Norway sends to China classic film thought to be lost

Norway will hand to China a copy of "The Cave of the Silken Web", aclassic Chinese film that had long thought to be lost, the National Library of Norwaysaid Monday.The delivery of the silent film from 1927 is expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday.Diplomatic relations between both countries have been tense since Chinesedissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded in 2010 the Nobel Peace Prize, decided by theNorwegian Nobel Committee.After deciding to go through its stock of around 9,000 old films in 2011, theNational Library of Norway found a nitrocellulose copy of "Pan si dong" -- itsoriginal Chinese title. It was the first film from the Asian country to be screened inthe Scandinavian kingdom.It seems to be the only existing copy.The film, inspired in a classic Chinese novel by Wu Cheng'en called "Journey to theWest", was restored before being sent to the China Film Archive.In the film, a pilgrim monk entrusted by an emperor to find some sacred Buddhisttexts ends up trapped in the Cave of the Seven Spiders, who want to eat his flesh tobecome immortal.First screened in Oslo in 1929, the copy found in Norway features subtitles inChinese and Norwegian."The translator took quite a few liberties and added his own comments in bracketswhen it suited him. This gives the film a comical twist," said Tina Anckarman, filmarchivist at the National Library of Norway."There are also sequences where the Chinese text is upside down or inverted."Chinese authorities put on hold all high level bilateral contacts with theirNorwegian counterparts after the Scandinavian country awarded Liu Xiaobo,considered a criminal by China, the Nobel Peace Prize.