Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" premieres in Paris

The Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" was officially released in France on Friday, drawing movie fans from all over the country to flock to the Grand Rex cinema, a landmark building in Paris, to watch this much-awaited film.

"Ne Zha 2," based on a 16th-century Chinese mythology with a bold reinterpretation, is the world's highest-grossing movie of all time in a single market, racking up a staggering 15.28 billion yuan (about 2.09 billion U.S. dollars) in ticket sales in China since its January 29 release.

The film has already entered several overseas markets, including North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, with an overseas box office exceeding 379 million yuan (about 52 million U.S. dollars).

After watching the movie, many French audiences said that "Ne Zha 2" has stunning visuals and a wonderful story. It shows the value concept of perseverance and courage to overcome difficulties, which is refreshing.

"I think it is more than 2 hours but I didn't see the time pass. So I would say that," said Ines, a French influencer.

"At first, I was just probably blown away by the animation, but once I got a second, once I take a second to appreciate the story, I was able to see, I was able to understand it even though I wouldn't speak Chinese or French. I was able to understand it just by watching the movie," said Sky Janoff, a viewer.

The United Kingdom-based pan-European distributor Trinity CineAsia has secured the theatrical rights for the film in 37 European countries and regions, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain.

The film will be screened in more than 200 theaters in France on April 23, and is expected to reach 150,000 viewers. The distributor hopes that the oriental mythology and cultural charm presented by the film will bring an excellent audio-visual experience to French audiences.

"There were a lot of people vying for this film. It is as you know, one of the most exceptional films to be ever made an animation. It's also the most successful animation film of all time," said Stefan Boublil, creative director of Trinity CineAsia.

"It's wonderful to see the Chinese culture being represented so fully in an animation film which may have seemed to be just for children. But in fact it's for everyone from nine years old to 99 years old. And so there's a lot of meanings there for anybody who's watching and when we watch it, me as a French person, you as a Chinese person, bring different things to the story that you see on screen and that is how we can share culture, that is how we get enriched," he added.

The China National Tourism Administration Paris Office also teamed up with the film's French distributor to incorporate a "Hello! China" tourism promotion segment into the premiere, leading the audience to experience China's rich and diverse natural scenery and cultural landscape through the film.

Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" premieres in Paris

Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" premieres in Paris

Life science experiments conducted onboard China's Tiangong space station will not only help experts to better protect the health of astronauts, but also provide vital new ideas for human disease treatment back on Earth, a Chinese researcher said in Beijing on Wednesday.

Pei Weiwei, an associate researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection of Soochow University, was speaking after a special handover ceremony was held where scientists received the samples brought back by the Shenzhou-19 space mission, which landed earlier that day.

The mission's three crew members touched down safely at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region around Wednesday lunchtime, after their return had been postponed by a day due to unfavorable weather conditions on the ground.

During their six-month stay in space, Shenzhou-19 mission commander Cai Xuzhe, alongside young astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, who is also China's first female space engineer, carried out an extensive series of scientific experiments and medical tests to assess the impact of space travel on human health and on other living organisms.

The returned samples include bone cells, human induced pluripotent stem cells and human bronchial epithelial cells. Scientists will conduct molecular biology research on these key samples, assessing the effects of the zero-gravity environment on human tissues and the impact of space radiation, according to Pei.

"The carcinogenicity of space radiation has always been a focus of our research, and the epithelial cells of the lungs are the most susceptible to tumors. So we are studying the evolution of lung epithelial cells into tumor cells in space radiation and some of its mechanisms. Based on this data, we aim to establish a space radiation risk assessment system suitable for Chinese astronauts. At the same time, we hope to provide some theoretical support for radiation monitoring and a complete radiation protection system," he said.

Pei said that such experiments and related research will not only help protect the health of astronauts, but can also offer new ideas to human health problems back on Earth, such as the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. It will also provide a new theoretical basis and experimental support for exploring health problems such as osteoporosis, muscle atrophy and decreased cardiovascular function, he added.

Space life science mainly studies the responses and changes of life activities at all levels from biomolecules to organisms under conditions such as microgravity, space radiation, and sub-magnetism, as well as their combined conditions, and explores the deep mechanisms of life phenomena.

Space experiments can offer new approaches to tackling human health issues: expert