Expo Pavilion to be museum

The Shanghai World Expo's China Pavilion will be turned into a modern Chinese art museum, a senior Shanghai official says.

About 70,000 of the 160,000 square meters of floor space will be used for exhibitions when it opens on Oct 1, 2012, which is National Day. That will be more than 10 times the exhibition space of the Shanghai Art Museum.

Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and TV chief art director Teng Junjie says the pavilion will house works by such artists as Lin Fengmian, Wu Guanzhong, Guan Liang and Cheng Shifa. It will also host collections from globally acclaimed international museums. A worldwide hunt is on for a curator, he says.

Show pictures China's past

The admission-free First China International Photography Biennale is being staged at the Yanhuang Art Museum of Beijing until Nov 22.

The exhibits are organized around the theme "The Chinese People, The Century" and display photographs of the country from the late 19th century to the present day.

Many have been provided by international organizations.They are by such foreign photographers as John Thompson and Leone Nani, and Chinese like Fang Dazeng and Shi Shaohua.

The biennale is organized by Chinese Photographers magazine and Baoshang Bank.

Sci-fi writing awards given

Ten science fiction writers, publications and organizations won the second Xingyun Awards, the only international awards for Chinese-language sci-fi writers.

The event was the largest sci-fi gathering in the country's history, with about 150 writers, editors, publishers and critics from several countries and more than 1,000 fans in attendance.

The awards cover 10 categories, such as best saga novel, best short story, best writer and best commentary. Nobody won the science fiction film & TV or the most popular novel among mobile phone readers awards this year.

The best saga novel prize went to the final book of the trilogy Three Body by 47-year-old electrical engineer and China's most acclaimed sci-fi writer Liu Cixin. Rebirth Brick by journalist Han Song won best short story.

Liu Cixin and Wang Jinkang were crowned best writers. The world's best-selling sci-fi magazine, Science Fiction World, claimed the top spot in the sci-fi magazine category.

The annual Xingyun (Nebula) Awards are organized by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association (WCSFA), which is based in Sichuan province's capital Chengdu.

Science fiction is important because it demonstrates a nation's imagination and creativity, WCSFA president Wu Yan says. He hopes the Xingyun Awards will help Chinese culture go global.

This year's winners were selected from among 47 nominees.