World-renowned US film producer Lawrence Bender will join other distinguished speakers at a special Cultural Roundtable discussion to be held as part of the Fortune Global Forum in Beijing May 16.

The organizing committee of the forum said the Cultural Roundtable discussion - which will run concurrently with the Sports Roundtable on May 16 - will examine the cultural changes taking place in China's primarily agrarian society as it becomes more urbanized and increasingly connected through technology.

In a session on "Film and Entertainment in Today's China," Lawrence Bender, who rose to fame by producing the US cult-classic Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and has produced all of director Quentin Tarantino's subsequent films, including the Kill Bill movies, which were filmed in China, will speak about the future of the film industry in China.

Other confirmed speakers for the Cultural Roundtable include: Zhao Qizheng, director of China's State Council Information Office; Dai Xianglong, mayor of Tianjin Municipality; Vivienne Tam, designer and CEO of Vivienne Tam; Paolo Zenga, co-CEO of Ermenegildo Zenga Group; Huang Hung, CEO of China Interactive Media Group; Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Inc.; Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay Inc.; Dan Glickman, president and CEO of Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.; Zhao Shi, vice director of the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television; Li Yifei, president of MTV China.

Fortune Global Forum Executive Director Robert Bierman said the Cultural Roundtable, themed "Meet the New China: Cultural Changes, Challenges and Opportunities" would examine how the socio-economic shifts of the past few decades were changing Chinese perceptions and behavior.

"China, as a newly prosperous society, will have new expectations, new challenges and new demands, and for business people looking at China as a marketplace, understanding these changes and their implications is critical to understanding how to succeed," Bierman said.

The Fortune Global Forum will be held May 16 to 18 at historical venues across Beijing including Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the Great Hall of the People and the Temple of Heaven.

This year's Forum will be the ninth Fortune Global Forum and the third to be held in China.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2005)