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U.S. actor Alec Baldwin says he has lost interest in acting and considers his film career a failure.

“I don’t have any interest in acting anymore,” Baldwin, 51, told “Men’s Journal” in an interview for its December issue.

Baldwin, best-known for his Emmy-award winning role in the NBC comedy “30 Rock” and the man chosen to co-host the 2010 Oscar ceremony, added: “Movies are a part of my past. It’s been 30 years. I’m not young, but I have time to do something else”.

Baldwin began a television acting career in the 1980s and has filmed scores of movies, including the 1988 cult classic “Beetlejuice”. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 2003 film “The Cooler” and stars in the upcoming movie “It’s Complicated” with Meryl Streep and his Oscar co-host Steve Martin.

Men’s Journal quoted Baldwin as saying it was “pretty much it for him” after “30 Rock”, “in a couple of years or so”. He told Playboy Magazine this year he was “done” with his career in 2012 and would retire at “30 Rock”’s wrap party.

“I consider my entire movie career a complete failure,” he told Men’s Journal. “The goal of movie-making is to star in a film where your performance drives the film, and the film is either a soaring critical or commercial success, and I never had that.”

Baldwin said the 1990 action film “The Hunt for Red October”, in which he starred and which made more than $200 million worldwide, was successful because it was based on a popular Tom Clancy novel.

“And now, the movies I’ve been in, I never give them a moment’s thought. Every movie I’ve ever been in, I just avoid,” he said.

Baldwin has expressed interest in politics in the past but did not say in the interview what he intended to do should he quit acting.

Baldwin’s interview with Men’s Journal hits newsstands on Friday.

The European Union will celebrate the Treaty of Lisbon in Lisbon, capital of Portugal on Dec. 1 when the treaty enters into force, according to a statement issued by Sweden, the current rotating presidency of the EU.

“In the city that has lent its name to the treaty, the event is being marked with fireworks, music and speeches from EU leaders. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt will attend,” said the statement.

Other big names to attend the ceremony include Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, incoming Spanish Presidency’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, the newly elected permanent President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.

The Treaty of Lisbon, equivalent to the “EU’s Constitution” came into being in Lisbon in 2007, when the EU’s heads of state and government met there and signed the treaty.

Now, since all member states have ratified the text and the treaty will enter into force on Dec. 1 as scheduled, the EU leaders and the Portuguese government decided to celebrate it in Lisbon, according to the statement.

The signing of the treaty by all EU members was one of the goals to be fulfilled during the Swedish EU presidency. 　

Movie flops aren’t just about losing money. Yes, big budgets that go bust are one consideration. But flops are also about lofty expectations dashed and high profiles brought low. They trigger embarrassing catcalls from the peanut gallery and a general whoever-thought-that-was-a-good-idea-in-the-first-place bewilderment.

Any judgments of flopitude are necessarily subjective, but here are 10 movies from the past decade that made those few moviegoers who saw them cringe. Disagree? Talk among yourselves.

10. THE SPIRIT

* Release date: December 25, 2008

* Estimated cost: $60 million

* Domestic gross: $19.8 million

Frank Miller, the man who created the comics “300″ and “Sin City,” and who redefined Batman and Daredevil for the modern age, directed this adaptation of Will Eisner’s comic-strip hero. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and a bevy of beauties, it may have looked good on the page. But onscreen, the heavily stylized, nearly black-and-white results were disastrous. The expensive movie was killed by comic fans, who wanted Miller to go back to comics, and critics, who trashed the movie’s over-the-top tones and aesthetics. Consequently, the partners at the company behind the production, Odd Lot Entertainment, parted ways after 23 years together. It even killed plans for a Miller-directed version of “Buck Rogers.”

9. GRINDHOUSE

* Release date: April 6, 2007

* Estimated cost: $67 million

* Domestic gross: $25 million

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez managed to turn twice the filmmaking firepower into half the box office (and a third of the critical praise). With “Grindhouse,” what began as an explicit exercise in joyous B-movie cinema homage — a double bill of ’70s-style schlock, one film from each director — ended up aping its scuzzy genre ancestors a little too closely in the receipts department. After the three-hour-plus “Grindhouse” opened to a mere $11.6 million, Harvey Weinstein split the film’s two parts — “Death Proof” and “Planet Terror” — and shuttled them to international markets individually. While that recouped a little of the Weinstein Co.’s money, it incurred the wrath of purists who were angry that the original film had been corrupted. Tarantino and Weinstein are famously loyal to each other, and while the writer-director eventually made good on the losses with the $120 million-grossing “Inglourious Basterds” this year, “Grindhouse” was one instance where loyalty nearly brought down the house.

8. ROLLERBALL

* Release date: February 8, 2002

* Estimated cost: $70 million

* Domestic gross: $19 million

Norman Jewison’s 1975 comment on violence, corporatism and spectacle has its place in the paranoid ’70s-era cult film pantheon. John McTiernan’s remake, on the other hand, would be totally forgettable if it weren’t so spectacularly misconceived in every way. The cast — Jean Reno, Chris Klein, LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos — was a C-list mishmash closer to reality TV than big-budget studio moviemaking. McTiernan had long since dented his box-office bona fides with “Last Action Hero” and “The 13th Warrior.” And the studio releasing it — MGM — was so aware of its bomb-worthiness that it pushed the release back four times, out of the summer 2001 field and into the barren wasteland of February. In a last act of desperation, the movie was also re-edited from an R to a PG-13 rating, sabotaging any last chance it had at an audience. Ultimately, it pretty much wrecked McTiernan’s career (he has directed only one film since).

7. THE INVASION

* Release date: August 17, 2007

* Estimated cost: $80 million

* Domestic gross: $15.1 million

Nicole Kidman couldn’t have started the decade any hotter, scoring with “Moulin Rouge,” “The Others” and “The Hours.” But after 2002, her career went cold in the U.S. (”Stepford Wives,” “Bewitched,” “Australia” and “The Golden Compass”); it’s as if the actress was abducted by some sort of soul-draining body snatcher. But wait, isn’t that what she’s fighting in “The Invasion,” Hollywood’s latest remake of the 1956 film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”? This time around, the eerie premise, based on a novel by Jack Finney, failed to catch fire. The Wachowski brothers’ second unit director, James McTeigue, was called in to shoot additional scenes written by the “Matrix” whiz kids after original director Oliver Hirschbiegel was sent packing, having filmed the bulk of the movie. In an omen of things to come, Kidman suffered an on-set fender-bender during the reshoots. When the film arrived in theaters more than a year late, Kidman’s regal bearing took another dent.

6. CATWOMAN

* Release date: July 23, 2004

* Estimated cost: $100 million

* Domestic gross: $40 million

It was inevitable after Michelle Pfeiffer stole scenes as Catwoman in “Batman Returns” that her black-latexed anti-heroine would get a spinoff of her own. But when the inevitable occurred in 2004, this time with Halle Berry playing the character, audiences tried hard to cover up the kitty litter. No one involved with the movie came out unscathed. Not Berry, who just two years earlier had won an Oscar for “Monster’s Ball”; not Sharon Stone, who chewed up the scenery as the movie’s villainess; and not Pitof, the French filmmaker making his American directorial debut. He went back to his native land and hasn’t directed a theatrical feature since. The movie is another example cited by studios in their long-held contention that female superhero movies just don’t work.

5. TOWN & COUNTRY

* Release date: April 27, 2001

* Estimated cost: $90 million

* Domestic gross: $6.7 million

Twenty-five years after he seduced audiences in “Shampoo,” Warren Beatty decided the time was ripe for another sex comedy, albeit one with a somewhat older circle of friends. He somehow persuaded New Line, which usually concentrated on the youth market, to foot the bill. And what a bill it was: With the script still furiously going through rewrites, Peter Chelsom began shooting in June 1998; 10 months and take after take after take later, the film was still shooting. That’s when co-stars like Diane Keaton and Gary Shandling had to leave to fulfill other commitments. A full year later, the whole cast regrouped to finish the shoot, which had escalated to more than twice its original $44 million price tag. The completed film was actually something of a tepid affair. Beatty dithers as a New York architect who cheats on his wife with several women; Shandling’s his best pal trying to come out as gay. And then there’s Charlton Heston, playing against type, as a gun nut.

4. GIGLI

* Release date: August 1, 2003

* Estimated cost: $54 million

* Domestic gross: $6.1 million

If the course of true love rarely runs smoothly, then “Gigli” is an object lesson in how rocky it can get. As the new century dawned, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez — tabloid code name: Bennifer — were the couple of the moment. With an Oscar for writing “Good Will Hunting” and starring roles in “Pearl Harbor” and “The Sum of All Fears,” his movie career was in high gear; she could boast a solid-gold music resume and rom-com appeal in movies like “The Wedding Planner” and “Maid in Manhattan.” Onscreen romantic sparks seemed made to order. So what went wrong? Start with that title, “Gigli,” that no one was sure how to pronounce. Add lots of lovey-dovey media appearances that erased a bit of their mystique. And then there was Martin Brest’s film itself: a low-rent-mobster-boy-meets-enforcer-chick tale complete with a kidnapping, severed thumbs and Al Pacino in high dudgeon. Bennifer split in 2004, just before sharing the bill in another film not too far away on the flop-o-meter, “Jersey Girl.”

3. LAND OF THE LOST

* Release date: June 5, 2009

* Estimated cost: $100 million

* Domestic gross: $65 million

Producer/puppeteers Sid and Marty Kroft were masters of the weird and cheesy; their old Saturday morning TV show, “Land of the Lost,” is remembered fondly by kids who grew up in the ’70s. But the material experienced something of a time warp when director Brad Silbering tried to give it a hipster spin this summer with the help of Will Ferrell, playing a paleontologist who journeys to a parallel universe where he meets the Sleestaks. Normally, any movie with a rampaging Tyrannosaurus (see “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Night at the Museum”) can’t miss, but “Lost” was, well, lost in translation. The movie’s PG-13 rating wasn’t a comfort to many families when word got around of its toilet humor. Older moviegoers weren’t interested, and Kroft purists weren’t amused. Over the years, Disney and Sony had both held remake rights, but ultimately this hot potato landed at Universal, where it was one of the factors that resulted in the ouster of the studio’s two top executives in October.

2. BATTLEFIELD EARTH

* Release date: May 12, 2000

* Estimated cost: $75 million

* Domestic gross: $21 million

Blame it on the Thetans if you want, but John Travolta’s space oddity “Battlefield Earth” virtually imploded on the launching pad. Travolta’s career was enjoying a resurgence in the wake of “Pulp Fiction” when he wagered a big chunk of his newfound credibility, as well as some of his own coin, on this passion project. “Battlefield Earth” was based on a 1972 sci-fi novel by Scientology guru L. Ron Hubbard, which Travolta promised would be “like ‘Star Wars,’ only better.” Studios shied away, but Travolta found financing from Franchise Pictures, which would later be sued by investors for overstating the movie’s costs as $100 million. Originally, Travolta hoped to play the young hero who leads a rebellion against the alien race that enslaves Earth, but the film took so long to assemble he ultimately opted instead to don dreadlocks and platform shoes to play the villain, barking lines like “Execute all man-animals at will, and happy hunting!” A planned sequel, which would have covered the second half of the novel, never materialized. “Some movies run off the rails,” observed Roger Ebert. “This one is like the train crash in ‘The Fugitive.’”

1. THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH

* Release date: August 6, 2002

* Estimated cost: $100 million

* Domestic gross: $4.4 million

Eddie Murphy is some kind of miracle. Five of his recent films lost more than $250 million, and yet he not only still gets hired but also commands his salary quote. But on the flop-o-meter, one Murphy title towers above even “Meet Dave,” “Showtime” and “I Spy”: Trumpets, please, for “The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” whose release was delayed for 14 months. It instantly became the “Cleopatra” of our age. A sci-fi gangster comedy, complete with robot sidekick, set on the moon, “Pluto” was neither fish nor fowl — but mostly foul. But unlike most stars who are tarnished by a mega-flop, Murphy — who did take time off from broad comedies to redeem himself with his Oscar-nominated turn in “Dreamgirls” — just keeps going and going and going.

France’s first lady Carla Bruni has announced that she would star in Oscar-winning U.S. director Woody Allen’s next film.

Bruni told Canal+ television on Monday night that she has accepted Allen’s invitation and will appear in his next film.

“Woody Allen suggested I appear in his next film, I don’t know what the role would be, but I said yes,” said Bruni. “I go into everything blindly, or I’d never do anything at all.”

“I’m not an actress at all. Perhaps I’ll be completely hopeless but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one,” she said.

Allen expressed his wish to work with Bruni when he came to Paris this June to promote his last film “Whatever Works.”

“I’m sure she would be wonderful, she has charisma and she performs, so she’s not a stranger to an audience, and I would cast her in many different ways,” Allen said of Bruni.

Bruni was born in Turin, Italy, in 1968, and moved with her family to France later. In February 2008, she married French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Before that, she was a supermodel, and started her pop music career in 1999.

Space shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts scoured their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage while pursuing the International Space Station.

The early word was that the shuttle appeared to be in good shape. “No issues so far,” said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Atlantis and its crew of six will hook up with the space station Wednesday.

The shuttle gradually was gaining on the station, and the two craft were on opposite sides of Earth at midday Tuesday, not quite 24 hours into the chase.

“You’ve got 8,000 miles of rock between you and it,” Mission Control informed shuttle commander Charles Hobaugh.

“I’m seeing somebody out in front, must not be them,” Hobaugh joked.

“Can you get the license plate number for us?” Mission Control asked. “Looks like one of those personalized license plates,” Hobaugh replied.

Hobaugh and his crew spent much of their first full day in orbit inspecting the shuttle’s thermal shielding. They used a 100-foot, laser-tipped boom to scan the wings and nose cap, routine work that took hours to complete.

The survey did not reveal any obvious problems, at least at a first glance. A quick look at the images from Monday’s launch also showed nothing to be worried about.

Even more data will be collected right before Wednesday’s docking. The space station residents will take a few hundred close digital photos as Atlantis pulls up and performs a somersault.

Engineers will pore over all the information to ascertain whether Atlantis is intact and able to make a safe descent, when it comes time to return home at the end of next week.

The space agency has been extra cautious since the Columbia disaster nearly seven years ago. The left wing was punctured by a big chunk of foam insulation that came off the fuel tank at liftoff, causing the shuttle to break apart during re-entry. All seven astronauts were killed.

Officials believe three small foam pieces peeled away from Atlantis’ tank Monday, but it happened too many minutes after liftoff to pose any danger.

Atlantis is delivering big spare parts to the space station — nearly 15 tons’ worth.

It’s an 11-day flight, which will keep the crew in orbit over Thanksgiving.

“Congratulations on a beautiful, flawless launch, Atlantis!” Mission Control told the crew in a wake-up message. “Now the fun begins.”

On Nov. 20 in Uganda, still early in the morning, Xinhua journalist Tian Ye drove some 400 km to see Denis Opaka, a 14 year-old boy who lost his parents amid the flames of war and now struggling to sustain the family with his little brother and sister in a remote village.

There are many stories as sad as Opaka’s but, without the pens and cameras of the media, bumping hundreds of miles along rough roads, their bitterness and aspirations would not be seen by the outside world.

On this day, Universal Children’s Day, journalists worldwide are telling such stories, for on this day, it’s the children that matter most.

On this special day, in its early morning, the hearts of the world are beating in time with the pulses of children.

It’s the third time Opaka and his siblings met Tian Ye. Circling around their big brother, they were laughing and jumping, little hands holding the gifts.

Knowing these kids would move into a new house built with cement walls and sheet-iron roof, which was financed by a philanthropic agency, was now under construction, Tian Ye smiled.

“Do you know today is Universal Children’s Day?” Tian Ye asked.

Looking puzzled, Opaka murmured: “All kids will have gifts?”, yet staring afar with his twinkling eyes.

The camera may be one of the most important inventions of human civilization, for it can faithfully record and replay our undertakings.

Through cameras, we can see in an elementary school in Togo, a western African nation, kids are singing and dancing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We can hear graceful music performed in concert themed “Keeping children away from violence” at the music hall of Russia’s Gnesin Institute of Music in Moscow, whose entire income will be donated to a local orphanage.

We can enjoy cakes with Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of the Japanese prime minister, as well as with kids from many parts of the world, rejoicing in the 20th birthday of that important document for children.

These recorded videos or soundtracks may have different characters and contents, but they are identical in nature and purpose. Perhaps Miyuki Hatoyama said it best: “Many of our kids are suffering or dead due to sickness, hunger or shortage of drinking water. It’s the adults’ responsibility to end their bitterness.”

Today, the topic of children unites the global media.

Breathing fresh air in the Paris morning, readers of the Europe Times are digesting the papers’ special edition on Universal Children’s Day.

Similar efforts could also be found in Uruguay and Panama, where the rights and welfare of children are passionately advocated.

Identical passions are also radiating in Quator in the Pursian Gulf. Ahmed Sheikh, Chief Editor of Al Jazeera Broadcast, said: “There is no problem with media cooperation when it comes to the issue of children.”

Yemeni National TV Station chose to spotlight the scenes of shattered school houses and bombed homes. Director of the TV station Hussein Bartholin is a strong supporter, saying he would do whatever he could as long as it was for the kids.

His willingness to sacrifice for children can speak for that ofso many others, whether it’s the story of some young journalists’ courage committed to information collecting in truceless areas or an editor’s late night efforts to complete the reports of Universal Children’s Day.

Altogether, there are more than 800 media institutions joining Xinhua, which co-initiated the 24-hour live coverage, touching almost every aspect of the children’s lives through video clips, photos and text.

With the joined hands of these individuals and institutions, the power of media has been injected into the engine of pulling children out of the quagmire of poverty, wars and diseases. And when they are back on track, they can steer the ship of future human endeavor.

The icy cold of children’s sufferings won’t be warmed by the flames of media alone. Total eradication of these ills needs to be assisted by the love of the world, and the media serves as pump, sending loving care to all parts of the globe.

When Dominic, a French traveler, was applying for his tourist visa in China’s embassy in France, he could watch programs featuring Universal Children’s Day produced by Xinhua. He said: “These kids’ stories are quite moving, and I would like to repeat them to my friends.”

Such emotions among ordinary people are also found in people with heavier influence: Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director, said at her institution’s headquarter in New York that their most solemn responsibility was to center on the rights of children. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote: “Children are our future. We should work hard for the health, education and equality for every kid on the surface of the earth.”

Love and care will accumulate on this special day and will be maintained into the future, while apathy towards kids’ problems and mistreatment will not again claim the upper hand. For the fighters for children’s rights, who have never been in short supply, will not rest.

There’s visiting New York, and then there’s visiting the heart of Manhattan.

At New York’s St. Regis hotel, guests stay in a 1904 Beaux Arts landmark building that underwent a $100 million renovation in 2006 involving everything from the Louis XV furniture to hidden high-tech amenities. Just beyond the hotel’s doors is some of the world’s best shopping, including Emilio Pucci and Japanese department store Takashimaya. Star sightings are common on these streets.

After a day of lugging shopping bags, guests can settle in at one of the country’s most unique hotel bars, the King Cole Bar, which houses a famous 1906 Art Nouveau oil mural and claims to be the birthplace of the Bloody Mary (here called a Red Snapper, $18). Even walking through the lobby to the bar is an ethereal swagger by Italian marble, gilded moldings and a gleaming chandelier.

Just a 15-minute walk away–with countless other luxury accommodation options along the way–is the Trump International Hotel and Tower, sitting right on Columbus Circle and a stone’s throw from Central Park. Some of the rooms in this 52-story, modern high-rise designed by Philip Johnson and Costas Kondylis offer views of the park through floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Guests able to tear themselves from the windows might head to Jean Georges, a Michelin three-star French-fusion restaurant on the main floor.

Other four- and five-star spots include the Four Seasons Hualalai and the Four Seasons Hong Kong. The former, the chain’s resort on the Kona-Kohala Coast of West Hawaii, offers an inimitable beach on which guests enjoy bungalows carved into black lava and private tiki huts. The Hong Kong location features an infinity pool with views of Victoria Harbor and underwater classical music.

While each offers singular services, all are part of a select group of luxury hotels offering a wide-range of amenities mean to lure travelers seeking high-level luxury.

What’s Behind The List

Inspectors with Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, examine every hotel on its current four- and five-star lists, as well as perform assessments of new properties launched the previous year. Each hotel receives an announced visit, wherein an inspector tours the property and looks for more than 200 different attributes (cleanliness of the property, rooms, room products, the beds, linens, bathrooms, etc.). In addition, an anonymous inspector visits the property for a two-night stay, during which he or she tests multiple elements of the experience and service (breakfast, room service, fitness center, concierge, etc.), as well as the facilities. Each five-star hotel receives two unannounced two-night inspections.

No general guest surveys are conducted or considered, and inspectors pay for the rooms and all services they use. This year’s series of inspections began in January and were completed in October. A property is not inspected until it has been open for at least six months.

While some hotels earn their ranking on convenience (pets are allowed at the family friendly Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach, for example), history (the Peninsula Hong Kong, built in 1923, offers white-glove service, a famous afternoon tea and Gaddi’s, the only dining room with dinner and dancing), or privacy (at Raffles in Beverly Hills, only guests may use the pool and spa), others offer more novel features to lure guests.

The guest rooms at the Montage, which opened in 2008, offer a grown-up refuge in the heart of Beverly Hills. With flat-screen TVs, mosaic-tiled marble bathrooms and gentleman’s valets near the door to dump pocket change or keys, the Spanish Colonial-style hotel is a thoughtful newcomer. Most impressively, when guests lay their heads down at night, it’s on customized pillows embroidered with their initials.

At the Skylofts at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, those looking to relax can indulge in bathrooms boasting infinity tubs with light therapy and “champagne” bubbles, flat-screen TVs and stream showers. Conveniently, a butler available 24 hours a day can bring up chef-prepared room service or any other request to the room, or bathroom.

These perks may set a property apart from competitors, but during a global downturn, might not be enough to spark the interest of weary travelers. A survey by global market-research firm Euromonitor, published this summer, forecast the global hotel industry to shrink 3.6% in 2009. The forecast for 2010 includes overall travel and tourism growth, in 2008 a $944 billion industry, according to the World Tourism Organization, but at lower-than-normal levels.

Still, even when vacation budgets are trimmed, there are some things travelers won’t give up: unique experiences they can’t get anywhere else. Little else compares to the Stein Eriksen Lodge at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, which is noted for its mountain-top perch. Over 7,000 feet above sea level, the property is also noted for its service: A ski valet whisks guests to and from the slopes; lavish amenities include house-made chocolates at Chocolate Atelier, as well as heated sidewalks and walkways.

If that’s lacking in old-fashioned country appeal, just two hours away from New York City is the Mayflower Inn and Spa in Washington, Conn., sits on 28 acres. It has rooms with 18th and 19th-century art, four-poster canopy beds and views of rolling hills, meandering streams and flourishing gardens. The dining room is also a destination for foodies seeking a seasonal, local and organic menu.

Of course, such luxury doesn’t come cheap. The lavish rooms and suites at many of the hotels on our list can run into the thousands per night.

The first Myanmar, France, Germany digital art show opened here Saturday under the cultural exchange program of the three countries.

A total of eight artists, including three Myanmar artists, staged their respective own graphic art, electronic music and video shows at the French Cultural Center.

In September this year, a classical guitarist from France, Thibault Cauvin, who was a winner of 13 international first prizes, launched a one-man guitar concert for the first time in Myanmar’s two major cities of Yangon and Mandalay.

Meanwhile, other two world’s famous Jazz musicians, Franck Me’ dioni and Pianist Stephan Oliva of France, also launched music concerts in Yangon in February this year.

A grassroots cultural event dedicated to promoting U.S.-China friendship and understanding, the Annual China Symposium 2009, was held successfully on Saturday at Norris Center of Northwestern University located in the Northern suburb of Chicago.

The symposium was hosted by Northwestern University and the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association Chicago Chapter.

Roger Noback, president of the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association Chicago Chapter, told Xinhua: “This is our annual China symposium and it gives us an opportunity to showcase the leading authorities in Chicago about their knowledge and experience on China.”

Huang Ping, consul general of Chinese Consulate in Chicago, briefed the audience China’s remarkable development over the past 60 years and the great progress in the U.S.-China relations.

“China and the U.S. have lots of common interests ranging from daily life to global affairs. It is the support of people in both countries that play the most important role in promoting our friendship and understanding. I appreciate your determination, leadership and devotion, and our consulate would like to join hands with you to bring the Sino-U.S. relation to a new level,” Huang said in his speech.

Li-Kuo Chang, assistant principal violist at Chicago Symphony Orchestra, delivered a very touching keynote speech titled “A journey of east meets west in music.” He shared his personal and professional cross-cultural experience as a Chinese musician growing up in China and how it changed his perspective of making music as a classically-trained musician.

During the breakout sessions, a total of nine presentations were made by leading authorities from greater Chicago area on three different tracks: arts and philosophy, commerce, and society, science & technology.

Noback said, “Our organization plays a significant role in promoting friendship and understanding between Chinese and Americans. We just had our 35th anniversary at Chicago chapter and national organization. Our principal mission is to foster friendship and understanding between people in the U.S. and China.”

“By presenting these talks which are donated voluntarily by these leading authorities, it increases friendship and understanding of Americans about China,” He added.

Noback said that the upcoming visit of President Obama to China showed that he recognized the importance of the U.S.-China relationship.

“There is no more important friendship than that between the U.S. and China. That … will be even more true in the future, ” he said.

Established Chinese rocker Xie Tianxiao is promising a new style of music for China in his album due for release at the beginning of next month: “The Chinese style of reggae.”

That will be also the title of the album, which combines traditional Chinese instruments, such as the guqin, with Jamaican reggae music.

The guqin has a history of more than 5,000 years and belongs to the family of “zither” instruments. “You need to have the feeling for playing it. Just practising is not enough,” he says in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency

For Xie, it is also a homage to Bob Marley, who personified the Jamaican brand of reggae before his death in 1981.

“I have been always fascinated by him and planned for a long time to make a reggae album. Now I have,” Xie says, snapping his fingers all the while to a reggae rhythm. His long black hair bobs in time.

“In combination with Chinese traditional sounds you create a complete new style of music.”

He describes music as like an ocean: “Its the endless vastness I get my ideas and inspirations from.”

The rock star, who was awarded Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and Best Live Performance honors at the Midi Awards at the end of October, first came into contact with reggae during a year-long stay in San Francisco in 2002.

The fascination remained after Xie and his band, “Cold Blooded Animal,” founded in 1997, decided to go back to China.

The regarded their style as too similar to Western bands and they preferred to develop an individual style in which their Chinese origins would be obvious.

Xie, who was born in 1972 in the town of Zibo, Shandong Province, started his music carrier at the age of 9 in the role of “The Monkey King” in a local opera production of “Journey to the West.”

In 1990, he began composing his own songs and moved to Beijing.

Between 1997 and 2002, Xie and “Cold Blooded Animal” performed hundreds of gigs in China, Europe, Japan and the United States, where they were the first Chinese rock band to appear at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2004, the band released the album “Xie Tian Xiao X.T.X” and also renamed the band with this title. That was the first time the band broke with the three-instruments mode and adopted traditional Chinese instruments.