It’s an old riddle: What is the human body’s largest organ? The answer, of course, is skin. And while it’s certainly tough, skin’s enemy is heat. Treating serious burns usually involves placing human or pig skin over the burn to help it heal. Doctors in Brazil are using a unique skin replacement that may also help the healing process. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Month: May 2017
People with a common cluster of symptoms that puts them at increased risk of heart disease and diabetes are two times as likely to die as people without those risk factors if they get less than six hours of sleep per night.
That was the finding of a new study conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
So-called metabolic syndrome is marked by elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and excess fat around the waistline. A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome also includes a high body mass index (BMI), a measurement of a person’s weight relative to his height.
People with a high BMI and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
Study participants
In the study, a group of 1,344 adults agreed to spend one night in a sleep clinic. Almost 40 percent of the participants were found to have at least three of the risk factors of metabolic syndrome.
When the participants were followed up an average of 16 years later, 22 percent of them had died.
Compared with those without metabolic syndrome, investigators found those with a cluster of heart disease and diabetes risk factors were 2.1 times more likely to have died of stroke if they slept less than six hours during their night in the lab.
If they had slept more than six hours, those with metabolic syndrome were about 1½ times more likely to have suffered a fatal stroke than normal participants.
Finally, those with metabolic syndrome who slept less than six hours were almost two times more likely to have died of any cause compared with those without the heart disease and diabetes risk factors.
The study is the first to examine the impact of sleep duration on the risk of death in patients with metabolic syndrome.
More trials planned
If you have metabolic syndrome, the study’s authors note it is important to notify your doctor if you are not getting enough sleep to reduce the risk of death from heart attack or stroke.
The researchers plan future clinical trials to determine whether increasing the length of quality sleep, in addition to lowering blood pressure and glucose, improves the prognosis for people with metabolic syndrome.
The American Heart Association recently issued a scientific statement noting that an increasing number of Americans suffer from sleep difficulties, either involuntarily or because they’d rather stay up late, and this trend may be associated with increased cardiovascular risks and outcomes.
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Construction began in Chile on Friday on the European Extremely Large Telescope, which when completed will be the world’s largest optical telescope, some five times larger than the top observing instruments in use today.
The size of the ELT has the potential to transform our understanding of the universe, say its backers, with its main mirror that will measure some 39 meters (43 yards) across.
Located on a 3,000 meter-high mountain (9,800 feet) in the middle of the Atacama desert, it is due to begin operating in 2024.
Spark the spotting of more planets
Among other capabilities, it will add to and refine astronomers’ burgeoning discoveries of planets orbiting other stars, with the ability to find more smaller planets, image larger ones, and possibly characterize their atmospheres, a key step in understanding if life is present.
“What is being raised here is more than a telescope. Here we see one of the greatest examples of the possibilities of science,” said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in a speech to mark the beginning of construction at the site.
Dry air makes for near perfect conditions
The dry atmosphere of the Atacama provides as near perfect observing conditions as it is possible to find on Earth, with some 70 percent of the world’s astronomical infrastructure slated to be located in the region by the 2020s.
The ELT is being funded by the European Southern Observatory, an organization consisting of European and southern hemisphere nations. Construction costs were not available but the ESO has said previously that the ELT would cost around 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) at 2012 prices.
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Tests are underway to determine the genetic sequence of the Ebola virus behind an outbreak in central Africa, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control researcher said Friday.
Dr. Barbara Knust, an epidemiologist, told VOA’s Horn of Africa service that scientists are looking for “clues” about where this strain of Ebola originated and how to treat it.
“That could help [us] understand how this virus is related to other viruses that have caused other Ebola outbreaks,” she said.
The latest Ebola outbreak is in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a remote area near the border with the Central African Republic. The World Health Organization said that as of May 24, Ebola had killed four people in the area and the number of suspected cases stood at 44.
The Ebola virus, which causes a type of hemorrhagic fever, killed more than 11,000 people across the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014 and 2015.
Resources ‘mobilized quickly’
Staff from the CDC, the WHO, the Congolese Ministry of Health and other agencies are in Congo’s Bas Uele province, working to contain the spread of the virus. Knust said the international response was going “fine.”
“The responders involved in this outbreak very certainly are taking it seriously and the resources have been mobilized quickly,” she said. “At least at this point of time [it] appears that it was detected fairly early, although that information is forthcoming. There is some hope it will remain a limited outbreak.”
She said there had been discussion of using experimental treatments used in the West African outbreak, but that the Congolese government had not given its approval.
Dr. Galma Guyo, a disease control specialist in Nairobi, was part of an African Union team that responded to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. He warned that the DRC’s location in the center of Africa could allow the virus there to spread across borders.
“There is a possibility that the viruses can easily spread and be hard to detect due to the remoteness of the region, too,” he said.
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U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande says she will return to Manchester, England, to play a benefit show to raise money for the 22 victims and families of this week’s terrorist attack.
Grande had just finished her show Monday night when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowded lobby of the Manchester Arena. She was unharmed, although deeply shaken by the attack, and canceled her concert dates for the next two weeks.
No date has yet been set for the benefit concert, which Grande announced in a letter posted on Twitter Friday:
“Our response [to the bombing] must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder, and to live more kindly and generously than we did before. I’ll be returning to the incredibly brave city of Manchester to spend some time with my fans and to have a benefit concert in honor of and to raise money for the victims and their families.”
She said she would share details of the concert as soon as they are confirmed.
Grande is expected to resume the European portion of her world tour next month, with shows in France, Portugal, Spain and Italy.
Manchester native Salman Abedi, 22, killed himself in the Manchester attack, detonating a bomb filled with nuts and bolts that he carried in a backpack. In addition to the 22 dead, at least 116 children and adults were wounded.
Many of the victims were young girls, who make up a large part of Grande’s fan base. Others were parents who had gone to arena to meet their children after the concert. The youngest victim was 8 years old.
British authorities detained eight people in connection with the attack, and Abedi’s father and a brother, who live in Tripoli, Libya, were taken into custody there. Details on how they may be tied to the bombing have not been released.
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This is the Top Five Countdown! We’re sizing up the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending May 27, 2017.
On the one hand, we don’t get any new songs this week…but on the other, the championship changes hands. So: is the glass half full or half empty? You be the judge.
Number 5: Kendrick Lamar “Humble ”
Let’s open in fifth place, where Kendrick Lamar “sits down” a slot with “Humble.”
Number 4: Ed Sheeran “Shape of You”
Ed Sheeran has a bounce-back week, as “Shape Of You” rebounds a slot to number four.
British singer James Blunt – famed for his global hit “You’re Beautiful” – says he taught Ed to ski in exchange for help writing songs on his latest album, The Afterlove. Ed receives songwriting credits on two tracks. Blunt says Ed told him to write the sort of open and direct lyrics fans loved on his first album.
Number 3: DJ Khaled Featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper & Lil Wayne ‘ I’m The One”
DJ Khaled falls from first to third place with “I’m The One” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne.
Page Six reports that Khaled has his sights set on running Epic Records. Longtime Epic boss LA Reid was sacked two weeks ago, following claims of sexual harassment. The web site quotes an unnamed industry insider as saying that the DJ and producer has been petitioning for the job…no replacement has been named.
Number 2: Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like”
Bruno Mars is nothing if not consistent. Two weeks ago he topped the chart with “That’s What I Like”; one week ago he fell to second place – and that’s where we find him today.
Bruno performed at the Billboard Music Awards on May 21, with a little help from technology. He sang “Versace On The Floor,” streaming live from Amsterdam on his 24 K Magic World Tour.
Number 1: Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Despacito”
We crown a special new Hot 100 champ this week, and to find its equal, you have to go back in time 21 years.
Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber reach the summit, as “Despacito” climbs two slots. It’s the first Spanish-language song to top the chart since 1996, when “Macarena” reigned for 14 weeks.
Can they keep the crown next week? You know what to do: join us in seven days!
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There’s a glimmer of hope for the American bee population. But, according to a new study, the outlook for this critical insect is mostly grim. Researchers report a slowing of the rate of decline in the bee population over the past year, dropping to its lowest since 2011-2012.
But, both commercial and small-scale beekeepers lost 33 percent of their honey bee colonies between April 2016 and April 2017.
“While it is encouraging that losses are lower than in the past, I would stop short of calling this ‘good’ news,” said Dennis van Engelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland and project director for the Bee Informed Partnership, in a summary of the study.
“Colony loss of more than 30 percent over the entire year is high,” he added. “It’s hard to imagine any other agricultural sector being able to stay in business with such consistently high losses.”
Researchers point to many causes for the drop in bee populations, with parasites, particularly the varroa mite, and other diseases as the main culprits. Pesticides are also a factor, according to the study, particularly among commercial beekeepers. The researchers describes like a kind of synergy among all the causes that amount to worsening each individual problem.
“This is a complex problem,” said Kelly Kulhanek, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Entomology who helped with the survey. “Lower losses are a great start, but it’s important to remember that 33 percent is still much higher than beekeepers deem acceptable. There is still much work to do.”
The annual survey, which has been conducted for 11 years, aims to find why bee colonies are suffering, a problem that can have big consequences for human beings, given that honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of U.S. agriculture annually. Almonds, researchers say are a perfect example: their growth is entirely dependent on bees for pollination.
“Bees are good indicators of the health of the landscape as a whole,” said Nathalie Steinhauer, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Entomology who leads the data collection efforts for the annual survey. “Honey bees are strongly affected by the quality of their environment, including flower diversity, contaminants and pests….Honey bee health is a community matter.”
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Our brains have always been a marker for how we age. And for humans, that mental aging process starts in our 20s. But British researchers are now giving each brain an “age,” and discovering that the brain’s age may be affecting overall human health. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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An Indian film that addresses social themes and stars actor Aamir Kahn has captivated audiences in China. The film is thriving, despite the fact that India was the only major country to boycott Beijing’s Belt and Road Forum earlier this month.
But the irony and sharp contrast of those two developments was largely lost on the millions of Chinese viewers who have helped keep the Hindi language film land in the top slot, despite the fact that it has subtitles and no voice-over dubbing.
Analysts, film critics, and social media pundits are still debating what drove hordes of Chinese viewers to this movie, which is not your standard Bollywood mix of songs, dance and bloodletting violence.
Breaking new ground
According to industry sources, this is the first time a movie that was not made in Chinese or English has emerged as the top seller in the world’s second-largest movie market. China imports very few foreign films a year, and non-Hollywood movies make up an even smaller portion of that share.
A wide range of reasons are being forwarded as explanations for the success of Dangal, which has grossed $124 million since its May 5 release in 9,000 theaters across China. On Friday, three weeks after its release, the movie finally slipped from the first to the second highest selling slot. The runner-up, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2, has brought in $98 million in China over the same period.
Perhaps an important reason for Dangal’s success is the celebrity status that Aamir Khan, the star and driving force behind the movie, has enjoyed in China for several years with his previous movies, PK and 3 Idiots, which did very well with Chinese movie-goers. Even before Dangal arrived on the Chinese scene, Amir had a bigger following on his Sina Weibo social media account than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His following now stands at 600,000 fans compared to Modi’s 165,000.
Deft marketing including personal canvassing by Khan, who spent a week traveling across Chinese cities, also played a part.
But critics and social media pundits in China see an altogether different reason. Thousands of reviews, articles and social media posts have focused on the peculiar connection between patriarchal society in China and India.
Patriarchy vs feminism
The film revolves around a wrestler father who forces his reluctant daughters to take up the sport.
His authoritarian and strict parenting style is something audiences in China can easily relate to, said Edward Chan, a sociology professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
“I think the father role portrayed by the movie in India is quite similar to the culture, especially the traditional culture in China,” Chan said.
Tansen Sen, professor of history and Asian studies at the City University of New York said, “It has a story that resonates with the Chinese, both with regard to parent-child relationship as well as the fascination with sports.”
And while some feminists see the father’s behavior as problematic, they also see much to applaud in the story. For those that do, the movie is seen as empowering women.
Two feminist groups, Jianjiao Buluo (Screaming Pepper Tribe) and Cheng Yusan (Orange Umbrella) treated a group of 120 people to a free screening of the film in Guangzhou.
Lu, a 20-something entertainment industry employee, says the movie piqued her curiosity towards India, a country with a population as large as China. Lu says that many young Chinese like her want to follow their own dreams and have the support of their parents.
“I feel the father’s support for his children was especially moving and that parent’s strictness toward their children is for their own good,” Lu says.
The party-backed tabloid, the Global Times, slammed the movie for celebrating the values of a domineering father, who pushes his two reluctant daughters into wresting as a career choice. The paper said the film has sparked off a major controversy over different aspects of feminism in China, and whether modern day girls should completely reject the values of patriarchal society.
But the paper also quoted viewers who had a different viewpoint. “It made me think of my father,” the Times quoted one person as saying. “His reticent love for us. I wanted to call him, say nothing, just cry, and cry like a river to release myself from my deep regrets.”
Cao, a fan who says he has been watching Aamir Kahn’s movies for years said there are not enough films like Dangal in the Chinese market. He said he admires Kahn for his dedication to his profession (how he lost and gained weight) and the effort he put into addressing a social cause through the film.
“Just like people are saying online, he is influencing all of India as a country and all of its people,” Cao says “And I think that’s really great!”
Next Bollywood blockbuster?
Another Hindi movie, Tubelight, is waiting to access the Chinese market. It features Chinese actress and singer Zhu Zhu, and the story revolves around the 1962 India-China war. Analysts are asking if Beijing will allow its entry given its reluctance to discuss this war publicly.
“The two governments should just let the people know each other through free-flowing exchanges and interactions. Sometimes this will result in negative perceptions and misunderstandings, but it will eventually lead to a more nuanced and balanced views of each other,” Sen added.
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The U.S. economy expanded at a slightly faster pace than first estimated during the first quarter of this year.
The Commerce Department’s Friday report shows expansion at a 1.2 percent annual rate in January, February and March. That is nearly twice as fast as the preliminary estimate, but slower than the end of last year, and much more slowly than the 3 percent rate of expansion that the Trump administration says it will achieve.
Officials routinely revise growth estimates as more complete data becomes available.
Many experts say the economy is growing slowly because aging baby boomers are leaving the work force to retire, and productivity growth has been disappointingly slow.
The chief economist of PNC Bank, Gus Faucher, says growth is “bouncing back” in the second quarter. Faucher says he expects the U.S. economic growth will bounce around somewhat and expand at a 2.3 percent rate this year. Faucher also expects the growth rate to be about the same next year.
A separate report shows new orders for manufactured goods declined in April. The seven-tenths of a percent decrease followed several months of gains.
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Africa loses an estimated $50 billion a year to illicit financial flows, leaving governments strapped for cash and dependent on development aid.
The continent is “hemorrhaging” money because of the failure of countries to enact strong legislation to check money flows, says Rose Acha, Cameroon’s supreme state audit minister and secretary general of the African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
Instead, uncontrolled transactions are common.
“Whatever the source of your money, we don’t know, but we welcome those who want to deposit money,” said Faison Winifred of Investment Fund, a local financial institution in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde. “Why … do you discourage the person by asking where is your source of income? We encourage everybody who comes to deposit money. … There is no limit. Whatever amount you want to deposit, we like it.”
Acha says smuggling and trafficking during illegal commercial activity constitute 65 percent of Africa’s financial hemorrhage, while criminal activities — which consist of using funds for illegal purposes, like financing organized crime and terrorism — come next with 30 percent. She says corruption and tax evasion account for the remaining 5 percent of the money lost.
According to the United Nations High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows, Africa loses a staggering $50 billion annually. The panel says that is approximately double the amount of official development assistance Africa receives.
African tax and audit experts, meeting this week in Yaounde, said the worst offender is Nigeria, with an illicit outflow of $157 billion from 2003 to 2012. South Africa ranks second with $122 billion lost during that time period, and Egypt third with $37 billion.
Magagi Tanko of the supreme state audit office of Niger says that in Central and West Africa, huge sums of money are transferred illegally and public coffers are impoverished. In addition, illegal financial flows from drug trafficking have spiraled.
Exporters use under-invoicing so they can dodge taxes and bring in less foreign exchange, leaving the rest of their earnings in offshore accounts, he says.
Lagan Wort, executive secretary of the African Tax Administration, says a regional approach is key.
“Parts of the defense mechanism that African governments must employ is to build strong tax legislation and tax policy systems, including tax agreements between countries, especially inter-African countries,” Wort said.
The experts resolved to work with the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative — a joint effort by the World Bank and U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime — to recover funds, but said the process is long and cumbersome, since many banks remain secretive about their transactions.
They said many of the illicit financial flows also end up funneled through complex criminal rings, severely limiting the ability of law enforcement and tax authorities to trace offenders and eventually recover the money.
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Laura Biagiotti’s daughter says the Italian fashion designer has died after suffering a heart attack. She was 73.
Lavinia Biagiotti announced her mother’s death on Twitter on Friday morning.
Biagiotti suffered a heart attack Wednesday evening at her estate outside of Rome. Doctors were able to resuscitate her but not before serious brain damage had occurred.
Biagiotti was one of the first Italian designers to conquer global markets. She was known for her soft, loose women’s clothes and luxurious knits that won her the nickname “Queen of Cashmere.” She also produced sunglasses and perfumes, including the popular “Roma” fragrance.
Sunday is World Hunger Day, an annual reminder that millions of people around the world suffer from chronic hunger, despite abundant global food production. Persistent shortages of food in some regions are linked to deep-seated social inequities and long-term mismanagement. An expert tells VOA’s Zlatica Hoke that empowering women is key to ending world hunger.
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It took seven years for the deep-space probe Cassini to reach Saturn. Since 2005 it has been studying the planet and its moons, sending troves of photos and information. As the spacecraft reaches the end of its useful life, scientists will soon send it into Saturn’s atmosphere until it burns up. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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A budget proposal by the Trump administration in March outlines a commitment to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) effort to send astronauts to Mars. About $3.7 billion is earmarked for development of the Space Launch System and the Orion capsule, crucial parts of NASA’s effort to send humans deeper into space. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh explores the effort of contractors working on the project, united by the commitment to “boldly go” further into the final frontier.
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Scientists looking at the first pictures of the planet Jupiter sent by the NASA probe Juno were shocked at what they saw: monster cyclones, hundreds of kilometers wide, tearing across the planet’s north and south poles.
The scientists said the poles are nothing like the planet’s familiar placid and colorful equatorial region.
“That’s the Jupiter we’ve all known and grown to love,” Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute, an applied research and development organization in San Antonio, Texas, said in an article released Thursday in the journal Science. “And when you look from the pole, it looks totally different. … I don’t think anybody would have guessed this is Jupiter.”
Bolton called the findings “Earth-shattering. Or, should I say, Jupiter-shattering.”
Along with the fierce storms, the researchers saw a huge river of ammonia gas extending from Jupiter’s deep atmosphere down to its interior. They said they thought the ammonia might be part of what’s causing the huge storms.
NASA launched Juno in 2011, and it reached Jupiter’s orbit last year. The scientists said Juno’s next fly-by would come in July, when it will take pictures of the planet’s trademark Great Red Spot — a huge, hurricane-like storm that experts say has been raging for hundreds of years.
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National parks traveler Mikah Meyer had plenty of fun among giant powdery dunes recently, as he celebrated a milestone. He’s exactly one-third of the way through his 3-year journey to visit all 417 sites within the U.S. National Park Service. The young adventurer shared highlights of his 139th site visit with VOA’s Julie Taboh.
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On the political and military front, U.S.-China relations have been an often-tense dance between governments. However, in arts and education, many say the relationship is deepening. There is debate among Americans as to whether the ties are positive or negative.
Some say this is progress that is reaping economic and cultural benefits for citizens in both countries.
“When people collaborate on making anything artistic, there’s an emotional pull inside of that and if it works well, you not only have a great business, you also have a great diplomatic cohesion between the two countries,” said Chris Fenton, U.S.-Asia Institute Trustee and the President of DMG Entertainment.
In August, Fenton will be taking a group of U.S. lawmakers to China to look at the country’s growing entertainment and media industry, with the hope of even more Chinese investment in Hollywood.
Chinese language and culture
China has also been investing in educating Americans in language and culture through its Confucius Institutes. Mandarin immersion kindergarten teacher Carol Chen says the University of California Los Angeles Confucius Institute has been a good resource for her and her students.
“For example, books and also resources of our Chinese cultures. One of the years, they actually brought Chinese folk culture tradition to the campus,” said Chen, who teaches at Broadway Elementary, a dual language immersion school.
Funded by the Chinese government, there are nearly 500 Confucius Institutes globally, most on university campuses. The UCLA Confucius Institute taps into the local Mandarin-speaking population to develop a pipeline of Mandarin teachers. It also provides cross-cultural programs in the arts.
“Bringing more artists together and exposing them to each other’s culture and to shared cultural experience with China, you’re sort of training, sort of a new generation of diplomats,” said Susan Pertel Jain, UCLA Confucius Institute Executive Director.
But long-time critic and academic Perry Link says Confucius Institutes are an example of China’s soft power.
“Soft power is cultural or educational things that cause people in other countries to view one’s own country in a more friendly way. To reach out into the world with soft power is a new thing from the Chinese government’s point of view, but an important thing because the rest of the successful world seems to be doing it,” said Link, who is the University of California Riverside’s Chancellorial Chair for Innovation in Teaching Across Disciplines.
But Link says the presence of the Confucius Institutes on university campuses is dangerous because it often limits academic freedom to discuss China’s human rights issues.
“It’s induced self-censorship. That is, ‘We are going to give you these funds and you can invite speakers about China and the fund comes from Beijing and you know that and we know that.’ Now, as the director of a Confucius Institute, do you think, ‘Oh, I’ll invite the Dalai Lama’ to speak? No.Of course you don’t do that,” Link said.
But Jain said the UCLA Confucius Institute does not back away from touchy topics.
“Whether it’s artists that we present there who were active in sort of [an] anti-government movement or whether it’s the screening of films that are maybe not officially approved by the government, we don’t shy away from that, but what we always tell our colleagues in China is that we promise to always present everything in a fair and balanced way,” said Jain.
Entertainment industry
In the past, Hollywood movies have been America’s example of soft power.
Last fall, 16 members of Congress wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office to express national security concerns about the growing number of Chinese investments in the United States, including in the media and entertainment industry.
“There is definitely a self-censorship. There is no doubt. I think the most obvious version of that was when self-censorship was not used and it really backfired,” said Fenton.
China is close to becoming the top global market at the box office and one that is much desired by Hollywood executives. If China closes that door to certain production studios in Hollywood, it will hurt financially.
“It’s a very large piece of the pie because it’s roughly seven billion in dollars,” Fenton said. “If you’re thinking like a business person, there is a certain creative vision you should have for the content you’re making that if you want to call it self-censorship that’s fine, or you call it just good business.”
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