BEGGAR STANDS IN FRONT OF AMERICAN MOVIE BILLBOARD IN BEIJING, 1998-11-28 (photo)

A Chinese beggar stands in front of a billboard featuring an advertisement for the American war movie "Saving Private Ryan" in Beijing November 28. A recent survey shows that disaster-themed western films are becoming less attractive to the Chinese audience. In recent years, many American films are shown in China several months after their first screening in the U.S. These foreign films failed at the box office since Chinese would rather see movies at the same time they are showing in the U.S. American films are officially released in China months after the pirated version, which can be easily purchased for about 10 yuan ($1.20) on the black market. NB/CC/AA