Ace Moviemaker

(ZOU ZHENG)

Chinese director Jia Zhangke was honored as the "director of the decade" by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), together with Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand. They were chosen by a panel of 60 film historians, critics and film archive curators around the world.

Three of Jia's feature films—Platform, Still Life and The World are on a list of the 30 most respected films of the 2000s compiled by the panel, occupying the second, third and 24th spots, respectively.

"Each of Jia's films articulates an abstract structure of time and space, and a more sensual structure of feeling, through which we can see and feel our way to coming to grips with a new, changing world," said TIFF Chairman Piers Handling in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "He is one of the leading filmmakers in our time."

Jia, who began his career as a movie director in 1997, said that the award shows the Western audience's growing interest in contemporary China and its people.

The 39-year-old Jia is generally considered a leading figure among China's Sixth Generation directors. His Still Life won the coveted Golden Lion at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival in 2006. He is shooting the official film of the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Corrupt Judge

(LIU QUANLONG)

Huang Songyou, former Vice President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption on January 19.

Huang, 52, was convicted of taking more than 3.9 million yuan ($574,000) in bribes from 2005 to 2008 during his tenure as SPC vice president, said the Intermediate People's Court of Langfang, north China's Hebei Province. He was also found to have embezzled 1.2 million yuan ($177,000) of public funds in 1997, when he was president of the Intermediate People's Court of Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province, the court ruling said.

Huang is the first chief judge to have been prosecuted on corruption charges in the history of the SPC, China's highest judicial organ.

Shanda Reshuffle

Diana Li (CFP)	Alan Qunzhao Tan (CFP)

Diana Li, CEO of Shanda Games Ltd., China's second largest online game operator, had resigned to pursue other interests, and Alan Qunzhao Tan will assume the duties of both board chairman and CEO of the company after Li's departure, the company said on January 22.

The NASDAQ-listed Shanda Games was spun off from Shanda Interactive Entertainment, a Shanghai-based digital entertainment portal, in a $1-billion initial public offering last September.

Li, one of the first female executives in China's online game industry, has served as CEO of Shanda Games since April 2008. She is thought to be starting up a business with her husband.

Tan is a co-founder of Shanda Interactive Entertainment and became chairman of the Board of Shanda Games in May 2009. He served as president and chief technology officer of Shanda Interactive from April 2008 to January 2010.