Beijing's bid for cool: Ang Lee's Olympic rapprochement

China has banned the US-schooled director's films and even his Oscar acceptance speech. But now the prodigal son is back in favour as ambassador for the 2008 Games. By Clifford Coonan

Published: 18 October 2006

Ang Lee is a free-wheeling, US-schooled film director from what China likes to call the renegade province of Taiwan. His films are regularly banned by Beijing for their controversial content and his Oscar acceptance speech had to be censored on state TV. The movie maverick is hard to picture as China's first choice as an ambassador for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. And yet Ang has just been selected as an arts and culture consultant for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Olympics in China. The announcement that China would host the two-week event was greeted with a massive outpouring of national pride. The capital is being remodelled for the Games and no other single event has better crystallised China's bid to become a fully paid-up respectable member of the global community than this high-profile athletics competition.

Article Length: 1482 words (approx.)