CHINES GO BONKERS OVER AISHWARYA'S BEAUTY

Aishwarya Rai is among the few crop of current Indian actors to have a considerable following among the young Chinese in the sub-provincial district Shenzhen.

Just opposite to the majestic hotel Pavilion on the Huaqiang Road is a huge L'Oreal hoarding featuring Rai.

"She's beautiful. I pass through this road every day and never fail to have a look at the hoarding," says Zu Shan, who works as a marketing executive of an advertising company.

Aishwarya is the brand ambassador of L'Oreal's cosmetic products. "Aishwarya is a good actress. I have seen most of her movies," he says.

Zu's favourite male star is Abhishek Bachchan. "The two make a great couple," he says.

Zeng Fangjun also adores Aishwarya's beauty as well as her acting talents. "She is quite talented. I got to watch some of her movies on the local cable network," says the communications manager of an IT firm.

Local channels like CCTV feature Indian movies with Chinese subtitles. Zeng said she watched Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya among others on cable TV.

Zeng's Indian friends also provide her with their stock of Aishwarya films.

THE CHINESE ARE A BREED APART, EVEN WHEN THEY SHOOT PICTURES: CHECK OUT SOME OF THEIR ACROBATICS FOR THAT PERFECT PICTURE

MOBILE STRIDES: China develops world's first solar-powered mobile phone

A Chinese company has claimed to have developed the world's first solar-powered mobile phone that uses sun's energy to recharge itself. The company says a scale-like solar panel on the top side of the clamshell-designed phone can also be recharged by light from other sources including candles. It can provide 40 minutes of talk-time after sitting in the sun for an hour.
Hi-Tech Wealth, a well-known telecommunication products supplier in China, claims its mobile phone is the world's first to use solar power to recharge its battery.
The company says it has developed the most advanced solar power technology and owns eight patents and has applied for numerous others.
Many companies around the world are working on similar mobile phones but their products are still at the experimental stage, Xinhua news agency quoted a company official as saying.
"With more than 400 million mobile phones in the country, China would save a great amount of electricity if all its mobile phones were recharged by light," chairman of Hi-Tech Wealth, Zhang Zhengyu said.
He claimed that the lifespan of the battery in the new phone is 2.5 times longer that traditional batteries. The cost of the solar-powered mobile phone was not provided.
The company plans to put six of its light energy mobile phones on the market this year, and another 30 next year, the report said.

(Courtesy: PTI)