Stamp of approval

Xinhua

Twenty-one Chinese artists - including Zeng Fanzhi, Yue Minjun and Fang Lijun - have become the first group of appointed artists at the newly founded Contemporary Art Academy of China (CAAC). The appointments are viewed by many as official recognition of contemporary Chinese artists, many of whom used to be regarded as deviants.

On the record

China Daily

Interview with artist Zhang Xiaogang

China goes treasure hunting

Wall Street Journal

Next year Beijing will mark the 150th anniversary of the burning and looting of the Summer Palace by British and French forces. But the city has hit on an odd way to commemorate these events: In preparation, Palace Director Chen Mingjie recently announced that researchers will attempt to catalogue every item looted from the complex and now in museums overseas.