Zhang

AUGUSTA, Ga. - In the wee hours, the Yankees and Devil Rays were beamed across the Pacific last week, making for some very early mornings in this global sports village. It was about 4 a.m. across most of China yesterday when Zhang Lian-Wei walked off the 18th green at Augusta, Masters scorecard and history in hand. Zhang, 38, only started playing at age 18 - China not exactly a hospitable place in those days for too much, let alone golf. But he is China's No. 1 pro now, so he was no more pleased with his 5-over 77 first round than any of the other top pros who found Augusta National taking more than it gave yesterday, especially the double bogey on 15. "I didn't expect it to be in the water.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6606. Running The 332 participants in the Turkey Trot 10k Prediction Run had to run 6.2 miles through Jeffers Hill, with the winner finishing closest to 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning without the benefit of any timing devices.

The student: Eric Zhang, 11 School: Burleigh Manor Middle Special achievement: He won first place among middle-schoolers in the Music Teachers Association's International Piano Contest. The competition was held at the Kennedy Center in May. "I played `Spanish Rhapsody' by Franz Liszt. That's my ultimate piece. It's like 24 pages. That's the hardest piece I've ever played so far." What the competition was like: "I liked seeing ... how students compare with other students. They had different kinds of teachers, and theirs weren't as strict as my Russian teacher."

The postman rings thrice in "A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop" (opening Friday at the Charles). Director Zhang Yimou transfers the Coen brothers" "Blood Simple" — their merry-sadist variation on James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" — from 1985 Texas to an equally arid but wildly multihued landscape in feudal China. Cain's book is a lowdown masterpiece. The movies are trash with flash. But oh, what flash! The film that established the Coens as our reigning cinematic smart-alecks, "Blood Simple" told a simple story of a woman, a gun and a saloon.

BEIJING -- Clenching her teeth over cups of tea, journalist Zhang Jieying recounts a few of the sad -- and sometimes sordid -- tales she's recorded over the past year from China's brokenhearted.They include the story of the 27-year-old office clerk whose boyfriend's wife caught them in bed. There is the young tour guide who resolves to marry a foreigner because she believes no Chinese man would want her, now that she's had two abortions. And there's the lonely wife who explains her growing reliance on sleeping pills and liquor after her husband has left her.Since she began writing a weekly column in Beijing Youth Daily last year, the 29-year-old reporter has broken ground in this reserved culture by exposing the private lives of Chinese people.

HARBIN, China -- During the era of Mao Tse-tung, the Communist Party earned widespread praise for practically shutting down China's flourishing prostitution industry. But with today's freer economy, the sex trade's back, and some Chinese officials would rather tax it than fight it.Since last year, at least 14 cities have begun taxing China's "san pei girls," young women who earn large sums for accompanying men in nightclubs and karaoke bars. For a higher fee, many of the women will sleep with their customers.

DATONG, CHINA - The way Zhang Weilin sees it, as the Chinese palate becomes more demanding and sophisticated, it's only a matter of time before the dog-meat industry takes off. With his 90 Saint Bernards, he's counting on being at the forefront of the revolution. "When China opens the dog-meat market and dog-breeding industry, it will gradually become like raising cows and sheep," said the middle-aged Zhang. "As people spend more and their dietary habits change, industrialization of dog breeding will not take as long as domestication of cows and sheep."

BEIJING -- His songs record the anguish of prison life, the loneliness in the cells, and Zhang Jingsheng need not worry about running out of material for his lyrics.Zhang, a 37-year-old political prisoner whose songs have spread throughout the nation, is about to begin the fourth year of a 13-year sentence for "counterrevolutionary" offenses. He is not due to be released until 2002.Prison songs are a distinct genre in China, a bit like country-and-western music in the United States. They predate the Communist takeover of 1949 and the Chinese sing them -- alone or with friends -- to relieve loneliness or melancholy.

BEIJING -- When the Li brothers finished writing a screenplay about their father's descent into alcoholism and madness, they knew they would have no problem finding the right director: Living upstairs in their apartment building was Zhang Yuan.Zhang, a young filmmaker who portrays the unconventional and the controversial, proceeded to make a movie in which the members of the Li family play themselves, and produced a gritty, realistic view of a troubled Chinese family.A bit too realistic for China's censors.

BEIJING - The boy nicknamed Black Bean doesn't like to talk about the past, but his scars tell part of his story. The skin around the boy's mouth is pinched, marking the area where a man who kept him as a virtual slave burned his face with tongs from a fireplace. There are strips of scalp where hair no longer grows, places where he was beaten with sticks. Black Bean keeps his most painful wound hidden behind dark eyes that dart about when strangers ask about his family. His father is dead, stabbed and dumped in a well with a heavy stone tied around his neck.

At the opening night party for the "Sublime Structure" exhibit at C. Grimaldis Gallery, featured artist Lu Zhang's creative hand wasn't just apparent in her paintings on the wall. The 26-year-old artist and model designer for Development Design Group makes a statement with her personal style, too. "My style is all over the place. I like to put my own spin on things but not really stand out too much. ... I think it's a combination of going to art school and now [working] in the corporate environment for an architectural firm.

Towson University's fifth annual College of Liberal Arts Foreign Film Series opens Wednesday with Zhang Jiarui's 2002 When Ruo Ma Was Seventeen. The film focuses on a young girl from rural southwestern China who dreams of riding in an elevator. The series continues Wednesdays through April 16 with films that look at Chinese history and society. Films are set to include Zhang Yang's 1999 Shower, Gu Changwei's 2005 Peacock and Zhang Yimou's 1990 Raise the Red Lantern. Showtime for all four films is 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Van Bokkelen Hall on the Towson campus, 8000 York Road.

READING, Pa. -- The present and future of U.S. women's figure skating sit in first and third place after the short program at Skate America, the first Grand Prix event of the season. Kimmie Meissner, 18, the national champion and former world champion, skated a solid, butterfly-free program for a score of 59.24. Her technical and artistic scores led the field, and she enters today's free skate with a cushion of 2.76 points. Skate America At Reading, Pa.; women's free skate, today, 4 p.m., chs. 11, 4

The World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Alberta, have gotten off to a good start for Kimmie Meissner. She posted a personal-best score in qualifying last night, leaving her in second place heading into tomorrow's short program. Meissner, the 16-year-old from Bel Air, hit most of her jumps, including a triple-triple combination. She said that, stepping off the ice, she knew her scores would be good. "I had a feeling it was going to be my personal best," she said shortly after her program.

"My best trait is that I know my limitations. ... I won't think it's a big deal to get on the cover of Time or having a full-page report in The New York Times devoted to me." Memoirs of a Geisha star Ziyi Zhang. AP quoting the Chongqing Morning News' Web site

NEW YORK-- --The deceptively willowy Chinese acting star Ziyi Zhang, at age 26, has already been a heartbreaker for all sorts of movie-lovers. Arthouse habitues adore her emotionally unsettling work for director Wong-kar Wai (most recently, 2005's 2046). Martial-arts devotees discovered her in fighting trim in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and got to see her at peak poignancy in the glorious House of Flying Daggers (2004). Even Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker fans had the chance to sample her charm in Rush Hour 2 (2001)

BEIJING -- The well-meaning but hopelessly naive rural officials are on the edges of their seats, captivated by Zhang Changqing's flowery vision of a bountiful future for their children.Mr. Zhang is an entrepreneur who founded one of China's first private schools. He claims to teach 4-year-olds to take care of themselves, speak English and use computers so they can grow up to be "top managers" and "leading social figures."Employing Chinese versions of New Age educational jargon, he talks to his visitors about "integrating" various subjects to teach the "whole child" to "meet the demands of the next century."

HAMAR, Norway -- Watch out world, here comes big, bad Cathy Turner and she's coming to your Winter Olympics.Last night, America's short-track speed skating queen, just off the Ice Capades circuit, hit the big town looking for gold.There were two kings in the crowd, Harald V and Johann Olav Koss. There were athletes dressed in Lycra and hard hats. And there was Turner, ready to bust loose.She knocked over a Canadian in the semifinals.She grabbed the leg of the world-record holder from China in the final.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - In the wee hours, the Yankees and Devil Rays were beamed across the Pacific last week, making for some very early mornings in this global sports village. It was about 4 a.m. across most of China yesterday when Zhang Lian-Wei walked off the 18th green at Augusta, Masters scorecard and history in hand. Zhang, 38, only started playing at age 18 - China not exactly a hospitable place in those days for too much, let alone golf. But he is China's No. 1 pro now, so he was no more pleased with his 5-over 77 first round than any of the other top pros who found Augusta National taking more than it gave yesterday, especially the double bogey on 15. "I didn't expect it to be in the water.

The student: Eric Zhang, 11 School: Burleigh Manor Middle Special achievement: He won first place among middle-schoolers in the Music Teachers Association's International Piano Contest. The competition was held at the Kennedy Center in May. "I played `Spanish Rhapsody' by Franz Liszt. That's my ultimate piece. It's like 24 pages. That's the hardest piece I've ever played so far." What the competition was like: "I liked seeing ... how students compare with other students. They had different kinds of teachers, and theirs weren't as strict as my Russian teacher."