking in more than 370 million yuan, roughly 60 million U.S. dollars, five days after its opening in the world's second-largest film market.
Facing no other major competition, the 24th installment of the franchise also grabbed several other records, including the biggest Friday opening and the biggest weekend earning for a 2D film.
Since "Casino Royale" in 2007, all four Bond films played by Daniel Craig have been shown in China as the series forges a close relationship with the Chinese market.
Scenes in "Skyfall" were shot in the streets of Shanghai. During the promotion of "Spectre", Daniel Craig showed up at a TV gala to celebrate Singles' Day on Nov. 11, an online shopping festival created by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
As the most expensive Bond film to date, "Spectre" cost roughly 350 million U.S. Dollars.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Eleven cities along the Yangtze River basin in central China have signed a cooperative agreement to establish a union to better protect intangible cultural heritage along the longest river in China.
The Yangtze River Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Union was set up in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province. More than 400 intangible cultural heritage projects were displayed at an exposition held in the city last week.
The 11 cities include Shanghai, Chongqing, Kunming and Lhasa. The secretariat of the union is based in Wuhan.
A series of cooperative agreements have been signed. According to improve agreements, the cities will exchange experience on heritage protection, talent cultivation, and research cooperation.
The founding of the union will help form a long-term mechanism to better intangible cultural heritage protection work across the Yangtze River basin region.